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Alice Cooper 'dies' four times

IT may seem morbid to 'kill' yourself onstage, but ALICE COOPER is one of the cheeriest men in rock.

And the legend - who topped himself FOUR times during his gig at Sonisphere this weekend - insists he is just a normal family man who is scared of his own alter-ego.

The rocker, whose real name is the not-so-cool Vincent Furnier, said: "Usually I do a meet-and-greet with the audience and take pictures with everybody. I'm not a recluse at all. I don't go and hide.

"I take the make-up off and come back out, but Alice the character would never talk to anybody.

"I don't even talk to Alice. I would be terrified to talk to him. I don't have anything in common with him, he doesn't show up but I do."

Alice Cooper performs on stage during the first day of Sonisphere Festival at Knebworth House in Stevenage, England

Alice spends a gruelling ten hours each day in the build-up to the show rehearsing his morbid spectacle.

He said: "The show is always set. In other words we rehearse for three weeks, every day, ten hours a day.

"There is so much going on, 28 songs, four acts, four Alice deaths. Every night my attitude is, 'Kill the audience.'

"I never go up with the attitude of, 'Gosh, I hope you like this tonight.'

"You go up there and grab them by the throats and say, 'You're mine for two hours!'"

He added: "The classic hanging is something Alice is known for... I'd feel naked up there without my guillotine.

"There's a 12-foot hypodermic needle too... but I'm terrified of needles."

Despite his roots in music, Alice has also stepped into the world of film - even scoring a cameo in Wayne's World.

His latest venture on the silver screen is alongside IGGY POP in Suck, a comedy about a rock 'n' roll band that will do anything to become famous.

"Iggy and I grew up together in Detroit from 1968," said Alice.

"He was really my competition, because I thought no one was freakier than me until I met Iggy.

"He was the godfather before there was THE RAMONES, before there was anything punk there was Iggy.

"And for Detroit, he just looked like one of the kids on the street to us, taking his shirt off, getting in a fight with a marine, that happened every night, so we were used to him. We were great friends. He's very theatrical without knowing it."

Alice performs at the Roundhouse on Oct 31 and Nov 1.