Legendary Alice Cooper Group Drummer and Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame Inductee Neal Smith To Unleash ‘KillSmith Two’
10/31/2011 – Westport, CT – Hot on the heels of his induction into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, legendary Alice Cooper Group drummer Neal Smith is preparing to unleash upon the world his most aggressive release to date – ‘KillSmith Two’; a mind blistering, head banging masterpiece in metal macabre. Neal Smith, who recently reunited with Alice Cooper and recorded several new tracks for Alice’s ‘Welcome 2 My Nightmare’ (which also features fellow AC Group members Michael Bruce and Dennis Dunaway), promises his new CD will rock you to your very soul and then stomp on it!
“I think it’s the best writing I’ve ever done with industrial strength music,” says Neal. “The fourth song on the ‘K$2’ CD is called ‘Evil Voodoo Moon’. It is the song that’s the mother of Alice’s latest single called ‘I’ll Bite Your Face Off”, featured on his great new CD ‘Welcome 2 My Nightmare’. One of the main goals I had in mind while writing ‘K$2’ was to keep my lyrics radio friendly this time. My colorful vocabulary could make a drunken sailor blush. So I took it back a few notches for airplay, something I didn’t do on my first KillSmith CD ‘Sexual Savior’ when I just let all hell break loose.”
Neal Smith is best known worldwide for his innovative drumming and outrageous stage antics with the original Alice Cooper Group. His solid drumming is the hallmark sound behind such classic 1970’s Alice Cooper hits “School’s Out”, “I’m Eighteen”, “Billion Dollar Babies” and “No More Mr. Nice Guy”. Neal is also a prolific songwriter, who helped pen many of Cooper’s best known songs. The Alice Cooper Group was the first band to introduce theatrics to the rock and roll stage, the group has sold over 25 million records worldwide. Neal has six gold and five platinum records to his credit, and has performed before millions on extensive grand World Tours. From the late 1970s to the present, Smith’s trademark drums can be heard on several albums, including the Billion Dollar Babies, The Plasmatics, Buck Dharma, Deadringer, Bouchard, Dunaway and Smith, Cinematik and his most recent critically acclaimed solo project KillSmith CDs. KillSmith’s debut CD ‘Sexual Savior’ released in 2008 garnered praise from fans and critics worldwide. And now with ‘KillSmith Two’, Neal takes his ferocious brand of rock and roll to another level!
“In addition to crafting my lyrics for the radio, the new songs on ‘K$2’ have evolved with more defined choruses and themes,” explains Neal. “Heavy industrial guitars are still the heart of the KillSmith sound along with my pounding drums.”
KillSmith features: Neal ‘Kill’ Smith (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, synthesizer, drums & percussion), Peter ‘The Cat’ Catucci (bass guitar & backing vocals), Doug Wahlberg (lead guitar), Kevin Franklin (lead guitar), Bryan Morrell (lead guitar) and Pete ‘Keys’ Hickey (keyboards)
A forty year veteran in the music industry, Neal Smith’s vast achievements have finally been recognized with his recent and prestigious induction into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. “I am happiest for the fans of the original Alice Cooper Band,” says Neal. “As I said in my acceptance speech at our induction into the Hall of Fame, this was all about them and because of them. Without our faithful fans around the world, that night would never have happened. At the pinnacle of our success the only awards we ever received or cared about were in the shape of gold and platinum albums and that was only because of our fans. Even the established music business in the seventies shunned the Alice Cooper Band and never considered us for Grammys or any of the other music awards at the time. Living on the fringe of acceptability has always been the norm for me. Now I’ve been asked to become legitimate in the music world and that’s a role I’m very uncomfortable with, but KillSmith keeps me on the fringe in my comfort zone.”
Possibly one of the most anticipated reunions of the decade in the rock world recently transpired with the surviving members of the original Alice Cooper group and producer Bob Ezrin recording together for the first time in 37 years! “Well it was fantastic to work with everyone again in the same room,” says Neal. “Over the years I’ve seen Alice, Michael, Dennis and Bob many times all over the US and Canada. But it was in September 2010 when we were all finally together again in one location in a recording studio in New York City. In the studio we even set up a little memorial for Glen Buxton, it consisted of a Fender amp, a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of Seagram’s VO whiskey. So GB was with us there in spirit. We were all laughing, having a blast with the same insane sense of humor that we’ve always had – it was a great time. But when we got down to business and recording machines were running, the ever present chemistry was still there and the magic started happening again. That was the first time that all five of us, Alice, Michael, Dennis, Bob and I had been in the recording studio together since the ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ album was recorded in 1972/73. I hope we do it again!”
Plans to tour in support of the release of ‘KillSmith Two’ are currently in the works. “Along with Peter, Kevin, Doug and myself, we are currently in rehearsals working on a new KillSmith show right now. Any future show dates will be announced on my website,” says Neal.
Neal Smith ‘KillSmith Two’ is available from http://cdbaby.com/cd/nealsmith3
For more information: www.NealSmithRocks.com
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