Alice in Chains: The Untold Story

I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge other works about the grunge scene, all of which are worth reading or watching: Scot Barbour’s Malfunkshun: The Story of Andrew Wood, Charles R. Cross’s Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain, Jacob McMurray’s Taking Punk to the Masses: From Nowhere to Nevermind, Pearl Jam’s Pearl Jam Twenty book and documentary, Greg Prato’s Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music, Doug Pray’s Hype! and Mark Yarm’s Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge. Justin Henderson’s Grunge Seattle is a fantastic guide to the key dates and places of the era, especially to someone like me, who approached this book as a complete outsider and who had never been to Seattle before.

I’m extremely grateful to Jacob McMurray for providing me with scans of the band’s 1988 submission packet, prepared by Jenny Bendel, as well as the transcript of the Experience Music Project’s 1995 interview with the late John Baker Saunders. Thanks to Joseph and Henrietta Saunders, who provided many details about Baker’s life story, as well as photos from his private collection. Thanks to Evan Sheeley, Dan Gallagher, and Kim De Baere for their insights into Baker’s final years.

Thanks to Toby Wright, Phil Lipscomb, and Stephen Richards for their accounts of Layne’s planned collaboration with Taproot, which was supposed to happen around the time of his death in April 2002.

Thanks to the many Alice in Chains fans who uploaded, scanned, or transcribed audio and video bootlegs, interviews, articles, and photos and put them on the Internet. There are too many to list individually, but the content was invaluable source material for the historical record. Thanks also to the Jane’s Addiction, KISS, Megadeth, Metallica, Ministry, Slayer, and Van Halen official and unofficial Web sites that helped to corroborate specific dates for Alice in Chains shows and tours.

Humberto Fernandez and Therissa A. Libby’s Heroin: Its History, Pharmacology, and Treatment was an invaluable reference in helping me understand the history and medical effects of the drug. Twelve years after Layne’s death, heroin addiction is still making news and claiming lives. While this book was being written, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Cory Monteith, Peaches Geldof, and Dave Brockie died of heroin-related causes. During the same period, several news organizations have reported on the heroin epidemic in Vermont. History keeps repeating itself.

Thanks to my academic and professional mentors, under whom I honed my craft over the years: Mike Maltas, Pam Kelley, Robert Yoon, Sharona Schwartz, Phil Hirschkorn, Scott Bronstein, Adam Levine, Jim Barnett, Don Hecker, Henry Schuster, James Pomfret, John Ruwitch, the late George Marcopoulos, the late Gerald Gill, David Dow, Richard Reeves, Mike Chinoy, Matt Lait, Scott Glover, Bryce Nelson, David Edelstein, Jim Rabon, Daniel Byman, Paul Pillar, Celina Realuyo, Thomas McNaugher, and Michael Dennis. It is from them that I learned the mix of journalistic narrative married with academic discipline that made this book what it is. Thanks to the many colleagues at CNN, 60 Minutes, and Reuters—managers, reporters, photojournalists, editors, producers, assignment-desk editors, technicians, production assistants, news assistants, interns, and others—who I had the pleasure of working with over the years. I could not think of a better group of people to be with in the news trenches on a daily basis. Working with you all was an education and a privilege, for which I am forever grateful. I could not have written this book without having learned on the job from all of you.

Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank my friends, as well as the de Sola, Magaña, and Castrillo families for their unconditional love and support before and during this project.

Interviews and Sources

The following people were interviewed on the record—meaning that the information they provided could be attributed to them by name—on one or more occasions; either in person or by telephone, Skype, or e-mail correspondence.

Michelle Ahern-Crane, Lisa Ahern Rammell, Steve Alley, Krisha Augerot, Kathleen Austin,

Johnny Bacolas, David Ballenger, Lori Barbero, Peter Barnes, James Bergstrom, Randy Biro,

Duane Lance Bodenheimer, Tim Branom, James Burdyshaw, Damon Burns, Jason Buttino,

Thad Byrd, Bryan Carlstrom, Chrissy Chacos, Ronnie Champagne, Craig Chilton, Annette Cisneros,

Alex Coletti, Ken Deans, Kim De Baere, Duffy Delgado, Jamie Elmer, Jim Elmer, Ken Elmer,

Martin Feveyear, Lyle Forde, Eric Frederick, Gillian Gaar, Dan Gallagher, Morgen Gallagher,