Not a lot is known about Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper and Joe Perry’s new supergroup, other than the origin of its name Hollywood Vampires, but now it’s emerged that the band are working on an impending album that will feature a cameo by none other than Sir Paul McCartney.
Reports Rolling Stone, McCartney stopped by one of the Hollywood Vampires recording sessions in Los Angeles and re-recorded a version of Come and Get It – a song he penned in 1969 during an Abbey Road session which was then released by Apple band Badfinger, then called The Iveys.
The Hollywood Vampires name is taken from Cooper’s 1970s drinking crew featuring the likes of John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Keith Moon and Ringo Starr. Cooper and Depp’s musical tribute to the crew has now reportedly begun to record tracks with producer Bob Ezrin that are touchingly dedicated to their late peers.
“The record is dedicated to all the friends we’ve lost to drugs and alcohol over the years and getting people to come in and cover the songs their friends wrote,” Perry tells Rolling Stone, explaining McCartney’s presence on the record.
“He knew all the chords, the lyrics, everything,” Perry explains of McCartney’s recording session. “He didn’t have any cheat sheets. It was like he’d been playing it his whole life. Me and Alice and Johnny were standing there and looking at each other and I tell you — if there’s any ego-lever in a room, it’s Paul. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done. If Paul’s in the room, he’s there. It was hard to focus on playing.”
“I was joking with him and said, ‘You probably wrote this in 20 minutes,'” adds Perry. “And he said, ‘Actually, I was in bed sleeping and I knew they needed a song for this band we signed, and I went downstairs and played it on the piano and then went to Abbey Road an hour before the rest of the [Beatles], played all the instruments, made the demo and gave [Badfinger, then called the Iveys] the song.'”
Perry says that Cooper and McCartney shared lead vocals on their version of Come and Get It, which may appear on a forthcoming Hollywood Vampires album, though no details have been announced yet. So far Hollywood Vampires have announced just one live show as a part of Brazil’s Rock In Rio festival this September, but Perry says an extended tour is in the works. No word if McCartney will be joining them on the road.
McCartney has done quite a bit of revisiting the vault lately, releasing a surprise series of previously un-heard Wings tracks as free downloads. Listen to one such track below as well as the 1969 demo version of Come and Get It.
