Gary James' Interview With
Janice Buxton-Davis



He's the forgotten member of The Alice Cooper Group. There from the beginning, he played not only lead guitar, but co-wrote some of the band's biggest hits, including "School's Out", "I'm Eighteen" and "Elected". We are talking about Glen Buxton. Glen died on October 19th, 1997, just a few weeks before his birthday. He was 49-years-old. Glen's sister Janice Buxton-Davis talked with us about her brother and the early days of The Alice Cooper Group.

Q - Janice, you were a witness to the very beginning of The Alice Cooper Group when they were called The Earwigs. What did you think about the band? Did you think they would go on to get a recording contract and become as famous as they did?

A - I thought they were wonderful.

Q - Where did they perform? School dances? Churches? They weren't performing in bars yet, were they?

A - Well, there was only one bar. They used to practice in my parent's garage and I would bring them lemonade because I was about five years younger than Glen. The neighborhood kids would come over and watch. Sometimes they'd close the garage door so the kids would leave them alone, but yeah, I sat and watched all their practices. They'd practice on the back porch sometimes and they'd try to sneak inside 'cause it was hot, Arizona in the summer. Then one time they thought my parents were going somewhere. They hurried up and got all the equipment in the living room and then my mom came back and said, "Get that stuff out of here!" (laughs)

Q - Did she like the music?

A - She liked that they had a band and that Glen was involved in something, but she didn't want their instruments on the carpeting. She supported the band. She just didn't like that sometimes they got too loud.

Q - I guess that's a common complaint when you're practicing in your parents' home.

A - Yeah. There were a lot of garage bands then. It was going on all over Phoenix at least.

Q - Where there any bands that went on to become as famous as your brother was in?

A - Well, The Tubes. They were friends of the band and I would go to see them at like churches when they were The Beans. A lot of churches at the time would put on a youth night and they'd get the Phoenix garage bands to show up and play. They all knew each other. A bunch of 'em played at the VIP (youth club). By day it was the Phoenix JayCees meeting place and at night, the promoter named Jack Kurdish would put on bands and dances. There was no alcohol. There was soda pop. I think you had to be maybe fifteen to get in, but I was still too young. I'd go with my dad once in awhile. He'd take pictures of the band. I think he did some recording, but I'm not sure where those (tapes) are.

Q - They could be valuable.

A - I think Glen took them and they ended up in somebody else's hands and probably sold them a long time ago.

Q - After The Earwigs, the name of the group was The Alice Cooper Group. But then at some point it simply became Alice Cooper. Who was that someone that made that decision? Did Glen ever get mad about that? Did he ever talk to you about that?

A - He could see that the focus was on Alice more where he would have bodyguards to keep people out of his room after a concert.

Q - When the focus was put on Alice, the lead singer, the other guys became a backing band or sidemen.

A - In Almost Famous, (the movie) the out of focus guys. (laughs)

Q - Did Glen ever feel that KISS stole the spotlight from the Alice Cooper Group by having each member have a different image or identity?

A - I wasn't as in touch with that part of the history of the band because that took place away from me. I was more cognizant of what was going on in the beginning of the band.

Q - One of the earliest supporters of The Alice Cooper Group was Jim Morrison. Did you ever meet Jim Morrison?

A - No, but I could have. I wasn't old enough to get in The Cheetah. My parents and I went down to L.A. after visiting San Francisco and we stayed at Glen's house. Oh, this might have been the year before, sorry. I stayed at my cousin's. They played The Cheetah in the afternoon and kids could go in that were sixteen, but I was still only fifteen, so I couldn't go in. My mom and dad got to see Jim Morrison and I didn't.

Q - Even with your parents, you couldn't get in?

A - Well, I guess they didn't even try. I had to stand outside.

Q - What did your parents say about Jim Morrison?

A - They had followed Rock 'n' Roll music for a long time. They would buy me Doors albums for Christmas and my birthday so they liked the music I liked. They didn't really try to censor anything we did too much. My mom would say something once in awhile and we'd scoff at her. (laughs)

Q - Did you ever meet Janis Joplin or Jimi Hendrix?

A - No. I met the whole Pink Floyd band on one of those trips to L.A. We were staying in our camper at their house in Topanga and Pink Floyd were playing at The Bank in Torrance. It was August and we had come over for a little vacation. So that night Glen told my mom Pink Floyd was going to play and he wanted to take me, so I got to go. I know it was Dennis (Dunaway), me, and Glen and maybe Mike Bruce. We went to see them play and they were great. Then we went over to the apartment where the guys were sometimes staying, the Landmark. That's where everybody was. That's where Janis Joplin died. They were running around, having a party while they made me sit in a room.

Q - Were you a fan of Pink Floyd?

A - Oh, yeah.

Q - I'm just trying to determine if it would have been more exciting for you to have met Jim Morrison as opposed to Pink Floyd?

A - Well, I certainly would have liked to meet Morrison. That would've been nice. I got to meet John Densmore at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. So, that was pretty cool.

Q - You have to clear something up for me: Was there ever a hidden guitarist playing Glen's parts while Glen was onstage?

A - That never happened.

Q - Your brother had an alcohol problem, didn't he?

A - He liked to drink. He always had a terrible problem going to sleep at night and getting up in the morning. That was a problem for the band when they started moving around in airplanes. My mom even bought him a pillowcase that said "Hate To Go To Bed At Night. Hate To Get Up In The Morning." He was a night owl.

Q - He went into rehab and got help and for a time was working at a Goodyear factory?

A - He never went to rehab, not during the band days.

Q - Did he work at a Goodyear factory?

A - Well, it had been Goodyear. My dad worked there for many decades. He did soldering on boards and soldered transistors and things on boards.

Q - Did people recognize either Glen's face or name? Did anyone ever say, "Weren't you in Alice Cooper?"

A - Oh, yeah. They all knew.

Q - Did they ask him why he was there?

A - All I can tell you is what I imagine. Anyone who said that to him, he would just say, "Yeah. I need a job."

Q - He was also working on an interview program for P.B.S. called Just Testing?

A - There's a whole video of him on YouTube interviewing people. He filmed that when he went to Iowa. He met those guys that had a recording studio. If you think about Wayne and Garth doing a show in their basement, that's kind of what it was equal to in a way. He interviewed Steve Vai and Weird Al.

Q - Did he have any journalism background?

A - Yeah. He had a journalism background from high school, but that's about all.

Q - Not to be morbid here, but when Glen passed, he died from complications of pneumonia. I thought he had pneumonia licked.

A - I forget which one is the nastiest pneumonia, the viral I think, the one that can slowly develop until it eats up all your red blood cells. You can't get air anymore. A lot of people have that happen to them. I even got it one time. It hits you before you know what's going on. I talked to him right after he got back from Texas. The guys got together in Texas and played some places. They did a record show. I talked to him when he got back and he said, "Yeah, I got a pain in my side. I'm going to have to see the bone pressure chiropractor." Next thing I knew, he was gone.

Q - In your lifetime did you ever get involved in any aspect of show business?

A - No. I was a teacher.

Q - What did you teach?

A - English, although I've been retired for quite awhile.

Q - What grades did you teach?

A - I taught elementary and junior high.

Q - Did anyone ever make the connection with your last name to your brother?

A - They all knew because I played "School's Out" for them all the time. I told them all. I played anything that had "School's Out" or any Alice Cooper thing. Then The Simpsons started using their song. I'd say, "Hey, did you see The Simpsons? They played my brother's song."

Official Website: www.TheOriginalGlenBuxton.com

© Gary James. All rights reserved.