What's man, just raed the story you had. Great story man. AIC is my
favorite
group and while I never had the luck of meeting any of the band, I truley
like to learn more about them. I wish I coulda been there. Personally I
started listening to the bands music when jar of flies came out. Then I
went
backwards to see there previous works. Lyrically no other bands carries
such
emotion as AIC, or maybe more so over to what Layne went thru. Truly nice
story......
<acorn71@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:1139796365.052575.150780@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Hello,
>
> In 1987 I was in a band called Dead Ranger. For about 6 months, we
> practiced at a 24 hour rehersal space in Seattle called the Music Bank.
> There were around 40 rooms, and Jerry was one of the "key guys." His
> job was to carry around a huge ring of keys and let bands into their
> rooms. Before the technology of electronic card swipes, like most
> rehersal studios have now, you had to have someone on staff 24 hours a
> day to let you into your room. I don't think I went to practice one
> time where Jerry wasn't there. He was always letting us in our room,
> helping people get their money back from broken vending machines, or
> lost quarters in the video games. Jerry would do ****fts with other
> musicians at the rehersal space, and this job enabled his band Diamond
> Lie to have one of the larger rehersal spaces rent-free. Diamond Lie
> consisted of Jerry, Sean, and Mike (Starr). Then after Jerry and Layne
> met at a party, they started jamming togeather, and soon Diamond Lie
> changed their name to Alice 'N Chains. I'll never forget one day we
> were in between songs during practice, and hearing guys running up and
> down the halls yelling, "Alice 'N Chains, Alice 'N Chains, Alice 'N
> Chains" This was 1987, and we didn't know what they were talking about
> :) Soon we started seeing Layne working around the rehersal space -
> cleaning up, opening doors to rooms, etc. He even let me in my room
> once. I always thought there was something very special about Layne and
> Jerry. You couldn't put your finger on it, there was just something
> there. Seeing them literally living at the Music Bank with such a
> hunger to be rock stars, you just knew they were going to be famous
> some day. Layne wasn't around as much as Jerry. He was always very
> mysterious. I saw Mike wondering the halls a few times, and I don't
> think I ever saw Sean.
>
> So when Facelift came out, it seemed to take a really long time to
> catch on. The We Die Young EP did well in the underground metal scene
> in Seattle, and bands like Mudhoney and Soundgarden were content with
> their college radio following, but it was obvious that Alice wanted to
> break more into the mainstream rock scene. They had this huge rock
> sound, but yet their vocal styles, time changes, and overall gritty
> sound, made them different. And I know its hard to believe this today,
> but back then the radio stations didn't really know what to do with
> them. KISW was a station that really embraced Alice from the beginning.
> If you look at almost every guitar Jerry plays that has stickers on it,
> you'll see a yellow and red "Rock" sticker which is KISW's logo -
> obviously a cool sticker, as well as a tribute to a station that always
> believed in the band.
>
> Alice would do regular radio spots promoting Man In The Box. Onc of
> these promotions was Layne stuffed himself into an ACTUAL cardboard box
> outside some record store to promote the single. What I don't remember
> is why he was doing this. Was he going to stay in the box until a
> certain number people bought the single? Was he himself handing out
> singles from the box?
>
> I was just hoping someone out there remembers this and could help me
> out. Its obviously not im****tant. I just thought about it today while
> listening to We Die Young, and thought I would post it to this group
> and see what comes up :) It was fun to write this little bit of history
> that happened in my life, and about a band that has had such a huge
> impact on me in so many ways. I truly miss Layne like so many of us do,
> and anyone who has positive memories like these is welcome to share.
>
> Thanks,
> Aaron
>
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