Search Results for: Alice in Chains

The odds are stacked against Velvet Revolver. Their singer, Scott Weiland, is currently in drug rehab for the umpteenth time. Who knows if he’ll be a free man when it’s time to tour, and judging from his past history, it could be a struggle for him to stay clean when the band hits the road. As for his bandmates – ex-Guns N’ Roses members Slash (guitar), Duff McKagan (bass) and Matt Sorum (drums), and former Suicidal Tendencies guitarist Dave Kushner – they’re ready to rock, but there’s some question whether the rock community is ready to embrace them. Over a… Read more »

These days Good Charlotte are on top of the world, but there was a time when Benji Madden felt like taking his own life. “I’ll be the first person to say I have the most amazing life of anyone I’ve ever met, but I did come to certain points of my life where I thought that [suicide] was an option,” Benji admitted recently, sitting next to his brother Joel inside the Sunset Marquis Hotel. His voice trailing off, he quietly acknowledged the role that music played in ultimately steering him away from such a tragic and horrible act. The Madden… Read more »

Many people are under the impression that Wes Scantlin, the singer and guitarist of Puddle of Mudd, is the sole creative force behind the group’s pain-stricken melodies. That’s not the case. His bandmates help shape the arrangements and throw in complementary parts, and there’s an even more powerful influence at work – one that’s ingrained in Scantlin’s blood. Unlike the many hard rock bands who sing about how badly their parents screwed up their lives, Scantlin has nothing but praise for his dad, who helps the singer decide which Puddle songs make the cut and which are scrapped. “I bounce… Read more »

Zakk Wylde tasted instant success when he became Ozzy Osbourne’s guitar player at age 20, but now he’s steadily coming out of his mentor’s shadow to ride the resurgence of heavy metal as a band leader. His group, Black Label Society, has been building a dedicated following around the United States, releasing four studio albums of aggressive guitars and raw vocals. The band’s first DVD, “Boozed, Broozed & Broken-Boned,” a performance filmed in Detroit last year, reached No. 3 on Billboard magazine’s music video chart in late August, behind Led Zeppelin and the Eagles. “With Black Label I get to… Read more »

More than a decade after the height of the Seattle rock explosion, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains are long gone and Mudhoney have become a cult band. Pearl Jam are the last man standing. And despite their best efforts to maintain a low profile, their Riot Act debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, selling more than 165,000 copies. No one could be more surprised than guitarist Mike McCready. “I’m amazed that people are even still wanting to listen to us,” he said. “With all the other music out there and the shifting times, I’m surprised that… Read more »

Many fans credit Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger and his songs with helping them get through tough times. Tyler Connolly, frontman of Theory of a Deadman, has Kroeger to thank for just about everything. Before Nickelback were rock stars, Connolly was a struggling musician without a band, manager or record deal and with only a pipe dream of ever being recognized outside his hometown of Vancouver, Canada. Then one night at a party Connolly handed a demo tape to Kroeger, which led to an enthusiastic call from the burgeoning musician, who wanted to produce Theory. Kroeger’s contribution didn’t end there. When Alice… Read more »

From their earliest days in the ’80s, when radio refused to play them and they had to rely mainly on word of mouth to sell records, Metallica have always been keenly attentive to their fans. That may explain why – while the band routinely turns down press interview requests – it continues to pop online for Web chats at the Metallica Club Web site. Wednesday, following their first concert performance as a band since frontman James Hetfield exited rehab, Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich and guitarist Kirk Hammett logged on unannounced and fielded questions from about 20 club members for nearly… Read more »

Scott Stapp has been given the go-ahead from doctors to hit the road, and that is exactly what he’s going to do. After postponing the initial second leg of the Weathered tour due to the singer’s back injury in a car accident on April 19, Creed have rescheduled the tour to begin July 11 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The new 30-date second leg will make up canceled shows in Indianapolis; Fargo, North Dakota; and Moline, Illinois; on a jaunt mainly through the Midwest and Northeast. Creed have also scheduled a third leg that will begin September 20 in San Antonio,… Read more »

Roughly one month after the tragic death of his close friend and former bandmate Layne Staley, Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell returned to the town that made them both famous, and despite the feeling that a big hole existed where his former partner once stood, it was a rocking, if bittersweet, trip back in time. With plenty of classic AIC material in tow, Cantrell took a sparse but enthusiastic audience at Key Arena on Friday back to the halcyon days of the early ’90s – a time of lank hair, big angst and bigger guitars, before the Bizkit and its… Read more »

Nickelback and former Alice In Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell will be joined by Default on the Jim Beam Road To The Rackhouse Tour, which kicks off Monday (May 13) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Default’s last-minute addition comes after its own plans-serving as the opening act of Creed’s national tour-were canceled after the tour was postponed due to an injury to Creed frontman Scott Stapp. The development means that Default is once again reunited with fellow Canadians, longtime friends, and frequent tour mates Nickelback. Default guitarist Jeremy Hora says that their stints opening for Nickelback in the past have taught the… Read more »