Alice Cooper Is Looking For The Next Jeff Beck And Eric Clapton

During his recent interview with Rolling Stone, Alice Cooper revealed what he was looking for when he wanted to recruit a guitarist for his band and projects. The famous musician named his guitar heroes and highlighted his search for finding Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton‘s successors.

For Cortez High School’s annual Letterman’s talent show, Cooper wanted to form a band with his cross-country teammates, Glen Buxton, Dennis Dunaway, John Tatum, and John Speer. The band’s name was The Earwigs, which became a tribute band for The Beatles after impersonating them. Then, they changed it to The Spiders when they decided to create their music; also, the band opened for The Yardbirds.

Therefore, it’s not surprising that his rock gods and guitar heroes are Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, who both took place in the band for a while. Alice Cooper, the musician who collaborated with several guitar players such as Vinnie Moore, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Orianthi, and Slash, shared how he chose these artists. He drew attention to the importance of finding a guitarist that could nail it, like Pete Townshend, Jimmy Page, Beck, and Clapton, so he aimed to find the next Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton.

Cooper added that while recruiting an exceptionally talented guitarist who resembled gunslingers, the Godfather of Shock Rock said the character is another essential thing when choosing a band member. The artist said the potential guitarists tended to be selfish, moody, depressing, and arrogant, so he wanted to work with fun people with friendly personalities. Cooper talked about his bandmates, saying that they were close to each other.

When asked about his criteria for guitar players, Alice Cooper responded:

“I see guitar players as the gunslingers. If you don’t have a guy that can play that knows how to nail it, because when we grew up listening to Pete Townshend, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page and listening to those guys. The Yardbirds would not have been The Yardbirds without Jeff Beck. Eric Clapton and Cream were the guitar heroes.

I’m always looking for that next guitar hero, but in the Alice Cooper band, I always surround myself with great players. When I get ready to put a band together, I look for it not just how great they are but their personalities. That’s the important thing. Are they going to be somebody that’s going to be fun to work with, or are they going to be depressing, arrogant, egocentric? Everybody in my band is best friends.”

You can watch the video below.