Tunage
BIO
Alice In Chains is very important to a lot of different people. To some, they are the scarred pioneers of generation x. to others, they are the answer to question we had been asking ourselves, unable to content in the garbage that was dominating music at the time. And to all, the end is a tragedy.
Layne Thomas Staley was born on August 22, 1967 in Kirkland, Washington. He grew up listening to Black Sabbath, and eventually, after ditching drums for a more appealing position as singer, appeared in the band Diamond Lie. It included 3 other men, all one year his senior. Jerry Cantrell[guitar], Mike Starr [bass] and Sean Kinney [drums].
The name was eventually changed to Alice 'N' Chains, Staley's name which he felt described a group that dressed in drag and played speed metal. However as the 80's scene wore thin, the band's image matured into what would later become grunge fashion, and the name was changed in Alice In Chains.
The group signed with Columbia records in 1989 and recorded an EP caled 'We Die Young'. The song became an underground hit, and AIC was a hot new hardcore band. Later the same year they released their first full-length album "Facelift' which was headlined with the hit 'Man In A Box', which was a song about censorship and veal, and supirisingly sat well on MTV.
An acoustic EP, 'Sap' came out in 1991, which shocked listeners and displayed the band's versitility. It featured members of Heart, Mudhoney and Soundgarden. By this time the boys of Alice had become soldiers on a new scene.
In 1992, The band returned to their heavy, distorted sound for their most successful effort, 'Dirt'. With a good portion of the songs being written about addiction, a series of suspicions arose about the sobriety of singer Layne Staley. This dark album went Platinum by the end of the year.
Mike Starr left the group during the 'Dirt' tour, and was replaced by former Ozzy Osbourne bassist, Mike Inez. Starr went on to jon Sun Red Sun, and Inez worked with the band for song that would be on the film 'Last Action Hero'
Alice In Chains' last major tour would take place in 1..993, when they did Lollapalooza with other grunge artists of the time, like Babes In Toyland. The band was well-received and most of its members, and its fans felt that success was there to stay.
Crowds were shocked again when 'Jar Of Flies' came out in 1994, as it was very 'Sap'-like and not the abrasive, hard-hitting alternative record that crowds had anticipated. This was the first EP to ever reach no.1 on the charts. However the band stayed off the road, due to Staley's innability to get his shit together.
However, around this time the troubled singer had formed a side-project group with members of Pearl Jam and Screaming trees, calling themselves 'Mad Season'. They band had one LP, 'Above' which is regaurded as an unheard masterpeice by hardcore grunge and alternative music fans.
AIC's self-titled album came in 1995, often called 'tripod' by fans [ and we know why :D]. The album was very explosive and angry, like 'Dirt' and 'Facelift'. It did extremely well on the charts, however was not supported with a tour, due to Staley's declining health. The band dropped away until 1996, when they were featured on MTV's "unplugged". The performance is very respected by fans as the best unplugged installment ever, rivaled only by Nirvana's show. Both, in deed, are tragic. :(
Although the backing members were excited to continue working, Staley was in no shape to get back in the studio. So Cantrell recorded "Boggy Depot", his first solo effort. With help from Kinney and Inez and a AIC producer, the album is very much like an Alice record, except missing its main ingredient.
Staley returned to record to more songs for the dvd, one being titled 'Died', before he sunk into the abyss, living like a hermit in his Seattle home, and suffering the 1996 loss of his fiance', Demri Parrot. His small, emaciated body began to shut down, as he sunk further into depression. A life that was filled with isolation and addiction ended around April 5th, 2002, 8 years after his contempory Kurt Cobain. Except Staley passing is different. It was accidental, and he died alone. not with a family, or a career, or anything. he suffered until the bitter end, and his body decayed until the 20th when it was discovered.
Jerry made another solo album a few months later, the band retired for a few years, released box sets and best of's, and got a new singer and returned touring in 2006. many fans don't consider the new incarnation, [which includes singer William duVall] to be AIC.
