Last week saw the 30th anniversary of Alice In Chains’ 3rd EP, Jar of Flies. It was the first EP in history (at that time) to debut at number 1 on Billboard’s 200 chart.

The album was a vast difference from that of their 1992 LP release “Dirt”. But followed closely to that of their 2nd EP “Sap”. Specifically, mainly acoustic; with little to no electric guitars.

After Alice In Chains finished the Lollapalooza tour in 1993 they found themselves evicted, and no place to live (someone forgot to pay the rent). Therefore, they temporarily moved into Seattle’s London Bridge Studios (LBS).

Moving into LBS, was also a perfect timing for the guys. They were ready to start working on another release. According to Sean Kinney (drums), he stated that they’d been writing some while on tour; they wanted to do record lighter after playing heavy, dark & loud for the past 2 years. Kinney also stated that they wanted to see how the band would gel with newcomer Mike Inez in the recording studio.

Therefore, they start writing and recording on September 7, 1993. Everything basically fell into place, with the album being finished in 7 days. When asked about how the sessions went, assistant engineer Jon Plum stated “exhausting”.

The first song released was “No Excuses”, which was received with critical acclaim. No exact release date was found for the song, therefore, sharing the same release date as the EP. The music video was shot and released the following month, in February.

The 2nd song released was “I Stay Away”. According to Jerry Cantrell, it was the first time they’d written with Mike Inez. Cantrell also added that it was a special song, also proving how vital Mike was to the band. The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1995. The music video for “I Stay Away” was released in May 1994 and was directed by Nick Donkin. It should be noted that this song was never performed live with Layne Staley. The first performance happened with the Northwest Symphony and Girls Choir, November 2, 2007 at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. Long time friend Scotty Olsen, also played with Alice at this event. Olsen who had previously performed with the band during the MTV Unplugged taping, played the very first chords to “I Stay Away”. I was in attendance at this concert and what’s not fully conveyed on video was the emotion and tears on several attendees faces. It was a moment I’ll never forget.

The 3rd single “Don’t Follow” being released in October 1994. “No Excuses” reached number 1, “I Stay Away” reached number 10, and “Don’t Follow”, peaked at 25 in Billboard’s Main Stream Rock Charts.

I personally love this album, so does Ryan (Puddle of Grunge). Alice proved to its fans that they were capable of more than just heavy, deep songs like those on Dirt. Listening to Jar of Flies is like eating a stick of juicy fruit gum; it’s flavorful and you never tire of the taste.

Personally. I feel the band made one mistake; they failed to realize how powerful “Nutshell” was.. Even after the 1996 “Unplugged” performance, they missed a huge monumental opportunity to release the song as a single. The song was probably Layne’s most heartfelt message. The lyrics “We Chase Misprinted Lies”, was Layne frustration over the constant rumors playing out within the music magazines. It really wasn’t until years after Layne’s passing that his message has been gaining reverence. In fact, Layne’s monumental gift to all of us has been his lyrics. He was a poet. I don’t know of anyone, especially how young he was at the time he wrote “Nutshell”, he was barely 26. He had the wisdom is someone much older, his insight, he was brilliant. I think it was Ann Wilson who said it best, Layne was too good for the world….he really was.

Ryan from Puddle of Grunge, asked me to do a joint collaboration for this anniversary. It turned out to be a huge success. A smaller, edited (for content) version was shared on our Instagram & Facebook page & Puddle of Grunge’s Instagram page. Thanks to all those who commented.

Closing thought(s): Alice in Chains anniversary merchandise was a huge bust!

By Sunday, January 28th, the Alice in Chains’ JOF30 Box Set was already SOLD OUT! What I do not understand is after the quick sell out of the Dirt30 Box Set, you’d think the band & label would’ve had a minimum of 10K box sets. If you think about it, fans that weren’t really fans of the band prior to Jar of Flies, started listening beginning with that album. It makes perfect sense that mellow acoustic sound would attract a wider range of people, age and genres, alike.

Then there’s the people who buy the minimum of 2, come back again buy 2 more with a different name & address & so on, then sell it on eBay, Bonanza & even OfferUp at 2 or 3 times the retail price. How exactly does that make the fans happy?

Me, I would’ve loved to have had the JOF BoxSet, but since that’s not going to happen, the skateboard will be just fine. Great job Alice, please do the research next time. You can check out what’s still available on Alice In Chains’ website aliceinchains.com