Something different, something new. Something fresh to sink your teeth into. Something familiar, yet not. Isn’t this what we are all looking for?

RIP Fresh Blood: Alice In Chains

Unchain Alice, and that’s precisely what you’ll find. Although true to Seattle’s trademark grunge style, Alice brands it with their own personality. Heavily influenced by other Emerald City stars like Soundgarden and Mother Love Bone, their music reflects the close-knit camaraderie between the bands working the Seattle scene. With the big family attitude of the bands up there, it would mean there was something wrong if they didn’t.

However, Alice’s influences certainly aren’t limited to locals only. Their Columbia debut, Facelift, expresses their interest in The Cult and vintage Judas Priest as well. It’s a heavy, crunchy album rounded out by some slower tempos artfully produced by Dave Jerden.

Thanks in part to him, Layne Staley’s nasal-inflected vocals have matured into a strong, tough, streetwise sound; while Jerry Cantrell’s guitar injects painful emotion into cuts like Sea Of Sorrow and Love/Hate/Love, then fills Sunshine and We Die Young with raw, boisterous energy. The pounding rhythms come via Sean Kinney’s enthusiasm-filled drumming fleshed out with Mike Starr’s thick ‘n’ meaty bass licks.

The sometimes morbid, always thoughtful lyrics focus less on sex than the world in general, as viewed from the perspective of youth specifically. Staley attributes much of the band’s sound to the fact that they are all young and somewhat angry about the state of our society. But this does not mean that they have no sense of humor. Quite the opposite! They try to deal with serious subjects in their music while retaining an irreverent attitude about themselves. They like to have fun.

As for the name, they just don’t know. The stories range from Warrell Dane (Sanctuary’s singer) once wanting to form a thrash band that wore dresses on stage, to a recent quote from Staley that starts with the band owning a cat named Alice and concludes unprintably. Their name’s origination is generally credited to Staley, so I asked the major prankster Kinney what it means. He said, “For some people it sounds like a girl’s name, like Allison Chanes,” then he turns the question over to Cantrell, “What’s it mean, Jerry?”

“Alice In Chains could very well have been Herbert In Chains or Herbert In The Mud, for that matter. It actually means nothing.” Then, as an afterthought, “Actually, it sounds like the title to a really good porno movie!” To which Kinney adds, “we’re hoping to make one.” Alice will be touring the states in the months (which did turn into years) ahead, so remember: You’re never too young for a Facelift.