Alice in Chains: The Untold Story

Ann Wilson noticed the toll Layne’s drug use had taken on him. “You could see that day, though, that his struggles with drug addiction had taken away part of Layne,” she wrote. “He had become smaller and smaller, inside and out, even hunched over. He was little to start with, but when I gave him a hug, I was afraid I might break his bones.

“I had seen some of Alice’s first shows when Layne was luminous onstage, whiter than white, as if he was lit from within. It was like he didn’t have a body when he was performing.

“As the years went on, he shifted, and by ‘Ring Them Bells,’ his light was flickering.”30

The other event, arguably more consequential in terms of the band’s career and future, was the dissolution of Susan’s business partnership with Kelly Curtis. There are differing accounts for why they split. Curtis told Mark Yarm he quit right as Alice in Chains was taking off because, having lived through the trauma of losing Andrew Wood to heroin, he didn’t want to go through that again with Layne. There was an incident during which Layne was holding Curtis’s daughter when he nodded off. “He was a great guy—all those guys were great—but there was a dark cloud over them, and it really affected me. I hated it,” Curtis said.31

Curtis’s former business partner, Ken Deans, did not disagree with his account, noting, “At that point, it was becoming very obvious that Kelly was going to be hugely successful with Pearl Jam. Pearl Jam didn’t have any of those trappings that Mother Love Bone did, or Alice in Chains … And I can believe that Kelly didn’t want to deal with that.”

Krisha Augerot, Curtis’s assistant at the time, had a similar recollection. “When I was working with Kelly, it was the very beginning of Pearl Jam. He was also comanaging Alice in Chains with Susan and comanaging Kristen Barry with Susan. When they split ways, Alice in Chains, I think, wanted more attention. I think they felt like Susan had Soundgarden [and] Kelly had Pearl Jam. Alice in Chains, although they were having success, maybe they didn’t feel like they were getting the attention they needed. They were like the stepchild kind of thing, so they wanted to go with one side or the other. It was really hard for Kelly to let that go, because Jerry Cantrell lived in his basement for a long time. They were like family.”

In terms of the band’s relationship with Susan and Curtis, Augerot said it was “like having a pseudo-mom and dad with Kelly and Susan. I think Jerry was really close to Kelly. Clearly because they lived together and [Kelly] gave him so much support, Peggy [Curtis’s wife] gave him so much support. I think Susan was a very calming influence on those guys, really caring, really solid. I do remember it being really hard on Jerry, the Kelly-Susan split.”

Randy Biro alleges the split was purely a business decision and that Curtis did not leave of his own accord. “Eventually [Alice in Chains] just fired him. The Pearl Jam thing—he just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Alice in Chains became managed a lot better once he was out.” He disputes Curtis’s explanation that he left because of drug issues. “Kelly Curtis is strictly money. It’s all about money. He didn’t leave. They fired him. They felt that he was not focusing on them at all, and him and Susan did not agree on the way to manage it. If I remember right, he gave the band an ultimatum.

“I think the ultimatum was, ‘It was me or Susan. You can’t have both.’ And they said, ‘Okay. Bye.’ Which kind of threw him for a loop, because he said it in such a cocky way, thinking that it was just automatically going to go to him. And they just didn’t like it.”

Chapter 18

Funny thing about the songs—I don’t have any.

JERRY CANTRELL

ALICE IN CHAINS WAS TOURING when Jerry called Toby Wright, asking if he would be interesting in recording an EP with them. “Absolutely,” Wright responded. “Can you send me any of the songs?”

“We’re on our way home. By the time they get to you, we’ll already be done,” Jerry responded. “Meet us in Seattle.”

Despite what Jerry had told Wright, no material had been written. According to Jerry, the band had planned to take a break and wanted to work on the songs together after they got back.1 Alice in Chains and Toby Wright went into London Bridge Studio on September 7, 1993, with little or no material prepared. As soon as everyone arrived, the band members began talking about their experiences on the road.

“Wow, that’s awesome,” Wright said. “So you wrote a lot on the road?”

“Uh … funny thing about the songs—I don’t have any,” was Jerry’s sheepish response. Everyone laughed.

“Okay. What do you want to do for the next ten days?” Wright asked, referring to the fact that they had already booked studio time.

“Is it okay if we just jam for the next ten days?” Jerry asked.