King’s X legend Doug Pinnick told Detroit’s WRIF that he knew Alice In Chains “since before they got signed.” He recalled: “Layne [Staley] did say to me, ‘Keep putting out, writing songs so we can keep ripping you off.’ He said that to Jerry [Gaskill], actually. But he told me that on ‘Rooster’, he said, ‘I was just doing Doug.’ And I gave him a big hug. And I love those guys. They were just young kids.
I remember Pearl Jam, they didn’t have a record deal. And Jeff [Ament] sent me a tape with Temple of the Dog on the other side of it. And neither band was out. Back in the day, they looked up to us and they used to say, ‘We can’t wait till we can open for you guys and get record deals and stuff.’ And we thought that was so cute. And then they all get record deals and just blow us out of the water. They all did — every one of them. And I smile and look at them and go, ‘Man, I knew you guys when you were riding around in vans playing for nobody.’
“I remember King’x X was on the road with AC/DC, opening, and some of the guys from PEARL JAM and Alice In Chains came to the show in Tacoma, Washington,” Doug added. “And they were playing a little club. And they said, ‘Would you guys come to the show?’ And so after we got done playing, we went over to the bar, and Alice In Chains had Mookie Blaylock, which was Pearl Jam, opening for them. There was probably, maybe 20 people in the place. And it was awesome. I remember watching Mike McCready and going, ‘This kid plays like Jimi Hendrix.’ He looked like he was 15. I loved them all.
“So, yeah, we all go way back. And yeah, we’ve all kind of inspired each other in some ways, I think.”
