Alice Cooper said his organization had “put money aside” for its crew members as the scale of the COVID pandemic began to become clear, and added that he hoped all other groups leading companies had done the same.

The live music industry has yet to regain its full capacity and world touring remains limited in many markets, with a ripple effect on the incomes of those who work behind the scenes on corporate teams. artists on the road or as local staff.

“When we saw it coming, we set some money aside for our crew,” Cooper said. Forbes in a recent interview. “We could see it was… something. So we are saving money for them. Because we knew their unemployment would run out, you know? And then they would have something to do. I think all the groups responsible have done this. With a bit of luck.”

He continued, “Because these are the people we live with. We work with them every day. The guys who run the scene are just as important as the guys who play guitar. So we made sure everyone was covered. And it was really important. Hey, we thought this stuff was gonna last a month! 18 months?! Unreal.”

Cooper described the sudden downtime as “absolutely unusual”. “I’ve been on tour for 55 years. And we usually have an average of 100 to 200 shows a year, ”he explained. “We’re so used to being on stage that 18 months off was like madness! He added that the return to rehearsals with shows finally scheduled left everyone “dazed” because “we didn’t know if there would be an end to it!” Maybe it was all over? Now people are doing shows again – it’s back to the routine. And we love the grind!

Cooper’s latest album, Stories from Detroit, was made during the pandemic and has become one of its most successful releases in years. “He comes out and my wife says, ‘Did you see that? I looked and it read: “Alice’s album debuts at # 1”. I was like ‘What ?!’ He remembers. The shock rocker argued that his chart-topping outing was proof that certain types of music would never go away. “If you look at the bands that are still around – Aerosmith, Guns N ‘Roses, Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper – we’re all hard rock bands,” he noted. “The music goes up and down and goes everywhere but the music that never goes away is hard rock.

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