Alice In Chains

[pfillion]

JERRY CANTRELL: How Former QUEENSRźCHE Guitarist CHRIS DEGARMO Ended Up Playing On New ALICE IN CHAINS Album

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/jerry-cantrell-how-former-queensryche-guitarist-chris-degarmo-ended-up-playing-on-new-alice-in-chains-album/

[Samsara]

I was just about to post that. Remember last week when I mentioned DeGarmo's influence a bit. Well, the writer from Guitar World hears it, but in a song I really didn't pick up on, ironically, the one DeGarmo plays on. 

There’s also a third guitarist on the record. Chris DeGarmo, who used to be in Queensryche, makes an appearance.

Yeah! He played on “Drone” — he did the acoustic part that comes before the solo. That picking guitar in the middle, that’s Chris. And then I’m doing the electric on top of him. He lives in Seattle and he came down to the studio a couple of times. I was talking to him one day and I was like, “I’d love to have you on this record somewhere.” And he said, “That’s fine, but I don’t really need to do that. You guys do your thing.” But I was like, “No, I’d really like to have you on it!” So, he agreed, and he came down one day and I just happened to be working on “Drone.” I hadn’t really planned on a part in the song for him, but that was the day he showed up. And the part I was playing has this sort of fucked-up spider chord in it — where your pinkie is kind of dominant in the middle of the fretboard… it’s difficult, especially on an acoustic — and if you wanna take that a step further, it’s even more difficult on a 12-string. It’s nearly impossible to do without fretting out, or buzzing or whatever.

Well, back in the day Queensryche was known for using those sorts of extended chord voicings. That was Chris DeGarmo’s thing.

Exactly. He was totally the guy to do that. So when it was time to record that part I was kind of fumbling around with it, and I was like, “Why don’t you try it?” [laughs] And he said okay. So the way we did it — and we did this on a few songs — was that instead of doing one 12-string pass we did two six-string passes. One take with a guitar with super-thin strings, and then one take with a regular acoustic. Then you get the 12-string effect by running them together. Chris did two passes, and he did a great job. And more importantly, he’s one of my friends and one of my heroes from my hometown. I fucking love Queensryche. So it was great to have him on the record.

[Grappler]

For anyone missing that classic AIC sound, here is Chout, from Chicago.  The singer is in an AIC tribute band (Facelift) here and this is his original band.  I've never heard of them before, but if this isn't the reincarnation of Layne Stayley, I don't know what is...

Chout - Seasons.   https://youtu.be/-9EoPffZNfw

[Anxiety35]

He's got the style down, that's for sure.

Not a fan of the song. That Black Sabbathy thing in the middle of the song is cool, but overall it's an okay song.

[Phoenix87x]

For anyone missing that classic AIC sound, here is Chout, from Chicago.  The singer is in an AIC tribute band (Facelift) here and this is his original band.  I've never heard of them before, but if this isn't the reincarnation of Layne Stayley, I don't know what is...

Chout - Seasons.   https://youtu.be/-9EoPffZNfw

Sounds great

[T-ski]

Ran across this on YouTube today.  Could be interesting, lots of old footage.....

https://youtu.be/DsDUhtfOcXQ

[Phoenix87x]

I'm definitely gonna check that out.

[Stadler]

Some of the pure Layne stuff is a little dark for me, but when they were clicking as a band, they were good (and AiC still is).

I'll definitely watch that.

[ProfessorPeart]

Jerry has a new solo album coming on October 29th. It's called Brighten.

https://youtu.be/F76Vp9ODy6s

[TAC]

Jerry has a new solo album coming on October 29th. It's called Brighten.

That's almost oxymoronish.

[Nel]

Never thought I'd see the day when we got a third album from Jerry Cantrell. But I really do like those first two, so I'll check it out.

[ReaperKK]

Jerry has a new solo album coming on October 29th. It's called Brighten.

That's almost oxymoronish.

I don't think I've checked out Jerry's solo work but I do like the recent AIC releases so I'll give this a listen.

[Kwyjibo]

Jerry has a new solo album coming on October 29th. It's called Brighten.

https://youtu.be/F76Vp9ODy6s

So has anyone heard it? What do you think?

I listened today and had a hard time not to fall asleep. Boring, plodding country rock. Jerry, where are the great riffs? Where is the rock? Where is the weirdness? Where is everything that made your first two solo records great?

[ProfessorPeart]

I have not. As of now, the only place to get a physical copy is his website and the shipping is stupid. I've been waiting for regular retailers to have it but it seems that they won't have it until the 12th. Amazon still has nothing but the digital.

[Kwyjibo]

Yeah, that too. Was wondering why nobody in Germany seemed to have a physical cd to buy, and buying from his website is just not worth it when shipping costs more than the actual product.

Listened to it on spotify and now I'm kinda glad I didn't buy the cd beforehand.

[hefdaddy42]

I listened on Spotify yesterday.

It was OK.  Not really good enough for me to buy a physical CD, but it was, you know, OK.

[fivestring]

So has anyone heard it? What do you think?

I listened today and had a hard time not to fall asleep. Boring, plodding country rock. Jerry, where are the great riffs? Where is the rock? Where is the weirdness? Where is everything that made your first two solo records great?

I wouldn't pan it that hard... Like Hef said, it's ok.  However - to your point... Jerry's other solo albums were created when AiC wasn't really a thing. There were likely frustrations and he had nowhere to create rock riffs and his trademark sounds. Now Alice is going strong and likely his solo stuff is for his more acoustic/singer-songwriter stuff to come out as opposed to putting on an AiC album. Jerry is the main force in AiC, and this is where he diversifies instead of doing something that sounds just like AiC. I'm sure he's got rock and weird riffs in store - just for an Alice album.

[RodrigoAltaf]

I saw Jerry Cantrell in Toronto tonight. He played at a relatively new venue called History,  and I loved the show. The songs from his new solo album are ok, although some of them sound too simplistic and naive. The show was great though, and he brought out songs from the first two albums and also selected Alice in Chais cuts: Rooster, Would?, Them Bones, Check My Brain...

[Samsara]

Nice to see AiC back on the road. Opening for GnR this summer, and then doing headline shows on days off. Picked up a pair of tickets today for one of those headline gigs.

For those interested, password appears to be AIC2023. Tickets on sale now with that. Otherwise, public on sale is Thursday, June 29.

Saw Jerry Cantrell on his solo tour in support of Brighten. I was really disappointed. The band sounded great, but they didn't play enough of Jerry's actual SOLO material. They played AiC hits, and then a handful of solo tracks. Was kind of annoyed, TBH. Had they done a bunch of AiC deep cuts and a bunch of solo, that would have been different.

In any event, I'm looking forward to the AiC gig. Last time the Mrs. and I saw them, they were in support of The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here, at the tail end of support for that album. (Album came out in 2013, we saw them in July 2015). Unfortunately, we missed any nearby dates in support of Rainier Fog (which we both thought was a much more impressive record), because they were touring with co-headliners that we had no interest in. (They co-headlined with Bush in 2022 - no thanks, KORN in 2019 - no thanks, and they skipped our area entirely in 2018.) So, really looking forward to this full-on AiC headline show in October 2023.

 

[Samsara]

Saw AiC over the weekend for the first time in seven years. Really good show. This was my sixth time seeing AiC, starting in 2005 with the Tsunami Benefit show. AiC was heavy on all the hits, but sadly, the lame crowd in the pit sort of sucked the energy out of the room. That's one thing that stuck me about AiC though. The difference between the Layne era hits, and the Duvall era songs. I love both, but AiC has become a moody, proggy act, that is less about pure aggression and quirkiness, and more about embracing ambience in songs. not completely, and obviously, AiC still dials it up on many new songs. But for me at least, the band has certainly evolved, and they should, and I'm glad they have.

William Duvall has been the lead singer of AiC now for 17 years. Way longer than Layne Staley, if you can believe that. And when I first saw William perform (2002 as a part of Jerry Cantrell's solo band opening for Creed), he tried really hard to channel Layne. That continued his first couple years with AiC too. But now...William is just William. He is himself, and sings the songs like him, not Layne, and I find it refreshing. My one complaint about AiC's set was -- they didn't do enough from the William years. Just five tracks out of 18. I get it, but I was really hoping for "Red Giant" or "All I Am" from Rainer Fog (we got "The One You Know" and the title track), and while I know I'll never see it because it is a deep cut, I was hoping for "Take Her Out" from Black Gives Way to Blue.

As for the old stuff, "Got Me Wrong" was a nice surprise. We had seen that they were doing "Sludge Factory" at some point, and were hoping for that, but it didn't happen. Seeing "It Ain't Like That" was cool too.

But a solid, solid set, and I'm glad we went. Here is some video for those that dig it:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJI-MjWF9aD_1VVXXP3-KrpCDvHrU3mN3

[Stadler]

"Got Me Wrong" is a great tune.

I'm a fan, and agree with your comments.  I really like the William records, and they have a different vibe; honestly, I find some of the Layne stuff just too dark and fatalistic. I saw them headline the festival with Jane's Addiction a couple years ago, and even though I went for Jane's, I think I enjoyed AiC more.