Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell Praises Korn + Has No Time for ‘Beef’ – Interview
With the release of their 2018 album Rainier Fog and their Black Antenna television project, Alice in Chains are one of the last remaining '90s rock acts from Seattle that are still going strong. Guitarist and songwriter Jerry Cantrell recently spoke with Loudwire Nights host Toni Gonzalez about writing the title track from their latest album "Rainier Fog," their upcoming tour with Korn and whether he has "beef" with any other bands.
Cantrell explains the songwriting process behind the title track "Rainier Fog," which is their third single from the album. Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan assisted him with the bass line. "I remember that riff early on when I was kinda doing some demos, and my good friend Duff McKagan stopped by and we were just kinda shooting a breeze. I was playing a couple of demos, and I'm not a great bass player, but Duff is ..So I hit the riff, and he stopped the take and is like, 'That's your first single. That's it.' It ended up being our third," he laughs.
The song pays homage to Seattle, which is not only where the band is from, but where they recorded the album as well at Studio X. "We're all in our 50s now, we've lived through a lot and this band has been down a lot of roads, been around the world many times. I just was thinking of home," Cantrell says.
Earlier this year, it was announced that Alice in Chains would be going on a summer co-headlining tour with Korn, garnering support from Fever 333 and Underoath. Asked about how the idea came about for Alice in Chains to tour with Korn, Cantrell says, "I think those guys obviously created a sound, I think they're pretty much the cream-of-the-crop of that era among other bands that I really dig. When the opportunity kind of came around, we started talking about, you know it's kind of easy because we're under the same roof, we're under the same management."
He continues, "We were trying to figure out what to do to close our year out and they're kicking theirs up with a record, so we put our heads together and thought about doing a good co-headline run together. With the numbers and the way the tickets are moving, it looks like we made a right decision, it's gonna be a great show. They're obviously an amazing band and we can hold our own too, so it'll be a good night of rock."
Cantrell then discusses whether he would ever tour with an artist he didn't respect for the sole purpose of money. "What do you mean, would I go on tour with Michael Jackson if he was still around?" Cantrell jokes. "I don't know, I never really thought about that particular question. We do tend to end up mostly with people we like, and we're all kind of the same big band. It doesn't matter whether it's Korn, whether it's Alice in Chains, whether it's Zeppelin and Van Halen, whether it's any band of any level."
"It takes a certain kind of nut to do what we do, we're basically like carnival circus performers. We set the thing up in the town every night, we throw a party, everybody comes and then we tear it down and go to the next one again and do the same thing all over. So we all get along, pretty much. People are people, I'm sure there's beef, are there still beefs? Is 'beef' still a big deal? I don't know if I have any time for that," he says.
He also believes in aliens. To hear more, listen to the full interview above. Additionally, see the Alice in Chains tour dates here.
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