The first thing I ever remember was my mother changing me at a bus stop. I was so embarrassed. Of course, I was 14 at the time. I jest. I was probably about two years old.

I was a church kid. I went every Wednesday night, Friday night, all day Sunday. My family had no problem with rock’n’roll. My parents were actually champion jitterbuggers in their day. It was the lifestyle they were concerned about. The drugs. The sleeping around. And they had a point. It was only when I got sober and had seen all my friends die that I realised they had a point. I’m making the best records I’ve ever made and my health is fantastic. I didn’t need that other stuff.

My mother lives with me. She’s a tiger. She’s 95 and is my biggest fan. If you say anything bad about Alice Cooper, she’ll be on top of you. I was lucky to get the parents I did.

I don’t like to mix politics and rock’n’roll. I don’t look at Bono, Sting and Bruce Springsteen as political. I look at them as being humanitarian. I’ll contribute to anything humanitarian. Helping people who can’t help themselves. But when musicians are telling people who to vote for, I think that’s an abuse of power. You’re telling your fans not to think for themselves, just to think like you. Rock’n’roll is about freedom – and that’s not freedom.

I want my shows to take you as far away as possible from politics. It’s supposed to be an escape from the world we’re living in. And you know the next president is going to be worse than Trump, right?

I love playing with the Hollywood Vampires. It’s the band I do with Johnny Depp and Joe Perry from Aerosmith. I was doing a movie with Johnny, Dark Shadows, at Pinewood Studios and I was telling him about the original Hollywood Vampires, at my old drinking club at [legendary LA music haunt] the Rainbow in the 70s. There was Keith Moon, Bob Brown, Ringo Starr, Micky Dolenz, Harry Nilsson, John Lennon if he was in town… Basically, if you drank you were there. So we decided to form a band to play tribute to our dead friends and the songs they can’t play anymore. We do T. Rex songs, Who songs, Small Faces…

Here’s the thing about golf. There are people who are purists about golf and then there’s me and my friends. We play for fun and sometimes that means cheating. People have asked me if Trump cheats at golf – they all do. Bush, Clinton, Obama. They’re just having fun!

Alice Cooper’s live album A Paranormal Evening at the Olympia Paris is out now on earMUSIC. A new Hollywood Vampires album is expected next year