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97. 'Alice In Chains' - Alice In Chains (1995)
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Following the critical acclaim and commercial triumph of 'Dirt', Alice In Chains unleashed their self-titled 1995 album, a dark and introspective masterpiece. Recorded during a period of personal turmoil and creative exploration, this collection of songs further solidified their place as grunge icons. Often called the 'Tripod' album due to its iconic three-legged dog cover art, Alice In Chains perfectly captures the band's raw emotion and musical intensity. Despite the internal challenges faced by the band during its creation, this album stands as an undeniable testament to their artistic power and remains a cornerstone of 1990s rock music.
Episode Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/74C8CfZsIXXFk8krIxEZmt?si=031867425c6f40fa
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Long Live Rock and Roll Podcast. After the overwhelming success of Dirt, Alice in Chains returned with their self-titled album, also known as Tripod, a collection of raw, emotionally charged tracks that delved deeper into their signature blend of grunge, metal and hard rock. Recorded amidst personal struggles and uncertainty, Alice in Chains would be the band's last with the vocalist Lane Staley,
00:00:27
Speaker
While the band faced internal challenges and a changing musical landscape, this album stands as a powerful and enduring statement in their discography and a testament to the talent, struggles and vision of their departed lead singer. Discussing the album with me is my co-host Mr Felipe Amorim. How you doing bro? Doing great man and you? Good. Yeah, excellent. All good here. all good here Another miserable day in England as normal. What's it like in London?
00:00:51
Speaker
Yeah, it's a bit grey, isn't it? It's the normal one. We just call that normal here. Yeah, normal there. I've signed up for this, I can't complain. Yeah, yeah these are the terms and conditions when yeah you arrive. I knew I was going to sign up for. Well, from the terms and conditions of joining joining Britain to the terms and conditions of listening to this podcast.
00:01:12
Speaker
um If you guys do us a massive favor, if you enjoyed the episode when you get to the end, do us a favor. If you're listening on Apple or Spotify, scroll down and give us a little review, hit the five stars, write a sentence or two, and it means that we're going to be seen by more people in the podcast charts. And if you're watching us on YouTube, make sure to like and subscribe to stay up to date with the new content.
00:01:29
Speaker
so We had a different episode planned for today, but since the announcement of Black Sabbath's last ever show again, isn't isn't this their third final show? yeah yeah yeah they they had that they they Yeah, they had a final show with Ozzy in 1979, I think, when when they kicked him out of the band. They had another one Maybe ah maybe in the 90s, the reunion tour. There was one that's actually going to the end. And then the end, that the last ever ever show again. And they're going to do another one. I think that's that's actually the last one now. It should be. Yeah. And I think and what this is is a celebration of Black Sabbath and the annals of heavy metal, because they will be being joined by a plethora of heavy metal bands. You've got Metallica.
00:02:16
Speaker
Gogera, Slayer, Mastodon and one of the bands is Alice in Chains and I kind of thought we should ah sort get on them a bit. um Now Alice in Chains are an interesting one because they're kind of that middle ground aren't they? I mean they're obviously a grunge band but there's some music which is just so obviously pushes into the heavy metal side and then half of their music is sits very comfortably in rock. So I'll just pop through some album details quickly as usual then you can have your say on that.
00:02:41
Speaker
um So the album was released October 31st 1995, recorded between April and August of the same year at the Bad Animals Studio in Seattle. ah The genre is grunge heavy metal and hard rock and it clocks in just one hour and four minutes long through the Columbia label and produced by Tony Wright and Alice in Chains themselves. Yeah and it's interesting that I think this album wasn't meant to to happen in a way, isn't it? like i think there were no um As I said, it they they got quite heavy and I think I would ask you this question, do they cross the line between grunge and metal?
00:03:24
Speaker
let's um let Let's go into the first stuff at the end. I want to address it, but I did just want to give a bit of background and context to where Grunge was in 1995. So Grunge had started to fade and die. Kurt Cobain died in 1994. Nirvana were no more.
00:03:39
Speaker
Pearl Jam were changing their sound a bit. Soundgarden had one more album to release, but would soon break up. So the core of what we know about Grunge was fading. Grunge did not have a long lifetime. Grunge began. Grunge took over as and as the most accessible heavy metal slash rock music genre after glam metal died out, you know, and hair metal died out in the late 80s, early 90s.
00:04:03
Speaker
um never mind being released, killed off glam metal. So you have this wonderful four year period where we get some of the best runs from Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundguard and Alice in Chains. by pilots as well yeah But by um Rock was heading more towards alternative rock and post grunge, which we've spoken about with bands like Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots, which was grunge, but just made a little more accessible. ah Metal was heading towards new metal, which again was making metal accessible with bands like Korn, Slipknot, System of a Down, that were just taking the ideas of heavy metal and incorporating something different. System of a Down incorporated Armenian folk rhythms, Deftones were incorporating some sort of ambient stuff
00:04:47
Speaker
Corne, incorporating some rappy stuff, Slipknot, incorporating electronic you know sampling. um So all of these genres that Grunge kind of came together for were starting to expand and grow. And so because of that, Grunge died out is what it was. So this is interesting because I think this album, to answer your question,
00:05:08
Speaker
It's got its fingers in so many pies, isn't it? Because half of the riffs are just out and out heavy metal riffs. And, you know, there's a subgenre of heavy metal called Doom Metal. I'll put a song, quick note. Whilst we talk about this album, there is a dedicated playlist in the show note and description below where any song we mention will be put into that playlist as well as all the songs on the album we're talking about. So whilst we talk and we mention a song, you can go to the playlist and have a listen.
00:05:34
Speaker
So I'll put a Candlemass song in that so that people get an idea of what Doom Metal is. But half of the riffs on this album, they sound like they could have been done by Black Sabbath or yeah or a Doom Metal band. Yeah, could it could be compared to classic ah hard rock or heavy metal like Sabbath.
00:05:52
Speaker
Because I think um the singer mentioned in in in um in an interview, he wasn't a big fan of what was going on in the 80s and his favorite kind of music is what the bands were doing in the 70s. So they they clearly have that influence from the 70s. There's a little bit of psychedelic rock in it.
00:06:11
Speaker
and And there's definitely ah loads of classic rock influences. And so I think you you can tell that if it sounds like metal, doesn't sound to me like modern metal. Sounds like old school classic heavy metal. Yeah. Well, it depends what you want to call heavy metal. You know, I know you've had this to debate a number of times where you think speed is an icon of heavy metal.
00:06:32
Speaker
or one of the one of the characteristics of heavy metal, and obviously in music like this and Black Sabbath you don't have the speed element, but you do in my opinion have the distortion and the dissonant sounds and that to me is what it comes to. Speed is an interesting thing because ah There's not a single song on this album that's actually fast. I didn't check the exact BPMs, but I think there's nothing that can be considered fast. It's medium to low tempos. There's one point, I think track nine, so close. Yeah, it starts almost like a ah punk kind of groove or or like a heavy mole town groove.
00:07:09
Speaker
for drummers out there who know what Motown Beat is. yeah But it's like really fast paced, but it's not really because it's it's kind of a double time, like double tempo vibe for the first few bars. And then it just becomes like a normal slow beat. And the whole album seems to be like that.
00:07:25
Speaker
It is, and that's that that is that's what encompasses what we call doom metal and sludge metal, which came off the back of Black Sabbath. Because we had Black Sabbath do their thing, then in the 80s doom metal and sludge metal became a thing, which was just making it really gritty, muddy, distorted guitars playing very slow, heavy riffs. And then there's an extension that you've got Alice in Chains sort of taking those elements and mixing it in with their hard rock aspects and making grunge or, you know, yeah not not inventing grunge, but giving grunge some characteristics. Nirvana did it.
00:07:54
Speaker
you know, although they were although they were cleaner, songs like, I don't know, I'd say, think about Come As You Are. If you take that clean guitar riff and you distort that, yeah that that's a Sabbath riff. Yeah, could be, you know, makes sense. um Cool, but yeah, um so let's talk a bit about Alice in Chains and their background, because previously, I think it was 1992, they had an album called Dirt, which was a huge success, and it was one of the definitive grunge albums. People referenced that, along with Sound Gardens, Badmotorfinger,
00:08:23
Speaker
ah Nirvana's Nevermind, Pearl Jam's 10, those key albums that really shape what grunge was. um Now, since that album in 1992, drug use became a major, major issue for the band.
00:08:36
Speaker
um or not necessarily the band, but within the band because the singer, Lane Staley, became a massive heroin addict and suffered severely due to poor health conditions as well as just addiction in general, which I'm not sure you know if people don't know, um addiction is not just someone can't stop taking a drug, it's psychological, it it affects it affects your brain, it affects your physical health, it's a serious issue.
00:09:01
Speaker
ah So because of that, the band stopped touring because of his deteriorating health. um They did, however, then do an acoustic EP called Jar of Flies. Now, something I just want to touch on on that is that it was released in 1994 and it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, which is massive because that was the moment that Allison changed. Although Dirt was ah was a big album and a success, hitting number one with that EP brought them into more of the spotlight. But an EP sometimes is not as pretentious as an album, isn't it? Sometimes you don't you're just doing it because you want to put something out. I think the label was kind of like, we need to capitalize on this. Absolutely. Yeah. And because of that, um I just wanted to identify two songs off that EP, No Excuses and I Stay Away. Now, these songs are important because they start lee they start going away from the heaviness.
00:09:52
Speaker
Dirt is a very heavy album. I've put one of the songs in the playlist already. um and it's it's a you know because of Because they're from Seattle, because of the vocals and because of their general production sound, it's a grunge album. But like I said, you do different production on that. You stick that you you make that a band from, I don't know, bloody California.
00:10:13
Speaker
yeah Some people would class it as heavy metal. You put some shouting over it, that could be a heavy metal album. yeah But it is what it is in this context. um And so they started with these two songs moving away from the out and out heavy aspect. And that's important because of what is to come in this album.
00:10:29
Speaker
we might refer to this album as tripod because I think it's just easier for us to call it tripod instead of Alice in Chains and the reason it's called tripod is for those watching you can see behind me the dog has oops we want the camera off not that the dog has oh this isn't working there we go the dog has three legs. And that's the album cover iconic album cover for the time. um And yeah, because the dog has three legs, they called it try for a little bit. I think it's how most of the fans call it. Yes, yeah. Some people say the dog album. the dog but Yeah, but it's try dog. Why did no one do that? Try dog. um Right. So but but because of that, this is where I think some of the most significant parts of this album lie within the music. The melodies
00:11:17
Speaker
And the vocal harmonies are almost prevalent throughout the whole album, aren't they? Nearly every vocal line is doubled yeah between Lane Staley and the guitarist Jerry Cantrell.
00:11:29
Speaker
I think one of the reasons for that is Derek Cantrell was writing a lot of the material, not only the the riffs, but lyrics and melodies, because Lane Staley wasn't wasn't available ah like for a huge part of the the recording process. yeah He was just not, you know, his health was, as he said, deteriorating and he he wasn't, he just wasn't there for the recordings. So they must just get hold of him at any time. Is he okay? Is he awake at 1am? Let's get him into the room, record his vocals. And, but then I think, uh, Jerry Cantrell was like kind of ah ah writing the melodies. It makes sense that he was
00:12:08
Speaker
also a lead singer so you don't have one lead singer in the album and when they harmonizing I think there's one I don't know if you noticed that it sounds like what was very common when you have a clear lead vocal and the harmony for that vocal you put the harmony on on the background what I've heard with the mix in this album is like both vocals are normally at the same level or pretty much the same level It's almost co-lead vocals, isn't it? Yeah, exactly. It's harmonies, but you don't you you can't really say that this is the lead vocal, and that's just the the backing vocal. That's absolutely right. I think they're both lead vocalists. And other bands that do that, bands like System of a Down. yeah Obviously, they have a lead singer, but in some songs, especially in their later albums, they do songs where they're both at the same level. Well, the guitarist would sing the lead once, and then it would be the singer, and then they'd switch, and then for the next verse, they'd switch it around. And this I think this is maybe where this idea came from in terms of just, you know,
00:13:00
Speaker
But this was a move they were forced into because, as you said, Lane Staley's heroin addiction became quite a problem because he was often absent. um I don't want to say this out and out, but I'm just assuming maybe because he was high and not willing or able to turn up to the studio or because of his addiction, he was unwell.
00:13:20
Speaker
you know ah hangovers so to speak. I think it's a combination of a lot of things apparently they well they they had to cancel a tour with Metallica so they were booked tour with Metallica and suicidal tendencies and again that that proves your point about them being that close to heavy metal because those are really heavy bands to have them in the same bill you would assume they have to be able to entertain that heavy metal audience And they were preparing to to go on tour with Metallica and and Staley was like not fit for for the rehearsals. he he he He was turning up high or or not feeling well, whatever. And then I think the drummer but was the one who said that we can't do this. It's gonna be a disaster. So they couldn't go on tour because of that. You can't um you can't miss your shot when you're supporting Metallica, can you? Yeah, exactly. And then they had to cancel. Apparently Metallica, they were mocking them during turn the tour.
00:14:13
Speaker
they would play the riff for Man in the Box and just and just single different lyrics on top of it. i really So yeah, just yeah like making a reference to the fact that that the yeah the band wasn't there, and Alison Chang's wasn't there with them.
00:14:28
Speaker
well if you've committed to something you know it's not good luck is it to pull out because it's addictive heroin if the singer had cancer and was unable to actually get out of bed fine but yeah it was but then the labor yeah the labor put out the statement saying that was oh you know due to um health health issues they're not going to go on into. So that was, in the end of the day, it's ah it's although everyone knows about it, it's kind of a personal thing. And I think it's it's fair for the labor to say it's it's health issues, as a personal thing. you don't The band doesn't want to talk about it. they would not They wouldn't do interviews or anything like that. And who um who the hell are Metallica to talk about sobriety anyway, right? Yeah, like exactly exactly. Imagine Metallica, yeah, yeah mocking someone but yeah because they're not sober. but
00:15:14
Speaker
um yeah Cool, let's carry on with the music then. um as so As we said already, in terms of the sound between this album and Dirt, there's not much difference in terms of how heavy it is. I don't think they go to another level of heaviness here, but what they do do, and this is ah this what i I read was because of Toby Wright, the producer. um He developed a heavier sound on the guitars, a sluggier sound on the guitars, a moodier kind of production, which just makes it feel even heavier than what you hear on Dirt.
00:15:43
Speaker
And I think, you know, you listen to the thick guitar tones. I read someone described it as suffocating, which I think is such a brilliant adjective to use. The sound suffocates you. You're so bogged down. Everything sounds so heavy that you, you know, metaphorically it's suffocating you because it's weighing down on you. And I think that's a great, a great, a great way to describe it. The thing that sticks with me throughout most of the album is the dissonance in the melodies. Yeah.
00:16:12
Speaker
or even some of the guitar parts. And for those, I think we we say different dissonance once every 10 episodes on average, and we're just gonna remind you what it means just in case you forget. Dissonance is when two notes played together or one after the other sound wrong. It's as simple as that. Consonance is when it sounds good. um If you think, let's use things to describe. Consonance, think of you can't always get what you want by Rolling Stones. Two notes, you can't, nice.
00:16:39
Speaker
now let's do the dissonance which is black sabbaths black sabbath do a and do and those so yeah Those three notes played one after the other is completely perfect to the way you describe dissonance. I'll put the songs in the chat so you can hear it for yourselves. But yeah, dissonance is when something sounds wrong. And if you listen to this album, you hear it. And there are plenty of moments where in the vocals, the way that like the melody, the vocals are singing, the intervals between the vocals or the vocals are singing something nice and the guitar is playing something that clashes. It's a moment where your ear goes, oh, hold that that doesn't sound right. that's that That shouldn't work.
00:17:17
Speaker
but because of the way and Jerry controls songwriting, it does, right? Yeah, it's a composition. They knew what they were doing. So those those dissonant notes are there for a reason. It's not like an improvisation that went wrong or something like that. And and I think and another good word to describe dissonance and to describe the album is disturbing.
00:17:37
Speaker
yeah That's how I feel about it. like So if you have too much dissonance, ah you you feel like there's no resolution. That's how I feel about it. Until you get to a normal interval when two notes sound ah sound like a ah they work well together. yeah until you get to that feeling it's disturbing to hear dissonance after dissonance is disturbing and I think the album lyric wise and sound wise is quite disturbing and that's probably the intention anyway I'm sure it is yeah and I'm just trying to remind myself I think it's the sound yeah
00:18:14
Speaker
Grind. So the first song, and this is a good, very clever of them to do this, the first song you've mentioned about tension created because of the dissonance. And so for for listeners who are not familiar with music theory or the intricacies of music, as we said, dissonance is when things don't sound nice. But because of that dissonance, tension is created. And as Felipe said, sometimes you want resolution. but ah might One teacher told me ah when we were studying at uni that jazz is just a bunch of tensions released.
00:18:42
Speaker
Yeah, one after the other. That's what jazz is. But in in in ah in a serious sense, what Felipe is saying is go and listen to the song Grind, the first song of this album. And throughout the first minute or whatever, it's full of dissonance and tension. And then suddenly the resolution with the chorus.
00:19:01
Speaker
I was about to mention this song. That's great. It's the perfect ah example of how you get away from tension and you deliver something that sounds like a brighter and more pleasant. And I think, yeah, that's the idea of choruses in general isn't it it is the most um radio friendly part of the song is the most pleasant part of a song. But in that case, the contrast is huge. I think they've they've done it in a perfect way, really.
00:19:28
Speaker
But you and you hear it in general, if you think about heavy metal, you might have, you know, yeah I mean, there's so much metal that this is far from the generalisation. But I certainly know a few bands I listen to, there will be very intense heavy verses with fast riffs screaming and then suddenly a singing chorus comes in because I think good musicians know that, you know,
00:19:49
Speaker
unless you're talking about death metal, it can't always be full on, 100% intense. yeah There has to be breaks and resolutions in the music. And they do this fantastically on Grind. Like you said, like I said, um that chorus comes in. And it's funny because I know we we're not moving on to sort of the lyrics and themes yet, but the album is quite reflective, I feel, of the state of the band at the moment. yeah It's very dark.
00:20:17
Speaker
It's very sad. It's very gloomy. But every now and then there's a little glimmer of hope that comes in the form of a a harmonious chorus. Yeah. Yeah. Or just like an acoustic guitar sound rather than distorted riffs or a clean guitar solo over a heavy riff. yeah ah So I don't remember exactly. I wonder if you're talking about Sludge Factory.
00:20:42
Speaker
because i double go check Let me double check because ah I remember this solo being, it's all my notes. Well I wonder if it's the same one because I've got Sludge Factory, guitar solo almost country-esque.
00:20:57
Speaker
I wrote down clean and bluesy guitar solo in contrast with the riffs, because the riffs are really heavy. and and this this When the guitar came, he was like, he's taking the piss. I can't believe someone is going to have that clean guitar. So when he plays the the bends and and and all those that the most impactful notes in the in the solo they don't actually sound um you know they don't sound as strong as they should sound because there's no distortion there's no effects as a clean guitar solo and i think that's part of it yeah yeah exactly it's like yeah it's like if marc noffle is playing a solo on an arrow maiden so i'm gonna So like it's just, but it works. They make it work. I think that's part of what they wanted as well. Kind of challenging the rules. I imagine at that point, they were not sure if the band would carry on. And as a matter of fact, it didn't. That was the last album of this lineup.
00:21:52
Speaker
yeah but um not having that certainty and having the pressure of the label to release something commercial or something's good, ah they were really pissed off with the label. ah Again, how many times have we have we talked about bands that got really pissed off with the labels because the label wanted this and they wanted like, I want this album to be good, to be commercial and to be released as soon as possible. yeah And some of the songs are also about that.
00:22:19
Speaker
you know yeah um We'll get onto that in a second, we'll get into the lyrics and the stuff, but I just wanted to finish off by saying that, you know, there are there are other things that make this album a bit uneasy to listen to, a bit more tense. ah In songs like Brush Away and God Am, you've got unconventional time signatures, which sort of just throw the listener off of it. In Frogs and Head Creeps, you've got those really psychedelic elements that you alluded to earlier, yeah where it is kind of just lots of droning on the sounds.
00:22:48
Speaker
um And as you alluded to, you've got something completely different because in heaven beside you, the intro and the pre-verse, or I think it's it's all that section of music that comes before the verse, you've got an acoustic guitar yeah leading the rhythm. And then you've got a guitar that, do you know what it reminds me of? It it reminds me of the Motown horns.
00:23:08
Speaker
right You know when you have the du do da da the like that, it just reminded me of that. It was really weird because I was listening to it and I thought this is so different from the first five songs. yeah So unusual. um Yeah, they found a way to make it work. yeah Great, isn't it? um Just to finish off on the music section, I kind of sort of identified a little formula going on. Heavy riff, proper heavy riff,
00:23:34
Speaker
some dissonance in the verse or a melody that doesn't mood vt move very much, followed by a major or harmonious chorus to resolve the tension. Yeah, makes sense. Do you know it's something that can be added to that? It's yeah all riff based and melody based. There's no um you know In a good way, not saying that ah not saying that the solos are not good. i'm so What I'm saying is the solos don't matter.
00:24:06
Speaker
Yeah, like as good as they are, it's all about the riffs and the melodies. My opinion is just an opinion. What I'm saying is like I've listened to songs like that c clean guitar talked about. I think it was really cool to hear that. And I think the phrasing is amazing. I think Jerry Cantrell is a much better cat guitar player than I thought he was when I listened. You know, I knew he was really good. But when I listened to this album, like paying attention to every guitar detail,
00:24:30
Speaker
That guy is a genius of layering guitars and and writing structures. He's really good. And I think he's clearly serving the music. So it's so is's about melody, lyrics, riffs. The solos are just like an accessory to the song.
00:24:48
Speaker
you know, to make it better, to make it more interesting, to break away from a certain structure, but the solos are not as essential to the songs. I think it's kind of a grunge thing as well, as and it's more about the overall sound. Yes, definitely. It's about the sound. shredding a guitar Yeah, exactly, exactly. um Cool. Well, I mean, let's move on to, well, I'd say the lyrics and Lane Staley is what we've called this section of the episode.
00:25:13
Speaker
um you You always look a bit more into the lyrics, so I'll hand over to you in a second. I just wanted to say that talking about Lane Staley, the reason that we've coupled these together is because, as you can tell through some of the lyrics, just listening to this album, it's almost like a premonition of what is to come. Lane Staley sounds very weak, and I don't mean that as a negative side to his vocals. I'm not saying he's bad on this album, but I feel like if you listen to Dirt and then you listen to this album, you can tell something has gone wrong in between. His vocals sound very raw.
00:25:44
Speaker
He sounds very vulnerable. His vocals don't. They sound a bit fragile. Someone described it um ghostly. Interesting, isn't it? Because there's no there's no wrong notes. There's no poor delivery. There's no bad execution.
00:26:01
Speaker
It just doesn't sound as meaty or as big as it did in dirt. I think it's like he lost the intensity in a way. So it's not intense, it's not powerful. You just summed up what I was, yeah, you just summed up in one word what I was trying to say. It's melancholic, but it's not Uh, it's not, I can't say it's not powerful. It is powerful, but in a completely different way for me. It's powerful because it's sad because it's, as I said, it's weak in a way. He's losing his strength, but, um, you know, kind of suits the lyrics, right? They do. Yeah. Well, um, just, just a couple of examples of the, the lyrics that I really like, uh, in brush away.
00:26:50
Speaker
i ive I found the riff and the vocals scary in that song. It's like you know really heavy stuff. and that so So the lyrics, are they go on like, I tried to get away and yet I stick around. So fall and crawl away and brush away loose ground. So that's about his addiction. you know So trying to stay away. There's a lot of it about him trying to get away. it's not so that's That's why we don't judge people in that and in that condition. you know We talked about this a million times. like It's easy to say when it's not you, and know on and say, oh, yeah maybe do that guy with that money and fame, they should just go into rehab, which he tried, and it didn't work. But it's it's easy to say, but it's not that but easy to do. So another song he talks about his frustration with not being able to get away from from the problem is
00:27:44
Speaker
god damn because that song uh uh he's his the whole song is about him believing in god but not being happy with the outcome of his life so it's like why god why is my life like this you know uh so as far as i as i uh read about him uh he believed there was something there was a creator to the universe but he was like okay if there is a god why am i suffering like this and i don't want to be this guy. I don't want to do the things I'm doing, but I can't get away from this behavior. so that that And also, i it's somehow tragic and comic. One part of the of the lyrics of this song, the eighth track, God Am, says, world dies, I still pay taxes.
00:28:30
Speaker
i love ah like Yeah, you know, so everything is collapsing, but he's still got to pay your taxes. yeah he's He's complaining. So there's a little bit of humor in that, which I find amazing for someone who is in such struggle, you know. Yeah, but it can get quite dark when you keep reading the lyrics and listening to the songs. and Here's another one. um The song's over now. The song, sorry, the song is called Over Now. It's the last one. It's the last one. And these Well, it's over now, yet I can see somehow when it's all gone wrong, it's hard to be so strong. yeah um That's a really sad song. i'm going expect what I feel like being the last one of the album as well. Yeah, I feel like I'm going to allude to this in my monologue at the end, but you look back at the album now with a lot more sadness now that you know he's dead.
00:29:23
Speaker
I wonder if we'd look back at it with so much sadness and sorrow, if he had kicked the drugs and stayed alive to this day, you know, we'd probably, he'd probably look at it and be like, well, thank God that part of my life's over, you know, cool album and everything, but I never want to go back to those days that dark. But I wonder with us as fans and as people who are listening to it for the first time, it's been a sad listen, man. The whole album has been a very sad listen. but It wasn't pleasant. I like, I like, I enjoyed moments of it, but I didn't sit there going, oh yeah, I can't wait to put this album on again. It's very dark.
00:29:51
Speaker
Yeah, it's like you're going to, it's a journey into someone else's mind, but that mind is very troubled at the moment. So that's literally, it's almost like there's, the only positive thing about that moment is the music itself, is the fact that someone is making music out of that suffering. But the suffering is in the lyrics, is in the riffs and the whole vibe of the album. I wonder how hard it was for them to go through the whole process of doing, of recording and- Imagine your bandmates, I don't know about other relationships, don't know if they were best friends or anything, but you kind of assume so, you know, to be in a band for that long.
00:30:27
Speaker
I kind of wonder how hard it was for them. Imagine your best mate's addicted to heroin, he's not turning up, you're trying to move the band on, you're trying to get things going, you're trying to get the next album recorded. And the singer is just not, he's absent. Yeah, exactly. And on the other hand, he actually had another project he was involved with, I think it's called Mad Season. It was a band, like a super group. Yeah, that's a funny thing because he wasn't able to talk, but then he started this project backed by the label, same label, I guess,
00:30:56
Speaker
and with ah I think there's I don't know which member of Pro Jam was in the band. Let me see that season. yet that isn' there So they recorded an album that did well and this that and he's kind of like trying to record music and write stuff at the same time he can't go on tour with his own band and the whole band felt like the band was collapsing that everyone wanted to do something else and and Jerry Cantrell was recording his own solo stuff so the first like two out of the three singles of this album were ah intended to be Cantrell's solo material. So he was writing songs for his own album and then and then he finally decided, no, I want to save my band, I want the band to be back together and I want him to be part of this again and I wouldnt i want to use those songs for Alice in Chains instead of of my solo thing.
00:31:44
Speaker
And, you know, I'm very thankful he decided to do that instead of solo album. He did some solo stuff later, but ah the fact that he decided to to give that material to the band, because it it was in some ways a solo effort from him.
00:31:59
Speaker
You know, he's the main man in the album. He's the the one in charge of everything. There's another another couple of things that I find interesting about the struggle with the label, which is I think that's the other theme, the other like main theme just after drug addiction is the fact that they wanted to do something that reflected uh their own spirit not what the label wanted them to do uh i would say that even the album cover is a bit of that it's like that dog is not the dog you put in in in in a in a nice picture because it's missing a leg so it's incomplete it's like like they felt like the album was incomplete and the label was pushing for the album to be released um that's why there's a is it nothing song is that the name of the song Yes. Nothing song, which is about nothing. They're just like rambling about anything because they're like, well, we're going to write a song just to fill the album. It's actually well written, well structured and well played. But the lyrics are just about, you know what, I'm going to sing about nothing just because they want me to finish an album. That's what it is about. So and the the other element that made the album great, in my opinion is what's his name, Toby?
00:33:06
Speaker
ah Right. Probably right. The producer, because the label, hit they wanted him on the label said, oh, he's a sound engineer. He's not a producer. Well, he was a producer, but he was, you know, well known as a sound engineer. They wanted someone else to be the producer, but they put they put him in charge because they wanted a friend of the band to be there with them to fully support whatever they wanted to do. Instead of a producer, you know how producers work, their job is to kind of find the compromise between the band's creativity and the label's commercial needs. Most producers would work like that. Okay, I like what you guys are writing, but if we cut this song short, if we change this, change that, the label's gonna be happy and we're gonna sell more albums.
00:33:50
Speaker
yeah They didn't want that. They put a friend of theirs in charge of the production, just so they could play in any way they wanted. And I think that's why ah the album doesn't have any, ah like, as I said, there's some formulas of their own, but there are no predictable formulas, not stuff that someone else told them to do. Yeah. Now you bang on with that. Yeah. Great point. fan I mean, I just, I found out that, you know, I I'm saying this ironically, and I'm saying this with no, um with no intent of humor towards this, but when Mad Season began just reading Mike McGrady from Pearl Jam was in drug and alcohol rehab where he met the bass player yeah and then they hooked up with um Lane Staley. So yeah, i don't want I don't want to be insensitive, but it's it's it's ironic that the the three activists came together to try and, you know,
00:34:47
Speaker
I've never been a heroin addict. You've never been a heroin addict. I don't think anyone can, has tried dinner well, and I don't think anyone can ever, um, can ever guess how, how your mind works when you're on that stuff 24 seven. But I do wonder if the three, if these guys had, um, common interests, you know, sure, let's write some music, let's jam out. And then after we can go and get high.
00:35:10
Speaker
yeah And I'm not generally, I'm not assuming that's what's happened. And I'm not even condescending them for that. I'm just saying that maybe, you know, it's it's funny. I didn't know about the mad season thing. And when you brought it up, I thought, what, doing another band whilst Alison changed. Yeah, whilst your band is kind of collapsing. Yeah, exactly. I think bigger road collapsing as well. Yeah. I don't know if it was Cantrell, one of them said that they felt like they were betraying themselves, all of them, by trying to do their solo stuff or or side projects. They all felt like we betraying the the the thing we created with so much love and and passion. And then they decided, like fortunately, they decided to go back into it and and and make a good album. but It's kind of like, it's I find it impressive how amazing music can come out of so much sadness. it's Yeah.
00:35:55
Speaker
yeah Well, legacy-wise, this album did really well. I wonder if everyone knew what went on behind the scenes, because we look back now, 30 years later, and it's and we can be like, wow, you know they had a lot to put up with. But the album debuted at number one on Billboard 200, just like the EP. ah Grind, Heaven Beside You, and again, were massively successful radio singles. um The album itself, in terms of what it means to have some Chains fans, I was reading the People love how haunting it is. People love how raw it is. And I think people also love that it's Lane Staley's final final effort. um And I think that's probably why it's one of the fan favorites. Because they only had like three full albums, isn't it, with with him? that That's a perfect like kind of a musical legacy because there's nothing bad. They you haven't produced anything bad together.
00:36:51
Speaker
and um bands have been influenced by it as well. You know, that hybrid mixture of clean vocals singing nice melodies with heavy music. Just listen to bands like Tool. I mean, you know, Tool are a great example. Other ones, Deftones, Breaking Benjamin and Tool actually have cited Alison Chains um and their heavy, harmonic style as major influences for them. So it's significant. It's it's it's a significant album in the um in the grand scheme of things.
00:37:22
Speaker
um But yeah, it's just sad talking about it, isn't it? Because, you know, whilst whilst you know Ricky Gervais has this this um funny video about fat people where he says, you know, fat people, so funny because, you know, they've only got themselves to blame. And I think.
00:37:37
Speaker
you say you can I think you can love say the same about drug addicts and it's not and it's when but no one is in that position because they want that's the thing I mean oh you know I would assume no one wants to be in that position and it's uh so I'm saying this I'm not saying this I'm not saying here saying this in a condescending I'm better than the drug drug addicts manner just saying it's so sad to imagine what people like Lane Staley were going through knowing that you have a successful career on the horizon but you just can't shake his drug addiction and it keeps you from progressing and eventually takes your life. I was reading he was found, um he was he was six foot and when they found him in his in in his apartment he weighed something crazy like 40 kilograms because he'd just been so deprived
00:38:26
Speaker
Wow, that is yeah is sad. And he lost his girlfriend, you like her i think yeah I think a year after this album. Oh, really? Yeah. So i just want here yeah so ah right it was reported that the six foot staley weighed only 39 kilograms when his body was discovered. Really skinny. Yeah. Died for a mixture of heroin and cocaine. Yeah. What a sad ending to your great singer.
00:38:54
Speaker
but one of best i don't even have a um I don't even have a connection to Alice in Chains. Actually, I do, but I'll talk about that after. I'm quite sad talking about this. i've heard I've heard Lane Staley, the odd song here and there over the years. It's the first Alice in Chains album I've listened to, back to front, analysing it, and just reading the the history behind it. It's sad, man. Tragedy. Yeah, it is. and and and it Yeah. I was going to say, you know, not all yeah obviously all is lost for Lane Staley, but for the band, they moved on. And 14 years later, they released another album with the new singer William Duval. And I'm bringing this up because that's how I discovered them. I think it's a brilliant album. Have you heard it? Yeah. ah really good I'm glad you have because I wanted you to know i will the first song isn't the first song brilliant. It's called Check My Brain. And I've put it in the playlist. The the the thing
00:39:49
Speaker
I listened to that album when it came out, so that's 2009. It's almost, you know, heavenly 15 years ago. When I first, now that i've now that I know that album, and now that I hear this album, and I see that that was the following album, they've done so well to keep that sound. Because if you listen to that first song, Check My Brain, it starts off with the most dissonant guitar riff ever, and I'll tell you why it's dissonant, because the riff for guitarists, you're gonna know this, for non-guitarists,
00:40:18
Speaker
You can bend a string and the riff starts with the string bent. So I'll exaggerate it with my finger on the camera. So imagine you bend the string like that, okay? So the string's meant to be there and you bend it like that. The riff starts bent, so it goes... do dooooooo And as he's playing that, he releases the bend.
00:40:38
Speaker
doooooooooooooooo dooodoooodoo and it's just disgusting. I remember listening to it thinking oh my god but then as it creates the you know desired effect and as Grind does the chorus it comes in of that Check My Brain song and it's beautiful and the vocals are there the um uh the the dual vocals the harmonies i just should do that we should do the album one i really i want to do it now because yeah it's a band is a band that managed to to get back together yeah after losing losing like a um like iconic singer you know it's not like it's not you're not you're not replacing just a singer you're replacing the the guy who actually made the band yeah the sound of the band exactly that's an interesting one
00:41:28
Speaker
There's one thing I want to say about Cantrell again because he what I think probably my favorite song of the album is Heaven Beside You, so ah yeah which is a beautiful acoustic ballad and he wrote about the end of his relationship.
00:41:43
Speaker
And again, he only has himself to blame. He's blaming himself for the end of the relationship. And he's talking about, you know, um his girlfriend moving on and doing her own thing. So basically ah they was they were together for seven years. And then he it's not the usual breakup song, isn't it? It's not just it's not him being really sad because someone left him and begging the the person to come back. It's about like, yeah, I understand I messed up and I understand that my life choices ah um
00:42:15
Speaker
like like bringing the end of the relationship. I think that that's all his life choice. it's I think he said that I've got some quotes from him from an interview. Yeah. Another attempt. So the song is another attempt to reconcile the fact that my life and paths are tearing me apart from the person I love.
00:42:34
Speaker
So basically saying I've made that decision, I turned myself into this person and this person is no longer good for the person I love. So yeah basically it's interesting it just acknowledging your mistakes and your and on the other hand they never say they're going to change isn't it? It's kind of like um maybe they tried maybe didn't work so it's but it's a beautiful love song in a way and ah yeah and it's it's acoustic kind of breaks the uh the heaviness of the album you know fourth track really really good one oh yeah go anything else to say are you good uh yeah we're good to go to the monologue excellent cool right the monologue alice and chain's tripod is a seemingly special album for several reasons
00:43:23
Speaker
Firstly, it seems to accurately reflect the health of the grunge scene at the time. Metal would march forward, rock stayed strong and grunge evolved into something more harmonious and accessible. The metal riffs are excellent and compete now with some of the heaviest, doomiest, sluggiest riffs from bands like Sabbath and Candlemass. The rock aspects are prevalent and strong. Heavy, yes, but harmonious and coupled with some cool rock guitar solos and great vocal harmonies.
00:43:49
Speaker
Grunge-wise, the dirty, distorted, mucky sound of the album perfectly reflects the genre's name. So whilst this is still an obvious grunge album, it seems to mark the start of the decline of grunge as we knew it, showing the rest of the world how to do the individual aspects better. Secondly, the lyrical themes seem to almost foreshadow the demise of the band, turning the album into an almost farewell to Lane Staley, without them or us knowing it.
00:44:15
Speaker
his voice was His voice was full of pain and emotion and listening to his performance to this day is very chilling. Couple this with the raw emotional depth of the sound of the music, it just really hits hard. You don't have to know the lyrics to feel the darkness of this album. The sounds, atmosphere and music make it unmissable.
00:44:34
Speaker
Finally, as alluded to earlier, this is Lane Staley's farewell to the world of music, his last his last gift to the world of rock. There is beauty and sadness, and listening to this album certainly reminds everyone of how tragic the initial demise of Alice in Chains was, but more significantly the death of their lead vocalist. Yet out of sorrow, sometimes beautiful things grow, and thanks to the trials and tribulations this band endured at the time, a wonderful album has been executed and released.
00:45:01
Speaker
Is it more noteworthy because of the subsequent events that would follow the band's hiatus, Lane's death? Even if the answer is yes, it still marks a moment in musical time and allows us to remember and reflect on the talent and legacy of Alice in Chains and Lane Staley.
00:45:18
Speaker
Really well said. and Sad, man. I haven't felt this sad doing an episode. We've done bands who have had members die before.
00:45:29
Speaker
We've done, you know, we've done Hendrix. We've done. But it's pretty much the whole album about a tragedy that is about to happen. And yeah that they do he knows it's going to happen. He can't find a way out. He know he knows he does. But the band and the fans don't. No, they don't. But maybe they could kind of ah feel it somehow because it was happening you know that is he was declining in many ways so it's it's just really yeah it's a really sad statement of someone's ah mental health and and and also you know yeah addiction and other stuff it makes it makes everyone think I guess I hope that makes people
00:46:08
Speaker
consider those bad habits before they they get really really bad and and before you you reach that point of no return because this album maybe it marks that point of no return is when he knew yeah he knew he would kill himself with that and he couldn't it was too late to to avoid so yeah but ah at least we got some beautiful music you know yeah that came out of it so it's that's like it's like music finds its way through tragedy the same way finds its way through happiness and it's it's amazing isn't it how you you can write beautiful music when you're happy but you can also write when you when you're really depressed and uh and it's it's it's good to have that kind of uh insight or kind of um um i don't know it's like being for me it's like being inside so so someone else's head in a way yeah know to to experience some feelings that you can't experience yourself and you shouldn't you know
00:47:06
Speaker
Yeah. Excellent points, man. Excellent points. Cool. Well, thank you for joining us for another episode of the Long Live Rock and Roll Podcast. As we said at the start, anything you can do, a review you could give us on Apple or Spotify would be massively appreciated because it takes 20 seconds of your time, but it does so much for us. And the more reviews we get, the more we go up the charts, and the more people we're seen by. And if you're watching on YouTube, make sure to like this video and hit like and subscribe to stay up to date with our newest episodes. Thank you and we'll see you again soon.
00:47:34
Speaker
Thanks for being with us once again, keep on rocking everyone and don't do anything I wouldn't do. And as usual, long live, rock and roll.