Quote N°1: “I started out when I was about 12, playing drums”
I started out when I was about 12, playing drums. My dad's friend had a drum set, and every time I went over there, I was attracted to it. I'd been listening to rock 'n' roll since I could remember - reading the magazines. It just seemed like a glamorous life, and I wanted to be part of it. I started singing when I was about 15. I'd been playing drums in a band in this band with some friends from my high school, and the singer was terrible. I wanted to sing backup on a song, and he said, "You play drums; you can't sing." I got pissed off and sold my drum set. I actually traded it for a delay and a microphone. I plugged it into my stereo at home and just started singing to tapes - Black Sabbath and whatever else.
Layne Staley-Alice in Metal Land, Rip Magazine, 1991
Quote N°2: “We had heard some crazy things about Slayer's audience”
RockBeat: How did the crowd treat you on the Clash of the Titans Tour? You guys aren't as thrashy as Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax.
Jerry Cantrell: We were kinda concerned about how it would go because we had heard some crazy things about Slayer's audience [laughs}. There were times when people really started heckling us and Layne would just stand there and put 'em back in their place. We were just there to do our job, which was to play, and luckily everything worked out well.
Jerry Cantrell-Who is alice and why is she in chains?, Rockbeat, 1991
"Once it got really big with Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, there wasn't much mentioned about us.All those bands put out records around the same time, and we hadn't put one out in two years. I don't think it hurt us, though. I'm glad we didn't get lumped together with them, because we're not those other bands."
Layne Staley-Alice through the looking glass, Rolling Stone, 1992
QuoteN°3: “We´re not those other bands”
Original Crew Hoodie
Picture sent by an anonymous BLEED´s friend
“You have to love somebody and you have to be loved by somebody. If you don't have that, you don't have anything. I don't let strangers into my pack - my pack is my pack and that's it. If somebody fuck with my pack, I bite. We are a pack all the way through the band, the crew, people we work with. It's so important to us, and we don't like to be fucked with in any way."
Jerry Cantrell-Sick Men, Kerrang, 1993
QuoteN°4: “I don't let strangers into my pack”
"After our set at one of the Clash Of The Titans gigs, I bumped into this guy. I looked and it was Kirk Hammett of Metallica! I was like, 'Wow dude, it's Kirk Hammett!', and he was just immediately 'Hey, man, what's going on? I totally dig your shit!'. I remember thinking, 'Wow, Kirk Hammett knows who the fuck I am'
Jerry Cantrell-Sick Men, Kerrang, 1993
Quote N°6: “Kirk Hammett knows who the fuck I am!”
1996 Rolling Stone from,
BLEED for AIC
But when I haven't talked to anybody in years, and every article I see is dope this, junkie that, whiskey this -- that ain't my title. Like 'Hi, I'm Layne, nail biter,' you know? My bad habits aren't my title. My strengths and my talent are my title."
Layne Staley- The needle & the damage done, Rolling Stone, 1996
Quote N°5: “My Bad habits aren´t my title”
"I talk to Layne, but we don't hang out. I don't live his lifestyle, so his house isn't the healthiest place to be around. I don't need any help to get annihilated."
Sean Kinney-Kerrang-1999
Quote Nº8: “I don't need any help to get annihilated."
Vietnam was hell on my family. I mean, it was great growing up with a dad in the Army. We had medical, dental, food for all the kids. I was taken care of by the base until I was 18. The Army was his way out. He came from a farm where he was picking cotton and hauling hay, so he wanted to get the fuck out of there. When he went to Vietnam, it just tore up our family. I feel sorry for him, 'cause he's a great guy, but what do you do after you've been killing people for a living? He started drinking heavily, and he became violent. Then my folks split.
Jerry Cantrell-The Dimmer Twins, Request 1996
Quote N°7: “Vietnam was hell on my family”
Layne referring to the cancellation of the Metallica tour:
We were drowning each other, relying on each other too much. It was the kind of thing where someone goes, "well, if you fuck up, you’re fucking me up." We could have done that tour with Metallica, but I think deep down no one wanted to. I said, "I’ll do it. I ain’t no pussy!" but I didn’t want to at all. I wanted to do other things.
Layne Staley-famous Last Words, Jon Wiederhorn, Revolver 1996
Quote Nº9: “ I Ain´t No Pussy!”
Guitar Player: You must have driven your family nuts when you started playing.
Jerry Cantrell: Well, for the first three months, they were like, "What the fuck's wrong with that kid? Never comes out of his room, sleeps all day, doesn’t do any yard work." I definitely wasn’t fitting in the family vibe. My grandmother and mother are Norwegian; they're very hard working-class, so music wasn't encouraged as the thing to make a living at. They didn’t go out of their way to be jerks, but they were like, "Get a job, son. You've gotta have something to fall back on." I was like, "I don’t plan on falling back."
Jerry Cantrell – Chains Smoking, Guitar Player, Matt Resnicoff, 1996
Quote N°10: “What the fuck´s wrong with that kid?
