Alice in Chains: The Untold Story

“No, I know that. I’m just saying, I don’t know why he would not call them.”

“Because he was embarrassed. A beautiful man with huge talent had squandered his life and his talent. That’s not a judgment; it’s just a statement of fact, and he knew that. And it’s a horrible thing, but I don’t blame you, and I never have. Layne would forgive you. He would say, ‘Hey, I did this, not you.’”5

Aaron Woodruff thinks Mike never got over the guilt and blamed himself until the end. After taping for the show ended, he appeared on the spin-off series Sober House. Mike played with musicians from the School of Rock, as well as ex–Guns n’ Roses drummer Steven Adler and former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley during a performance at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, which included covers of “Man in the Box” and KISS’s “Shout It Out Loud” and “Rock and Roll All Nite.” Mike had been getting back into music again, with at least two different ventures, according to an interview he did with Pinsky on Loveline. He said he had been collaborating with Iggy Pop’s guitarist, Whitey Kirst, having recorded eleven tracks together. In early 2010, he relocated to Los Angeles to play bass on singer Leiana’s cover of Sonic Youth’s “Kool Thing.” Leiana told Blabbermouth.net it was Mike’s first sober studio session in about twenty years. It was also his last studio recording.6

Mike’s initial signs after the programs were good. He was asked to participate in a panel at the Pasadena Recovery Center. Pinsky offered a glowing assessment of his patient, stating, “Mike, in spite of having the most awful withdrawal we’ve ever documented on the show, is doing fantastic. I saw him last night and I cannot wait to get him on the radio show and let him speak for himself. He is doing amazing.”7

Mike’s former bandmates publicly slammed the program but not him. “Addiction is no joke, and we know that firsthand. We lost a good friend of ours to that. Mike deserves a better life,” Jerry said during an interview with an Atlanta radio station. “That particular show, I think it’s a real travesty and a shame to put people in a really vulnerable situation like that and make it entertainment for people to see … It’s just kind of disgusting to me, actually. It’s nothing I back.”

He added, “I totally back Mike, and I back his efforts to get clean and [he] remains somebody that I and the band really care about—he’s a friend of ours, you know, and we wish him the best.”

Sean offered similar sentiments during an interview with Philadelphia radio station WMMR, saying, “It exploits people at their lowest point, when they’re not in their right mind, and the sad part is, this is like entertainment for people when it’s actually a life-and-death situation. I don’t think it helps anybody and it makes entertainment out of people’s possible death, and that’s pathetic and it’s stupid. So I don’t support that show at all and I think it’s pretty disgusting. But Mike getting his life together or anybody doing that, I’ll support that.”8

Mike sounded happiest in the Loveline interview when talking about his family, particularly his mother, for whom he had recently bought a furniture set, he said, with a sense of pride in his voice. While discussing Nancy McCallum’s annual August concert fund-raiser in Layne’s memory, he expressed an interest in putting a band together for the event.

Mike still missed his friend. “I feel naked without Layne in this life,” he explained. “I don’t care about a band thing, I don’t care about them dismissing me from the band. I never quit the band, for one thing. I’m not a quitter. I’m not a quitter, that’s for sure. I don’t care about any of that. I love Layne for the human being that he [was], and I just … I really miss him.”

Asked about the possibility of reuniting with Jerry and Sean, Mike said, “Jerry Cantrell and Sean Kinney are my brothers. They will be forever. I spent ten years with them, and they will always be my brothers, they will always be in my heart, and I would do anything for them. And so if they ever asked me to play with them, I would definitely play with them.”9

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Mike went to San Diego in August 2010 to visit Aaron Woodruff, taking a bus to the beach near where he lived. A street was closed off where there was a block party with a live band. Mike got up onstage and performed with them. “He got up there and jammed and everybody was recognizing him, and I sat back and watched all the attention he was getting. I was really proud of him, and I was really, really, truly almost, like, wanting to cry, I was so proud of him.”

“Here he is just walking in—that old Mike is back. I hadn’t seen that since high school probably. He was charismatic—positive energy. You know, everybody loved him and he was pretty good there and allowed him in.” That was the last time Woodruff saw him.