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AMSTERDAM - After the lethal heroine and cocaine mix of singer Layne Staley in 2002, the career of American rock band Alice In Chains seemed over. However, last september they released a new album, the first in almost fourteen years: Black Gives Way To Blue.

Looking back on their careers and Staley's death – he was only 34 – guitarist Jerry Cantrell (43) and drummer Sean Kinney (43) are glad that music lovers and critics finally start to see that Staley wasn't just a junk. Cantrell: “People realise what the guy contributed, and the amazing talent that he was.”

Gipsy Rose
Alice In Chains was founded in 1987. Cantrell remembers the first time he saw Staley playing with one of his other bands. “I played with Mike Starr [AIC-bassist from 1987 until 1993] in a really crappy band called Gipsy Rose”, the blond guitarist says. “I met Layne at a house party, he invited me up to Ballard, where he lived at a place called The Music Bank. It was a 24 hour rehearsal hall with 50 rooms, and just something going on all the time.”

Kinney: “Jerry was looking to put a band together and Layne said: ‘I know this drummer dude, he’s cool’. So Jerry called my girlfriend at the time, Mike Starr's sister Melinda, and we went down to The Music Bank. Layne said that we needed a bass player. He had jammed with Mike Starr and thought he was a cool dude. I was like: ‘that’s weird, ‘cause this is his sister and I’ve been in bands with Mike since we were eleven. So I called Mike, we got in a room, borrowed some gear, and jammed.”

Auditions
Still Staley didn't immediately want to commit himself to the new band. Cantrell and Kinney did, so they decided to organize auditions for a new singer in Staleys rehearsal room. They selected the worst singers they could find, to the annoyance of Staley. Cantrell laughs: “I think the final straw was the red-headed male stripper.” Staley came on board.

Just like Alice In Chains was formed by coincedence, the first gig fell into their hands by a twist of fate. A promoter heard the four piece play in the Music Bank and offered them a gig. Kinney: “We didn’t really have a band, but said yes anyway. He asked if we could play for a half hour, forty minutes. ‘Sure’, we said. We didn’t have any songs or anything.”

Fuck
Apart from the fact that there was no material, the band hadn't decided about a band name yet. Kinney came up with Fuck – thet even printed 'Fuck, the band' stickers for condoms – but soon they refrained from the idea. Kinney: “Nobody would put your flyers up!”

After they agreed on the moniker Alice In Chains – named after Staley's previous band Alice N' Chainz – the search for the right sound started. Cantrell: “There were some good choruses and a couple of good riffs here and there. The lyrics were horrible. I think you have found your sound when the four of you are digging whatever the hell you are playing.” Kinney emphasizes that music wasn't the foremost thing in the early days of Alice In Chains. “It was about survival, partying, and having a place to go to.”

Addiction
With Layne Staley in the ranks, Alice In Chains made three records: Facelift (1990), Dirt (1992), and Alice In Chains (1995). A period of silence started in 1996, during which Staley's addiction to drugs got out of hand. The band reunited one more time for the recording of two new songs: Get Born Again and Died. That was all: Staley couldn't overcome his addiction.

On April 5th, 2002, Layne Staley died in his appartment in Seattle, after a decade of struggling with drugs. Cantrell: “The story ended fucking badly. We lost our friend.” Despite everything, the music survived. “Before Layne died, we didn’t play for a long time, but the music somehow took on a live of it’s own. People kept it alive.”

New album
Kinney: “We were talking about a new album. That was always a possibility until the day he passed away.” Cantrell frequently visited Staley in his appartment. Cantrell: “He'd play me stuff and I would play him stuff. He’d be writing all the time.” Cantrell doubts if any of the music they wrote before Staley's death is left. “And if it’s there,” Kinney states, “it’s nothing that he or we would want to release.”

Cantrell and Kinney still can't stand the fact that the media excessively highlighted Staley's drug use after he died. Cantrell: “That’s the only thing anybody ever writes. Now that’s starting to fade: Layne has become more powerful in death. He’s gained a lot more reverence. Us talking about him, shines a little bit more light on the man that he was instead of the way that he died.”

Interview: Martin Kuiper
Text: Tom Springveld

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