How Seattle’s Sound, Became World Renowned,
Pt. 2 – Alice in Chains.

Article os co-written by Aussie Wardy & Mz Manners (Cindy).

Aussie Wardy: As an Australian, I had a late introduction to Alice in Chains in concert, but after discovering Soundgarden and Nirvana I was hunting at local record importers and magazines for all the information about Seattle I could find. I was instantly in love with Alice in Chains the moment I heard Love Hate Love.

I missed their first trip to Australia in Jan of 1992 with Suicidal Tendencies but was well and truly lined up early for their Oct. 31 1993 show at the Thebarton Theatre in my home city, Adelaide, South Australia.
I was fortunate to have last seen them at Pain in the Grass in 2018. To date, AiC have sold more than 30 million records worldwide,including more than 19 million records and landed 18 top 10 single in the US alone.

Mz Manners (Cindy): I’ve followed AiC since winter of 87/88. Just by accident I met Layne & Mike (Starr) at a party. My plans fell through that night so I called my brother and he told me he was going to a party in Burien. I ended up meeting him there. My brother went to high school with Starr. Therefore, it wasn’t really a surprise for him to see Starr at this party. Nice enough guys; however, when I asked them about music they told me about their band. I honestly thought to myself “great, another garage band”. It wasn’t until I saw them perform in February of 88’ at the Renton Musicians Hall that I was literally blown away. I followed them after that. I’m an avid collector of all things Alice In Chains. My most prized possessions are the magazines I started collecting in 89’. I’ve gathered them from all over the world. Also in my collection; original press releases & photos, and original gig posters. Below you’ll see 2 of them from the N’ Chains days.

Dirt ranks as the bands top selling album and their international breakthrough. Released on Sept. 29^th, 1992, and jumped to #6 on the Billboard and reaching quadruple platinum, let us go back to 1984 and see how Alice in Chains got from Sleze to Dirt.

In 1985, 16 year-old Layne Staley started his first band, Sleze. October of that year, Layne, along with Sleze band mate Johnny Bacolas, attended Seattle TV station, KING 5’s Town Meeting. The topic on the show was about censorship. Tipper Gore, wife of former Vice President Al Gore (along with others) formed the PMRC, the bParents Music Resource Center. The PMRC wanted to make it harder for young adults to obtain music they may had swearing, explicit content and questionable album covers. This included putting stickers on all formats of music. During the segment the host let people ask questions. Layne was heated about this issue. He got up and said that he should be the only one to censor his music, no one else. We obtained the video directly from the station. You can find it on our YouTube channel (Nehi Stripes Seattle). We received permission to upload the video to our channel. The PMRC shut down in the mid 90’s.

On May 1, 1987, the guys were going by the name Alice N’ Chains. They performed at the Tacoma Little Theatre. It was at this gig that Jerry Cantrell saw Layne sing and he knew he needed him in his band. Alice N’ Chains band members; Layne Staley (vocals), Johnny Bacolas (bass), James Bergstrom (drums, percussion) & Nick Pollock (lead guitar).

Scoring a cameo on public access TV movie, Father Rock in 1987 (the guys were 19 & 18). Dressed in drag and covering metal tracks from the likes of Armored Saints. Sleze became Alice N’ Chains and performed around the Seattle district.

Jerry Cantrell met Layne at a party (N’ Chains bandmate Nick Pollock introduced the two). Jerry found himself homeless after his mom Gloria, had passed away. Layne, who worked (& lived) at Music Bank, invited Jerry a place to live.

It was during this time that saw both Layne’s band “Alice N’ Chains” (ended Aug. 87’) and Jerry’s band “Diamond Lie” dissolve, it did not take long for the friends to start jamming together and writing songs. This led to auditions that saw the introduction of drummer, Sean Kinney and bassist, Mike Starr brought into the fold, agreeing on the name, Alice In Chains. .(Note, when the band agreed on the name Alice In Chains, Layne had to get approval from his former band mates to use it. Even though it was a different spelling, they clearly sound the same. After some reluctance, they agreed. Layne was the one who’d actually come up with the name; therefore, he avoided any future issues with his former band mates by asking upfront.

Not long after gigging around Seattle with Mother Love Bone, AiC got the attention of Soundgarden who passed on their demo tape, The Treehouse Tapes, to music managers Kelly Curtis and Susan Silver.

In turn, this demo was handed on to Nick Terzo, A&R Rep, who signed Alice in Chains to Columbia. They recorded another demo that remained untitled until a bootleg surfaced titled Sweet Alice.

Although widely associated with grunge music, the band’s sound incorporates heavy, sludgy, metal elements, much more so than other local contemporaries, and in July 1990 they turned out their first official release, We Die Young with the single of the same name gaining heavy rotation on local heavy metal radio. This pushed Columbia to hurry out an album, and in August of 1990 we saw Facelift. Although not an instant hit, MTV’s rotation of Man in a Box help drive sales towards 400,000 copies in just 6 weeks, against the 40,000 copies in the previous 6 months, reaching gold status a year later while the band toured with Van Halen.

While filming cameos for Cameron Crowes film Singles, the band were working in the background on what would become SAP, possible the first fully acoustic release by a rock band. Delayed several times, the Single movie and soundtrack was released in the middle of 1992 and right into the international explosion of ‘Grunge”, exposing all things Seattle to the world. The track Would? Featured on both the Singles soundtrack and their new LP, Dirt.

Peaking at #6 on the Billboard, producing five singles, including Would?, Them Bones, Angry Chair, Down in a Hole and the acclaimed Rooster, garnishing quadruple platinum status making Dirt the most acclaimed album in Alice in Chains discography.

Layne Staley (Layne Rutherford Staley) August 22, 1967 – April 5, 2002)Layne was a member of the glam metal bands Sleze and Alice N’ Chains, but he was also a founding member of the supergroups Mad Season and Class of ’99.

Mad Season – Initially formed as a side project and included Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees) and John Baker Saunders (Chicago based blues musician). Although having no set list and no band name Mike scheduled three shows at the Crocodile Café. Following the success of the first show (Oct. 1994) they returned a month later (Nov 1994) now named The Gacy Bunch, named after the Chicago serial killer John Wayne Gacy.

Releasing just the one album, Above, with the lead single, River of Deceit, receiving international radio play reaching certified gold status. Class of ’99 – This was not really a band, contrary to stories, the 5 members merely assembled to cover Pink Floyds, “Another Brick in the Wall (pt. 1 & 2)” and did not release or create any new music.
The band consisted of Layne Staley (AiC), Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine), Martyn LeNoble (Porno for Pyros) and Matt Serletic (Matchbox 20). The soundtrack for Robert Rodriguez’s 1998 film, “The Faculty” is the only place to find official music from (the) Class of ’99.

Jerry Cantrell Born in Tacoma, WA, in 1966 where he lived before Jerry and his mother moved to Spanaway where he attended junior high where he became the choir president, often recalling some of the darker Gregorian chants as inspiration for his passion for dark rock. Whilst in the 6^th grade, his Mother started dating a guitar player who taught Jerry a few chords, after showing a passion and natural talent his Mother bought him and acoustic guitar.
After moving to Dallas, in 1984, and playing in bands, Sinister and Raze. It was during this time that Jerry formed a long friendship with brothers, Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul of Pantera.

In late 1985 Jerry moved back to Tacoma, leaving Raze behind and soon formed Diamond Lee. Along with singer Scott Damon, drummer Bobby Nesbitt with Matt Muasau on bass. Playing regular shows in Tacoma and Seattle, they scored a four-song demo at London Bridge Studio. Shortly after mother’s death on April 11, 1987, Jerry attended a show at the Tacoma Little Theatre featuring Alice N’ Chains.
And the rest as they say is history.
Jerry was also briefly in a band named Gypsy Rose with Mike Starr.

Michael Christopher Starr. (April 4, 1966 – March 8, 2011). Early 1983 saw the release of Leather Warrior, the first recording from Mikes band Sato, appearing on Northwest Metalfests compilation album.

After bouncing from band to band, project to project Mike was contacted by Jerry Cantrell who was starting a new band, currently nameless, along with Sean Kinney.
They were soon joined by Layne Staley as vocalist, bringing the name Alice N’ Chains with him. Mike left AiC just as they really gained momentum, 1993 citing the constant touring as the issue, although later he stated he was kicked out due to heavy drug use.

Sean Kinney Born in Renton, WA, in 1966, Sean had an interest in music from an incredibly early age, getting his first drum kit at age 5 and drumming in his grandfather’s band, The Cross Cats, from age 9.

Like Cantrell, Sean was also a fan of Layne’s band Sleze and was more than happy to form Alice in Chains in 1987. Jerry mentioned they needed a bass player and Sean knowing that his girlfriend, Melinda Starr had a brother who was a bassist. Jerry had played with Mike in Gypsy Rose and was happy to welcome Mike Starr to AiC family.
You can read about Gypsy Rose on Tim Branom’s website timbranom.com

During the writing of Alice in Chains debut album Sean broke his hand, therefore, the rehearsal was to be done with Mother Love Bones drummer, Greg Gilmore. Sean almost miss playing on the recording. Explaining in the 2009 book Grunge is Dead, Sean said: “I almost didn’t play on the record – they started rehearsing with the drummer from Mother Love Bone, Greg Gilmore. I was sitting there playing with one hand, guiding him through it. Dave Jerden came in and they started to try to do it. He was like, ‘Screw it – pull the plug. This is not going to be the same.’ Luckily, we took a tiny bit of time off. I had that cast on for a while, and was like, ‘I can’t miss this.’ I cut my cast off in the studio and kept a bucket of ice by the drum set. Kept my hand iced down and played with a broken hand. I tried not to do that again – your first big break, and you fuck it up.”

Mike Inez Before joining Alice in Chains as bassist in 1993 to present, Mike was best known for his work with Ozzy Osbourne, playing along side the legend from 1989 to 1993.

Mike’s side projects include: Slash’s Snakepit – Whilst never touring with Slash, Mike did play on the It’s Five O’clock Somewhere album.
Black Label Society – Replacing Steve Gibb for a short period in 2001, Mike returned in 2003 spending much of 2003 & 2004 touring with the band.
Spys4Darwin – Formed in 2001 along with AiC band mate Sean Kinney, Queensrÿche’s Chris DeGarmo and Vinnie Dombroski from Sponge. This was a short-term project that saw the release of a solitary EP, microfish.
Heart – in 2002, after the passing of Layne Staley, Mike toured with Heart from 2002 through 2006. During this time he played on the live recording, “Alive in Seattle”, recorded at the Paramount in 2002.
Guest appearances – Mike has featured on Jerry Cantrell’s first solo release, Boggy Depot 1998. Motorheads 2006 release, “Kiss of Death”, and Mark Morton’s 2016 album, “Anesthetic”.

Alice in Chains – 2006 to present

Following the hiatus after the passing of Layne in 2002, the surviving members came together in 2005 to support and benefit the victims of the Southeast Asian tsunami in 2004. This got the band talking, reminiscing, and searching for a lead singer. William DuVall came into the picture because he’d sung with Jerry, when his original band “Cones with the Fall” opened for Cantrell. This was during JC’s Degradation Trip tour in 2001/2002. Initially DuVall was the touring vocalist for AiC’s 2006 reunion tour. They ultimately chose William and remains as co-vocalist to this day. Since 2009, Jerry has taken on more vocal duties.

We highly recommend picking up David De Sola’s book, “Alice In Chains; the Untold Story”. You can find this on Amazon or anywhere books are sold. You can also follow DeSola on his website daviddesola.com

Aussie Wardy & Mz Manners do appreciate this revision. We wanted to add more content and bring more photos and other items to look at.

Written by Wardy & Cindy (Mz Manners). Edited Cindy & Tim Branom (timbranom.com). Check out our social media platforms on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest and our website nehistripes.com

Main photo credit: Jeffrey Mayer