For a man who’s made a four-decade career out of slicing his own head off, Alice Cooper veritably squirmed in the face of UK freakdom at the London Dungeon last night, as he auditioned support artistes for his upcoming Halloween Roundhouse shows.

Seated in a blood-spattered throne, Alice selected four winning acts from 12 finalists, themselves hand-picked from a veritable multitude who’d originally enrolled online, crashing Cooper’s website five times in the process.

“This is just like my living room,” quipped The Coop, as he settled back to witness opera singers rolling on broken glass, power tools up nostrils, disembowelled teddy bears, inhaled milk, skewered foreheads and Sexor who… well, you had to be there.

The deserving winners, who will now support Alice alongside The Jim Rose Circus and Zodiac Mindwarp at London’s Roundhouse on October 31st and November 1st, were Syban V Manticore (a classical ballet dancer who’s masochistic combination of Swan Lake and acupuncture has to be seen to be believed), The Vivid Angel (when not hammering nails up her hooter she swings weights from her eyelids), Preacher (tattooed face, sledge-hammered stomach, bed of nails) and Damien S Fears (dangled beer barrels, skewered face, tongue in a mousetrap).

Looking at the outlandish costumes of his victorious freaks, Alice observed: “Me and my band are going to look underdressed, like we work in insurance.”

Iggy Pop was not available for comment.

– Ian Fortnam

In further news, The Coop has a new DVD on the way – and it was filmed in London last year.

Called Theatre Of Death – Live At Hammersmith 2009, it was shot on the last date of the man’s Theatre Of Death World Tour at Hammersmith Apollo. Here’s the full track listing:

School’s Out

Department Of Youth

I’m Eighteen

Wicked Young Man

Ballad Of Dwight Fry

Go To Hell

Guilty

Welcome To My Nightmare

Cold Ethyl

Poison

The Awakening

From The Inside

Nurse Rozetta

Is It My Body

Be My Lover

Only Women Bleed – I Never Cry

Black Widow

Vengeance Is Mine

Devil’s Food

Dirty Diamonds

Billion Dollar Babies

Killer

I Love The Dead

No More Mr. Nice Guy

Under My Wheels

School’s Out

Alice plays two special Halloween shows in London on October 31 and November 1 with special guests including Zodiac Mindwarp & The Reaction and Jim Rose.

Find out more at www.alicecooper.com