Beastö Blancö's Calico Cooper On Phoenix Sports, Dodgers Fans & Trying To Golf
Led by Chuck Garric (Alice Cooper, Dio, L.A. Guns), Brother Latham and Calico Cooper, Beastö Blancö is a hard rock band that has a lot of people talking. Formed in 2012, the group has a huge community of "Loyal Beasts" all over the world. As related to such, Beastö Blancö heads back onto the road for U.S. and European dates -- in support of 2018's Live From Berlin album -- on June 22nd with an appearance at Germany's Matapaloz Festival in Leipzig.
I had the pleasure of doing Q&A with vocalist Calico Cooper on her long-time appreciation of the sports world. Her father Alice Cooper is known to golf almost every year, beyond co-owning the Coopers'town sports bar in Arizona for 18 years, yet it is Calico that appears to be the most savvy of sports fans within the Cooper family. More on Beastö Blancö, including tour dates, can be found online at www.beastoblanco.com.
Word has it that you are loyal to all of the major Arizona teams: the Suns, the Cardinals, the Coyotes and the Diamond Backs. Has that always been the case?
Calico Cooper: It has. I believe in that. There is a magic that happens when you grow up in a city where sports matter. As a kid, everyone at school collected sports cards, wore the t-shirts and jerseys, went as family to the games no matter where the teams stood in the league. Phoenix had that when I was a kid. I had purple and orange braces for Pete’s sake. I went into a two-day pre-teen depression when the Suns lost to the Bulls on game seven in '93.
What was the last live sporting event you attended?
Calico Cooper: Besides my band's live show? (laughs) It was The Phoenix Open... See? It’s a thing. It’s a Phoenix thing.
Have you ever sung the national anthem at a sporting event before?
Calico Cooper: Yeah, drunk from the stands at almost every game I’ve gone to. (laughs) But no, never professionally. I may or may not have been a cheerleader at one point, so I guess I was ON the field singing AS the anthem was playing, but I’m not dead yet. There’s still time.
Right now the Diamondbacks are in first place in their division. How do you feel the season is going?
Calico Cooper: Obviously started off great. Then the slide. And now they are coming out of a slump. Lots of guys are coming back from injuries so I see the light! I live in L.A., so when I go see the Diamondbacks play at Dodger Stadium and I cheer I have been hit by nachos. This is a real story. No hate, though. I love that L.A. loves their team. I’ll take nachos to the head for that.
Do you have a favorite player on the Diamondbacks?
Calico Cooper: Of all time? The Big Unit, Randy Johnson. The guy exploded a pigeon. We claim this man. (laughs)
If the Diamondbacks move stadiums within the next few years, would that at all change how you feel about the team?
Calico Cooper: You know I know it’s tough when a team moves cities. It’s hard for mega-fans. And such a cool opportunity for the city receiving them. I’ll stay Diamond, though. They just play entertaining baseball.
Have you ever been to the "other" Cooperstown?
Calico Cooper: (laughs) Oh THAT old thing? Yes for sure. (laughs) Also, I worked as a teenager at my dad's restaurant Coopers'town when I was in high school. Lemme tell ya, you learn more about sports working at a sports bar than you do going to the games.
Also on the sports end, your father is known to be a major golf fan. Do you have any interest whatsoever in golf?
Calico Cooper: You know, after attempting it multiple times and being given lessons by some of the greatest golfers out there, it’s just not my sport. I watch and scream along with the masters on TV, but my only golf skill Is hitting the ball 400 years straight up in the air and having it land two feet from me.
Sports aside, what do the next few months look like for Beastö Blancö?
Calico Cooper: Sports included, the world is [Evander] Holyfield and we are [Mike] Tyson. Some ears are about to get bit.
We fly to Europe in a few days to join the Matapaloz festival with Megadeth, the Böhse Onkelz, and Arch Enemy. Then some killer follow up shows in Europe. We will head back to the States. Do some Midwest dates then release the new record.
Finally, is there something you wish more people knew about Calico Cooper?
Calico Cooper: If I could do it all over I’d be Charles Barkley’s PR person.