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Alice in Chains vocalist-guitarist Jerry Cantrell reflects on how his band reunited in a new interview with Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich for the latter’s Apple Music/Beats 1 radio show It’s Electric. The episode will air on February 10th at 3 p.m. PT.
In an exclusive clip from the show, Cantrell says that he felt it was time to get the band back together after Layne Staley’s death once he realized that singer-guitarist William DuVall was the right fit. “We had to thinkabout this,” he says. “This is our life. We created this and justbecause our friend is not here, it doesn’t mean that this stuffisn’t still alive and still speaks to people and is still ourwork and we have nothing to be embarrassed about it. Wehave full ownership. This is us. This is what we do. And it took a while.”
The impetus for the reunion, though, was the 2005 Indian earthquake and tsunami that found the band getting their friends together for a concert to raise money for victims. “You saw this compassion and people [pitching] in to help people,the tsunami and all of these relief concerts and donations andstuff,” he says. “And then Sean [Kinney, drums] calls and he’s like, ‘Why don’t we do athing and we’ll raise some money and we’ll do it for that. We’lljust do like a one-time show and like we’ll get together andwe play the songs will invite some friends, I’ll do a couple oftunes so and so and whatever.’”
Cantrell goes on to explain that he met DuVall while working on his solo album, Degradation Trip, and brought him into the band. He invited DuVall to play with the surviving members of Alice in Chains, and when the singer nailed “Love Hate Love,” he felt it was time to get back to being a band seriously.
“It’s kind of exhilarating, in away, because part of what we do is alittle bit of conquering a fear,” he tells Ulrich. “I’m a really introverted guy. You know that about me and I’m veryinsular a lot. I can be very outgoing as well and real chattyand stuff and I can really not be, and I find that a lot ofmusicians are like that. And part of the thrill ofdoing what you do is standing in front of a fucking audiencewhich terrifies the shit out of a lot of us and fuckingconquering that and fucking throwing down, you know? Andstarting something or unleashing something from yourself andalso unleashing something from the people in front of you andthen that all mixes together and it’s like some amazingmagical potion.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Cantrell discusses his writing process, the differences between Seattle and Los Angeles and how Alice in Chains maintains their band dynamic. The band is currently nominated for a Grammy for their latest album, Rainier Fog.
