Alice in Chains: The Untold Story

Of Ann Wilson’s decision to cede her spot to him, William said, “Her moment was supposed to be ‘Rooster,’ they’d been talking about it in all the papers and everything, ‘Wait till you hear Ann sing “Rooster,”’ and then she gave the song to me! It blew the whole thing out of the water. It was great because her doing that guaranteed me a spot in the show when it was broadcast, which gave birth to this proper resurrection of the band.”22

The taping was significant to Susan, who had signed settlement agreements with Chris Cornell a few days earlier. “I realized that it was OK. As much mental anguish as we had gone through—‘Is it OK to go on without Layne?’—this mantra kept going through my head as I’m watching these guys rehearse, ‘Choose to live, choose to live.’ They chose to live and what they love to do—play music. That was really inspiring,” Susan said. She compared what Ann did for William that night to what Cornell had done for Eddie Vedder nearly sixteen years earlier—giving her blessing to the new guy on a nationally televised program. “I know that it’s really personal for me, but it was also a historic moment. That specific acknowledgment towards how things are now, that there’s a history not to be forgotten, and there’s a history about to be made.”23

William’s second show would be much smaller: an invitation-only show at the Moore Theatre in Seattle. But he arguably performed under much greater pressure, not only because the venue held historical significance for Alice in Chains but also because audience members included Layne’s parents and Kim Thayil.24 Jeff Gilbert was there for that exclusive show, and he was impressed by what he saw and heard. “The minute he opened his mouth, it was like, ‘Holy crap! Where does he get that sound and that power?’ You wouldn’t think somebody that thin can push that much air out of his mouth to get that sound,” he recalled. “That’s a pressure cooker of a situation to walk into, in a town that loved that band so much, and to step into Layne’s spotlight. I mean, that’s got to be terrifying beyond belief. But he did it with such class and grace and power, and they delivered a perfect freakin’ set. I remember turning to somebody and [saying], ‘Can you believe this? They just pulled off the impossible.’”

In terms of William filling the spot held by Layne, Mike said, “I’ve never seen a guy just stand up in front of an audience, look them in the eye, not that he’s trying to fill those shoes, but that was just a really ballsy thing for the guy to do.”25

There was never any plan to change the band’s name, despite arguments among Alice in Chains fans. There are two precedents for bands that have carried on after the death of their lead singers: that of Joy Division, which changed its name to New Order, and that of AC/DC, which carried on with its original name. Alice in Chains chose the latter option. “It never even crossed our mind to change the name,” Sean told journalist Gillian Gaar. “We could call ourselves Leather Snake, go play our songs, and people would go, ‘The guys from Alice in Chains are playing the club down the street!’ They’d never be, like, ‘Hey! Leather Snake kicks ass!’”26 After touring with William for nearly two years, the band began exploring the idea of writing and recording new material for the first time in a decade. After the Alice in Chains/Velvet Revolver tour finished in October 2007, Jerry planned to take a few weeks off. Instead of resting, he started writing new material on his first day home. The band rented a house with a studio and recorded a demo. Shortly after, they signed a deal with Virgin/EMI to release their next album.27

Dave Grohl suggested the band record at Studio 606, the Foo Fighters’s recording studio in the San Fernando Valley, and that they work with producer Nick Raskulinecz. When Raskulinecz got a phone call saying Alice in Chains wanted him to produce their next album, he was hesitant at first. He had grown up listening to Alice in Chains. “How can there be Alice in Chains without Layne Staley?” After getting to know each other, the band played him “Check My Brain,” and he was on board immediately. He told Mix, “As an Alice in Chains fan, and now as their producer, I knew what I wanted to hear: I wanted to hear the record after Dirt, which I don’t feel they ever made.” Jerry and William had no problem creating the band’s trademark two-part vocal harmonies. According to the album’s engineer, Paul Figueroa, “That part of Alice didn’t die; when you hear those harmonies, it’s almost like hearing a ghost.”28