Alice Cooper explains Manson bond

Alice Cooper feels he has a lot in common with Marilyn Manson.

The two rockers are currently on their joint Masters of Madness Tour, which runs until the end of this month.

With decade-spanning careers and eccentric exteriors, the musicians can really understand one another.

"I saw him at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards and then I had him on my radio show, so yeah we're feeling each other out. We have a lot in common, stuff that other people wouldn't have in common in the fact that we both play characters," Alice explained to Rolling Stone.

"We both created a couple of monster characters and then what we kind of talked about on my radio show is how do you deal with that character against your real life? And sometimes that character being the fact that it's so overpowering, does it ever take over? For me, I've had a lot more time to work with Alice, so I know when to be Alice and when not to be Alice. I just told him it's very hard to maintain a character 24 hours a day and there may come a time when you have to divorce yourself from the character just so you'll like the character."

Marilyn and Alice are both known for their outrageous fashion sense and love of shocking on stage.

Alice decided to create his wild exterior to fill a gap in the market, but also sees the importance of being true to himself.

"We were talking about why we created the characters, what was the idea behind it. My idea was that rock needed a consummate villain and I would be more than happy to create that villain. I thought I had to be that character all the time and it nearly killed me," he admitted.

"I'm trying to drink with Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix and those guys, and they're professionals, and I'm like 18 years old, it nearly killed me. That's when I realised I have to allow myself to be me and then I really appreciate playing the character of Alice. I don't know how long you can maintain one character 24 hours a day without having some kind of a break."

The Masters of Madness Tour is in Morrison, US, tonight.