Welcome 2 My Nightmare - Guitar Player Steve Hunter

STEVE HUNTER

Main Photo By Alessandra Tootsie Tulli

Welcome 2 My Nightmare is the 26th studio album by Alice Cooper, released in September 2011. Peaking at No. 22 in the Billboard 200 it is Cooper's highest-charting album in the US since 1991's Hey Stoopid.

The idea for the album came about soon after the thirtieth anniversary of the original Welcome to My Nightmare album, while Cooper was talking with producer Bob Ezrin, who proposed the idea of a sequel to Welcome to My Nightmare. Cooper liked the idea, and decided to recruit previous members of the Alice Cooper band. The concept of the album was described by Cooper as "another nightmare, and this one is even worse than the last one."

Steve and Karen were living in Prescott AZ when he got the call about Welcome 2 My Nightmare. The album was being recorded in Nashville so it was decided that it might be a good time to leave AZ and move to Music City.

Just after the basic tracks had been started Alice was coming to town as part of his current tour and there was an office lunch arranged during his stop off which Steve and Karen attended.

During the lunch, Shep Gordon (Alice's manager) asked Steve if he would like to sit in on the show that night. Steve said sure and thought 'I'm 18' would be an easy choice.

So, that evening Steve found himself back onstage with his old boss after 30 years. It must have struck everybody that the sound of Steve playing took Alice back to the Classic Rock sound of the Nightmare era and soon after Steve was asked to join Alice on his next World Tour 'No More Mr Nice Guy'.

It was during the recording of this album that Steve met Guitarist/Producer Tommy Henriksen. They hit it off immediately and Steve was so impressed with Tommy that during a conversation with Bob (Ezrin) about who to approach to do the tour, Steve did not hesitate in suggesting Tommy.

Meanwhile Steve and Karen tried to settle in Nashville but alas, after the World tour had finished nearly a year later, they decided that Nashville was not ready to embrace Steve as a player, plus it was too cold for him and there were too many Tornado warnings for Karen. So they moved back to Arizona after he decided to stop touring and record a new solo album (The Manhattan Blues Project).

"'I Am Made Of You', the opening track on my new album 'Welcome 2 My Nightmare'. It's the best solo I've ever heard Steve do, Alice Cooper"

Recording the basic tracks

Tommy Henriksen, Bob Ezrin, Steve Hunter

BACK TO DISCOGRAPHY

Track listing

1. "I Am Made of You"
2. "Caffeine"

3. "The Nightmare Returns"
4. "A Runaway Train" (feat. Vince Gill)
5. "Last Man on Earth"
6. "The Congregation" (feat. Rob Zombie)
7. "I'll Bite Your Face Off"
8. "Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever" (feat. John 5)
9. "Ghouls Gone Wild"
10. "Something to Remember Me By"
11. "When Hell Comes Home"
12. "What Baby Wants" (feat. Ke$ha)
13. "I Gotta Get Outta Here" (feat. Vince Gill)
14. "The Underture" (Instrumental)

CREDITS

Alice Cooper – Vocals, harmonica
Bob Ezrin – Producer
Tommy Henriksen – (Associate Producer) Co-songwriter, Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Vocals, Programming, Engineer, Mixing
Michael Bruce – Guitars, keyboards, backing vocals on "A Runaway Train", "I'll Bite Your Face Off" and "When Hell Comes Home"
Dennis Dunaway – Bass, backing vocals on "A Runaway Train", "I'll Bite Your Face Off" and "When Hell Comes Home"
Neal Smith – Drums, percussion, backing vocals on "A Runaway Train", "I'll Bite Your Face Off" and "When Hell Comes Home"
Steve Hunter – Lead Guitar on 'I Am Made Of You', 'Something To Remember Me By', 'When Hell Comes Home','What Baby Want' 'll Bite Your Face Off' and "The Underture" Guitars on 'Caffeine' 'The Nightmare Returns' A Runaway Train' The Congregation' 'Gouls Gone Wild' 'I Gotta Get Outta Here'
Keith Nelson – Guitars, backing vocals on "Caffeine"
Desmond Child – Co-songwriter
Dick Wagner – Co-songwriter / Lead guitar on "The Underture" (1.08 - 1.23)
Tommy Denander – Guitars on "I Am Made of You"
Vince Gill – Lead guitar on "A Runaway Train" and "Gotta Get Outta Here"
Ke$ha – Guest vocals on "What Baby Wants"
Rob Zombie – Backing vocals and spoken-word monologue on "The Congregation"
John 5 – guitar on "Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever"
Chuck Garric – Bass
Jeremy Rubolino – Co-songwriter
Piggy D – Co-songwriter, and bass on "Last Man On Earth"
David Spreng – Co-songwriter and drums on "Last Man On Earth"
Kip Winger – backing vocals on "Ghouls Gone Wild" & "The Congregation"
Patterson Hood – guitar on "Gotta Get Outta Here"
Damon Johnson – guitar on "We Gotta Get Out of This Place"
Keri Kelli – guitar on "We Gotta Get Out of This Place"
Jimmy DeGrasso – drums on "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" & "I Gotta Get Outta Here"
Pat Buchanan – Guitars
Vicki Hampton – Backing vocals
Wendy Moten – Backing vocals
Hank Williams – Mastering
Scott Williamson – Drums
Jimmie Lee Sloas – Bass

Alice Cooper 'Welcome 2 My Nightmare' 2011