Alice in Chains: The Untold Story

Former Diamond Lie singer Scott Nutter ran into Layne in Seattle during the band’s early days, and they talked about Jerry, “lead singer to lead singer.” As Nutter recalled, Layne referred to Jerry as a “pisser,” and the two talked about how temperamental he was. The gist of Layne’s comments was, “‘Was it worth it to put up with him in order to have the writing and the guitar?’ He said they loved the guy, but that at times he was very difficult to deal with.”

Chapter 7

Hey—where the fuck’s Geraldo?

LAYNE STALEY

THE SUMMER OF 1988 was an eventful one for Alice in Chains and the Music Bank, for good and bad reasons. On June 1, Iron Maiden was performing at the Seattle Center Coliseum with Guns n’ Roses as the opening act. Jerry went to the show and handed Axl Rose a copy of the band’s demo, who immediately threw it away as he was leaving.1

David Ballenger got into a huge argument with Mike Buckner, one of his employees, because Buckner wanted to work more hours, but Ballenger didn’t have any to give. Buckner held up a beer bottle, acting like he was going to smash it against Ballenger’s face.

Ballenger was furious. “I got in my truck and I drove full blast for ninety miles, and I ran through the American-Canadian border. I go, ‘Goddamn! I’m in Canada!’” He turned around in the parking lot to drive back to Seattle, and American border authorities found three joints concealed in his boot. They seized his truck, and Ballenger had to take a bus back to Ballard.

Besides not getting enough work hours, Buckner had health issues. According to Ballenger, “He had this disease in his legs and his feet that would just drive him crazy. Layne and all of us, we took him to the hospital. We thought we wouldn’t see him back, and three or four days later he popped back in and it was all in remission.” According to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, Buckner suffered from a “severe bee sting allergy” and had “scars on ankle due to bee sting allergy.”2

Buckner could be very funny, and he found a comedic sparring partner in Layne on at least one occasion. Ballenger recalls one time he, Buckner, and Layne were sitting in the office and Layne started doing his Popeye impression. “He could do a very great Popeye voice, and this would be all X-rated,” he said. Buckner played off that and assumed the role of Olive Oyl. “They’d break into some shtick where basically Popeye was butt-fucking Olive Oyl, and everybody would just be rolling on the floor laughing.” Layne was generally a popular guy at the Music Bank, but according to Ballenger, Buckner once caught another musician with a knife at the door, angrily looking for Layne.

At 7:00 P.M. on the night of June 18, 1988, Seattle police officers were dispatched to a wooded area near Lake Washington Boulevard after a passerby saw Buckner “lying in the woods with a rifle.” As they approached the area on foot, they heard a gunshot. After trying to coax Buckner to drop the weapon and come out, they heard a second shot. The area was cordoned off, and a K-9 unit was brought in to search for Buckner. According to the medical examiner’s office, “He was found shortly lying supine with a Springfield Model 15, .22 Cal. bolt-action rifle (no visible serial number) on his chest with the barrel pointed towards his head.” Buckner was brought to Harborview Medical Center at about 9:30 P.M. to treat a self-inflicted gunshot wound, where he died about twenty-two hours later. He was forty years old.

Regarding his possible motive, Buckner’s girlfriend later told the medical examiner’s office that the two of them had had an argument before the incident and that Buckner “stated that he had made a prior attempt by pistol. Apparently, something was bothering him lately.”3

Shortly after, Ballenger said he and other Music Bank employees made arrangements for the burial. “We didn’t have any money and got one of them common burial sites. We all went there one day on the cheap and buried our friend.” Not long after Buckner’s death, Alice in Chains and Hit and Run were scheduled to perform together at a benefit show held at the Pickwick Tavern in West Seattle, according to Hit and Run’s drummer, Dean Noble. The plan was for any proceeds to go toward paying the costs of Buckner’s headstone.

The bar was packed that night, Noble recalled. Before the show, Layne and Noble were in the men’s room smoking a joint. Layne had to pee, but all the urinals were taken, so he used the sink. One of the regulars at the bar got livid, Noble said. Layne was apologetic. “Hey, I had to go really bad. All the urinals were taken. I had no choice. I just had to go.” The man stormed out of the bathroom. Layne and Noble kept smoking.