Does anyone know what Alice in Chains has been up to lately? Does anyone care? After releasing its self-titled opus in 1995, the grungiest of Seattle's sludgy rock bands has been M.I.A. There were a couple attempts at documenting the band via a greatest hits package and an ill-advised boxed set in the late '90s, but for the most part, the drug-plagued group has gone the way of grunge itself. Alice guitarist and songwriter Jerry Cantrell has kept busy by releasing a solo album (1998's appropriately titled
Boggy Depot) and hitting the road occasionally. He's the man behind such Alice faves as "Would?" "Rooster," and "No Excuses." Since wrapping up a solo tour in support of
Boggy Depot (including a stint opening for the ill-fated Van Halen III), Cantrell went back to the studio and recorded
Degradation Trip, Vols. 1 and 2, which he will release as a double CD if he can find a record label (Columbia dropped him two years ago). For this tour, he'll be backed by former Faith No More drummer Mike Bordin, Ozzy Osbourne bassist Robert Trujillo, and guitarist Brian Kehoe. Cantrell will probably test some of the new stuff here, as well as run through some of the better known Alice tunes. So, if you're in the mood for some slushy, murky, loud rock, get your ass to the Odeon, because Cantrell, a sucker for sloppy guitar chords, will surely fix you up good. He's the last of a dying breed: a refugee from the alternative revolution who never quite fit in, as Cantrell, with his Molly Hatchet hair, always had little patience for what Morrissey and Weezer had to say.
