Alice in Chains is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1987 by guitarist / songwriter Jerry Cantrell and original vocalist Layne Staley. The initial lineup was completed by drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Starr, who was replaced in 1993 by Mike Inez.
Although widely associated with grunge music, the sound of the band incorporates elements of heavy metal. Since its formation, Alice in Chains has released five studio albums, three EPs, two live albums, four compilations and two DVDs. The band is known for its distinctive vocal style, which often includes the harmonized voice of Staley and Cantrell.
Alice in Chains became internationally famous as part of the grunge movement of the early 1990s, along with other Seattle bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. The band has had 14 top ten songs on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and nine Grammy nominations.
Some curious facts about the band include:
01 - Sean Kinney and Mike Starr, were together in a band before forming AIC, both were dismissed for being too young.
02 - Sean Kinney played for the first time in a band when he was 9 years old, his grandfather included him in his band "The Cross Cats".
03 - One of Jerry Cantrell's dreams is to be a pilot and have his own plane.
04 - The album "Jar Of Flies" was to be called "Seven Days" or "Son Of Sap" until finally Jerry gave it its definitive name
05 - The title of "Jar Of Flies" comes from an experiment that Jerry did in his years of school.
06 - The song "Dam That River" comes from a fight between Jerry and Sean.
07 - On Unplugged recording, Jerry was sick for eating junk food he bought on 8th Street
08- Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell lived together at the Music Bank in the late 1980s.
09 - Layne loved to dive and be in the water.
10 - The orange shirt that Layne used in the video of "Would?"belonged to Andrew Wood (Mother Love Bone).
11 - For the song "Right Turn" had thought of Kurt Cobain to sing along with Jerry, Layne and Chris Cornell, but at that moment Nirvana was on tour.
12 - At the acoustic concert of AIC at the Hollywood Palladium in 1994, the band was booed for not playing their most heavy songs
13 - At a concert in Europe in 1993, after a sound failure, half of the audience left the living room.
14 - Alice In Chains were invited to play at the opening ceremony of the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame with Soul Asylum and Bon Jovi in 1995, opportunity that the band declined for their commitment to recording for the self - titled album "Tripod" .
16 - The song "Nutshell" could be longer, played for 7 or 8 minutes and then took a small section.
17 - Matt Cameron's girlfriend from Soundgarden, collaborated for the recording of the song "I Stay Away".
18 - The idea of filming the fake documentary "The Nona Tapes" was by Layne.
19 - Germany was a country where Layne liked to play.
20 - Layne's first influence was Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne.
21 - Jerry Cantrell is a big fan of Pink Floyd, on the "Boggy Depot" tour I played "Brain Damage" several times.
22 - For the Unplugged, the band thought to play acoustic versions of "We Die Young" and "Love Hate Love"