There's a lot of great songs on it. Let's talk about it, you decided to call it Alice
in Chains this time right? Yeah, we basically couldn't think of anything else to call it
there's days like this.We've never used the self titled record thing
so it's kind of good we held out on that. So we got stumped on this one.
In 1995 Alice in Chains would release their final studio album with frontman Layne Staley.
While Dirt served as a warning sign, their self titled album was a sonic farewell.
The album would be graced by a three legged dog. One of my favourite explanations for the three
legged dog is that it represents Alice in Chains who at this point in time was a wounded animal.
The album would debut at number 1 and move several million copies copies despite the fact that Alice
in Chains only played five live shows to support the records and made limited tv appearances.
Alice in Chains nearly imploded in the summer of 1994 following the release of
their EP Jar of Flies. The band’s opening slot for Metallica later that year would be cancelled after
Layne Staley returned from rehab only to show up high to rehearsals resulting in in-fighting
within the band with drummer sean kinney threatening to never play with Layne again.
Guitarist Jerry Cantrell would tell Rolling Stone We’d been going full force,
just running at top speed with our eyes closed,”“We had been way too close for too long,
and we were suffocating. We were like four plants trying to grow in the same
pot.” with Staley adding. When we first got together as a band, we were all brothers.
We lived in the same house and partied together and drank as much as each other. But then we
started to split apart and went different ways, and we felt like we were betraying each other.”
It was during this time the members drifted apart with Layne taking up the side project
mad season with mike mcready of pearl jam, barrett martin of screaming trees as well as john baker
saunders of the walkabouts. They group would enjoy some success with their lone album Above
which came out in March of 1995. Cantrell meanwhile envisioned doing a solo project
working with Scott Rockwell the drummer for one time touring mates Gruntruck. Side note guys,
I've done a whole video on Gruntruck, the link is down below. Rockwell would recall to author
david de sola in the book alice in chains the untold story “I was playing drums and he was
playing guitar and we’d record and then he’d we’d talk about it a little bit and then he’d pick up
the bass and put down some bass tracks and stuff. So we worked on like three songs,
i think two of them made it on the album referring to the band’s self titled record.
After the three songs were written (including again and grind) the pair would head into the
studio for what would be pre-proudction & Jerry’s initial idea was to get jar of flies
producer tobi wright on board and try to coax the other members of the band
to come work on some new songs while Layne was off with mad Season. After things with
mad season slowed down layne was invited back to the band to work on new material & Jerry’s
idea was that if things didn’t work out he would have released the material under a solo record.
The label wasn’t happy with Tobi Wright being chosen as a producer as Nick Terzo who signed
Alice in Chains and worked for the band’s label sony felt Wright was an enabler to layne and
more of an engineer than producer, but wright would claim in the same book he had a special
relationship with layne and he could relate to him having gone through his own personal problems.
The band would opt to work on their next record at Bad Animals studio since it was a stones throw
away from where Layne lived. Despite the band’s internal problems they were also dealing with
problems with their management and the record label. According to the book Alice in Chains the
untold story the band made most of the record without manager Susan Silver of record label
being in the know as to what was going on. While the band was coming off a string of hit albums,
their label Sony didn’t think that the band was going to be able to even produce another
record due to the internal problems within the band.. In addition to that the band had
taken over the studio for 24 hours as layne was mostly working during the nights and the rest
of the band would come in during the days. Since Layne was struggling with addiction,
they never really knew when he would show up in the studio. And according to producer
tobi wright who told author david de sola it was during the making of the record he
started to wear a beeper so those working at the studio could let them know when layne showed up.
It resulted in a lot of nothing happening some nights and it would take six months to record
the album when the band’s previous efforts being done in a third of the time. Another factor that
contributed to the album taking so long to record was the fact that Layne was writing
lyrics off the top of his head so he would work out a lot of ideas while in the studio.
The problems that plagued the band prior to their breakup were merely shoved under the carpet
instead of being addressed with guitarist Jerry cantrell revealing in the book grunge is dead
“It was a really painful session because it took so long. It was horrifying to see Layne in that
condition. Yet when he was cognizant, he was the sweetest, bright-eyed guy you’d ever want to meet.
To be in a meeting with him and have him fall asleep in front of you was guy-wrenching.”
Drummer Sean Kinney would reval in the book everybody loves our town A lot of the songs
that jerry and layne wrote you can hear what they have to say to each other right there.It’s
spelled out in a roundabout way. It’s way more malicious and brutal album than dirt was he'd say.
The lyrics weren’t just limited to taking shots at each other as the press and their record label
soon became targets as well. It was during this time many rumors floated around about
layne’s health, missing teeth, missing arms, and it would result in the song Grind which
took a shot at the press for speculating. It was during the recording of the album Mad Season’s
Above would go gold and sony would call up Layne in the studio and congratulate him on the feat
while also threatening him telling him he has 9 days to finish up alice in chain’s record.
This would result in the song Sludge Factory.
While it’s been speculated that the dog on the front cover of the album was
Jerry’s it wasn’t. The inspiration for the cover was a three legged dog who
used to terrorize sean kinney around his neighbourhood when he was a kid.
Meanwhile Bassist Mike Inez would have some somber thoughts looking back at the album telling author
greg prato that was a really dark time. I look at the album cover - it was very grey and i
think that’s where we were at. Layne was going through the depths of his heroin addiction. It
was really tought watching that and it permeated into everything we did. Not to throw rocks at
glass houses we were all pretty fed up at the time, but not in that way though. We weren’t that
miserable it seemed. ..That was definitely one of the hardest records I’ve ever had to work one.
Even Susan Silver who was the band’s manager and mostly shut out of the recording would
tell author greg prato in grunge is dead “it took eight or nine months hours and hours of
waiting for layne to come out of the bathroom. Days of waiting for him to show up in the studio
and through all those last years he and i were very close. I kept telling him you don’t have
to do this. You have enough money to go live a quiet life if that’s what you want..don’t
do this if this is what’s perpetuating your addiction. She would go on to reveal that
due to Layne’s personal problems the sessions for the album had to be stopped several times
and that it was and i quote “tearing everybody to shreds.” it got to the
point where Sony threatened to pull support for the album and stop paying for studio
time if Layne didn't start showing up for recording session.. Eventually it got done.
Released on November 3, 1995 the album debut at number 1 on the billboard charts but the LA
Times would write an article about the album in 1996 about how the band’s personal problems were
costing them millions of dollars and prevented them from touring extensively and how Stone Temple
Pilots who were dealing with similar problems could relate. STP’s manager would tell the LA
Times “For a rock ‘n’ roll band, touring is essential for album sales,” “When you simply
put tickets on sale, the mere event excites people and there’s a lot of radio promotion
and media coverage. It feeds on itself.” he'd say. The article would go on to state
“STP isn’t alone. Seattle band Alice in Chains hasn’t toured for three years, in part because
of singer Layne Staley’s battle with addiction, and its sales also reflect that absence.
The band’s latest album, “Alice in Chains,” got off to a hot start when it debuted last October.
Without a tour to support it, though, sales quickly slowed and the total now is 1.2
million--a healthy amount, but only half that of the band’s bestseller, 1992’s “Dirt.”
Guitarist jerry cantrell would take on a bigger role when it came to singing duties
crediting layne with pushing him out of his comfort zone
singing lead vocals on heaven beside you, grind and over now.
Back in the day it was common for labels to ask for bands to do electronic press kits where they
basically talk about their new album and the band. But Alice in Chains wanted to releasing
mockumentary called the Nona Tapes. The idea for the mockumentary was Layne’s according to David
De Sola’s book. Director Rocky Schenck — who had shot their self titled album cover and the video
for Grind in addition to previously working with the band on their past efforts would shoot
the mockumentary. For the mockumentary Cantrell would dress up as a tv interviewer Nona Weisbaum
who would interview the band members. The label though wasn’t happy with the mockumentary but it
soon developed a cult following and is up on the band’s youtube channel if you want to go
check it out.. In 2020 Jerry would dress up as Nona once again for a livestream event when the
band was the recipient of the museum of pop culture’s founders awards event in seattle.
That does it for today's video guys thanks for watching. Be sure to hit the like
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