Alice in Chains

Alice In Chains is an American rock band whose music is hard to define more accurately. It possesses guitar lines of classic hard rock alongside strong influence of punk. Besides, the musicians try to make it sound gloomy or gothic. This ensemble was gathered in the late eighties by the vocalist Layne Staley and guitarist Jerry Cantrell. They also recruited drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Starr. The official start of this band is considered their first concert in Seattle in the winter of 1989. Soon afterwards, the outfit reached a cooperation agreement with Columbia Records. The first product of their studio labor was the 1990 EP We Die Young. It was quickly followed by the long player Facelift. In less than year, this record earned a golden status and made its way to the Billboard charts, mostly thank to the band’s first single We Die Young.

Alice In Chains closed 1990 with their first US-wide tour and they started the next year with a European concert campaign alongside the celebrated Megadeth. As early as then, music lovers and critics noticed the band’s ability to give impressive shows. After that tour, Alice In Chains played with even more famous ensembles, Slayer and Van Halen. Using the intermissions between the gigs, the musicians recorded EP SAP, named so strangely only because one of the members saw this title in his dream. In the second half of 1992, the rockers premiered the sophomore long-play, Dirt. It amazed listeners with the power of its lyrics. The main subjects of the given work were war and narcotics disclosed by Staley with the help of his memories and experience. Dirt was warmly accepted by supporters of hard rock music and sold nicely across the States. Many believe this is the most significant work in the Alice In Chains discography so far. The main hit of this record was Would? picked for the soundtrack to Singles. In the summer of 1993, Staley broke his leg after falling off his ATV, but did participate in all the concerts in the frames of the tour with Ozzy Osbourne. By that time, Alice In Chains parted their ways with Mike Starr who could no longer stand the hardships of the road life. He was replaced by bassist Mike Inez. In the spring of 1995, Alice In Chains returned to the studio to prepare the third album. It arrived in the autumn under the title Alice In Chains and debuted from position number one in the Billboard rating. Following year, the band released a acoustic live album called Unplugged, a record that needed less than two months to turn platinum.

From the outside, it seemed that Alice In Chains were as fine as they could be, but, in fact, the things were far from good. Staley who once seemed to have left his drugs troubles far behind came back to where we suffered, which took its toll on both his health and the situation inside the band. The chemistry between the musicians ran bad already during the their working over Alice In Chains due to Staley’s frequent inability to follow the schedule. As if driving at the desire to say farewell to the once irreplaceable singer, Cantrell issued a solo-album called Boggy Depot (1998) featuring the other members of Alice In Chain except Staley. The activities of Alice In Chains seemed frozen completely. In 2002, an expected tragedy happened. Layne Staley was found dead at his home. The death was caused by the effect of a cocaine and heroine mixture. No doubt, only few believed that Alice In Chains could carry on after such a blow. However, several years later, the musicians found another singer, William DuVall. In 2009, they released the first album recorded with the new singer, Black Gives Way To Blue.