Towards the end of 1993, a turning point would show up, establishing a "before" and "after" in the history of the band. The band enjoyed immense popularity worldwide because of "Dirt" album that throw them to enjoy the "superstars" status gaining a world tour and becoming headliners of the second version of alternative Festival Lollapalooza. In September of that same year, they recorded the "Jar of Flies" EP that would be released in January 1994 and would become an unprecedented success, despite it had only 7 songs in acoustic format. At first glance, everything seemed to go very well for Alice. However, tensions and frictions within the band were at their peak...
It was in 1994 when they had to decline the offer to be part of a tour with Metallica (for more information on this topic, please follow the link: (http://www.bleedforaliceinchains.com/#!unplugged/cs2q ). This episode would pursue them throughout their career, as for the press and the public opinion, to decline to be part of a tour with the biggest band of the planet by then, it was just a sign that something was going bad within the band. Back then, it was say that Alice in Chains were separated and that speculation may have been true. Layne Staley about this: “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.”
Alice in Chains
(tripod)
The band´s third full-length is the answer to all forecasts on the "health" of the band and its supposed break up due to internal stress. While fans and above all, the media were speculating about the real state of Layne Staley, the band struggled to produce an unique album, varied in styles and tones with a deliberately dirtier, organic and primitive sound, through great quality songs. Trying to reaffirm, and if you want, to convince the sense of unity that seemed to be lost since 1993.
Although Cantrell tried hard to convince the media that the band was only in a temporary recess. The signs were there; there were no scheduled dates for a tour, Layne made a new attempt to enter rehab, the other band members were all doing different collaborations and there were no clues of a new album ... and all this happened at the peak of their careers.
Most striking of all, without a doubt, was the album that Layne Staley recorded with Mad Season that showed the need of the singer to be in the company of other musicians. Moreover if we think that Staley was available to perform live with Mad Season and not with his main band, Alice in Chains.
While Layne recorded with Mad Season, Jerry was recording some songs he had in mind, to release them as part of his first solo album, in the first instance. However, later, those ideas would become the foundation of the new album from Alice in Chains, Jerry Cantrell: “The reason I was writing on my own was just because I really hadn't done any writing other than for Alice in Chains since this band began. I wanted to see if I would come up with anything that sounded different. I wanted to stand on my own, without having the band to give me feed-back. I had some riffs together and I'd made a mental decision in my head that this music should be for Alice In Chains. I had jammed with a bunch of other drummers, including Josh [Snider], a buddy of mine that plays for Tad, and another guy, [Norman Scott] who plays for Gruntruck. It was still all just a work in progress.”
It was then that Cantrell thought it would be a better idea to try to rebuild the band and for that purpose, he contacted Sean Kinney and Mike Inez, who immediately began to jam with him and shape the ideas that Cantrell had already outlined on his own. According to Cantrell: “Then I called Mike and Sean Kinney, so it ended up actually being Alice In Chains. We started writing in January and pretty much worked straight through to until about March. January to March we spent compiling riffs pretty much. Sean, myself and Mike. And during that time Layne was working on the Mad Season record with Mike McCready that was kind of coming to a close about March.” We worked from January almost to April together. Then in March and April I went into a studio to record some song ideas on my own, just for my own benefit, and to get something going, to ignite a spark. “
Hopes were then put into the singer Layne Staley, once he ends his commitment to Mad Season could join the band and once settles into the working routine again, refocus on successful years before the break up and put aside his troubled existence.
Apparently the time out of the road and his adventure on Mad Season, had made Layne more open to join Alice in Chains once again and this is confirmed by Staley himself in an interview granted to Tom Phalen during Mad Season´s gigs, Layne Staley: "I'm doing one more with Alice, "and then we might go out o "Gee road. But just a little bit. No major touring. I fucking hate touring." This is the way that Layne joins the band again, when hope was almost lost and the break up seemed to be definitive. Alice was back again for a new album, even though Layne seemed to have no intention of touring again...
Alice in Chains would continue with the recording sessions of an album that, despite the complex moment that band members were going through, would lead them to maintain its privileged position as the heaviest and darkest band that ever came out of Seattle. Approximately 30 songs were the result of these sessions, of which 12 of them were released. Some leftovers 12 ended up being part of the first Cantrells´s solo album, 1998 Boggy Depot, and for the others it´s unclear what happened to them. The album was completed in August 1995, but it wasn´t out until November 7th of that same year.
The album starts with "Grind" and we can notice almost immediately the difference with their previous recordings. The sound is actually dirtier, which works pretty good on guitars, but not in the drums sound, which is weaker in my opinion. The initial riffs are powerful and are accompanied by Inez and his bass guitar, establishing the progression the song will have. Sean Kinney´s drumming style will always be an important part in the Alice in Chains sound, in this case his playing increases the power of this dark tone song making it heavier still with each hit. It´s noteworthy that the song features Cantrell on lead vocals while Layne just does vocals on the chorus. Although undoubtedly the most striking and the highlight of this song is Cantrell´s guitar which occasionally appears with his classic sound, but this time the melody is frankly devilish.
If you close your eyes and hear the guitar, you could visualize the devil himself playing it, I think that’s the sound Cantrell gets after ending each verse. The first line of the lyrics expresses Cantrell´s feelings against the media, which ensured the extinction of the band (In the darkest hole /you'd be well advised / not to plan my funeral / before the body dies). Jerry Cantrell about this: “That line cracks me up. It pretty much says it all right there. People have been saying we we're over since Dirt. And people will say now that this is our last record and that we'll never tour again. Go ahead and think that. We're the kind of band that has always been able to do the opposite of what you'd expect. It's our ability to come back through all the controversy.” Cantrell's solo at the climax of the song is really remarkable, though Jerry doesn´t "feel" it at first. Cantrell: “And the solo on "Grind" for that matter, which is lifted off my ADAT in my back room from the demo tape I did for the album. It works fine. That was the first take I did when I recorded the song. I didn't think it was that strong and never got around to fixing it. Toby [Wright, who produced Alice in Chains] kept trying to sell me on it. I kept telling him I wanted to do it better because it just didn't seem to work for me. And at the very end it's perfect for the record. It took me a long time to feel comfortable with it.”
A great song with heavy rhythmic riffs, with more varied and exploratory sounds in both, vocals and instruments that make Grind an unique beginning. It gives Goosebumps!
A guitar with an aura of mystery starts “Brush Away”. Cantrell's guitar doubles doing the melody and riffs that hold the track. There´s also a guitar in the background of the chorus that turns the song into a kind of shamanic trance, it´s a song which goes and comes back giving us the sense of a ship in a storm, going sideways and back in a few seconds. Cantrell's solo is superb with its semi-distorted sound that scares in certain parts. Cantrell about the backwards guitar solo of Brush Away: “The first time I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing, the second time I kinda got it, and the third time I still had that feedback where I roll the volume up when I started. I didn’t even know what I did. [laughs] I couldn’t have thought it out. I don’t think technically at all--I just play, you know? I’m not a rube--I can sit down and check it out, but I’ve got no interest for that. I know how to play well enough--that’s all I need.” The lyrics are about the intolerance Layne felt to the pressures of being in a band of the major leagues; also, somehow he shows his dissatisfaction at the way of working inside Alice (I could use some time to curl away/ My aggression is where you stake your claim /Why I question this curve on which you grade /My conception, a joke or latest craze?/ My intention, may I arrive at eight? / Lie and dream some, surprise you guys I'm late / All right, correction, forgetting something, wait / I try to get away, and yet I stick around / So fall and crawl away, and brush away loose ground) A great song that has been somewhat underrated.
“Heaven Beside You” is an electro-acoustic song with blues touch in line with the SAP ep. Some dissonant electric guitars can be heard at the beginning of each verse and then give way to the acoustic guitar and the bass guitar, which is the instrument that will hold the track throughout its development.Once again, Cantrell does lead vocals in the whole song while Staley makes a small contribution in the chorus, helping in the higher notes that are harder for Cantrell. The lyrics speak of the place where you stand when you remember the departure of the love of your life ( Like the coldest winter chill / Heaven beside you... Hell within / Like the coldest winter chill / Heaven beside you... Hell within / Like the coldest winter will / Heaven beside you... Hell within /And you think you have it still, heaven inside you) You can feel the emotional burden that haunts Cantrell day after, album after album. Cantrell about this: “That song's about me. It was directed towards my ex-girlfriend. I had been going out with her for about six years off and on. It was all about me trying to be a monogamous person, which I had never been. It would get to where I felt choked and would blow up at her, and that would be it. I had to stop. So, that song's about kicking myself for being such a jerk to her. I love her to death and I always will, but it's just not healthy for us to be together”
For some, including Jerry Cantrell, Tripod is the best album of the band to the date. That depends on each listener. I personally think it is a great and unique album. There is a difference in Layne's voice, much more monotonous and flat than his previous efforts. It is harder to hear Layne screams here, than in than Dirt. Yet, somehow, that singing makes it a different album and a true reflection of what was happening within the band back in those days. The same about the sound. It´s not a sound that pleases the first time you listen to it because it´s so dirty, rough and poorly elaborated in its production (deliberately of course). But also, it gives it a special, different and distinctive character. There is pain and desolation in each of the songs, in a different way to what happened in Dirt. In Tripod, this desolation is associated with the "lost" to "what will not come back" and perhaps, to repentance and the acceptance of the “now”. And most likely, and perhaps most disturbing of all, is that in Tripod resides a kind of omen of what was to come and the hopelessness that anything that they could do, could not change this fate.
by: Schulz
The new sound is totally distinctive, less expansive than Dirt, and much less exquisite than Jar of Flies. It somehow achieves the effect that the band members wanted, a more direct album sound. Sean Kinney: “We really stripped down the sound this time. There's no compression or effects on anything. I used on 808 drum kit, and that's it. It's a really clean sounding record.”
The recording process was quite long although some ideas had already been developed before. Something seemed to be not quite right and although in every promo interview for the album, Cantrell speaks of a highly involved Layne into the creative process, even more than Dirt, according to him, however the torment of the disease of the singer appeared to be a ghost that wouldn´t leave him alone, Susan Silver on the matter: “Really painful putting it together. It took eight or nine months — hours and hours of waiting for Layne to come out of the bathroom. Days of waiting for him to show up at the studio. And through all those last years, he and I were really close. I kept telling him, “You don’t have to do this. You have enough money to go and have a quiet life if that’s what you want,” with his longtime girlfriend, Demri. “Just go and do what makes you happy — don’t do this if this is what’s perpetuating your addiction.” I didn’t understand that it wasn’t the music that was making him take drugs, he had a disease, and it was getting worse. But I was always saying, “What do you want to do? We can stop.” “I don’t want to stop,” he’d say. “I want to keep going” — in terms of music, I’m not talking about drugs. He wanted to keep creating and recording. It was a really painful session because it took so long. It was so horrifying to see him in that condition. Yet, when he was cognizant, he was the sweetest, bright-eyed guy you’d ever want to meet. To be in a meeting with him, and have him fall asleep in front of you was gut wrenching. As the timeline will show — we stopped. We stopped many times to say, “This isn’t going to work. We can’t keep doing this, even if he says he wants to. It’s just tearing everybody to shreds.”
"So Close" is rather a strange song for the Alice in Chains catalog. The drums hold the track through a tempo, much more associated to punk than to hard rock. Cantrell's guitar is really corrosive adding a touch even more punk to the song. The lyrics are about the frustration Layne feels about being in the place where he is now, it is deserved and has won it with his band, but he doesn´t necessarily enjoy it ("I'm serious, there's big money going on" "Big big money!" / Why are here again? / It's the same old sit down roll around chewed up pen / Nothin thrilling me too much, yeah / So close now/ Why?)
"Nothin'song" as its title suggests, is about nothing in particular, but the boredom of a recording process that didn´t like Staley all Staley as well as seemingly trivial things that only served to create these lyrics (Began this take at 7:38 / Head hit the board, enough that it aches / Wonder should I be working so late / Began this take at 7:38 / Head hit the board, enough that it aches /Wonder should I be working so late). Layne Staley tells us more about this song: “I got things done, didn’t I? I’d show up five hours late to band practice with no lyrics, and they’d yell at me and I’d leave. But I’d come back and do it all late at night. In the end, all the songs got finished." It's a correct song with an expansive and cyclical guitar, it´s not among the most remarkable song in this album but it´s not a bad song at all.
When the return of Layne was a fact and having worked from January to March on Cantrell´s ideas, the band decided to schedule three months in Bad Animals studio, owned by Nancy and Ann Wilson from the band Heart, to start Tripod recording sessions. This is also a strange sign, considering that the band´s previous recordings were much shorter and considering that among Jerry, Sean and Mike had already been working on the songs.
The producer chosen by the band was well known by them and had produced the successful EP "Jar of Flies". Sean Kinney about Toby Wright: “Toby has really good ears. We really produce all of our records ourselves anyway. No producer ever comes in and rearranges a song. Toby is really good at working the board and just letting us concentrate on the music.”
The band had the idea to get away from the sound they had shown in their previous albums and show something more raw and organic, that could somehow emulate the sound of classic rock. Jerry Cantrell about this: "We used a lot of vintage stuff, some older Fender amps, old Marshalls, Soldanos. I’m an intense person, and when I get into something, I go full into it, but for some reason I never really got into collecting guitars or gear, so I always have to borrow stuff. [laughs] I used some cool guitars from Nancy Wilson, she's always loaning me shit. She's got a ton of great stuff. I recorded with one of her Les Paul Juniors and some of her acoustics. Then we got a box of old effects from [Heart guitarist] Howard Leese, who sent a bunch of stuff down. There’s also these guys from Tacoma that have a place called Guitarmaniacs, that has a lot of stuff. They had a '52 Les Paul and an old early-'60s Strat that I've used before on a couple of records, but they would never sell them to me. They were like, 'These are our personal guitars,' and I kept going, 'Come on man, sell them to me. Please!' They finally broke down after all these years and sold me both of them."
As its name suggests, "Sludge Factory" is a muddy, slow, powerful song that shows at the beginning chilling screams- cries of Staley. I'll never forget the first time I heard the voice of Layne at the beginning of this song. If you don´t get goosebumps is because you simply have no soul and are the closest to a robot. Cantrell's riff at the beginning is extremely powerful and it´s in this song where you can see the ESSENCE of Alice in Chains; you don´t need to be fast a la Slayer or flying through the neck of the guitar to get the heaviest song. You just need four musicians with a deep sense of misery who can be convert it into a song. The chorus of "Sludge" has a psychedelic and funeral progression at the same time, with Cantrell's guitar flowing through different musical landscapes and supporting Staley in the representation of madness. Staley´s lyrics have a bit of everything; on one hand it is ironic against the pressures of the music industry: (Call me up congratulations ain't the real why / There's no pressure besides brilliance let's say by day 9 / Endless corporate ignorance lets me control time / By the way…) Toby Wright, Tripod producer tells us a little about the origin of these lyrics: “One of the things that happened when we were recording was the Mad Season record went gold. So at 6 in the morning we were still in the studio with Layne, and the heads of Sony, Donnie Ienner and Michele Anthony, called and were congratulating him. And at the end of the conversation, they said, “Oh, yeah, by the way, you have nine days to get your record done.”
So they call him up to congratulate him and then threaten him. (Laughs.) So he wrote that into the lyrics.
It’s the second verse: “Call me up congratulations ain’t the real why/There’s no pressure besides brilliance let’s say by day nine/Endless corporate ignorance lets me control time/By the way, by the way …” I think the recording process went another month or two after that.”
On the other hand, Layne seems to be talking with Demri Parrott, his ex-girlfriend who had the same disease and she always seemed to be living on the edge (Now the body of one soul I adore wants to die / You have always told me you'd not live past 25 / I say stay long enough to repay all who cause strife). A song that can easily be considered among the best of the album. Classic!
“Head Creeps” It´s the only song on this album where lyrics and music are completely on Layne Staley. It´s a HUGE song. It's dirty, dark and dramatic. And yet it is a tremendously underrated song in the Alice catalog. The riffs created by Layne are tremendously powerful. Cantrell makes a sound with his guitar putting a more dramatic tone to the initial riffs. The drums by Sean Kinney are undulating and give no rest, transforming the song into a sonic bomb. At first, Layne seems to be singing with a kind of megaphone, putting the kind of madness necessary to express what he wants, which is nothing but the despair he felt those days. Layne throws that hopelessness, anguish and rage towards all who dared to judge him. Write about him and his illness, particularly journalists (So let me be defamed / Your redundancy stains / Tired of infantile claims / Like puppets on a string / Untangle you from me / Time to call the doggies off / Tired of the shadowin' /Slide me to the side again /Slapped in the face again).
Layne somehow feels there is no hope for him, he knows that all rehab efforts were in vain, and he expresses it in the next lyrics (One day my plane leaves / Some way my head creeps / Some day my way leads / Some way my head creeps) A terrible and wonderful song at the same time.
A repetitive and cyclical sound begins to surround us making as part of an industrial sound of a factory, which is not dedicated to making products, but to recreate the sound of the asylums and mental abyss. The sound of the riff of "Again" is metallic and contrasts with the dry drum hits. The lyrics of the song could have many interpretations, such a poor relationship between Jerry and Layne during the recording process (which we would find out years later it was really difficult)
Somehow it could be said that Layne expresses his feelings towards the authority figure of Jerry Cantrell during the recording process (Hey, I know I made the same mistake, yeah / I, I won't do it again, no / Why, Why you slap me in the face, oww / I, I didn't say it was OK, no / No, No...) . On the other hand there seems to be a verse dedicated to him and Demri, made in third person and seems to be the devil himself who speaks to Layne about Demri´s heart condition (Hey, you had time to think it out, yeah / Hey, Your weak will won't help her heal her heart / Hey, I'll bet it really eats you up) Finally, the well-known "dooh dooht" seems to be wicked demon, mocking about the suffering of the protagonist and rejoicing to know that in a short time he would have won the game.
Now comes a long, dark, scary and sinister song. It's "Frogs". The main chord is slow with a dark melody tune that is supported by the depth and the mphasis of Inez bass guitar. Kinney does a work of unparalleled subtlety, transforming his drums into a protagonist rather than an accompaniment that defines the times. The lyrics talk about the disappointment and despair felt by Layne, realizing the reality beyond success. Friends you used to have are now gone, there are only those who want to take advantage and squeeze you until the last drop. It's a song about depression, feelings and vulnerability of the human being disappointed because of his own ingenuity (What does friend mean to you? / A word so wrongfully abused / Are you like me, confused / All included but you / Alone.../ The sounds of silence often soothe Shapes and colors shift with mood / Pupils widen and change their hue/ Rapid brown avoid clear blue/ Why's it have to be this way?)
Towards the end, the song becomes much more sinister when Layne starts talking to a kind of megaphone (7 am on a Tuesday, in August .../ Next week I'll be 28.../ I'm still young, it'll be me... / Off the wall I scrape... you.../ I gotta wake... Show me Your Irate/ To cause this wake, Its my fate. / They.....They...Never going to fuck / with me again... My own clean slate... Don't fuck with me again.../ I just want to go straight / through you.... /makes your eyes dilate.../ makes you shake.../Irate ) Layne seems to be speaking in a state that is not a normal ... like he was fading on his couch because of some kind of substance that he had tried ... There is a kind of incoherence in his phrases, but there is also anger, resentment. Somehow the mental picture we get is of a person about to close his eyes and fall into a deep sleep that will not allow the rest of his soul. It´s perhaps the masterpiece of the album. Magnificent”
The album closes with "Over Now". Again, we are in front of an electro-acoustic hybrid with lead vocals by Jerry Cantrell. Layne again is only present in the chorus. Sonically, it could be associated more with work done in SAP or Jar of Flies. The lyrics are quite strong though, and talk about the break-up of the band in 1994 and how each of the involved in Alice in Chains must accept what has caused (Could you stand right here / Look me straight in the eye, and say / that it's over now?/ We pay our debt sometime). Jerry Cantrell about this: “That's about the band. It's about the breakup that took place between us. Those lines "Can you stand right here and look me in the eye and tell me it's over?" We couldn't, when it came right down to it. Even if it ended today, though, I love the guys in this band, even if we never recorded again. I would be sad, but if it came down to where it's killing us and we're growing too far apart... It's like that line "When it's all worn out, I'd rather go without."
A song a little bit different to the rest of the songs on this album, but it is strengthened as a great closing for its lyrics.
Another very underrated song is “Shame in You”. In this ballad the highlights are the different guitars by Cantrell (at least 3) to achieve the required texture and the layered sound that had been missing on this album. The song has a nostalgic and sweet aura, which fit perfectly with emotive lyrics about reflection and reproach, in a sick relationship, although it´s over, it chases Layne in following the days (When I'm layin'/ I'm still trying / concentrating on dyin', yeah). Their relationship was destructive and the responsibility for this terrible disease was shared, so it was necessary to end it (You're right as rain, but you're all to blame / Agreed my crime's the same / My sins I'll claim, give you back shed pain / Go find a place for own shame / So you can deal with this thing unreal / No one made you feel any hurt, yeah) Layne knows that this situation cannot continue, but still believes in it somehow. He believes in the goodness of both as sons of God and their redemption of the bad things they have done together (Still believin / yet mistaken / all God's children, yeah). A great song that comes from Layne´s deepest feelings and thoughts.
A lighter sounds. The flame begins to boil a liquid. It's a spoon maybe? Misery at its finest. It is known that Layne suffered of a vital contradiction regarding his relationship with God. On one hand he had always believed in God´s figure. However, as years went by he grew and began to question the acts of God. How was it possible that this God full of goodness, with which he was raised, was allowing the atrocities that we know in the modern world? That's what "God Am" is about, a song that has a high dramatic tension with dissociated guitars that allow Layne to "talk" to God about these topics (Dear God, how have you been then? / I'm not fine, fuck pretending / All of this death your sending / Best throw some free heart mending / Invite you in my heart, then / When done, my sins forgiven?/ This God of mine relaxes / World dies I still pay taxes) It's a song about the impotence of the human being regarding the the incapacity to act of a God who "can do anything" as most of us have been taught. Layne does a wordplay the chorus, between God Am and "Goddamn” that requires no further explanation. A great song that deserved to have been a single and video in my opinion.