Ahead of Phoenix show, Calico Cooper talks Beasto Blanco

When Beasto Blanco perform at The Van Buren Thursday night in support of Lord of the Lost, it'll be a homecoming for one of the members.

Calico Cooper, daughter of longtime Valley resident Alice Cooper, grew up here and is one of band's vocalists and stage performers, helping to bring the band's signature blend of theatrical rock and heavy metal to life.

Before the show, she spoke with Phoenix New Times about Beasto Blanco's first new album in five years, "Kinetica"; the band's immersive creative world; and her feelings about Phoenix.

Quotes have been edited for length and clarity.

Phoenix New Times: This is the first Beasto Blanco album in five years. What motivated the timing for coming back for "Kinetica"?
Cooper: We really took that time during the pandemic to write something that we felt pushed us. Beasto is a blues-based heavy metal/rock band, but we decided to push ourselves just one step past our comfortability and sort of explore the more electronica aspects of rock 'n' roll. We didn't know if it would fit us, but we took the time in those five years to really create more characters. We created a comic book, our stage characters got names and backstories and we did a music video for every single song as well as a full feature film with the characters. The plan is now that "Kinetica" is out, we're releasing one video at a time, and seemingly they make no sense put together, but then when you see the film, you go, "Oh my gosh," that's how these are all connected. It's just a really cool way of artistic expression.

Was adding the extra elements like the comic book, music videos and feature film something that came from you, or was it more of a group effort or an idea from your record label?
When we first started doing Beasto Blanco, I was a backup singer. Maybe it's my DNA, maybe it's just being an artist, I don't know, but every show I would have another idea. ... After the second record, Chuck and I sat down and he said, “I think we're really missing a huge opportunity here. Would you like to be a co-singer with me, sort of like a heavy metal Sonny and Cher?

Initially, I didn't know if I wanted to be in a band — not because I don't love music, but my fear at the time was that I would always be compared to my dad, and there was never any way that anybody would ever accept what I was doing more than just a nepo kid ... trying to do what their parents did. After a long time, I started reading the reviews, and people were comparing me to him and it dawned on me that that is, without a doubt, the highest compliment you could get. You're talking about a rock legend, and you're comparing me to him. I shouldn't be kicking my feet. I should be screaming "thank you" from the rooftops, because that's a massive compliment.

So, when we set out to do "Kinetica," the guys in Beasto Blanco and the label just basically took my handcuffs off and said, "Do whatever you want, go as far as your brain can go." What I came up with was this hillbilly space odyssey that must have been living in my brain all this time and I created these characters. You know when you see rock 'n' roll movies, a lot of it's kind of like cameos and flash. I'm an actor, so I wrote in heavy pathos and catharsis.


Is there a moment or memory of being on stage that you've seen Beasto Blanco’s music have an effect on a fan?
I can think of two. I remember we had done a really long tour with Halestorm and Palaye Royale, and we were on one of our last couple of shows. I was going through something in my relationship, and I didn't know if it was going to make it. I was super sick with the flu, and I'd given it everything I had. ... At the end of the show, during the last verse, I just dropped to my knees right, and I was singing it on my knees. And I don't know what happened, but it communicated to the crowd that they knew that that was all I had left. And I was singing and singing and singing, and I opened my eyes, and the front row there's two people crying with their hands up, like, "keep going." It was just this beautiful human moment.

Another time, our guitar player, Brother Latham, has this really heartbreaking guitar solo. He's the guy in Beasto that's the strong, silent one that nobody ever pays any mind and then he has his moment. So, he's playing the solo and it moved me so much that I took a knee and bowed to him. And my character, Machine Girl, bows to no one, so when I did that, I looked back and the band was crying. That's amazing. It's just something about this show is really emotional and I don't know what it is.

I'm figuring out alongside the fans what it is that's moving people, and I think the answer might be authenticity.


How are you feeling about returning to Phoenix with Beasto Blanco for your upcoming show at The Van Buren on September 26?
I cannot wait to play in Phoenix and have my old friends and family and people that have come to the Christmas Pudding come see this Beasto show, because it's something I can truly say you will leave changed.

Is there anything that's part of the show or the set list that was inspired by having grown up in Phoenix and/or your connection to the city?
There's a song called "Grind," and "Grind" is about the people that literally make the world work, not the 1 percenters. It's all the rest of us, the people that get up and walk on the 120-degree pavement to their cars to get to work and grind it out. I love that song because it reminds me of Phoenicians. It reminds me of the people that I grew up around. The lyrics are “I may not been born with a crown on my head, but mom gave me muscles and knuckles instead,” and I just love that idea.

There's a reason that we set most of the videos in the desert, it's very like southern Gothic meets spaghetti western. It shows the rawness and nakedness of somebody that lives and works in Phoenix, Arizona, because you are living in one of the most beautiful places on earth, but you gotta want it because it is so hot, and it is such a grind. But man, at night, when I look over that desert and those stars, I never will feel at home like I do there.


Having Chris Harms produce "Kinetica" and guest on the new song/video “Unreal,” what most excites you about being on tour with his band Lord of the Lost?
Seeing Beasto and Lord Of The Lost together reminds me of when you were a kid and you went to go see a double feature of "Alien," and then "Aliens" right after. They're both so cool, and you just know that you're in for a whole day of fun.

Chris Harms was one of the first people outside of the Beasto family that got me. He got I’m not trying to be sexy. If something happens, it's an accident. I'm not trying to be heavy metal or hardcore, but there's genuine moments where it just happens. There are so many bits on the record he kept that were just improv, like big notes or screeches or my voice cutting out, he loved that. He got it. When they asked us to do this tour, and then they told us it's in all our hometowns —L.A., Phoenix, San Francisco — we jumped at that.

I can say this with my whole chest: It's rare that I would go see the opener and the headliner with equal enthusiasm. If I wasn't in this band, I would be the first person in line to see the show. The merch is cool. The performances are going to be off the chain. The songs are great. And the kind of people that listen to Lord of the Lost and Beasto Blanco are just cool. It's just this big "Mad Max throwdown" and I cannot wait to play.