Jerry Cantrell discusses songwriting and the new Alice In Chains album in 1996 GW interview.

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Coming, as you do, from a metal and hard rock background, do you mourn metal's passing?

No, not at all. One thing I've learned about our band is that you never count anything out, ever. Because when you do, it usually snaps right back up and pops you in the face. As far as the passing of metal goes, we're part metal and we're still around. It's a very cyclical progression; rap had that big cycle, the Seattle bands had that cycle, now the pop-punk thing is having its cycle. But the fact is there are still plenty of metal bands out there.

Metal bands today seem in disarray. Many are obsessed with making things heavy, at the expense of creativity or originality.

I've always been interested in bands that make heavy shit without sounding so obvious. There's something about having strength and not flaunting it. It's not about coming out and mauling your ass, but easing in. Before you know it, you're in a death lock, which you didn't see coming because it was so smooth and seductive you didn't know it until it had your face down on the canvas. To me, being heavy has nothing to do with how many speakers you blow or how many decibels you play at.

The type of material you're writing now is light years ahead of where you began, as a riff-based metal band. Have you thought about what contributed to that progression?

I think the longer you stick with something the better you're going to get at it. I'm going to keep thinking about topping myself every time. I can say very confidently that Alice In Chains have done that on every record. It surprises me. I don't go in there expecting that but I do go in there hoping for it.

Does everybody in the band write?

Yeah, everybody. We have shared tastes as well as shared dislikes. It's an unspoken language that we have. That's not to say that we don't sometimes disagree on stuff. There have been plenty of times where I think something is completely horrid and the other guys will make me check it out again. For weeks I'll be like, "God, that sucks!" Then one day it's like, "Ohhh, I get it. Okay. That's good!" [laughs]

Did that happen to you while you were putting the new album together?

I thought the solo on "Hate To Feel" was a piece of shit. And the solo on "Grind," for that matter, which is lifted off the ADAT demo I did for the album, works fine. That was the first take I did when I recorded the song. I didn't think it was that strong, but I never got around to fixing it. Toby [Wright, the bands producer] kept trying to sell me on it. I kept telling him I wanted to do it better because it just didn't seem to work for me. In the end, it's perfect for the record, but it took me a long time to feel comfortable with it.

So you do the bulk of the songwriting?

[tentatively] Yeah, but that's a pretty misleading statement.

Are you the catalyst, then?

I wouldn't say that either. [Bassist] Mike Inez adds a whole lot to the mix, as well. But I'd say the place where 70 percent of the songs start is with me and Sean [Kinney, drummer]. I'll start a riff, he'll start banging away, and before you know it we're somewhere we didn't expect to be. Without him to bounce shit off of and lead me-and me to lead him when we're both unconscious [laughs] -- it'd be real hard for me to play. Nobody plays like him. I think the great thing about Sean is that he 's got a great sense of humor and isn't full of himself. The fact is he's just a fuckin' Class A, monster player.

You've developed your songwriting skills into a sturdy pop craft without sacrificing the heaviness. Was that the result of touring with and becoming friends with Van Halen, a band that evolved similarly?

I wouldn't necessarily pick Van Halen. But on this record I did something that started to scare me for a while. I started to really hear a lot of other influences from my youth. They really started to flow freely. I'd go, "Okay, that sounds like Brian May," or "that sounds like Eddie." There's a riff on the end of "Frogs" that, thanks to that Rotovibe, reminds me of [Robin Trower’s] "Bridge Of Sighs." To date, this record probably offers the clearest view of my influences. I could point out 50 of them, from Brian May to Lindsey Buckingham, Davey Johnstone to Hendrix, Iommi to Page; there's all kinds of shit in there. There's some riffs that are pretty obvious. I have to admit that I started to feel really weird when that began happening.

It freaked you out?

It did, but it felt so natural that I didn't let myself worry about it. We're pretty self-correcting as far as what is right for us goes. There's not a lot of fucking around.

The guitar solos on this album are shorter and more abstract than your past work, as if you're reaching for something other than the standard "been there, done that, bought a shirt" lead break.

I've never been a big soloist; I just put in what needs to be there. I'm more of a rhythm player who plays lead -- or tries to play lead. I'm not saying I do bad shit, but I just do what fits the part. I'm more interested in what the whole picture is instead of creating a big vehicle for Cantrell to wank off all over everybody.

Your guitar tone on this album is huge. What's your recipe for monster tone?

My guitar tech, Darrell Peters, is my right-hand man. He's the brains of the outfit, and I'm just the body! I have a basic tone, and if l can verbalize to Darrell what changes I want, he'll get it. Even if what I'm saying makes no sense, he usually knows what I mean and will find what I'm looking for.

My basic set-up, which we used on almost every song, consists of a Bogner Fish preamp and my main G&L Rampage guitar. I also used a Les Paul through a Peavey 5150 amp. Ed [Van Halen] gave me three stacks after we did the tour with him a few years ago. He'd just come out with his new Music Man guitar and the 5150 heads, and I asked him if I could maybe buy one off him. When I came back home after the tour, there were three stacks waiting for me in the fucking garage! [laughs] The guy was totally fucking cool! Plus, he gave me a couple of his guitars, too.

Nice guy.

Super kind. And at the time, I was living in the basement of our manager Kelly Curtis' house, so it was completely full of gear! By the time I got back there, there wasn't even room for me in there!

How many tracks of rhythm guitar do you usually stack up on a given track?

I always record one rhythm guitar on the left, one on the right, and a lead track up the middle. I've been hard-panning the rhythm guitars like that for a long time.

Do you ever overdub additional guitar parts just to add incidental sounds and textures?

No, I pretty much just stick to two rhythm guitars panned hard left and right, with a solo track up the middle. Any additional feedback noises or guitar sounds come from those three guitars. People always ask me, "How do you recreate all of the different guitar parts live?" Well, it's never actually a problem, because I always make sure the first guitar part can stand on its own when I play the song live.

As far as the second track of guitars goes, I'll record a single complete track from the beginning of the song to the end, and for that I'll go by feel: I'll get feedback here, or some harmonics there, and that way it'll be different from any other track I'll put down. When we put the tracks together, they usually fit so well that we can fade either one in and out. I cut each new track without thinking about the other one.

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