Alice in Chains reunion ‘Gives Way’ to album, tour

Cleveland, July 03: Alice in Chains singer-guitarist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney say the band`s new album, their first in nearly 14 years, doesn`t stray too far from the Seattle band`s influential catalog.‘Black Gives Way to Blue,’ due out September 29 on Virgin/EMI,is also the group`s first effort with new singer-guitarist William DuVall.

"It`s nice to sound like yourself," Kinney says with a laugh. "It`s not really that hard, actually. I know people are blown away that we really sound like ourselves, and I understand the apprehension, but it`s not really that big a stretch to sound the way that you sound." Adds Cantrell, "We were just hoping to make the best record we possibly could, and we did that. Sean and I talk a lot about (how) when you do a record, you`ve been working on it a long time and you`re pretty sick of it by the time somebody else hears it. You`re already thinking of the next thing. And we`re still listening to this. It`s still like really exciting to listen to, and that`s really good." The group has booked a brief European run in August with a monthlong Stateside tour in September. Cantrell hints that more legs are due to follow. "We`re not going to stop touring when the record comes out," Cantrell tells Billboard.com. "That would be like an old pattern we`re trying not to do again." The album`s lead single hasn`t been announced, but new track "A Looking in View" is streaming on aliceinchains.com. Other new songs include "Your Decision" and "Check My Brain." Kinney says the 11-track album continues in the Alice in Chains tradition of tackling different styles and sounds, from the hard rock nature of "Dirt" to the acoustic-minded "Jar of Flies." As for the recording of a new album, the band`s first since its 1995 self-titled effort and the 2002 death of original singer Layne Staley from a heroin/cocaine overdose, nothing was certain when the band members reunited in 2006. "It`s been a really slow process," Kinney says. "As long as it felt genuine and it came from the right place, and we all were cool with it, then we`d take another little step. Two years ago we really weren`t talking about doing a record. We were on tour and we`ve been playing and jelling together, and Will (DuVall) was getting incorporated into how things are going down. But we always had a jam space backstage where riffs and stuff started happening." Both Alice in Chains members said the spirit of Staley remains with the band. "He`s always a part of my everyday life," Kinney says. "There`s not a day that goes by that I don`t think of him. And there`s a lot to address, with all of that stuff coming to the forefront. A lot has happened since 1995, a lot has happened in our lives and we`ve never talked about it or discussed it publicly. So some of that is what`s addressed here. That`s the way we operate, it`s about what really happened in life. We`re not really the fast-cars-and-chicks songs. It`s basically what`s happened in life, but a lot has happened since the last record. And it`s on this record." Bureau Report