To me, Alice In Chains are vastly underrated for their influence on hard rock and heavy metal. While Nirvana and Pearl Jam get a ton of glory, I feel a lot of the hard rock bands we hear today own a huge debt of gratitude to AIC. Regardless, the band have quite a healthy career, so I don't fret too much about their accolades.
Recently, mastermind Jerry Cantrell was a guest on BBC Radio 1's Rock Show With Daniel P Carter and was asked which song he's most proud of. While it was hard for Cantrell to pick one, he ultimately settled on his biggest hit:
“I mean I guess I feel the same way about our music as I would feel about trying to single one song out of the whole musical experience of one fan—I really couldn’t do that. I’m really proud of everything we’ve ever done.
"Man In The Box" means a lot, because it was our first big hit. "Rooster," seven minutes, I wrote that for my dad. "Check My Brain", that was a gigantic hit too and kind of heralded the coming back of this band.”
So, he mostly stuck to tracks that performed well on the radio. Makes sense. I can't imagine writing something that affects millions of people worldwide in different ways.
Cantrell also talked about being excited about the band's most recent album, Rainier Fog, which has one of the funniest music videos I've seen in a while.
‘Rainier Fog‘ is kind of this punky, metal kind of thing—That’s kind of the thread and the theme of the title of the record and where we started, where we recorded it, kind of coming full circle back to where we started.”
“It’s got elements of all that [the Seattle music scene.] It’s more personal to this band and to this group of fellas, this six group of fellas.
But all of the characters and all of folks that have been part of our lives in the Seattle area, that song kind of encompasses all of that. It’s more like a collage, a collage of all sorts of stuff.”
You can listen to the entire interview here.
Alice In Chains are on tour this summer with Korn. Here are the dates:
July 18 – Austin, TX @ Austin360 Amphitheater
July 20 – The Woodlands, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman^
July 21 – Dallas, TX @ Dos Equis Pavilion
July 23 – Birmingham, AL @ Oak Mountain Amphitheatre
July 25 – Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
July 26 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
July 28 – West Palm Beach, FL @ Coral Sky Amphitheatre at the S. Florida Fairgrounds
July 30 – Virginia Beach, VA @ Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach
July 31 – Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live
Aug. 02 – Darien Center, NY @ Darien Lake Amphitheater
Aug. 03 – Camden, NJ @ BB&T Pavilion^
Aug. 06 – Wantagh, NY @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater
Aug. 07 – Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center
Aug. 09 – Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center^
Aug. 10 – Hartford, CT @ XFINITY Theatre
Aug. 11 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Aug. 13 – Clarkston, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre
Aug. 14 – Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage
Aug. 16 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center
Aug. 17 – Burgettstown, PA @ KeyBank Pavilion+
Aug. 18 – Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center+
Aug. 20 – Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center+
Aug. 21 – Tinley Park, IL @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre+
Aug. 23 – Maryland Heights, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre+
Aug. 25 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center+
Aug. 27 – Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheatre+
Aug. 30 – Irvine, CA @ FivePoint Amphitheatre presented by Mercury Insurance+
Aug. 31 – Phoenix, AZ @ Ak-Chin Pavilion+
Sept. 02 – Chula Vista, CA @ North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre+Sept. 04 – Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre+
*with HO99O9
+with FEVER 333
^support TBA
