After finishing Lollapalooza tour in August 1993, the band members felt really exhausted and needed to stop for vacation, that allow them to recover from what was experienced in the Dirt tour. They needed indeed, to recover from the good and bad stuff they had gone through those long months on the road. They began planning some vacation, but it wouldn´t be so long because they had scheduled dates from mid-September onwards in the US, Europe, Japan and Australia.
The band however felt creative enough to give a gift to their fans, as they had done with SAP. Then, they agreed to make a new EP, which wouldn´t have greater pretensions than to leave some music to their fans, in order to make the wait for the 3rd full-length album and Dirt successor, not so long and tedious.
Alice had a new member: Mike Inez, who had replaced Mike Starr from the start of the European tour and had done Lollapalooza entirely. Inez had impregnated fresh air to the band, everyone felt very creative and eager to work on some new songs. The band booked week during September at the "London Bridge Studio". However, the boys wanted somehow to change the dynamics they had when they write their albums, this was taking time off, when Jerry Cantrell returned, he brought his ideas as demos and the other members contributed their own, to improve the demos or give them a whole new dimensionl. This time, the other members wanted it to be different, everyone wanted to return and bring something of their own, that could work together, giving a sense of "band thing" to the creative process. According to Jerry Cantrell: “Jar of Flies was crazy man. We had already done Sap, so we had set a precedent. Between Dirt to the dog record, we were going to do another ep. I think it was after we had planned on having a vacation. Before the vacation, the guys were like, “We want it to be more of a band thing — so don’t write a bunch of shit to bring in.” I’m like, “ok, that’s cool — no problem.” I went on vacation and didn’t play my guitar at all. We booked a week and came in off of vacation. Everybody gets in, and they’re like, “ok, what have you got?”.
The band had nothing to record and already had booked the studio and had hired the engineer and producer Toby Wright, who was in Australia at the moment, for the work on the console: “I Got a call from Jerry and he´s like “Hey dude, you wanna do an ep with us? Sure! You bet you. I had already done 2 songs with them “A Little bitter” and “What the hell have I?” for The last action hero soundtrack, so they call me up and you know I flew up here and booked 10 days at London Bridge and I…you know I ask Jerry “You already have some songs before we came up…he says “Yeah I got a bunch of songs man” Cool! We get to the studio and…I say hey, What about those songs? And he said “Oh yeah…funny thing about those songs…I don´t have any” Man what are we gonna do?! And he said “Do you mind if we jam for 10 days? Cause we already had 10 days booked” and I said…I looked around and I was with the best band in the world…Let´s do it!”
Jar of Flies
After the acclaimed Dirt and an extensive world tour, the AIC fanbase seemed to have multiplied exponentially, so the band decided to make a gift to all of them to mitigate thewait for the next full-length album, but they never imagined that the few songs they would record, without further aim than to emulate what had been done in SAP, would become what, for many today, is considered the band´s masterpiece. Jar of Flies is a mini album that reflects the genius of the band like no other record, showing an atmosphere rich in textures, instrumentation and sounds that had never been explored before, plus highly emotional lyrics positioning the EP, to this day, as an icon in the Alice in Chains catalog an icon in the grunge movement.
Despite the short time they had, Alice was at the peak of their genius, so that neither they nor their record company felt too much pressure for getting a quality product. The attitude of the band was something like "if something comes out, well, and if not, well too. According to Layne Staley: “We just went in with no pressure at all and wrote whatever we wrote and whatever we came out with was going to be it.”
That was how the band entered the studio with Toby Wight and began to jam. The only thing the band had was the guitar part for the chorus of "No excuses" and perhaps "Don´t Follow" which would have been created in the middle of the Dirt tour in Europe, according to Jerry Cantrell himself. The band played and what they felt it was good it was given to Layne, who went to the second floor studio with his headphones and a portable equipment and wrote lyrics, melodies and vocals harmonies tests that were shown to the rest of the guys once he thought he had achieved some kind of direction for the song.
When they had something more or less molded, the Staley-Cantrell duo began to discuss about the direction the idea should have in a collaborative way reflected in the greatness of these songs, According to Toby Wright: “I think they collaborate a lot. You know, there was input from both sides on melody lines and lyrics …and things like that that I remember and you know… it´s just might be as Lennon and McCartney”
The harmonies in Jar of Flies are one of the highest points on the album and part of the trademark of the band. Toby Wright: “Layne had his ideas and what how they came about with Layne was that he heard everything in his head as he was crafting the lyrics so he´d hear all the harmonies in his head.I just let him go because I was new to his way of thinking…and…sometimes I didn´t even understand, like, Layne, that note…it doesn´t go dude. He´s like: “Trust me” “I´m gonna put something in between, I´m gonna put the glue on after this, so just trust me” Ok. Trust is…You got it. And he proved to me each and every time that he had a note somewhere in between there. He had all the puzzle together in his head”
Also, in Jar of Flies you can hear something totally new for a grunge band: Orchestration: If Layne was in charge of all Jar of Flies harmonies, the orchestration was Jerry Cantrell mind´s work.
According to Toby Wright: “Jerry is amazing because he hears all the orchestration in his head. He knows exactly what every instrument should be doing and that´s how…On “I stay away” we had string players…and he told them exactly what he wanted. And I was like “Wow, where that come from?”
The days went by, and the band and producer practically lived in the studio for seven days, with the exception of a couple of hours maybe, just to get to sleep . The end result is as wonderful as unexpected. An ep with varied musical landscapes, unlike anything previously done by the band. It is the only ep in history to debut at No. 1 in the Billboard ranking, proving to the more orthodox, that in rock, heavy is not necessarily associated to riffs or speed.
Layne Staley had a declared aversion to the press and never or almost never talked to them about himself. However, he always was extremely honest in his lyrics, baring his soul without any fear. The loneliness that haunts the human being, in the depths of his soul, the fear of dying in the hands of his personal demons, not having anyone to cry for help, and above all, making a terrible choice, and not changing his deepest principles, not selling his soul for a fake life. Facing what he really is.
The execution of the song in musical terms is simple but wonderful at the same time, often, less is more and Nutshell is an example of that principle. An acoustic guitar with melancholic riffs, the bass increasing the emotional nuances and gentle drumming that allow the listener to experiment an extremely deep sensorial journey. Cantrell's solo at the end is the perfect end to a strong song, perhaps the strongest in the history of Alice in Chains. And the most beautiful. Maybe. If we had to summarize what is Alice in Chains to all of us through a song, probably Nutshell would be the choice. HUGE.
The second single from JOF was No Excuses. It´s a song written entirely by Cantrell and has somehow a "more cheerful" aura. Inez's bass holds the song´s melody line making it a recognizable song for any rock fan. Sean Kinney´s drumming n this song is simply remarkable, with a great sense of rhythm and the complex at the same time, especially in the way he plays the Hi Hat if his drum kit. The vocals are shared by Cantrell and Staley and both are actually in excellent shape and they complement each other just perfectly. The music video combines images created especially for the video as well as Cantrell and Staley´s shoots singing to each other. This is not random obviously, because it is a song about friendship and acceptance despite the bad times. Jerry Cantrell is baring his feelings for his friend and brother, going from an anger attitude (It's alright / There comes a time / Got no patience to search for peace of mind ) to a release attitude, trying to be more honest and frank (Layin' low / Want to take it slow /No more hiding or disguising truths I've sold) Finall and despite of what happens with his friend, with his terrible karma, he gives him a pat on the back, like saying "I know what happens, I've been on that side too and despiter sometimes we are not so good, I want you to know I appreciate you and will always love you ". This can be read in the following lines (You my friend / I will defend / And if we change, well I love you anyway). Excellent.
A song very much in line with Nutshell is Don't Follow. A really beautiful and warm melody versus completely dramatic lyrics, make this song contains a harmonic dissociation if that exists. The chord played by Cantrell is really touching. The guitarist´s softness of his voice of guitarist blends in complete perfection with the music and when Staley sings he does nothing but enhance the sense of warm sadness. A harmonica by David Atkinson complements this very great song with an aura somehow country. The lyrics speak of someone who has decided to break with everything and is on the point of ending his life (Hey, I ain't never coming home / Hey, I'll just wander my own road / Hey, I can't meet you here tomorrow / Say goodbye don't follow / Misery so hollow) . It is a song with an impressive duality as only Alice can do. Wonderful.
The last song Swing on This has a bass line that recreates the atmosphere of the bands of the 50s in the US. It´s a very different song to what we were used to. The lyrics are apparently the ennui that Layne felt by all who involved in the direction he had chosen for his life. No matter if this was a good or bad decision. Including his own family and friends (Mother said come home / Father said come home/ Sisters said come home / So my friends said come home / Let me be, I'm alright / Can't you see, I'm just fine / Little skinny, okay / I'm asleep anyway) I think somehow is an amazing song, particularly for the time, because no one could have imagined Alice doing a song like this, when everything was about sweat, long hair and how wild were the bands on stage. But this is Alice in Chains, and the more expectations you have about their music, the more you feel surprised for their totally unexpected moves.
The ep was released on January 25th 1994 and matched perfectly with the end of the Dirt tour of Dirt and the band member’s vacations, as they had planned.
Inez´s bass lines for Rotten Apple are wonderful. The initial guitar work is really beautiful and elegant. The song has a melancholic aura where acoustic guitars have some echoes and blend with the subtlety of electric guitars. The guitarist versatility is huge and sometimes you get confused with the classical Pat Metheny playing in his peculiar style of jazz-fusion. Staley sings like he repents for being part of a world he doesn´t like. He speaks about lost dreams, about the innocent perception of a hostile world. But perhaps there is no turning back. His voice haunts the listener with lyrics about loss of innocence, regret and disappointment, through the biblical metaphor of Adam and Eve picking the apple. (Hey ah na na/ Innocence is over / Ignorance is spoken / Confidence is broken/ What I see is unreal / I've written my own part / Eat of the apple, so young /I'm crawling back to start). A true masterpiece.
I Stay Away is an absolutely innovative song for the catalog of Alice in Chains. It´s an acoustic song including orchestral arrangements including violins at the beginning and in the songs´chorus achieving almost an sense of incidental music for a movie at the climax of the song. The song contains a sway accompanied by distorted a bass line by Inez that give the feeling of suffocation, necessary to fit the lyrics of the song. These, again, speak of a recurring theme in Staley´s lyrics; the attempt to end a sick relationship. Presumably it is a song dedicated to Demri and her behavior while the couple was together, and even when they had ended their relationship (Why you act crazy / Not an act maybe / So close a lady / Shifty eyes shady / Yeah, hey Yeah, tears that soak/ A callous heart / I stay away) This song was the second single from the EP, which had a music video and a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock performance. The music hadn´t been considered at first, because it was gonna be just an EP, not an full-length album. However this changed once the record company executives heard the work and saw the commercial potential.
Whale & Wasp it´s a beautiful instrumental with a disturbing guitar though. It has a simply wonderful orchestration where the cello plays a major role. Cantrell shows his skills as a great songwriter in this song that manages to thrill even without vocals on it. Perhaps it would have been perfect as the final song for the EP.
Jar of Flies is a GREAT album. I will not refer in the remainder of this article to JOF as an ep, simply because I think the work done far exceeds what might be expected of a small handful of songs. Jar of Flies has a soul as any other full length of the band and even many say it´s is his best effort to date because it´s so varied, exploratory and revolutionary by the time it was released. It´s very difficult to find anything wrong with Jar of Flies, the sound is terrific despite being recorded and mixed in 10 days sound, the lyrics are superlative and the music ... What can we say about the music? We can only say that it is an avant-garde, elegant, melancholic album, superior by far to any of the albums of their contemporaries and that era. In this half-hour of music, you can find the peak of, perhaps, the greatest rock band of the last 30 years and we should feel fortunate to have this album in our collection.
By: Schulz
For many, many fans, Nutshell is the icon-song from Alice in Chains. And the reasons to define it this way are basically two; Its beautiful melody over the terrible emotional charge involving Layne Staley´s lyrics and interpretation. It´s a weird for the listener, because the melody is beautiful yet, its lyrics are terribly hopeless.(We chase misprinted lies / We face the path of time / And yet I fight, And yet I fight/ This battle all alone/ No one to cry to / No place to call home / My gift of self is raped / My privacy is raked / And yet I find, And yet I find/ Repeating in my head / If I can't be my own /I'd feel better dead).
