|
Jerry Cantrell first came to prominence
as a member of Alice in Chains, one of the prototypical Seattle
grunge bands. With their 1990 debut Facelift, the quartet scored
a surprise hit with the ultra-heavy "Man in the Box," and haven't
looked back since. Racking up such hit albums as 1992's Dirt and
1995's self-titled release, the band rose to the top of the alterna-metal
heap. Lead singer Layne Staley couldn't cope with the pressure
of their enormous success, and sank further and further into substance
abuse. Due to Staley's problems, the band has to date been unable
to mount a substantial tour since 1993's Lollapalooza, and the
rest of the band understandably got a little antsy.
Over the course of their career, the group has issued two successful
all-acoustic EPs and one unplugged album, which focused primarily
on the songwriting and arranging talents of Cantrell, whom fans
found out had a very strong voice to boot. With the future of
the band up in the air, Cantrell appeared as a solo artist on
the soundtrack for the movie The Cable Guy, contributing the track
"Leave Me Alone." After AiC opened for the first Kiss reunion
show in Detroit in 1996, Cantrell began work on his very first
solo album. He enlisted Alice drummer Sean Kinney and a revolving
series of bassists — including Alice's Mike Inez, Les Claypool,
Fishbone's Norwood Fisher and Pantera's Rex — and set out to record
Boggy Depot with producer Toby Wright, who had previously worked
with Alice in Chains and the Nixons. The record was finished by
the end of the year and was released in the spring of 1998 to
generally positive reviews. He supported the album as Van Halen's
opening act on their summer 1998 tour. A long silence followed
after his touring as he helped on a few Alice in Chains releases,
including a box set and a greatest hits. He stepped back into
the studio to record his second album, this time for Roadrunner
Records, in the fall of 2001. He worked with Ozzy Osbourne's touring
band on the album, which saw him trying to avoid guest appearances
despite the high profile friends he could have counted on. Right
before the album was ready to drop in 2002, tragedy struck as
Layne Staley's body was found dead in his apartment. The remaining
members of Alice in Chains went to a vigil in a Seattle park and
released a mournful statement, but the incident did not stop Cantrell
from pushing forward and releasing Degradation Trip that summer.
This bio courtesy www.allmusic.com
|
Learn To play guitar like a rock star!
Recommended guitar courses from GuitarMadeSimple.com |
Level 1 & 2: "Guitar
Made Simple" By Chris Standring
From
absolute beginner to solid intermediate, this course walks
you through absolutely everything necessary to give you a
strong grounding in a wide variety of guitar styles. You will
learn open chords, strumming patterns, single line melodies,
25 well known songs, notes on the fretboard, sight-reading,
Blues, rock, classical, single string improv and venture into
a little jazz, and much much more. All with audio, video,
TAB and traditional music notation. More info and order Guitar
Made Simple here
"Move over Mel Bay! 'Guitar Made Simple'
is an extremely well thought out beginners program, with a
very thorough and personal approach to help you easily learn
how to play the guitar... correctly! So much more than trying
to learn alone with just a book, this brilliant system connects
with you as if an instructor is right with you in your own
home. Well done Chris!" - Corky James LA studio
guitarist with Avril Lavigne, Hilary Duff, Kelly Clarkson,
Leann Rimes, Backstreet Boys, Liz Phair, Nick Lachey and Mandy
Moore
|
|
Level 2 & 3: "Play
What You Hear" By Chris Standring
From
intermediate to advanced level, this highly acclaimed course
teaches you how to "play what you hear". You will
learn the jazz vocabulary and understand how to improvise
using this vocab over many different harmonies. You will learn
to hear major, melodic minor and blues scales and learn harmony
and how to see it all very simply on the fretboard. Over 300
audio examples and tons of play along tracks. More info and
order Play What You Hear here
"By far the most innovative and effective
ear training program for guitarists I have seen! Simply the
best learning method to come along since Jamie Abersold. Chris
has hit on something really good and much needed today Players
of my generation learned to play on the bandstand as we were
forced to "play what we heard" and if we didn't,
we had to get it together pretty darn quick. This course will
help speed up that learning process rapidly. I will recommend
this course to my students highly!" - Ron Eschete
Concord Recording artist and educator
|
|
|
|
|
How good is your guitar playing?
Take this simple test and find
out now!
|
|
 |
Take The Test! |
How good are you in your opinion?
|
|
| |
Read all about the great rock Guitarists here:
|
|
|
|
