Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell Releases New Song ‘A Job To Do’ From ‘John Wick: Chapter 2′ Film
Every now and then, the rock world crosses paths with film as entire bands or just select artists are tapped to write a song for a motion picture soundtrack. Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell already had experience in this role, writing a song for The Cable Guy soundtrack in 1996. Now, more than two decades later, the guitarist-singer is back at it.
The song "A Job To Do" (listen above) is featured during the end credits of the new John Wick: Chapter 2 film, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Common and more. Cantrell was asked to contribute a song to the soundtrack by his neighbor, who is a composer.
“I moved houses a few years ago and ended up meeting my new neighbor, Tyler. He did the first [John Wick] movie and a song with Marilyn Manson, [‘Killing Strangers’] that I thought really fit the film. He mentioned there was going to be a sequel and maybe we could work it out," Cantrell told Billboard, which premiered the track.
Opening with a relaxing acoustic melody and Cantrell's calm, inimitable croon, "A Job To Do" is highly emotional with waves of chords crashing in during the chorus, still giving off a dreary feeling. Picking up the heaviness just before the halfway mark, the song takes on a familiar Alice in Chains quality, which will certainly put a smile on fans' faces.
Despite not having seen John Wick: Chapter 2, Cantrell was reportedly familiar with the first flick and based the lyrics off of Reeves' hitman character (John Wick). In the sequel, Wick is forced out of retirement to honor a blood oath as he takes on an international ring of assassins. “It almost felt like an assignment that I gave to myself. It’s not unlike how I normally write from a personal point of view, whether mine or someone else’s," he said.
John Wick: Chapter 2 hits movie theaters tomorrow (Feb. 10).
Last month, we reported that Alice in Chains have entered the studio to begin working on the successor to 2013's The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here. Bassist Mike Inez stated, "We’re still in that playing in the sandbox, for this new record anyways, we’re still getting together in the same city, plugging in the same room."
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