Most of the guitarists I’ve written about are guys whom
I’ve seen in the flesh. This week I
finally got to see Jerry Cantrell live when Alice in Chains played in New
Orleans. Don’t get me wrong [no pun
intended], I’ve always enjoyed Jerry’s playing.
He makes fantastic guitar records.
I saw Alice in Chains’ MTV
Unplugged special back in the day when Layne Staley was still alive, but
that live context only captured the acoustic Jerry. During the show in New Orleans, my sons Greg
and Mark endured the opening act, The Pink Slips, with me. The singer for that band is Duff McKagan’s
daughter. She sounded like a
cross-between Gwen Stefani and Candi Slice [Gilda Radner’s character from
SNL]. After putting up with their music
[and I use that term loosely] for about 30 minutes, Jerry started Alice’s set
with the sinister riff from Bleed the
Freak. Hearing that riff was a godsend. All I could think was “holy shit – this guy
is great!” Of course, I knew that
before, but this just sealed the deal. To paraphrase Marlon Brando from Apocalypse Now, the riff was pure,
crystalline, and hit me between the eyes like a diamond. This foreboding sound rips your face off and
kicks you in the ass. Jerry Cantrell is a true guitar god.
They're not grunge – they're metal, dammit! – The concert I attended had precious little if nothing to do with
“grunge”. Just because they’re from Seattle, Alice in Chains got the “grunge”
tag because music journalists and marketers at the time were lazy. Seattle grunge was Green River, Mudhoney,
Nirvana, and Soundgarden, and a bit of Pearl Jam. Grunge blends alternative rock, punk, and
heavy metal. I don’t hear much [if any]
punk in Alice in Chains – I hear detuned metal like Black Sabbath. I’ve never heard Black Sabbath described as
“grunge”, and my ears put Alice in Chains in the same category as Sabbath. I don’t hear anything “alternative” or
“indie” in Alice in Chains’ music, either.
Their third eponymous album is pretty sludgy, though. But then again, so was Sabbath’s Master of Reality. They only thing that I might concede to be
“grungy” in their music is the subject matter in their lyrics – drugs,
depression, loneliness, etc.
Influences. He considers Tony Iommi, Ace Frehley, Angus
Young, Eddie Van Halen and Jimmy Page to be his major musical influences
growing up. He also cites Elton John as
his reason for wanting to become a musician.
In a 1996 interview with Guitar
World, he said about the influences that came out on the then-new eponymous
album: “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.”
“Guitar Army.” Jerry may cite AC/DC as a primary influence,
but much of his recorded work speaks “Jimmy Page”. Like Jimmy Page, he layers lots of
guitars. He made Facelift and Dirt with a Bogner-modified
Marshall JCM800. When Alice In Chains
worked with Dave Jerden he got Jerry to fatten his guitar sounds with different
guitar/amp combos, so he used Oranges, Laneys, and Vox AC30s in addition to the
modified Marshall. He also colors his
songs with acoustic guitars like Jimmy Page did on Zeppelin albums before Physical Graffiti. He has a gorgeous blend of acoustic and
electrics in his music. Alice in Chains
did two EPs that were primarily acoustic – Sap
and Jar of Flies. The best-known songs from these EPs are Got Me Wrong, Nutshell, and No Excuses. Apart from those acoustic EPs, Jerry has
added his of acoustic guitar many songs, to include:
Facelift – Bleed the Freak
Dirt – Down in a Hole
Alice in Chains – Frogs, Heaven Beside You, Over Now
Boggy Depot [solo album] – Breaks My Back, Hurt a Long Time, Between
Degradation Trip [solo album] – Anger Rising, Angel Eyes, Solitude, Pro False Idol, Gone, What It Takes, Dying Inside, Hurts Don't It? [Instrumental], S.O.S.,
Give It a Name, 31/32
Black Gives Way to Blue – Your Decision, When the Sun Rose Again, Black
Gives Way to Blue [an elegy to Layne Staley with guest Elton John]
The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here – Voices, Scalpel, Choke
2112 40th Anniversary [Rush]
- Trees
John Wick: Chapter 2 Soundtrack – A Job To Do
Rainier Fog – Fly, All I Am
The wah-wah pedal. Jerry says the wah-wah is the one effect he
uses the most. In an interview with
Musicradar, he said;
“It gives a guitar
a voice; it makes it speak. I've always admired guys who incorporated that
heavily into their sound. So it was and remains the one effect that I use the
most. I also liked the way it changes a guitar's tone; when you have it on and
it's sort of held wide-open, it makes the sound squashed and dark."
Having finally seen him live, he definitely rocked that Crybaby
wah-wah a lot. Dunlop makes a Jerry
Cantrell Crybaby.
Other effects. One listen to Man in the Box and you hear the Talk Box. He doesn’t use it very often, but it’s
prominent on that song. Since he does a
lot of singing, he limits himself to a few other effects – the Tube Screamer, a
couple of Boss Choruses, and EVH Flanger, and an Eventide Tape Echo. He refers to his tech Herb as his
“co-pilot”. Since he sings more now than
when Layne Staley was alive, he can’t be stomping on a lot of boxes, so he
works with Herb to know which sounds to dial in on particular songs. Out front he uses just the Crybaby, the Dunlop Rotovibe and the Talk Box.
Gear. Jerry likes to use different guitar/amp
combinations for tones and textures depending on what he or his producer thinks
the song needs. Jerry likes Bogner
amps. He played Randall amps for a while
– Dimebag Darrell turned him onto the Randalls.
There’s the aforementioned Bogner-modified Marshall on Facelift and
Dirt. He also likes various Bogner amps
[Shiva, Shark, Uberschall, Alchemist,
Fish pre-amps]. He used Fender
Twin Reverbs on Jar of Flies. Jerry worked with Dave Friedman [Friedman
Amplification] to make the Friedman JJ-100 Jerry Cantrell Signature 100-watt
tube head. There are two of them [“Mad”
and “Pissed”].
Guitars. His main guitar of choice is the G&L
Rampage. You’ll hear him playing the
Rampage more than anything. After Leo
Fender sold Fender, he started G&L with George Fullerton. The Rampage guitar is like a Stratocaster
with the darkness of a Les Paul [Motor City pickups, Kahler tremolo]]. He got his first two Rampages at a music
store in Dallas where he worked in 1984/85.
He uses Gibson Les Pauls, Gibson SGs, G&L Telecasters [he used one
on Your Decision in New Orleans]. Every now and then you’ll see him with a
Fender Stratocaster. His acoustics are Guild
JF30 and D50.
Tunings. Dropped D courtesy of Eddie Van Halen. On other stuff all the strings are dropped a half
step [Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Bb, eb] for a darker, heavier sound [not as low as Tony
Iommi would drop the strings, but that’s the Black Sabbath influence at work].
My current Jerry
Cantrell iPod playlist
Bleed the Freak
Man in the Box
Got Me Wrong
Them Bones
Dam That River
Rain When I Die
Down in a Hole
Sickman
Rooster
Iron Gland
Angry Chair
Would?
No Excuses
Nutshell
What The Hell Have
I
Again
Heaven Beside You
Over Now
Anger Rising
Angel Eyes
Solitude
Dying Inside
Leave Me Alone
Get Born Again
Hollow
Check My Brain
Voices
Your Decision
A Looking In View
Rainier Fog
Fly
A Job To Do
Trees
Phantom Limb
Scalpel
Choke
Never Fade
All I Am
Black Gives Way To
Blue
