Alice in Chains

Alice in Chains

Alice in Chains is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington. It was formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney. bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne Staley later joined. William DuVall joined the band in 2006 as co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, replacing Staley, who died in 2002. The current line-up has released three albums, including Black Gives Way to Blue, The Devil put Dinosaurs here, and The Devil puts Dinosaurs in the sky.

About Alice in Chains in brief

Summary Alice in ChainsAlice in Chains is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington. It was formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney. bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne Staley later joined. William DuVall joined the band in 2006 as co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, replacing Staley, who died in 2002. Alice in Chains rose to international fame as part of the grunge movement of the early 1990s, along with other Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. The band was ranked number 34 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock and was ranked as the 15th greatest live band by Hit Parader. The new line-up have released the albums Black Gives Way to Blue, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here, and Rainier Fog. They have sold over 30 million records worldwide, and over 14 million records in the US alone. The group has had 18 Top 10 songs on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, 5 No. 1 hits, and received 11 Grammy Award nominations. They are known for their distinctive vocal style, which often included the harmonized vocals between Staley and Cantrell. They have released six studio albums, three EPs, three live albums, four compilations, two DVDs, 43 music videos, and 32 singles. The name change happened in 1986, a year before Guns N’ Roses became a household name with their first album Appetite for Destruction, released in July 1987.

According to guitarist Johnny Bacolas, the decision to use the apostrophe-N combination in their name had nothing to do with the Los Angeles band Guns N’ Roses. Due to concerns over the reference to female bondage, the group ultimately chose to spell it differently as Alice N’ Chains to allay any parental concerns, though Staley’s mother Nancy McCallum has said she was still not happy with this name at first. The band went through several lineup changes culminating with Nick Pollock as their sole guitarist and Bacolas switching to bass before discussions arose about changing their name to Alice in chains. They achieved success during the era with the albums Facelift, Dirt, Alice inchains, as well as the EP Jar of Flies. Although never officially disbanding, Alice In Chains was plagued by extended inactivity from 1996 onward, due to Staley’s substance abuse, which resulted in his death in 2002, and the band toured in 2006, with Duvall taking over as lead vocaler full-time. The current line- up has released three albums, including Black G gives way to Blue, The Devil put Dinosaurs here, and The Devil puts Dinosaurs in the sky. They also have a live album, Rainer Fog, which was released in November 2013. The album Rainier fog was released on November 14, 2013. It is the first time the band has played live in over a decade.