From mid-1996 onwards, Staley was out of the public spotlight, never to perform live again. On April 10, 1996, the band returned with a performance on MTV Unplugged in New York it was Alice in Chains' first concert in two-and-a-half years. ĭuring Alice in Chains' hiatus, reports of Staley's drug addiction began to gain widespread circulation in fan and media communities, in part due to changes in his physical condition brought on by prolonged heroin abuse. He began to work on a side project with several Seattle musicians, Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees and John Baker Saunders of The Walkabouts, which came to be Mad Season, while Alice in Chains went into hiatus. However, Staley's deteriorating condition due to heroin abuse led him to enter a rehabilitation clinic. Alice in Chains' EP Jar of Flies (1994), debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making it Alice in Chains' first record-and the first-ever EP-to top the chart. " Man in the Box", the second single from Alice in Chains' debut album, Facelift (1990), garnered Staley critical recognition for his vocal style. Staley was also a member of the glam metal bands Sleze and Alice N' Chains, and the supergroups Mad Season and Class of '99. ![]() He was known for his distinctive vocal style as well as his harmonizing with guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell. Jar of Flies isn't the first release by the band to feature him playing bass, though - the two singles "What the Hell Have I" and "A Little Bitter" were recorded prior to the EP for the Arnold Schwarzenegger film The Last Action Hero.Layne Thomas Staley (born Layne Rutherford Staley Aug– April 5, 2002) was an American singer and songwriter who was the original lead vocalist of Alice in Chains, which rose to international fame in the early 1990s as part of Seattle's grunge movement. Before heading to Europe to tour in support of Dirt, they recruited Osbourne's bassist, Mike Inez. It wasn't their first recorded music with Mike Inez.įormer bassist Mike Starr was fired from the group in 1993, following their run opening for Ozzy Osbourne. Once the wheels started turning, it was finished in seven days.Īll seven songs were recorded in seven days at London Bridge Studios. According to David De Sola's book Alice In Chains: The Untold Story, the sessions lasted 14 to 18 hours a day, and each song was complete in one or two takes.Ħ. "I laughed and said, ‘So what do you guys wanna do for the next 10 days?’ Cantrell said, ‘Mind if we just jam?’”ĥ. The band hired producer Toby Wright to collaborate on the project with them, but it turns out, there hadn't actually been a project in mind yet. “I said, ‘Okay, let’s hear those songs.’ Jerry smiled and said, ‘Funny thing about those songs… we don’t have any,’" Wright told AV Club. But they didn't actually have songs written when they went into the studio. Thus, they moved into London Bridge Studios - where the EP would eventually be recorded.Ĥ. They were homeless before they started recording it.Īs the members of the band returned home to Seattle from the 1993 Lollapalooza tour, they discovered they'd been evicted for failure to pay rent. The album was nominated for a Grammy for best recording package. The flies kept dying, the kid kept complaining, and my assistant kept gathering more flies. My assistant made multiple trips up the street to gather hundreds of flies with a butterfly net at some horse stables. "It was just me and my assistant, and a child whose name I've forgotten. Rock Schenck, a photographer who worked with Alice In Chains on several occasions throughout their career, recalled how the idea for the EP's cover came about in a post on his Instagram. Photographer Rocky Schenck took the album cover seriously. Evidently that experiment had a big impact on Jerry. ![]() I guess there's a message in there somewhere. The one they underfed had most of the flies survive all year. The one they overfed flourished for a while, then all the flies died from overpopulation. ![]() ![]() "One of the jars they overfed, the other jar they underfed. The album's title's origin came from a science experiment Jerry Cantrell conducted in the third grade. "They gave him two jars full of flies," Staley explained to Hit Parader. The name came from one of Jerry Cantrell's science experiments.
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