Rock-n-Roll should be loud, proud, in your face, and that is exactly the flag heavy rockers Beastö Blancö fly. A band led by seasoned Alice Cooper Bassist Chuck Garric along with Alice’s daughter Calico Cooper, Beastö Blancö take charge with their adrenaline filled brand of Rock. Combining theatricals with heavy, no-holds-barred grooves, Beastö Blancö are preparing to blast into overdrive with their Monstrous Things Tour, hitting the US this July.
Already having released 2 studio albums, and most recently, a live album, truth of the matter is, the beast is more than ready to be unleashed on an even larger audience. Eager to do just that, Chuck Garric and Calico Cooper sat down to chat about Beastö Blancö’s mission, ideas for their stage show, plans for new music, plus more.
CrypticRock.com – Beastö Blancö came together back in 2012, and since then, the band has toured the world, released 2 full-length albums, and continues to keep going strong. First, tell us, what inspired the formation of the band?
Chuck Garric – Just wanting to play Rock-n-Roll. Beastö Blancö is packed full of people who love what they do. We’re all creative people. We’re artists, songwriters, and entertainers. It’s a great medium to continue our quest.
Calico Cooper – Yea, it’s an outlet for me. I can’t think of any other situation in the world where I get to swing around a bat and scream at the top of my lungs. I’ll take it!
CrypticRock.com – (Laughs) The band is certainly high energy. The most recent studio album was the 2016 self-titled release. A really well-crafted selection of songs, what was it like putting that record together?
Chuck Garric – The last record was a lot of fun. It was our first time working with Ryan Greene as a producer. I have never worked with anyone who is so passionate about what they do in my life. He really did work hard on getting the best out of each person. He is also producing the third record we are almost finished with as we speak. Working on Beastö Blancö was a lot of fun for me because I realized we were growing as a band, I could hear it happening as each song developed and became its own thing and you could hear Calico coming through more. You could hear that we toured, we have done a lot of shows together, and you can hear the growth of the band. As you grow with us, you come to see the band, you can see the growth of the band. I love that record for that exact reason, I hear a lot more chances taken.
Calico Cooper – That was my plan. The first record I kind of laid low, I said, “Alright, I will sing backup vocals.” The second record I stuck my leg in, and now on the third record, I have just exploded all over it.
Chuck Garric – (Laughs) She is on the third record a lot, we love it!
CrypticRock.com – Awesome! What can you tell us about the forthcoming album? Is there a release date set?
Chuck Garric – There is no release set at this moment, but we are just about wrapped up recording everything. We are just about done with the guitars and will be in the mixing process in the next few weeks. We are really loving it. Again, we worked very hard on developing the record’s sound and the songs. It has to be a lot of fun to be a Beastö Blancö fan because you get so much variety, you get so much bang for your buck. We work so hard on the music and show, we really do this for the fans.
CrypticRock.com – It will be fun to hear the new material. Speaking of new music and live shows, you have some shows set up for this summer. Will you be performing some of the new songs on these dates?
Chuck Garric – Absolutely! I am forcing everybody to learn them now, let’s go! I love these new songs so much, we will definitely be playing probably a good 2-3 of them. I will get in as many as I can there. Also, always playing the fan-favorites and the ones that have gotten us where we are now. These new songs really add to the show, it’s just a dynamic set and such a great visual show.
CrypticRock.com – Very cool. Will there be perhaps some more USA dates added?
Chuck Garric – I wish we are always pushing for more. It depends on what our schedule allows, but we are always pushing for more dates. I definitely know there will be more stuff in the future.
Calico Cooper – Yea, I am trying to get Chuck to book more shows in tropical island paradises, but so far no good. (Laughs)
CrypticRock.com – (Laughs) That would be fun too! It was just this past January the band put out a live record recorded in Berlin back in 2016. Clearly a band that accelerates at the live performance, how excited are you to get back on the road for some shows this summer?
Chuck Garric – That exact thing, it’s just pure acceleration. I can’t even describe it, it’s just happening. I sort of check out at times, I try not to think too much, I’m just trying to do. I know on stage anything is possible, anything can happen. I have worked with some of the best in the business and there is nobody like Calico Cooper on stage. She is so dynamic, one of the true rockstars. I get off on her freedom and her ability to give it all, just to sort of let go.
On stage, I try to do the same thing. I sort of let go and let what’s going to happen. There are a lot of things that I don’t have control of, I want each show to be a little different and unique to its own self. That way the fans that are there realize they just got something that’s not going to happen again. They may go to the next show and hear the same songs, but it’s going to be a different show.
Calico Cooper – Right, Chuck and I are up there doing our best as lead singers, but the band is so solid, it is like having the strongest backbones ever. For as free as we are thematically, the music is solid, it’s iron. These guys play this stuff with a ton of heart, but you can count on it.
CrypticRock.com – You can certainly hear that in the live record for those who have not seen the band. You can feel the ferocity, it really has an intensity you can hear in the music.
Chuck Garric – Yea, that is big. Growing up, there was a lot of music growing up where you would hear live records. My way of thinking, Live From Berlin was kind of like Beastö Blancö 101, for if you are going to come to a concert, this is how you participate.
Calico Cooper – We have learned from the best. We worked with Dio and Alice, plus my background in film and television, you take little bits from everybody you work with. The culmination is the show that you are seeing. Beastö Blancö is great to listen to, but it’s a live experience. It is something when you leave, you are a little bit altered.
CrypticRock.com – You both have vast experience in different forms. Chuck, beyond working with Alice Cooper, you have shared your talents with many other artists. Do all those experiences feed into what this band is?
Chuck Garric – Absolutely. I think all of our experiences in life in general feed into what we are doing at this particular moment. I’ve had the privilege of playing with some of the best in the business, some true legends in Rock-n-Roll and Theatrical Rock as well. All of that stuff plays into Beastö Blancö, but also that speeding ticket I got the other the day too. It’s just a big life experience.
Calico Cooper – (Laughs) It does! Every time I listen to Beastö Blancö I run a little quicker, I lift a bit more weight. It is one of those bands that hits you on an animal level.
CrypticRock.com – Yes, it certainly does give you an adrenaline rush. Calico, coming from an entertainment background, you have gone on to a career in Rock-n-Roll, but also as an actress. Just because a parent is in the entertainment industry, it does not mean their children are going to follow that path. What was your leading inspiration to follow this path?
Calico Cooper – I did know from being a kid what I wanted to do. I always tell this story, I was traveling with my dad when I was a kid and we were at passport control going from some country to another, and he listed under occupation, and you can list anything – you could put musician, rockstar, you can be cheeky and put living legend – but I always remember he put entertainer. That is how I qualify myself, I’m an entertainer, I always have been and I always will be.
If it’s just you and me alone in a room, I’m entertaining you, I can’t help it. It’s not anything to do with me, it has to do with you. It brings me joy to watch you laugh, gasp, or jump out of your seat. I’ve always been an entertainer and whatever medium that plays in, it’s fantastic. For god sakes, even in high school, I was a cheerleader – it was anything, anything to entertain you. Like I said, it’s less to do with me, and more about people’s reaction, I was just born to entertain. Beastö Blancö is such an amazing platform to me, because I never entertained singing.
Like you said, just because my parents do it, doesn’t mean that I do it. Chuck had such a clear vision of what he wanted, so I thought, I could do that, I could try it anyway. It was such a perfect fit, it fit everything I wanted to do. It was rebellious enough and stepped away from what my parents were doing to feel good.
CrypticRock.com – That is great to hear. It is exciting that you both came together to form the band. Obviously the live show is important to Beastö Blancö, but you also have put out some cool music videos. Can we expect some new music videos?
Chuck Garric – Oh absolutely! I think Calico and I both drive on that aspect. I love throwing ideas at her and talking about concepts. When we start feeding off each other, bouncing ideas off each other, it’s endless to what we really can do. She is such a visual person and very creative. I really look forward to doing that again. I think there is a lot more that we still need to tap into. We have some good surprises for the upcoming record.
Calico Cooper – Completely! I’m a fan of the music, I always have been. That’s something, I don’t know if some bands say they get burnt out on their music, but I get so revved up and I love Beastö Blancö and the songs so much. When I’m driving and stuck in traffic in LA, my brain starts swimming with ideas like, we should do this, or we can do this. It never occurs to me that anybody would say no or there is a budget, so in my brain we are doing a Michael Bay film. (Laughs) Then when I come down I say, ok, what’s doable? We come up with some of the greatest things that are pretty much how it looked in my head!
CrypticRock.com – It will be fun to see what you come up with next. Beastö Blancö is uniquely all your own. It is something you could hear on SiriusXM Octane. Have you had some traction on that channel?
Calico Cooper – We’ve been on Ozzy’s Boneyard, we are out there, but we always welcome more!
Chuck Garric – We have had a little bit of traction there. The guys in Five Finger Death Punch love the band and they cranked it up for us a number of times when they took over the airwaves there. We are moving forward in getting a little bit more attention.
CrypticRock.com – Great! It would certainly fit in the mix there and is well-deserved. Last question. We also cover Horror and Sci-Fi films on CrypticRock. If you are a fan of either or both genres, what are some of your favorites and why?
Chuck Garric – Well, I am going to let Calico speak first, she has turned me on to some really good ones.
Calico Cooper – For me, the turn around that just happened in the last 5 years in Horror, was something I was a huge fan of. Cerebral Horror movies are my favorite. I loved what they did with The Cabin in the Woods (2012). How happy are you when you go see a movie, and you go, ok, I see what you did. I really am a fan.
I collect C and D rated Horror movies. I am not kidding you, I have one called Monsterturd (2003), about a monster made completely of shit – it’s true, look it up. I collect all the Gingerdeadmans, Thankskilling (2009), all of that. I do love a good stinker. Also, I love the trend of these cerebral Horror movies happening. I just saw A Quiet Place, it was excellent. How do you pull that off? I am so proud of filmmakers and people that are funding these movies, because they are not Found Footage, that is easy to make, that’s cheap to make. I have seen some good Found Footage movies, but the return of the big budget Horror movies is making my heart soar. These guys they are paying to have these movies made are going, ok cool, let’s do a movie where nobody talks. It’s awesome!
There’s a movie, and a lot of people haven’t seen it, it’s from the ’70s, a Horror movie called The Ceremony (1971). To this day, I don’t know if it’s because I saw it when I was a kid, I don’t know, but I own it on VHS still. It is one of the most terrifying, I still have nightmares about this creature in The Ceremony. I have actually been doing some research into remaking this film and who owns it and who owns the rights. This thing should be re-unleashed on people!
Chuck Garric – I’m a huge fan of Horror movies too. Growing up as a kid, my mom loved Horror movies. My dad worked at night, so we would stay up watching as many as we possibly could. I found it hard for me to go to sleep at night. We had fun watching Phantasm (1979), When a Stranger Calls (1979), older movies like that. To this day, when I see them, I love how they were made.
I am a fan of the Evil Deads and those gore Horror movies, but I am also a huge Sci-Fi fan. I love good battle scenes and monsters. I love all that stuff. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) and creepy monsters. I am just a fan of the old school Horror, I can’t get away from the classics.
CrypticRock.com – All a bunch of good selections. As Calico said, they are getting better. It seems a lot of the best Horror is coming out in the form of TV series.
Chuck Garric – Oh yea. I am so stuck on Black Mirror, I think it’s such a great Horror TV show that taps right into now. It’s really good, it will trip you out with how relative it is.
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