Alice In Chains singer/guitarist William DuVall recently did an interview with CBS Philly where he discussed opening for Guns N’ Roses and meeting Axl Rose.
“It’s an honor to be a part of this thing. It’s very rare that an American rock band can create this kind of spectacle in 2016. I mean playing stadiums in America night after night, there’s only a handful of bands regardless of genre that can do that. But for a real deal American hard rock band to create the level of excitement and interest, and do the kind of business they’re doing in American venues and stadiums, where it almost transcends rock music, and it almost transcends music, it almost becomes a sporting event or something. It’s amazing.”
He also discussed meeting Axl Rose at a party after GNR’s Chicago show.
“He was even joking about that when I was talking to him. He was just joking about how he’s not late any more, it’s really great.”
Alice In Chains employee The Baldy will soon be sitting on Jerry Cantrell’s angry chair, as the Alice In Chains legend is giving him his toilet for free. Read The Baldy’s blog below:
Jerry Cantrell offered to give me his toilet.
Writing sentences like that is exactly why I love my job so much.
On a related note, do you know what else I love about my job?
Perks.
I’m writing this from the Concierge Lounge on the 24th floor of the Ritz Carlton hotel.
What’s the concierge lounge?
It’s like the VIP section of an already exclusive club.
And let’s not kid ourselves.
I don’t belong here.
But when you swim in the wake of a famous rock band, you get to take advantage of the perks from time to time.
So, free breakfast in a swanky room on the top floor of a five star hotel with an overly accommodating staff member basically tripping over himself to get me more orange juice? Yes, please.
But what about the toilet?
It’s about as simple as it sounds, actually.
Jerry is having the toilet in his home replaced and asked if I wanted the old one.
I’ve done a lot of things in my life, but researching toilets isn’t one of them.
Well, it turns out that there are a wide variety of toilets out there, and much to my surprise, there’s actually a massive price disparity between your average toilet and the really upscale models.
So Jerry is offering to give me a really nice toilet because he’s replacing it with a REALLY nice toilet.
I’m not so sure that once the ham hits the seat that my butt cheeks are discerning enough to know the difference between a regular and fancy toilet though, so I don’t know if I’ll take him up on his offer.
But I’m getting way off track here.
The toilet offer is a small example of a much bigger picture.
You read from time to time about famous people doing nice things behind the scenes.
Well, I’m behind the scenes, and I can tell you that the members of Alice In Chains, both collectively and individually, do nice things for people all of the time.
I’m actually pretty impressed by what these guys have done over the years.
They’ve helped a lot of people and a lot of causes in a lot of different ways, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that some of what they’ve done may have even helped save a life or two.
I have tremendous respect & admiration for the way these guys live their lives, and how they pay forward their good fortune.
I would imagine that they consider the ability to help other people to be one of the perks of their job.
So whether it’s in the form of a free toilet, or just the feeling you get from doing something nice for someone else, a perk is a wonderful thing.
Somehow, I managed to correlate and weave a story about a toilet into an exposé on the benevolent nature of the members of Alice In Chains.
And after 10 years of writing about the band, I also managed to finally work my butt cheeks into things.
Excuse me while I go prepare my Pulitzer acceptance speech…
