For me, it has always been difficult to express myself, in any kind of situations. And this is not the exception to the rule, but here I go, trying to put into words one of the most important events of my life in musical terms, so I'll have to tell the story right from the very beginning.

 

When I was young, like 11 or 12 years old, I went through a divine intervention that took me away from popular music; I always liked the different,  darker and stronger stuff, mainly Punk and a little less, what they called Grunge. When I started, I usually listened to the radio; I recorded countless of special programs dedicated to bands and musical genres of that time, including Alice in Chains Unplugged. I recorded all this stuff in cassettes. I remember that back in those days I was more into other musical trends, so I didn´t give it enough importance. Years passed and one day, checking through my stuff I found the cassette of this band and I said to myself, "Why do I have this if I never listen to it". Then the same day I discovered Alice in a deeper way, I took the time to listen and to incorporate it into my system; without knowing anything of what the lyrics were saying I was strangely moved to songs like Down in a hole or Brother or, of course, Nutshell.

 

Since then, I wouldn´t stop. I used to spend my afternoons listening to Alice in Chains over and over again, everything was going incredibly well, I remember thinking "I'd love see them live". But in 2002, the news that no one wanted to hear came: Layne Staley had died. I've always felt I started my life as an Alice In Chains fan too late, there were so many things I needed to know about the band, so much of their music I haven´t heard yet, and the worst of all, one of the member was dead. So I said to myself, here I go again, another band  I'll never see live, from now on I'll have to resign myself and just  get what is on the radio or the internet.

 

I was working at the Santiago airport in Santiago since 2008 and I always saw small groups of people with signs waiting for who knows who. I always wondered how people find out in which flight artists were coming as it is confidential information, and the only idea I had around my head was: “The only band I would really wait for hours to meet them in person, is and will be Alice in Chains”.

 

In 2009 Alice in Chains release “Black gives way to blue”, I couldn´t believe it, there was hope!

 

In 2010 I went to my first concert, it was Stone Temple Pilots, I was watching from the highest venue seats, alone and, while I was waiting for the band, I thought, this is not so bad, so if Alice comes someday, I'll be in in the middle of the field  even if I die crushed by the crowd. Having said that, I didn´t even imagine what it was going to come.

 

Year 2011 comes, as always, no news at all, the months go by. One day at my work at the airport one of my colleagues tells me: “I bet you don´t know whos´s coming to Maquinaria Festival…” I must admit that I almost had a mini heart attack, I told him: nooooooooooo, you´re just kidding, and he said: watch the official Maquinaria Festival website, it´s not a joke. After that, I almost cried, almost, and, carried by the momentum, one of my main features, I bought the ticket immediately, not even knowing the cost of it. From that moment, my main occupation was to find out which flight was gonna be the one that would bring them, I couldn´t lose the opportunity since I was working at the airport and I had full access to every place there.

 

It´s November 2011, there´s just 3 days left to the most amazing event, and I haven´t got the Alice in Chains Flight number yet, I asked all my friends from other airlines and nothing. I was desperate, so desperate that on  November 9th in the evening I wrote in google something like "Does anyone know which flight brings Alice In Chains to Chile?" I came to the facebook page of the Community of Alice in Chains Chile who referred me to another person: Juan Pablo, owner of the Alice in Chains in Chile fan page, who gave me the valuable information.

 

Coincidentally, Juan Pablo, also worked at the airport and had full access to every area, just like me. We agreed to get together the morning of November 10th. I should say that I had never seen Juan Pablo in my whole life. We had the the arrival gate totally confirmed, so we went to meet them.

 

It was early, the flight would arrive at 05:50AM, and it was like 05:15 AM. The wait was eternal, while we wait I was talking to Juan Pablo about life, work , etc. We noticed that the Boeing’s nose began to park, the airline officer started to connect the sleeve to the plane and the door opened. Passengers begin to appear and Juan Pablo tells me “there they are! I aimed my camera and captured the first picture of the history of Alice in Chains in Chile: Susan Silver and William Duvall talking, then the others appear, everything was so fast that I only noticed that Juan Pablo disappeared in front of me, I came across Mike Inez, the last to appear, and I told him: Hello, we are Alice in Chains fans and we've waited for you for a long time. Susan Silver, who was waiting for Mike, ran to find the others band members; I guess it was to warn them about this. I´m pretty sure they didn´t expect a couple of people from the other side of the planet so excited to welcome them in their country.

 

I managed to take pictures with each of them and thanked them for their music. Even Baldy asked us what we were doing there. We told him we work at the airport and he said we looked young to be AIC fans and we had a very good musical taste. I never thought they´d be so cool, they have a unique energy, they´re so charming. Once they were out of the baggage area, they realized there were more fans outside, who had the opportunity to talk to them. It was just magical, and the concert of that Saturday, spectacular, you could feel Alice everywhere.

 

In the following days, no one could erase the smile off my face, something unusual for me.

 

In 2013 Alice in Chains book another concert for Chile and history repeats itself. I no longer worked at the airport, my friends were still working there, but they had no idea about Alice. I began to use my intuition to try to discover what airline would bring them this time and it worked! It was pretty obvious that the first to know the flight number would be my friend Juan Pablo, and he decided to whom he would give the information, you have to be cautious with these things.

 

The welcome for Alice In Chains was a little different this time, because the agency staff was worried of every fan movement who were waiting outside.

The concert was really amazing, I never thought I would hear Junkhead live, with that song I was stunned for a long time; I sang it from the beginning to end, as with all other songs.

 

I always wonder why I like Alice in Chains and no other band, and I'm afraid I cannot answer that, it is what it is. When I listen to their  music I feel strangely alive, despite the darkness, despite the strength, if I close my eyes I feel like I'm swimming in a sea of ​​vibrations with every note, stimulating my senses, there is a special connection that I can´t describe. However, through this story I dare say that they are simply part of my life.

 

Finally, I should note that I am not a desperate fan who wants to own everything related to the band or any band, I don´t know about the birthday of the members or release dates of each album, I don´t have a dream about one them finding me on the street and falling in love with me, getting married and being happy forever. In that sense, I’m the worst fan in the world. Which really drives me is the music itself, and I really enjoy what they make me feel in each song. I think musicians have a really important labor to reflect on a few minutes life situations, feelings, emotions, etc.  I don´t have enough emotional intelligence to make it for myself and that´s why I need Alice In Chains music each time I need to escape of the world.