Life At the Top:
                       By P.J. Merkle
                       Reprinted without permission from Hit Parader, April 1996.



 Apparently you can't believe everything you've read about Alice In Chains over the last two years. Yes, it's true that
 vocalist Layne Staley suffered through a difficult period of drug addiction, and it's also true that guitarist Jerry Cantrell
 had begun work on a solo album during the band's most tempestuous period apart. But apparently reports that the
 Chains were on the verge of breaking up on numerous occasions following the abrupt cancellation of their world tour
 in July, 1994, were somewhat off track. Whatever the truth may or may not be, the fact is that at the moment Staley,
 Cantrell, drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Inez are once again sitting atop the hard rock world, with their latest
 album, "Alice In Chains", comfortably ensconced in the Top Ten of the sales charts. At a time when alternative music
 practitioners seem to have a stranglehold on the medium, the Chains have come along to make sure that kick-ass rock
 and roll still maintains a prominent place in the public psyche. Recently we tracked down the elusive Cantrell to
 separate the fact from fiction regarding the always fascinating world of Alice In Chains. 

 Hit Parader: Let's get right to it. How close did the band come to breaking up during parts of '94 and '95? 

 Jerry Cantrell: That's really nothing new for us. I heard a lot of people saying that Jar Of Flies was supposed to be our
 last album, which of course, wasn't true. We had been working really hard from the time our first album came out. There
 were times when we were going non-stop for weeks on end. We never even had a day off. It just reached a point where
 we needed a break. We took some time off, and the rumors just started to build from there. 

 HP: But you do admit that Layne had some drug problems that caused you to take that break, don't you? 

 JC:I don't want to place that kind of stuff on Layne. I think that whole situation has really been blown way out of
 proportion. I'm not here to tell anyone what he does and what he doesn't do. I think he knows what's best for him. It's
 just that he's his own guy, and he does what he wants. That's the way it's always been, and that's the way it's going to
 stay. We don't go around trying to tell each other how to live our lives. If you want to learn about Layne, just listen to
 his lyrics. He almost is too honest in those. It's all there for everyone to hear, and sometimes people have taken his
 words and made too much out of them. 

 HP: When he went off to do the Mad Season album, were you worried that Alice In Chains had come to an end? 

 JC: We were on a break, and I think we all wanted to try a few new things. I was doing some music that wasn't
 necessarily designed for this band, and I think that's what Layne wanted to do too. He had the chance to work with
 Mike McCready, and he had some material ready to go, so why shouldn't he do an album? I was always very
 supportive of his decision to make that record-- and it is a great record. I may have been surprised for a few minutes,
 but once I realized what he was up to, I thought it was great. It took a lot of confidence on his part to step away from
 Alice and do something more-or-less on his own. It never crossed my mind that we weren't going to get back together
 at some point. 

 HP: Even when you were writing you own material for a supposed solo disc? 

 JC: (Laughing) No! 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. As it happends, most of those songs
 sounded like they should be recorded by Alice! Most of those songs were little more than loose jams--nothing that
 really amounted to much. 

 HP: Let's talk about the new album. Is there any special significance to calling it "Alice in Chains"? 

 JC: Not really. I gues it was our way of letting people know we were back. It had been a couple of years since our last
 full album had come out, so it just sounded like a good thing to do. Maybe it was our way of answering all the people
 who had said that we wouldn't be back; it was our way of saying that they were wrong! There was so much negative
 crap written about us over the last two years. Most of it was really way off base. The were taking little bits of the truth
 and then adding their own opinions to it. So what you were ending up with were editorial comments more than factual
 reports. 

 HP: People have been surprised that there's such a dark, ominous tone throughout the album. 

 JC: That's interesting. I think it was just a reflection of where we were when we were writing it. I don't think it's that
 ominous. It takes on some serious issues, but I don't think it's any more ominous than our earlier albums. All I know is
 that we've written some of the best songs of our livs, and Layne has never sounded better. If anyone was expecting
 another thing like "Jar Of Flies", I'm sorry. But we had been saying for a couple of years that the songs on that album
 were just a little different from what we'd normally do. This is the album designed to follow-up "Dirt". 

 HP: Since some of Layne's problems seem to come out when you're on tour, does the thought of returning to the road
 concern you? 

 JC: No. It kind of bothers me that at the moment people seem so interested in focusing on negative things. If you're
 human, you can't help but be affected by what's being said about you. We're a very lucky band in that we've been
 blessed with the ability to make some great music. We all understand that. We don't dwell on negative things. Layne is
 an individual who is going to lead his own life. What happens in that life is only in his control. 

 HP: So it seems that despite all the rumors, stories and gossip, there's still plenty of life in Alice In Chains. 

 JC: Listen to the new record and then you tell me! If anyone douts that we're together and we're focused after hearing
 the music, then there's nothing that I can say that has a prayer of convincing them otherwise.