Two years and three months had been passed since the last public appearance of Alice in Chains in a concert. This last appearance took place at the Hollywood Palladium, on January 7, 1994 in a benefit concert for Norwood Fisher, Fishbone bass player, a band that Alice in Chains had established a very good friendship with, in the Lollapalooza tour II 1993. Coincidentally, the last appearance was made in unplugged format where they performed four songs, including the only time they have performed Am I Inside live, in Layne Staley´s voice. After that, the disaster came.
Alice in Chains had been booked to Woodstock and to be part of Metallica´s summer tour in 1994 called "Shit Hits The Sheds" or simply "Summer Shit 94" that included bands like Danzig, Suicidal Tendencies and Fight as opening acts, just like Alice in Chains on different dates of the tour. This tour involved a superlative leap in the band's career, since Metallica was the greatest heavy metal act on the planet since they put out on the streets the black album. The tour started on May 30, 1994 and the cities where Alice in Chains would participate would be Vancouver (Canada), Seattle, Portland and San Diego, among others.
Alice in Chains
MTV Unplugged
Unplugged may not represent the band on one hundred percent in musical terms. Forgettings, lack of coordination and Layne Staley shrouded in apparent fragility and vulnerability. However, you don´t have to listen this album with the ears. You have to hear it and feel it with your heart. Within the soul of every true Alice in Chains fan, this album represents feeling, love, brotherhood. It´s the end. It is the last goodbye ... and it touches every fiber of whom experiences it...
During the prior period to the tour, the band was rehearsing at the Moore Theater in Seattle, with the exception of Layne, who was in a treatment center to overcome his illness, which increased during all dates that they had to do around the world during the exhausting 1993. When Layne finally came to the rehearsals, he didn´t come the way the other members expected. According to Sean Kinney: “We were rehearsing at the Moore Theatre to get ready for Metallica. Layne was in a treatment place, and we’d been rehearsing ourselves. Nobody had talked to him—he’d been gone all that time. He just showed up, and there were bad circumstances. It just wasn’t happening. Lost a lot of trust in him. Lost some trust in each other for a while.” After some rehearsals and watching how the situation was going, the band held a meeting in which they agreed to cancel the Metallica tour, despite the great opportunity it represented and the friendship that bound both bands.
The cancellation of the tour was like a bomb in the specialized media and every one of dedicated articles and reports to cover of the state of the band, and Layne in particular. This provoked the retirement of Layne to his apartment in the U-District , recently acquired. It was there where he dedicated to spend his days giving more importance to his other interests like poetry, clay sculpture and ink drawing.
During this long gap, Alice in Chains members would wander around various activities that would keep them busy without really knowing whether they would keep themselves together after these events: Layne joined Mad Season in 1994 and recorded the album "Above" Mike Inez joined Slash's Snakepit in 1994 and recorded the album "It's five o'clock somewhere," Jerry would remain busy composing songs for a solo album, his debut, however, it would end up becoming the third full-length from the band: "Tripod"
Jerry tried to reform the band in 1995 for this new album and suddenly, after all this time apart, Layne accepted to record with the boys a new studio album, and he was in charge of most of the lyrics. However, and despite it looked to be a very auspicious situation, it wasn´t like that. Layne just recorded this album, but he categorically refused to do a tour or promotion of it (See article by Charles R. Cross, "Alice´s maddening season"). According to Jerry Cantrell: “That was another number one record. That record took a long time to make, because we were all at a bad space. Things had really taken a turn for us. I was not in a good space, and Layne wasn’t either. Still, I think it’s one of the great records that we put out. That’s a career move I wouldn’t recommend repeating for anybody — stop touring with two number one records back-to-back”
The chains started to rust again and despite the very good reviews and acceptance that the album had, Alice in Chains fell again into a period of hibernation. The press would have a feast speculating and Sean, Mike and Jerry started to miss life on tour. However, they wanted to tour with Layne, so they decided, once again, to wait for his recovery. Jerry and Sean would participate in late 1995 in the Willie Nelson tribute album called "Twisted Willie" Jerry doing a version of "I've seen all this world I care to see" and Sean recording "Time of the Preacher" in company of Johnny Cash, Kim Thayil and Krist Novoselic.
Two years had passed, two albums at No. 1 of the charts, thousands of articles, but there was no news of an Alice in Chains live performance.
Until once again they surprise us all. The band announces they will be performing in an edition of the program of acoustic format "MTV Unplugged" to be shot on April 10, 1996.
During the band´s hibernation time, several offers had come but they had to decline them due to the refusal of Layne for any live presentation, including a couple of offers to record a show for MTV Unplugged, of the videomusic network. Sean Kinney about this: “We can’t even get through a fucking week and a half without drama and scary shit going on. That’s about right when I mentally started preparing, like, “It’s done.” Same thing with MTV Unplugged — they kept asking if we’d do it. Up to the moment, it was just a nail-biter. Barely any rehearsing at all, guys not showing up — the same shit. Rolled out there and everything worked. Right then is when I knew, “ok, if we never do anything again, I’m good with this..””. Jerry Cantrell about the same: “We certainly have enough material, acoustic and otherwise. But I'm glad we waited. This band is much tighter now than it used to be. Just because the opportunity is there doesn't always mean that it's the right time to do something".
For Alice in Chains, acoustic format was not something unknown and their catalog was divided by that date, 60% for electric albums like Facelift, Dirt and Tripod and 40% for EPs Sap and Jar of Flies, both softer and oriented mostly to acoustic guitars that afforded the " Alice in Chains Sound “a whole new range of textures, even gloomier than the electric format.
The band established their headquarter in Seattle a couple of weeks before the recording of the show, to begin with the rehearsals, which definitely were not the most productive. The band members didn´t come to all the agreed meetings and when they did they were wasting time doing other things instead of playing the songs they would present on the show of New York. According to Jerry Cantrell: “Rehearsals and this band are two words that don't really go together. We messed around for a couple of weeks, but it's not like we ever rehearse anyway. [Laughs] Everyone always shows up at different times and we usually just end up talking and goofing around anyway. But we got in a few good rehearsals”
There was concern in MTV about the band, particularly for Layne because no one had heard about him for so long. The rumors were very strong so Alex Coletti, general producer of the "Unplugged" series showed up in a rehearsal to check the state of Layne and the band. Alex Coletti about this: “Before the show, I went to Alice in Chains’ rehearsal space in Seattle. When I walked in, I was happy to see Layne eating a bucket of chicken. He had on fingerless gloves and they were all greasy, so he wouldn’t shake my hand, but I got the elbow shake. He was really friendly. Seeing him eating that chicken just blew away my concerns of what condition Layne’s gonna be in. He was really in a great place. When he got to New York, I think he was still in good health.”
In addition to the television broadcast, the show would be released as an official album, so they hired Toby Wright, producer of Tripod and Jar of Flies to be in charge of the recording and mixing.
And that is how the days were passing and the big day came, Wednesday 10 of April 1996
The expectation to see the band reunited takes possession of each of the 400 privileged attendees that night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Majestic Theatre. There was great expectation for several reasons; to see the band reunited again and give them a big applause, for the setlist that may play and particularly to see Layne Staley again in front of the microphone.
Jerry is already sit on the right side of the stage, we don´t hear anything yet, but the crowd applaud with the sole presence of Cantrell on stage. A stage that is empty, except for the guitarist.
Cantrell begins to strum his guitar and we start to hear the first chords of "Nutshell". As the initial chord starts, the members begin to show up; Mike Inez, Sean Kinney and Scotty Olson, all of them received with ovations while they pick their instruments up and begin to bring life to, perhaps, the most representative song in the history of the band. The expectation is still big, so big that the loudest and most emotional ovation of the night erupts when the crowd sees a thin body dressed in black and pink hair, hiding the golden hair we knew before.
Yes, it's Layne Staley who takes position in front of the micro with his hands in gloves to start singing ... "We Chase Misprinted Lies ..."
At the end Brother, Layne speaks to the audience rather timidly ... “Thanks. We've been waiting a long time to play this show, and huh, I'd like to thank you all for coming out to see us, it means a lot to us. We're gonna have a good time, play some good songs for you …” Humility foolproof.
The next song is "No Excuses". They´re pretty good in vocal terms, the Staley / Cantrell duo without incidents, Mike's bass lines are excellent as in "JOF" however Sean Kinney´s snare drum has an annoying sound that makes this great song weaker down in relation to the first songs of the show. At the end of this song, one of the hilarious moments of the show happens when Layne says, "Okay, now we're going to break to an LL Cool J video, so... “while Mike Inez begins with his bass to play the “Enter Sandman” intro. It´s funny knowing that Metallica members were watching the performance.
Toby Wright on this topic: “With Unplugged, you can do a song as many times as you wanna until you capture the performance that you wanna release, but you can’t do any overdubs. And Layne kept forgetting the words to “Sludge Factory.” It got pretty funny. I think he was nervous because Donnie and Michele happened to be sitting right in front of him.” (Donnie Lenner and Michele Anthony, Heads of Sony, famous for the pressure they put upon the band to finish Tripod, to whom Layne dedicated a few lines in Sludge Factory)
A really deep moment comes. Layne says, almost whispering, "This is called Down in a Hole". It is a unique moment in time because it is the first time the band plays this song live in its history. The crowd receives it with a standing ovation. The start of Cantrell guitar is really beautiful. However, the entry of the bass of Inez and drums of Sean is kind of weird. Perhaps the entry of these instruments should have been a little more refined because takes some of the emotion off, in a song that is an anthem in their catalog. Layne's interpretation is overwhelming, perhaps because of the fragility of his voice in this particular song. Mike Inez about Layne´s performance in this song: “Layne that night was so haunting. His voice, especially his performance on “Down in a Hole,” it still brings a tear to my eye. There was a couple times I had to pull my eyes off of Layne and remind myself, Hey, I’m at work. Instead of being a fan here, I better concentrate on my bass chords. He was just so mesmerizing” Layne's voice is different, much more nasal than Dirt´s version. He shows an obvious effort to achieve the tone. Layne wanders to the edge, a bit out of time, close to sing off key ... but no, he doesn´t sing off key. Layne sings with his head down during the show and this position takes off power to his interpretation, since lung capacity is limited. But he would remain in this position throughout the show, perhaps he didn´t want to show the state of his teeth from the effects of hisillness. Despite the weakness of the voice, this song is a high point per se, just because they decided to perform it.
Alex Coletti, productor general de las series “Unplugged”
Toby Wright , productor
The band appears to be solid, Inez takes the leading role with sustained bass notes, while the guitars duo Cantrell- Olson show perfect emotional cohesion.Sean, as always, refined and totally adapted to the type of hit he has to use on his drums. It´s the first Alice in Chains live song in over 2 years! Vocally, Layne shows some degree of fatigue compared to the "Jar of Flies" version, but the sole degree of emotion of hearing him again makes these thoughts dilute quickly in our minds, even today, after 18 years of uninterrupted listening. Great start, a really good choice for the beginning because of the emotional crash that causes to the listener, and yet, is not the best song of the show.
“Brother” from the SAP ep, is the choice to continue the sea of contained emotions. It's a great chance to delight ourselves with the Staley / Cantrell duo on vocals. The arrangement for this occasion works phenomenally. A little bit slower and dragged than Sap's version, actually causes the effect of the Alice in Chains sound at full extent. The duality of voices in this version can be summarized in just one word: PERFECTION. A perfection that gives chills when the band stops playing their instruments and let these brothers singing "Pictures in a box at home / Yellowing and green with mold / So I can barely see your face / That Wonder how taste color." If not the best in the show, probably ranks within the top three. Wonderful.
During rehearsals the band decided which songs would work on the Unplugged show. Cantrell about this: "The songs we included pretty much weeded themselves out. Some shit worked and some shit didn't - the ones that did are the ones we played," One of these "shit" according to Cantrell, that works perfect is "Sludge Factory", which when converted from electric to acoustic, acquires a whole new dimension, even more disturbing than "Tripod”´s version. The start of the guitar duo is HUGE. It's amazing that some songs may sound more powerful with an acoustic guitar than an electric one. It is the beauty of music in its various edges. Layne's voice is much deeper which makes the song sounds more tormented (especially in parts "Oh Yeah" and "By the way ... by the way). The whole final where the guitar and drums are dissociated, including lyrics "Your weapon is guilt" is eliminated, and you get the feeling of a more compact and solid song. One of the high points of unplugged despite of Layne mistakes, which made the song to be done in "3-4 shots" according to Cantrell.
The classic drum beat already sounds, and we discover what the next song is. "Angry Chair" is a classic among classics. And like Sludge Factory, the transition to acoustic format seems to be great. Again, Staley / Cantrell duo works in a perfect symbiosis. If there was something to criticize in this version is the lack of "Heyyyyy" and "Ohhhhhh" at the end of the verses, or the weakness of these, when Layne decides to do them. A pretty good version though.
Jerry Cantrell has been awesome on his acoustic guitar, doing several solos that have been at the height of the studio versions. He looks relaxed and happy, however he´d say later he had played very sick during the show: "I was ill that whole week. I got food poisoning from a hot dog I bought from a street vendor -- bad move. I was puking right up until the gig and immediately afterward, but while I was playing I felt fine.” However, we was still providing us a memorable performance.
Without any warning or presentation we start to listen a stealthily and distant guitar by Cantrell. "Rooster" is one of the greatest Alice in Chains songs of all time. The band is in great musical shape, especially Mike and his bass which is the cornerstone in the sound of this song. Layne's voice is pretty good until the scream of "yeahhhhh, you know, he ain´t gonna die" which shows Layne just like Down in a Hole, it seems that he is gonna sing off key…and again no, he doesn´t sing off key. How great was Layne Staley, not even in his moments of fragility he failed!
"Got Me Wrong" is without any doubt, one of the gems of this MTV Unplugged. Cantrell's guitar sounds like a replay of 1992´s SAP and Olson does a wonderful solo while Sean is remarkable at drums, the crowd is really happy and gives them a standing ovation. Layne´s voice is really wonderful in this one. The scream Layne does in this song is probably the closest to Layne era 1991 -. 1993. And the most impressive is that he seems not making any efforts. On the top 3 without a doubt.
“Thank you. We've got a friend of ours today, Mr. Scotty Olson on guitar” Cantrell presents the guitarist who has been throughout the show in the second guitar and has done it really well. He's an old friend of the band who played on the iconic Seattle band "Heart", also friends of Alice in Chains.
It is time for another one from Tripod, this time it's the turn of "Heaven beside You", and the truth is it turns out to be a big surprise. Very well developed from beginning to end with a nostalgic and dark tone at times, Cantrell plays his acoustic guitar masterfully while he does lead vocals also. Layne doesn´t have any problems to do his part in this song. A totally fresh song for the Alice in Chains catalog, that grows from its studio version.
Again, Layne makes an hilarious comment : “I would have to say that this is the best show we've done in three years.” And Sean replies: “Layne, it's the only one” Layne with an almost childlike and tender laughter shoots “Huh! Well it's still the best! Episodes that reflect the essence of the band,humor and sarcasm as in their best times.
The bass lines of the Generation X anthem start with the movement of Inez fingers and warn us that "Would?" is the next song. The bass is very strong and holds rhythmically the entire song. The other instruments only follow to make more majestic those lines written by the great Mike Starr. When the Staley / Cantrell duo starts doing their work the voices sound a little weak, but the lyrics are powerful enough to cause a shiver down the spine. The atmosphere of this song is not dark, it´s rather mysterious, like something is going to happen, and it´s finally released into the light. That is the final question Layne asks us: "If I would, could you?" The mystery remains, there´s no answer. The song doesn´t have all the power of other live versions but an anthem is an anthem and this is corroborated by the ovation given by the audience
All the darkness of "Frogs" is present at the show through the strings of Cantrell. Inez's bass takes a starring role. "What does a friend mean to you, a word so wrongfully abused ..." Layne sings this part faster than the studio version, which doesn´t make it less creepy. As the song develops, the band begins to run a progressive in crescendo that ends at the outbreak of Layne's voice "Why is it Have to be this way? Be this Waaaaaaaaay "giving goosebumps to whom listens to this piece. Layne ends perfectly with a mini megaphone reciting the final lyrics. Speechless! A masterpiece of Alice in Chains!
"Over Now", a favorite of Cantrell, has pretty powerful lyrics, but I think it doesn´t fit well in this show. It may be because it has the most "sociable” tuning or simply because you think in other tracks with more weight that could have taken its place, Rotten Apple, Don´t Follow, I can´t remember , Love, Love Hate and even Man in the Box could have been played.
Cantrell gives some clues about the reasons for choosing some songs and not others: " We did material from every album except our first, Facelift. We almost tried "We Die Young" and "Love, Hate, Love" from that album, but we decided not to at the last minute. That was mainly because an Unplugged show is only about 45 minutes when it airs, so you don't have the time to everything.”
“Thanks. I think that's I”. Layne says. The crowd starts to scream “Noooo, Nooo.” One of the attendees yells at Layne. “Hey fuck you man” causing the laughter of the others. Layne finally says “Ok, one more!” The crowd feels happy.
What a great moment we are about to experience. A premiere of a new Alice in Chains song, just when nobody expected something like that, one song that was composed in the soundcheck of that afternoon. Mike Inez and Scotty Olson exchanged bass and guitar respectively to start the beginning of the end. "It's called The Killer is Me" Cantrell says quietly. The guitars merge with the bass to put us in front of a melancholic and demented landscape. A repetitive and dragged melody with Cantrell once commanding voices as in “Heaven beside You”. Layne joins to give the pessimistic and somber tone to which we are used to in the Alice in Chains sound. An awesome end for perhaps one of the Alice in Chains albums best known and heard in the history of the band.
The members embrace, they´re happy, Jerry thanks “Thanks, that was really fun!" Layne seems to be happy as well, "I wish I could just hug you all! But I'm not gonna." Layne gets an approval pat on the back from Jerry and so the band disappears again while we finish to watch and listen this wonderful and unique moment in time ...
Alice in Chains MTV Unplugged, can probably be for many, the best album of the band for its emotional nature. It's an album to which many grew up and many have a special affection. Everything in the air turns out to be melancholic yet has a feeling of triumph. Although this triumph is temporary, is a triumph in the end. After this show a few others came, only a few others. However, none of these shows could replace the feeling caused this great performance. The prevailing atmosphere, the lack of light, those candles that seemed not to extinguished, giving us, perhaps that glimmer of hope that the fans needed to believe, yes, to believe in the band we loved with all our soul would continue writing memorable stories for us and for those who would come. It wasn´t like that. But who cares? In this album is coined with gold letters the perfect farewell, the last goodbye in an environment of intimacy, respect and surrounded by friends. If someone tells you that this album changed his/her life, don´t feel surprised, is just one more than feels the music with the entire soul, just like Layne and boys that perfect night of April in 1996.
By: Schulz
Special collaboration: Carolina Chainer
