In 1991, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax embarked on a co-headlining tour called “Clash of the Titans.” Joining them on the North American leg of the tour as a supporting act was Alice in Chains – who had just wrapped up a European tour with Megadeth earlier that year.
While speaking with radio station 101 WRIF in a new interview, former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson recalled touring with Alice in Chains, noting how good he thought frontman Layne Staley looked at the beginning of their “Clash of the Titans” tour.
“I remember we started at the amphitheater called the Starplex in Dallas, at that time,” Ellefson remembered. “And we all got together, we’re just kind of saying hello before the first show. And I remember Layne Staley getting off the bus or coming into the room, and he’s all blonde hair, high and tight, looking great.”
“I was like, ‘Whoa man, you look freaking awesome. How was your break?’ And he goes, ‘Oh, I was in rehab.’ I was like, ‘Rehab? For what?’ And he goes, ‘H*r*in.’ I’m like, ‘You guys were on h*r*in when you were over there in Europe?'”
“That’s when I kind of got to know the deeper story of Alice in Chains and Seattle, I guess, in general. But he looked great, he sounded great on that tour,” he added.
Like Staley, both Ellefson and Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine had recently gotten clean after attending rehab a year earlier.
Ellefson went on to recall an offer he and Mustaine made to Staley in an attempt to help him stay sober and avoid any temptations while on the road:
“Me and Dave invited him over into our world. And said, ‘Listen, we’re both clean, and if you need a place to get away and have kind of a safe harbor, a place to hang out, you’re welcome to come and hang with us anytime.’ And Alice in Chains were a young rock band doing what young rock bands do: drinking and rocking and raging.”
Unfortunately, 11 years later in 2002, Staley passed away from a drug overdose.
