Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell recently joined Spin’s Lipps Service on YouTube and spoke with the host Scott Lipps. They spoke about how the band came into being and how the name Alice On Chains was selected. It seems, lead vocalist Layne Staley was not in favor of the new name that was given to the band. Cantrell had previously revealed that Nine Inch Nails ‘Made A Turn’
Layn Staley was against the idea of the name
Cantrell recalled how Alice In Chains got their name. He revealed that Layne Staley was already in a band alongside Nick Pollock, Johnny Bacolas, and James Bergstrom and went by the name Alice N’ Chains.
Later on, when drummer Sean Kinney, bassist Mike Starr, and Staley were discussing ideas about potential names of their band, the band members, except Staley, supported the idea of naming the band Alice In Chains.
Here is what Cantrell said, as transcribed by Alternative Nation:
“You go through a process to find yourselves but where that comes from is Layn had a band with Nick Pollock, Johnny Bacolas and James Bergstrom. They were called ‘Alice N’ Chains like Guns N’ Roses. When it came time to figure out what the f**k we were gonna call ourselves when Layne, Sean and Mike and I got together, we liked that name you know but we were like ‘let’s change’ it a little bit. We’ll call it Alice In Chains and then it’s little different than your old band, it’s a cool name you know. But, Layne wasn’t really into it.”
The Alice In Chains singer, guitarist, and songwriter is currently planning on doing some shows next year, with solo shows booked from March until May of 2022, with Alice In Chains’ plans for the future currently unknown during their break between albums.
