Get ready to come face to face with the grateful undead in the unexpectedly world-shaking rock doc Unleashed Spirits: The Rise Of The Hollywood Vampires, directed by the veteran rock dokker Daniel E. Catullo. Just like Amityville, it turns out that the concept for the supergroup The Hollywood Vampires is based on a true story. On Sunset Strip, in the early 70s, there was a secret room at the top of the Rainbow Bar, where a group of rock stars would get away from the fans and drink each other under the table. Led by Alice Cooper, the drunken circle included Keith Moon, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Mickey Dolenz, and Harry Nilsson, who wrote all the songs for the acid-musical Skidoo, the acid animated feature The Point, and the Altman on acid Popeye. One day, a Rainbow waitress commented she never saw any of the group in daylight, that they were all like vampires. Feeling that this circle of tipsy musicians was as relevant as the famous literary drinking clubs, like the Algonquin Round Table, they officially dubbed themselves The Hollywood Vampires.
Joe Perry, Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp, and Tommy Henriksen pose for a promotional photo for Unleashed Spirits: The Rise of the Hollywood Vampires. photos credit Hollywood Vampires
“On Sunset Strip, in the early 70s, there was a secret room in the top of the Rainbow bar, where a group of rock stars would get away from the fans and drink each other under the table.”
Decades later, the club’s name was repurposed by Alice Cooper for a band that would honor what had happened back then, and those no longer alive who had been in it. It was a musical remembrance of a time that everyone was too drunk to remember, with Cooper writing original songs about the wild times they had. Joining him and Tommy Henricksen from Alice Cooper’s band was rhythm guitarist Johnny Depp, a musician from Kentucky whose day job overtook his potential as a rocker. The project entered supergroup territory when legendary Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry joined. With rotating members on drums and bass, the group also did covers of classic rock songs, with members of the original groups joining in on the album. Robby Krieger was brought in to play on The Doors cover, while Sir Paul McCartney dropped in to bang away on the piano for some tunes he wrote longer ago. The group started to cut their fangs on playing out live, until they found themselves in front of 90,000 screaming mother fuckers in Rio. And that was just the start of what Cooper describes as the world’s most expensive bar band.
I first heard The Hollywood Vampires over a decade ago on Alice Cooper’s nightly radio show. I was first exposed to the man named Alice back when I was six, when he appeared on The Muppet Show and bought Gonzo’s soul. It instantly became my favorite episode, teaching me there was “monster music” out there for kids like me. I have only been to the Rainbow once, close to 20 years ago. I remember a long-haired old man who stared into nothing, then suddenly cackled out of nowhere. That and the pictures of Ron Jeremy on the walls. But besides eating a ton of yummy meat at Alice Cooper’s now-closed Phoenix sports restaurant, Alice Coopertown, I have not dabbled in any of his stuff lately. Sure, Cooper did the best soundtrack for the best Friday the 13th sequel, but that was 40 years ago. So this documentary arrived with a clean palette, but not a huge appetite.
"…a film that is actually a controlled substance."
