Jerry Cantrell (Alice In Chains)

All right, not many artists have had the type of impact on rock music that my guest today has. Jerry Cantrell, lead guitarist, co-vocalist, and songwriter of Alice in Chains, one of the most influential and respected bands to emerge in the last 35 years.

The new solo album, I Want Blood, co-produced by Joe Barisi and with so many great artists playing like Rob from Metallica and Duff from Guns N' Roses. The album's out now and you can check it at the link below. Thank you so much for being here. It's an honor to have you.

Thanks for having me, man. Yeah. So you've been part of so much music history and now you're joining one of the biggest shows ever. Black Sabbath's original lineup and Ozzy's final performance. I just want to ask, how did you get the news and what does it mean to be a part of such a historic night? Well, we've had a long history with with Ozzy and, you know, we're all obviously big Black Sabbath and Ozzy fans. And Alice got a pretty good.

Pretty good opportunity early in our career to go out on the road with those guys and open with them for some time. You know, I think longer than we expected. They kept asking us to do more legs and we're like, hell yeah, we're in. And, you know, we got a base player. out of the deal, too, and Mike Inez not long after we left, too. So it worked out pretty good for us. And, you know, Ozzy's a sweetheart of a guy. I'm really stoked myself to see it.

And, you know, trying to do those songs justice, you know, learning a couple of cool tunes to play for the show. It's going to be fun. That lineup is just really incredible. It's extraordinary. I've never seen anything like it, so I know it's going to be a historic moment.

Talking about the solo record, which I just want to say I cannot recommend this enough. The production on it is incredible. It sounds amazing. You produce this stuff out of your own studio? No, we were at Joe Breezy's place out in Pasadena. You know, I've just got a real kind of... Basic setup at my place to do demos and jam and stuff like that. But Joe has a great studio. This is my third record working with Joe. He's mixed the two previous, Brighton and Rainier Fog, with Alice as well.

My partner on the last record, Tyler Bates, who is still involved, you know, to a good degree on this record as well. He wasn't going to be able to go the whole way with me. He was already committed to another project and doing a ton of movies and TV shows. So I asked Joe if he'd be willing to go ground up with me. And he's like, yeah, I'm totally in. And I played him a couple of the ideas I was working on. And he's like, yeah, let's do this.

We went into the studio in Pasadena in January, and I think we were done. We walked out of there in April with a good record. And you have so many collaborators and friends on this album. And I just think it's really neat, like seemingly the camaraderie that you have with so many great artists. And what's it like to be able to bring in so many greats to have on this record playing?

Yeah, I mean, it's cool. I tend to kind of go with the same blueprint that I've always operated with in Alice. So, you know, we're a group of friends and a family first and a band and a business. Second. So... You know, I operate the same way. I call my friends, you know, and I've been able to, all the people that are on this record, you'll notice that, you know, we've worked on multiple records together, you know, pretty much everybody.

So whether it's us working on something for me or I'm working on a record for them or projects for somebody else. It's pretty cool to be able to call on guys like, you know, Rob Trujillo and Duff McKagan and, you know, have them show up, Mike Borden, Greg Machado, you know, to name a few. It's cool to be able to call those guys and have them...

Number one, have the time, which I've been really lucky with. You can't really plan that stuff. So, like, it just happens to be when I'm working on some of these projects, I'm just catching these guys in between windows of legs of their own band. But, you know. They're all good friends of mine. They're all people I respect. They're some of the best musicians in the world.

And they're all members of bands that I highly admire. So it's fun. And we've had experience making music together. So I think we make a pretty good racket together. So when I'm thinking about doing a record like this, I know it'll call. Thankfully, they keep saying it.

Yes. It's amazing. And to see so many of you still having so much fun and truly, obviously, they're not with as busy as the schedule you all keep. You're not doing it unless you love it. And it's very clear from listening to this record. It sounds fantastic.

So I really enjoy it. When you think about the longevity that you've had in your career and just the incredible music that you've put out for many years now and continue to do so, you know, did you have a sense of... early on like was there a moment that struck you like wow we're gonna we're gonna really take this band to the next level and it's gonna exceed our expectations

Yeah, I mean, it always starts pretty small and pretty humbly, man. It's just sitting around and jamming on some riffs and stuff like that or stumbling across an idea. And then you... If it's something that strikes your ear or you're kind of excited about, like, you know, you put it down, you record it.

Once you get into a demo process, for me, historically, that seems to be penciled out to be about the same amount of time. It's about a three to four month window of just kind of just messing around with ideas, making demos, trying stuff, putting things together. It's usually in that, you know, somewhere in the middle of that three to four months, you probably have a group of like kind of basic raw ideas, maybe a couple of songs that are maybe...

maybe together and you're feeling good about, and you can start to see it kind of take shape. That's always exciting to me because I never go into... any project with any group of people, Alice or with my collaborators outside of the band. I never go into any project with any sort of sad idea.

I just get into motion, you know, start start creating and working on some stuff and settle in for the grind because it takes time. You know, it takes about three, four months to demo for me. You know, another. maybe, you know, a month or two to jam them up and get pre-pro together, organize who you're going to record it with, where you're going to go. And then once you move into the studio, you know, that can take a matter, you know. If you're lucky, I have done a record in a week.

I prefer not to do it that way, but, but I like to take, take my time working. So, you know, you're looking at another three, four to six months, you know, in the recording process historically for me. So, so that's about a nine month. window right there and you need a couple months to get the artwork and the vinyl and all that stuff together so it's about a year and then you know when you put it out you're looking at uh you're looking at hopefully in a year or a year and a half of touring so

Generally, when you wrap it all up, it's about a two and a half to three year cycle. And you got to be committed to go all the way. There's no half measures or anything like that. So but, you know, to get back to it's a long winded.

answer to your question of like, you know, you probably start to see it take shape somewhere in the demo process, you know, somewhere halfway to two thirds through the demo process, like, hey, this is some good shit here. You know, I'm stoked about this. And then you start making some calls like, hey, you want to come?

them jam and and then you know these great people show up and and you take it to the next level you know and then and then you build it and kind of everybody you know everybody has ideas They put their own personality and ideas into the music. And that's kind of a cool process, too, because everybody kind of...

gets their hands in the dough, you know what I mean? And you mold it and make it into something. And when you're writing a riff or you're involved in the songwriting or the vocal work that you do, which is also amazing, incredible vocals, I know. But, you know, was there a song that you wrote that you knew instantly that was going to carry the type of timeless way your music has held on for so many years? I don't know that you ever know that.

That's just something that has to organically and naturally happen over time. Now, I've been really fortunate to be a part of writing a few songs like that over my career. And so there's definitely a benchmark that's set, but you can't rely on your past either. All you can use it for is like, okay, it's got to be at least that good. So that's kind of cool. It sets the bar high if you've got a few of those things that you've written or been a part of writing in the past.

But for each project, they're years apart, so they're unique and they're separate unto themselves. But there's a handful of songs on this record. I think Vilified is a really important song. I think Afterglow is another one. blood obviously the title track uh you know there's there's there's three or four more that i think are pretty pretty stand out i mean the whole record is pretty solid yes it is uh there i don't really think it slacks anywhere and and that feels good but but yeah you know

What you're asking basically is there are some standout tracks that had the chance to do that, but it's really up to people at that point. All I can do is make it as good as I can. myself within the group, make it as good as we can. We're like, we can listen to it, look at it and go like, there's nothing more we can do. This is as good as we can do. It's as good as we can make it right now. It's as close to perfect it is at all. it'll ever be.

Uh, and, and so if you're checking that box off for yourself, uh, you got a good shot at a song, maybe having some legs like that. And then it just takes time, you know, time and getting out there and planning for people letting, letting, uh, letting the music, uh, make connections with people and, you know, getting their face and going all over the world and playing it for them, you know. And, you know, who knows, maybe it turns into one of those songs, you know. Absolutely. And I think that...

It just, the work speaks for itself. Talking about your live show, you know, I'm so excited to see the show tonight, and I've seen Alice in Chains many times. It seems like from the very beginning... The band was just naturally a live band. I was watching a former clip of...

Now in the early 90s, covering Sweet Leaf from Black Sabbath. Now you're playing at their... Yeah, I saw that too. Yeah, that was a pretty good one to see. I mean, if you could go back in time and talk to yourself from back then. And knowing what you know now, you're going to play Ozzy's final show, Black Sabbath's original lineup. And I just can't get over that. That lineup is shocking. Yeah. You know, what would you say?

I mean, it's pretty cool. Life's really interesting. It's a journey. It's a long ride for most of us. And you go through a lot of changes. And you get a lot of opportunities, man. If you do, if you put in the work to try to do something that, I don't know, that means something to you, that you're excited about, I think it works out for you.

more times than it doesn't, you know what I mean? And, and, uh, you know, you're going to need a little luck here and there, but I think it really, really comes down to effort and commitment, you know what I mean? Like, and, and, uh, um,

So, you know, you're hoping to be one of those bands like Black Sabbath, you know, like that's going to still do a show in their hometown, you know what I mean? Like to be around for five, six decades. I mean, that's the benchmark and that's something that's good to shoot for. and Alice we're we're going into our fourth decade so we've been around a minute and we we've been through you know a lot of stuff too and

You know, and we're still going. So, you know, one foot in front of the other, you know, and keep at it. I mean, who knows where you can go, you know. It's been a fun ride so far. I'm still enjoying what I do. And I think I'm operating at a pretty high level. And I've never really felt...

I've never really had any sort of a, I guess lucky that I've never really had a question that I should be doing something else or whatever. This is what I was put here to do is saying I'm doing it. So I feel pretty lucky about that. Jerry Cantrell, I know you're very busy today, so I want to thank you for your time. It's an honor to have you. The new record is fantastic. Everybody...

I strongly recommend this album. Check it out at the link in the description. It's fantastic. Looking forward to the show tonight. Go get you some blood, man. Yes, sir.