Alice in Chains | Robert Forto

I have been an Alice in Chains fan since they first arrived on the music scene. I was in a band or two, and we did many a AIC cover song with me playing lead guitar and co-vocals namely in my grunge rock band, Rainmaker that attempted to take over the world in the early to mid-1990s.

In their latest release, The Devil Put the Dinosaurs Here, it appears that AIC is still trying to find their own without Layne Staley. They tried in their first release in 2009 with Black Gives Way to Blue almost 8 years after Staley’s passing and they are attempting to do it again with Devil. They almost have it, but not quite.

The album has really two main issues.

First all the songs are a bit slow. True, AIC has released their fair share of slow songs over the years but in Devil they are overly abundant and all kind of sound the same. What happened to the days of pummeling riffs and expansive guitar textures that made the band a fan favorite not only in the Seattle grunge scene but all over the world. Songs like Them Bones, Man in the Box, and Grind?

True, bands “grow up” and change things around a bit when members leave or pass away but AIC has done it a bit more than most on their latest release.

Second is how the band continues to treat supposed frontman William DuVall. It is curious that the band would bring in DuVall as the lead singer and place him in promos as such when it is clearly Cantrell’s band. Cantrell’s co-vocals have always been a major part of AIC’s sound but since they brought in DuVall it is even more omni-present. DuVall sang a bit on Blue and it was understandable as to why. He had huge shoes to fill in taking over for Staley and they didn’t want to show any disrespect to their legions of fans. But if DuVall is going to be in the band, let him be IN the band.

It is not that Duvall can’t sing. He does it well on the only track in which he takes the lead on Devil, Lab Monkey, but he just isn’t given the chance to prove himself. He has been in Alice in Chains now for seven years and it’s hard to believe that is as long as Layne Staley was in the band as well. If they are to continue they need to let DuVall develop his own personality and let it shine or will AIC become another band with a revolving door of vocalists? I hope not.

With this all in mind, Devil is still a pretty good album. I would be wrong to say that the best days of AIC are behind them. They still have what it takes to rock with Cantrell or DuVall in lead behind the mic. They just have to make up their mind as to what is best for them. Because we all know that no-one can replace the unique sound of Staley and if they try AIC will become a thing of the past.

Rating:

The other night my wife headed home to Colorado after a quick trip to our home Alaska. It was a bittersweet goodbye. I couldn’t sleep and I was checking out posts on my Facebook wall well after midnight. I saw something that floored me. It was a picture that my aunt Diana sent to me of a tree that we planted in the front yard when I was just a couple years old.

It was at the house where I grew up in Huntington. WV. I left there when I was in second grade and have only been back a couple times since.

The tree was huge. Well over 40 feet tall and full of life.

Talking to my aunt brought a flood of emotions and flashbacks to the life path I have chosen…

The next thought was my rock band.

When I was young and impressionable, I formed a rock band called FROG first, then we grew up a bit and called ourselves Rainmaker.

This was the early 1990’s in Portland, Oregon and the height of the grunge scene. One of my biggest influences was Alice in Chains. I can’t count how many times we covered their songs in the seedy dive bars from Oregon to Florida driving our equipment in U-hauls that we would rent at the local rate of $19.95 and somehow make it to Florida without getting busted for a one way rental.

This music changed my life, (I don’t know if it was for better or worse) and I am thankful for the times I shared with good friends, loyal fans that bought our tapes out of a suitcase, and even a groupie or two.

We played in a festivals and radio station events for small FM stations before iPods and music piracy.

We watched the rock stars die: Frankie Starr of the Four Horsemen, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon, Layne Staley of Alice in Chains, and countless others ruin their lives over drugs and alcohol.

Thankfully none of us got wrapped up in the junk.

At some point we all grew up and went our seperate ways. I a lot has changed since I first picked up a guitar as a young teen. Now my daughter is learning how to play…

Sometimes I sit look at the guitar in the corner as it gathers dust and think back to yesteryear and wonder what if I would have stayed on that path of pursuing my music?

I wonder:

Watch where you spit

I’d advise you wait until it’s over

Then you got hit

And you shoulda known better

–Lyrics from We Die Young, Alice in Chains

I’m 40 now and by the law of averages my life is half over. Is it the way I wanted to live? Maybe, Maybe not.

“We can’t change the past only the hold it has on us,” What a great quote.

Until the time comes I will still hold on to my dreams and chase the demons away–whatever they be. But for now It ain’t like that…

So until next time, America, live life to the fullest because Scary’s on the Wall.