Alice In Chains Reveal Why Grunge Scene With Nirvana, Soundgarden & Pearl Jam Is ‘Lonely’

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Alice In Chains members Jerry Cantrell and Mike Inez discussed the Seattle Grunge scene during a fan Q&A a few weeks ago at the Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp. Alternative Nation transcribed their comments.

Jerry Cantrell said, “I have no idea what the next big thing is, but I’m confident in the fact that something will be, because we’re here, and there’s stuff before us, and there will continue to be stuff after. I’m always excited to hear what that is.”

Mike Inez added, “We meet bands like Ilan Rubin from Nine Inch Nails, he has a band called New Regime, so we took them out on the road with us. There’s a band from Canada called Monster Truck, they’re out there, but the way we meet them is we show up to a soundcheck and there’s some new dudes up on stage before us. ‘Oh hey, these guys are really good, who are these guys?’ So that’s how we kind of meet people, by the time it gets to us, they’ve kind of got their established thing.

I think that was the key to the whole Seattle scene at the beginning of this thing. Soundgarden was a band forever up there, in the rain, smoking weed, banging out their riffs forever until they really polished their different kind of sound. Same with the Nirvana and Pearl Jam guys.”

Cantrell said, “The Pearl Jam guys too, from Green River to Mother Love Bone, they put the time in. Also we were able to, it’s a lonely outpost musically speaking in the music business in the northwest, so we were kind of left to our own devices to sound however we wanted to sound. That’s why all of the bands that you hear out of that, not one band sounds like the other. Queensryche doesn’t sound like Jimi Hendrix, Heart doesn’t sound like Mudhoney, Mudhoney doesn’t sound like us, we don’t sound like Nirvana, and Nirvana doesn’t sound like Soundgarden. It’s great.”

Inez added, “Peter’s band Candlebox, same thing. We all drink the same water up there.”