Last month, when Nita Strauss left Alice Cooper's band in June to join Demi Lovato's touring band, the community was shocked, sad, as well as genuinely happy for Nita. However, one man did not panic. No surprise, but the Coop new exactly what to do. He gave old buddy Kane Roberts a jingle , and asked him to jump on board for tour this fall. Some of you who've followed Alice Cooper through the years are no stranger to Roberts, who played with Alice in 1986/87, and was featured on the albums Constrictor and Raise Your Fist and Yell—while also earning a unique nickname, the "Rambo of Rock."
"The call from Alice to join, it came out of nowhere," Roberts told Andrew Daly of VWMusic. "I was just sitting at home watching TV or whatever after I was done with my day, and then Sheryl Cooper called, and said, 'Hey, Alice wants to talk to you.' So, Alice got on the phone and said, 'Hey, do you want to be in the Alice Cooper band for the fall tour?' and I went, 'Yeah, sure,' because it's nothing but fun when we're together.
"So, I've been listening to the set and everything, and it kicks ass. It’s really been kind of a natural thing, and of course, I’ve had a crap ton of stuff to get together. You know, there were also these existing musical arrangements that have been developing with the band over the last eight years, or whatever, but all this stuff is in my fingers. I'm working really hard, and yeah, it's great."
If you've ever seen Alice Cooper live, you know his powerhouse set requires all band members on point and in sync with each other, which is why Roberts told Cooper right away that he wanted to pick up with the band right where they left off with Strauss.
"Coming in, I told Alice right off the bat, I said, 'I'm not gonna come in and upset the applecart. I want to fit into what's going on. Any of the ensemble stuff that needs to be done, I'll just grab what Nita's been doing. We don't have to change any arrangements and stuff. I'll just shred my way to hell with them as they are.' So, it'll be fun, and it'll be a really good thing. It's easy because these guys are just so fucking cool. We all have been talking back and forth, and it’s been very good."
You can read the full interview with VWMusic here, and you can catch Kane Roberts out of the road with Alice Cooper this fall. All confirmed dates can be found below, including October 29 in Dallas with the Misfits and the Distillers.
9/7 Bethlehem, PA Wind Creek Event Center [Tickets]
9/9 Alton, VA— Blue Ridge Rock Festival [Tickets]
9/11 Windsor, ON The Colosseum @ Caesar's [Tickets]
9/13 Buffalo, NY Shea's Buffalo [Tickets]
9/14 Binghamton, NY Visions Arena [Tickets]
9/16 Albany, NY The Palace Theater [Tickets]
9/17 Atlantic City, NJ Tropicana Casino & Resort [Tickets]
9/18 Wallingford, CT Toyota Oakdale Theatre [Tickets]
9/20 Muncie, IN Emens Auditorium [Tickets]
9/21 Grand Rapids, MI DeVos Hall [Tickets]
9/22 Hammond, IN The Venue @ Horseshoe Casino [Tickets]
9/24 Louisville, KY Louder than Life Festival [Tickets]
9/25 Chattanooga, TN Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium [Tickets]
9/27 Memphis, TN Orpheum Theater [Tickets]
9/28 St.Louis, MO Stifel Theatre [Tickets]
9/30 Cedar Rapids, IA Paramount Theater [Tickets]
10/1 Springfield, IL Bank of Springfield Center [Tickets]
10/4 Loveland, CO Budweiser Event Center [Tickets]
10/6 Prescott Valley, AZ Findlay Toyota Center [Tickets]
10/8 Las Vegas, NV TBA [Tickets]
