Alice in Chains: The Untold Story

Less than a year after his death, Adriana Rubio’s book, Layne Staley: Angry Chair—A Look Inside the Heart and Soul of an Incredible Musician, was published in January 2003. The book was poorly written, and its only news value was a series of quotes attributed to Layne that Rubio claimed were from an interview he gave during a 3 A.M. phone call on February 3, 2002. Because the book was published after his death, Layne was never able to comment about the quotes attributed to him. Evidence suggests the conversation never happened.

In the updated e-book, retitled Layne Staley: Get Born Again, Rubio said she spoke to Layne for two and a half hours and was going to publish the complete transcript of that conversation. Based on what Rubio wrote, it is clear she did not speak to Layne for two and a half hours. The portion of her book detailing their conversation runs approximately six pages. In contrast, my interviews with Randy Hauser—two hours and thirty-three minutes—run 101 pages; with Paul Rachman—one hour and twelve minutes—run thirty-three pages; with Mark Pellington—twenty-seven minutes—run eleven pages. There is no way what Rubio published is anywhere near a two-and-a-half-hour transcript.

During my research, I have read or listened to Layne’s comments in many interviews over the years and obtained quotes attributed to him. In doing so, I became familiar with his way of speaking, his word selection, and the types of subjects he would and wouldn’t discuss. If you set aside the substance of the comments in the Rubio book, it is necessary to look at the language. It doesn’t read or sound like something he would have said. She quotes Layne at least ten times making specific reference to lyrics and titles of Alice in Chains or Mad Season songs. During my research over the course of three years, I have not found a single instance of Layne’s referencing his own lyrics or song titles the way Rubio claims he did in her interview.

In the first edition of her book, there is a quote attributed to Layne in which he speaks of Jim Morrison’s poetry, which concludes, “Please do me a favor, go and read about Morrison and God, go and see how the government of all countries kill us, go and watch the news … then let me know if I’m wrong: Can I be as my GOD AM?” In addition to the lyrical reference to “God Am,” Layne is alleged to have touched on a pet topic of Rubio’s: she wrote a book titled Jim Morrison: Ceremony—Exploring the Shaman Possession, and it should be noted that, for it, she tried to interview a man in Oregon claiming to be Morrison, who had allegedly faked his own death decades earlier.5

Rubio and John Brandon were collaborating on a biopic about Layne, with Rubio writing the screenplay and Brandon directing and contributing to the script. According to Rubio, one of the producers involved received a letter from the law firm that represents Alice in Chains. A partial excerpt of the letter, quoted on Rubio’s blog, reads, “The literary work upon which your project is based contains misleading information about our clients and portrays our clients in a negative and false light. Since our clients cannot be involved with your film and will not support any project based in whole or in part on any literary work written by Ms. Rubio and Mr. Brandon, our clients would prefer that you cease developing your project and move on to one that does not require our clients’ input or the literary work written by Ms. Rubio and Mr. Brandon.”

According to Rubio’s blog profile, the project was derailed because “The Staley Estate did not authorize it.” In an e-mail, Rubio said she had passed my interview request on to John Brandon but had not heard back. She declined to be interviewed, citing her mother’s poor health. “With all due respect,” she wrote, “both Layne Staley and AIC are not a priority in my life now.” Rubio’s book further contributed to the misinformation about Layne, enough that more than a decade later, her “interview” is still cited on his Wikipedia page as of this writing. Layne’s family has disavowed her book.6

On December 9, 2011, an attorney filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office seeking to trademark the Alice in Chains name under the ownership of Nancylayneco LLC, a Seattle-based company owned and controlled by Nancy Layne McCallum. Attorneys representing Alice in Chains filed a notice of opposition in January 2013, objecting to McCallum’s application and requesting it be denied by the USPTO. As of this writing, ownership of the Alice in Chains trademark has not yet been determined, but according to a legal filing dated July 9, 2014, an extension for the discovery period has been requested because both sides are “engaged in settlement discussions.”7

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