In a new SoundLounge interview, Alice In Chains were asked if William DuVall was the instant choice when the band needed somebody to step in when they regrouped a few years after Layne Staley’s death. Cantrell said DuVall was the obvious choice, and did not mention the band consider anyone else.
“Yeah. He was the obvious choice for me. The guys didn’t know him as well. When Sean, Mike, and I were sort of kicking around the idea of getting together and just playing some tunes, with no real other plan than that: ‘Let’s just get together and jam a little bit.’ I was like, ‘I know a guy.'”
“I think we did Love Hate Love first, and that kind of sealed the deal.”
Cantrell sarcastically joked, “He’s bored with us.”
William DuVall said, “I think the whole way that it happened, the whole trajectory that led up to it and everything kind of precludes a lot of that stuff.”
Cantrell added, “It was natural too.”
DuVall then said, “That’s the thing, it happened over such a number of years, and we kind of made our way by being onstage, so there were so many things that sort of were forefront beyond any of this other stuff.”
