Alice Cooper Guitarist Michael Bruce’s No More Mr. Nice Guy

Guitarist Michael Bruce was an integral part of the sound and fury that was the original Alice Cooper band. Co-writer of many of the band’s best-known and beloved songs, Bruce was around for classic Alice Cooper albums like Love It To Death, School’s Out, and Billion Dollar Babies. After Alice left the band to pursue solo stardom, Bruce and fellow bandmates carried on under the name Billion Dollar Babies at first, recording a single album titled Battle Axe. The guitarist would later forge a lengthy and impressive solo career that includes a half-dozen albums as well as a pair of recordings with the band Ant-Bee.

In February 2018, Gonzo Multimedia will be reissuing Bruce’s critically-acclaimed biography No More Mr. Nice Guy as part of a limited edition box set. The box includes the book, written by Bruce and his Ant-Bee bandmate Billy James, originally published in 1996 and recently updated; as well as a signed certificate, a 1996 interview CD, and reproductions of Alice Cooper group memorabilia. The box set is limited to 250 copies and is currently available for pre-order through PledgeMusic.

For Michael Bruce/Alice Cooper fans there are also a couple of other items on the Pledge Music page that might pique your interest. If you don’t want to pony up $67 for the deluxe box set, you can buy Bruce’s No More Mr. Nice Guy bio by itself for a very reasonable $13.50 (plus shipping) and/or pick up a copy of the very first show by Billion Dollar Babies on CD for a mere $12.15 (plus shipping). Performed in Flint, Michigan in 1977, Billion Dollar Babies included Bruce, Dennis Dunaway, and Neal Smith from the original Alice Cooper band as well guitarist Mike Marconi and keyboardist Bob Dolin. The book and the CD are available in a bundle for $24 (plus shipping).

In a press release for the box set, Bruce says “it’s not often we get a chance to redo, remake or, in this case, re-release a book...my book. It is with much thought, great enjoyment, many thanks, and heartfelt appreciation for family, friends, and fans that I present the re-release of No More Mr Nice Guy, a compilation of hilarious rock ‘n’ roll stories and life events that made me the man I am today.” Check it all out on the PledgeMusic website.

Roger Glover’s Butterfly Ball revisited

Way back in 1974, former Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover agreed to produce an album by his longtime bandmate Jon Lord, The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast a concept album based on a popular British children’s poem. When Lord couldn’t find time away from his obligations with Purple, Glover decided to go forward with the project, writing most of the songs and then opening up his phone book and recruiting a veritable “who’s who” of ‘70s British rock ‘n’ roll to record the project, including vocalists Ronnie James Dio, David Coverdale, and Glenn Hughes.

Released in November 1974 in the U.K. (almost a year later in the U.S.), the album earned a modicum of critical acclaim and performed respectively on its home turf, the Dio-sung “Love Is All” hitting the U.K. charts and reaching #1 in the Netherlands. As a result, a single performance of the production was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London on October 16th, 1975. With singer Ian Gillan (Deep Purple, duh…) appearing in place of Dio, who was touring with Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, the performance also included narration from the great Vincent Price and included model/actress Twiggy as one of the singers. The live concert was filmed and released in 1976, produced and directed by Tony Klinger.

Klinger has produced a limited edition, deluxe edition of the live performance of The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast which includes a double DVD containing the original concert film as well as the re-edited, re-mastered 2017 version; a previously-unreleased double-CD soundtrack from the live performance, a reproduction of the original press pack including five 8”x10” glossy promotional photos, and an A3 sized (roughly 11.5”x16.5”) reproduction film poster. Each box contains a numbered certificate signed by Klinger, and will be strictly limited to 250 copies. The deluxe edition of this beloved performance is available for order from the PledgeMusic website and runs roughly $129 plus shipping.

The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast is also available in other, less expensive formats from PledgeMusic, including just the two-disc DVD set of the concert (roughly $26) and the two-disc CD set (roughly $19) as well as t-shirts, a poster, and other memorabilia of the event. This is a gift for the Deep Purple fanatic as the concert features vocals from Ian Gillan, David Coverdale, and Glenn Hughes as well as music by Roger Glover and Jon Lord. The concert also includes talents like John Gustafson and Eddie Jobson of Roxy Music, John Lawton (Lucifer’s Friend, Uriah Heep), and Eddie Hardin (Spencer David Group), among others. A cool relic of the classic rock era, check out all the goodies available on the PledgeMusic website.

Joe Grushecky's Somewhere East of Eden

Joe Grushecky & the Houserockers

One of our favorite rockers, Joe Grushecky, is finishing up a new album titled Somewhere East of Eden and has asked for our help in getting it on the street. Taking advantage of the potential of "crowd funding," Grushecky has launched a fund-raising campaign on the PledgeMusic website and is gathering donations to finishing and manufacturing the album.

Who is Joe Grushecky you may ask? Just one of the baddest rock 'n' roll mofos to ever strap on a guitar and bang out three chords, that's who! Joe was the frontman of the Iron City Houserockers, one of the tightest, hardest-rockin' gangs to ever roam the 1970s, the band releasing four critically-acclaimed albums, including the essential, underrated Love's So Tough (1979) and 1980's Have A Good Time But Get Out Alive.

Since 1988 or so, he's been leading an equally dangerous outfit known as Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers, releasing around a dozen albums both with the band and as a solo artist, including the 1995 Bruce Springsteen-produced masterpiece American Babylon. Over a career that has now spanned five decades, Grushecky has worked with giants like Springsteen, Steve Van Zandt, Ian Hunter, and Steve Cropper, among others.

A rocker with a heart of gold, Grushecky has made his living all these years as a special education teacher in Pittsburgh's inner city, and has been one of the driving forces behind the Light of Day Foundation, raising over $1 million to fight Parkinson's Disease. Joe has performed annually at the Light of Day benefit concerts and, having seen Grushecky and the Houserockers take over a stage, I can say that you'll never see a better concert. Anything that Grushecky releases is A+ quality rock 'n' roll and, dare I say so, I think that Joe has made better records than his buddy Bruce over the past ten years or so…  

"I am so excited about this unique opportunity," says Grushecky in a press release for the pledge campaign. "Recording artists now have the ultimate freedom to actually have more control over the success of an album, and I intend to put this to good use in the creation of Somewhere East of Eden." Having seen Grushecky perform live, Joe is currently 93% of the way to his goal, so check out the perks you get when you donate to finish Grushecky's new album on his PledgeMusic page.

Wanna know what the Houserockers live experience is like? Check out the Reverend's Blurt magazine review of Joe Grushecky & the Houserockers' We're Not Dead Yet LP!