The exclusive styles of Jerry Cantrell have it constantly close to the top of the “best guitarist” surveys. His heavy and nuanced songs and personal lyrics, from “Rooster” by Alice in Chains to “Cut You In” and his four solo albums
– They are multilayer, often voluntarily opaque and always powerful. However, sometimes he discovers that only a German word transmits the point.
In the first lines of “Vilified”, the first song of his latest album, “I Want Blood”, sings: “Simulate the sensation / everything that is true and real / hey-a Schadenfreude crescendo / hey-a biased the insinuation.”
“Yes, you can't use 'Schadenfreude' in a very often letter, so I was a bit happy to verify that out of the list,” says Cantrell with an abundant laugh.
“At different times, [people] It seems that it is a little more pleased to create chaos and point to each other with the fingers, “advances the topical essence of the song.” It seems that we have been living through that, one of those periods in which it is a bit more frequent, in your face. That word is thrown, and I think it is an appropriate descriptor. “
It may be difficult to find an appropriate descriptor for Cantrell. Since 1990, it has been found as thorny and silly (positive protem: the pranks of the 90s dressed in a blue speedometer in the New Jersey action park in the “HeadBanger's Ball” of MTV), reflective, serious, wasted and now, fortunately, 20 years sober. Born in Tacoma, Washington, the president of the Secondary School Choir was an aspiring rock star who stayed in a Guns N 'Roses concert to deliver a demonstration tape to Axl Rose. Which, according to the story, the strange redhead quickly threw a nearby garbage container. Sans A Axl Assist, Alice In Chains still emerged from a crowded scene of Seattle Grunge and found a well -deserved fame thanks to several timeless studies albums and run over and EP at the beginning and mid -90s.
Addiction also found the band, ending the life of half of its members, singer Layne Staley in 2002 and former Bassist Mike Starr in 2011. Cantrell moved part -time part -time to Los Angeles, where she found a strong community of creative sober, and has now prospered without substances for 20 years. Cantrell, 58, explains: “I still live in the Seattle area too, but it became my sober home adopted, and my triangle of Bermuda is basically Seattle, Oklahoma and La la” la “
What makes his concert at the Tulsa Theater a show of the hometown, with his father's family with headquarters in Oklahoma “for generations.” Speaking by phone before his concert, Cantrell has already had a full day. After Soundcheck, a game and an afternoon interview, “it will jump into the shower, it will make my body work and make a rock show.” Ah, and his younger brother [David] You are probably waiting for him to get out of the phone, he says.
“When I write songs, I try to put multiple meanings of certain phrases or lines. My job is to take my experience in the world and spit it itself, ”said Cantrell.
(Darren Craig)
Life seems as good as the music he is doing, but no shortage of letters from Cantrell deepens a dominant drugs of drugs. “I Want Blood” seems full of double meanings and understanding, with titles and letters such as “off the raills” or “throwing a line” that could refer to fighting with desire and substances or seeking salvation. That were once the same.
“That is part of what I am,” Cantrell explains. “I am a sober alcoholic, so he will always be there. But I would not say that a particular song or the whole album is oriented to that. It is a thread in the tapestry. When I write songs, I try to put multiple meanings of certain phrases or lines. My job is to take my experience in the world and spit it itself. And do it in some way that you feel authentic and honest to [me]”Says Cantrell.
Successful touring and albums with Alice In Chains (with singer William Duvall since 2006) and alone, among innumerable other projects, he can never relieve the trauma of losing so many friends in the Seattle scene. And more intentionally, the death of Cantrell's mother, Gloria, for cancer when she was only 21 years old. But the singer and composer is an expert in channeling pain beyond the present, and seems driven and solid in their creativity and life.
“The records for me are a lot of hard work,” says Cantrell. “You must keep a lot of focus for a period of time and be able to maintain your vision intact through all turbulence. Registration is [seriously] Turbulent like hell, ”he says. “You are bringing something that does not exist of darkness.”
That said, both musical and personally, there is often an underground current of sarcasm and even some lightness in the dark and its surroundings. “You have to have a little sense of humor about yourself, and also with the world in general, you know, or it will be a [really] Long routine. “
An excellent example? Spinal cap. Not only the film, but the brief moment of Cantrell on stage with the band in the Universal Amphitheater, the historical place whose incarnation since 2016 has been the appropriate world of Harry Potter. Cantrell's memory is a bit confused, but remember to have been invited to play, “Christmas with the devil” with tap. Toto Steve Lukather's virtuous guitarist was at the concert and “I think Jennifer Batten [of Michael Jackson fame] I was there too. You already have two heavy weights. I introduce myself. I have no guitar. I don't have an amplifier, ”he recalls. “They have all their large Bradshaw systems, amplifiers in the size of the aircraft control tower established on stage.”
Harry Shearer and Michael McKean-the bassist Derek Smalls and guitarist David St. Hubbins in their metal alter-egos, approached Cantrell in a somewhat shyly way. “I know we invite you, but we have these guys and we don't have an amplifier for you,” they told the guitarist. “At a counter had a bit of Marshall with drums, a small amplifier,” Cantrell recalls. “I am like, friend, I put that on stage and tape adhered and put it a great boom microphone until it. That is [pure] comedy.' “
The duo was surprised that Cantrell was prepared for the Schtick, the Shearer questioned: “Will you do that?”
“I am like, 'Yes, friend, that is F -Spinal Tap. I will play through that thing. They thought it was a great idea, and we did it.” Cantrell got his moment of Stonehenge, and is still fueled by the memory. “I had my own personal moment of Tap Spinal, which I helped create with Michael McKean!”
That spirit of “inventing it as you advance” found its way in the luxury version of “I want blood.” Seeking to create something great for collectors, but without additional songs to launch, Cantrell thought he would try to take a spoken word takeover of the device. He felt that the result was not “quite great.” Fortunately, when doing “I Want Blood”, Cantrell was “surrounded by a group of talented people, and my demonstration partner, Maxwell UraSky, is a talented musician. I am like, 'Hey, man, do you want to try to put some music to this? I just wrote a record. I don't want to write another musical piece.”
Urasky composed a “score”, for a version of spoken words of “vilify”, and Cantrell showed the full version to the producer “I Want Blood” Joe Baresi (Queens of the Stone Age, Tool, Bad Religion), and I think I think [collaborators] Greg Puciato and Tyler [Bates, musician/composer] also. “The consensus? Cantrell needed to make a version of spoken words of each song in the newly finished album. There was a deadline of two weeks. And the remaining eight songs of the new music album and sound landscapes to recite Cantrell. The singer recited the lyrics of each song, then sent them to his musical allies.
“This is a good record,” Cantell said about his last solo effort “I want blood.” “It was like, 'I want to launch this and put my name on it; I am behind that. You throw it out there. I have been lucky that people react, support it and get it. Get it“
(Nick Fancher)
“Everyone recovered. I am as surprised as anyone at the end of the day, ”Cantrell laughs. “As, shit, that's fucking great. You would never have arrived there if you were not committed and in the process and trying to solve it. It is always fun to see what the hell I can achieve, or be part of achieving or creating. “
It joins the great tradition of dark artists such as Jim Carroll or William Burroughs in the world of spoken words, or as Cantrell jokes, “[William] Shatner and [Leonard] Nimoy “.” It was fun to enter that space, that kind of quiet voice and audiobook, “he admits, and is currently reading Cormac McCarthy (which looks like the perfect accompaniment for the composition of songs of Cantrell), focuses on music instead of a career in audiobooks for the planned future.
Cantrell does not write the simplest songs to analyze, but it seems that he wants to be seen, as well as the listeners see parts of themselves in their music. Auditory excavation is worth everyone. While the reward of making a record is certainly in creation, it is also at the reception, as the singer and composer points out. “This is a good record. It was like, 'I want to launch this and put my name on it; I'm behind that. You throw it out there. I have been lucky that people react, support and get it. Get it“He emphasizes, concluding:” You know, that's all. “
