Jerry Cantrell: finding new and interesting soundtracks to hell
No artist can spend their entire lives trying to recreate what they’ve done in the past. Some people can be lucky enough to have one hit throughout their career and spend the rest of their lives trying to milk it for all it’s worth, but it’s up to the true artists to build on it and make something that makes their early records look like child’s play. And as much as Jerry Cantrell may be identified with Alice in Chains, he has been finding time to switch things up even more as he prepares to tour behind his latest album, I Want Blood.
While Cantrell has been known as the mastermind behind many of the grunge titans’ best riffs throughout the years, the entire premise behind any new Alice material and his solo stuff has always felt like a new creative endeavour. Whereas records like Dirt have been poured over for its distinctive grunge haze, I Want Blood is something completely, almost occupying a more metallic space that Tony Iommi would have recognised in an instant back in the day.
But Cantrell isn’t looking to make a record to compete with Iommi by any stretch, as he told Far Out, “[Sabbath] is a huge band to me, so that’s gonna bleed through every once in a while, but I’m doing me. At some point, you develop a sound, and the goal is to be one of those identifiable songwriters that people know within a couple of notes.”
And thanks to the stellar production from Joe Baressi, the entire record sounds immaculate. Despite his previous work with acts like Slipknot, Baressi seems to have a telepathic relationship with Cantrell whenever he plays, almost like they are working out pieces of some sonic puzzle until they find the heaviest tone they can possibly get.
When catching up with Cantrell, he said his collaborators like Baressi were grounding part of the process, telling Far Out, “[Joe’s] a fan of rock music, and he’s just trying to make the absolute best record he can. We’re a really good team, so if you have a guy like that who gets you and you respect what he brings to the table, you got a good shot at making a great record.”
That’s not discounting the fantastic band backing him. Outside of the few starstudded names like Duff McKagan and Robert Trujillo, having people Tyler Bates around for the demoing phase, as well as Gil Sharon and Vincent Jones on drums and the vocal team of Lola Colette and Greg Purciato helped to create an amazing world for the record to live in.
That’s before even getting into the supergroup’s worth of people that he’s collaborated with in the past, whether that be his glory days playing with Layne Staley or bringing in rock and roll royalty like Elton John to play on Black Gives Way to Blue. Even if there are some icons in his ranks, the best part for Cantrell is not knowing what can come out of a jam when his band plays together.
He recalls: “Everybody is so unique even though we do similar things. There are only so many notes, so you would think it would be pretty limiting, but it’s not. It’s unique to the personalities of the individuals and the blend of those individuals when they’re in a band together. It’s an unknown, but you can expect that it’s going to be pretty good. You better be able to make something good together, but you don’t know until you go through the process.”
Despite having some seasoned pros working with him, that doesn’t mean Cantrell didn’t have a few twists and turns up his sleeve. On the opening single, ‘Vilified’ alone, the riffs are offbeat to a certain degree, with everything being worked out in 6/4 or changing to 7/4, depending on where the vocal falls.
Even when working on the track ‘Let It Lie’, Cantrell said that everyone struggled to get the timing right, saying, “The hardest section for everybody was the middle breakdown on ‘Let It Lie’ because it’s got a quarter note extra beat. I don’t even know how you count it, but I know how to feel it. I’m just playing a pattern, and everyone else has to kind of react around me. They’ll be a few clusterfucks when we try to learn the songs again, but that’s the fun part of it.”
There might be some moments where things get thrown out of whack, but it’s certainly nothing that people like Duff McKagan couldn’t handle. Outside of playing with Alice in Chains for a little bit, McKagan has been a trusted musical brother to Cantrell for years, even having him on his latest record on the song ‘I Just Don’t Know’.
For Cantrell, McKagan has worked as a springboard for different song ideas over the years, stating, “We’re really good sounding boards for each other outside of our main bands. [He’s] somebody I admire not just as a musician but as a human being. When I’m working on a [Duff McKagan] record, I’m trying to serve what he wants, and he does that for me, too. It’s nice to have that level of trust.”
Once Cantrell begins his tour for I Want Blood in 2025, he is looking to bring fans a smorgasbord of everything that brought him to where he is. After all, the songs can be like children to some of the best musicians, and he says that he would never want to go through a show without playing something like ‘Man in the Box’ or ‘Rooster’ if he can.
Even if there are some familiar faces guaranteed throughout the setlist, the guitarist said that he would be more than happy to change some things up and add in a few deep cuts once he finds his feet, saying, “Once the tour starts, and you’ve got a good set established, then you can change it up and throw some deep cuts in there and move some stuff around. If you’ve had a long career, you wanna draw from different areas, so I’m trying to play stuff from Facelift all the way to I Want Blood.”
And considering the massive amount of legends that he has worked with, Cantrell admitted that no better supergroup could compare to the people that he has had alongside him, saying, “The first record I did I was able to do with Sean [Kinney] and Mike [Inez] from Alice and I had Les Claypool and Rex Brown. The second record I did with Mike Bordin and Robert Trujillo. I’ve put together a good list of dream lineups and made some pretty good records with them.”
That’s half the reason why Cantrell’s records sound so different from each other as well. Aside from the massive amount of incredible musicians surrounding him, it all comes from someone with a heart willing to explore the darkest sides of music. If you think about it, Dirt doesn’t sound much like Boggy Depot, and Degradation Trip sounds like the western feel of Brighten. The whole reason behind Cantrell’s best work is to make something totally different from what has come before.
For him, it’s more interesting to see how music hits him every time he gets into the studio, saying, “I don’t think you could really take any record from Facelift to I Want Blood and say that one of those records sounds like another. That’s what you’re going for. You’re not trying to replicate anything. You always have to start from a blank page and a zero, and I’m always surprised where it ends up. I’m not trying to repeat myself.”
And while Cantrell’s time in Alice in Chains is still going strong, seeing him in this setting invites a whole new side of his playing. He had channelled his anger, frustration, and everything in between with his main outfit, but this is the chance to see the version of him that’s 100% authentic, whether that’s hearing his gloomy side or turning in the kind of acoustic performance that would leave someone like Willie Nelson tip his hat to him.
While fans are still awaiting what he has in store for the upcoming tour in 2025, anyone will know they are in for something special once he breaks out that signature GNL guitar and starts making those riffs from Hell. After starting off as one of the masters of grunge, Cantrell has turned into not only one of the most eclectic members of the 1990s movement but also the kind of person who can be recognised the minute that he starts singing or the second that one of his signature bendy riffs start.
