by Mark Yarm
ERIC JOHNSON Eddie did a couple songs, and then couldn’t do any more. Neil had showed up on his Harley and was just gonna play a song with everybody, and he ended up doing like eight or nine songs with the rest of the band.
KELLY CURTIS We were afraid there’d be a riot. Neil just went down and wore ’em out. After that show, Neil said you know what, if it doesn’t feel right, go home. And the band looked at each other and said you know what, we feel like going home. So we called it quits and went home.
COLLEEN COMBS We got so much hate mail from fans after that show. It was so discouraging. Can you imagine having a sick day that causes those kind of repercussions? That is a lot of pressure for a person to handle. We worked really hard to make that tour happen.
EDDIE VEDDER Eventually they came out with a press release that basically said, “The Department of Justice has ceased its investigation of Ticketmaster. No further investigation will take place.” That was it, after a year of struggle. It was really amazing to be right up close and get absolutely stomped on by a huge corporate entity.
BRETT ELIASON Pearl Jam really believed in what they were doing, and from my point of view, what good does it do to have a big fight like that and just give up? They do walk their talk. They always have, they always will.
KIM WARNICK The Fastbacks touring with Pearl Jam in 1996 was the best thing ever. I lived out the ultimate rock dream. We played huge, huge, huge places. But they don’t live the major-rock-star lifestyle. They are as Fugazi as Fugazi. Their whole organization, everything about that band is so right-on, I can’t say enough about them. I’m not just talking about the band and Kelly Curtis, I’m talking about everybody who works for them. Everybody.
We had two weeks in the U.S. and then five weeks in Europe. They didn’t use Ticketmaster. So we didn’t play Madison Square Garden, we played Randall’s Island. So it’s like, “I know you guys are doing the right thing, but this is the only time I might’ve been able to play Madison Square Garden. Dammit! Dammit!” But it’s hard to be mad at them for that.
BRETT ELIASON In ’97, Pearl Jam really didn’t tour much. They had time to think about things, which, I’m sure, led them to change their mind and approach about Ticketmaster. In the end, fans really didn’t want to go that far out of their way, and it made people grumpy. They were willing to pay the ticket prices. Some fans got it, and some just felt, Why aren’t they just playing at the usual place? I think that was part of the reason it ended up being kind of a futile endeavor.
MIKE MCCREADY We had a lot of meetings [in Pearl Jam] where they would say, “Hey Mike, you’re getting way too fucked up.” But we’re all really good friends and we love each other and I think they actually thought I was going to die, but they never took steps to kick me out of the band, which I can’t believe because I fucked up so many times.
ERIC JOHNSON I used to worry about Mike on tour because he’d not be back by 4 a.m. sometimes. I’m not a big sleeper, so I’d be up worrying. A lot of times I’d know Mike was back because I’d see a hotel ashtray kicked over outside an elevator. “Fuck, thank God he’s home.”
I remember having Abbruzzese run into my room in Ireland, telling me, “You should probably go downstairs in front of the Burger King.” “Why?” “Because Mike’s out there naked.” Mike was always so cute when I would show up, like, “Uh-oh, Dad’s here!” But he’s totally cleaned his life up; he does really wonderful things for people now.
JOHNNY BACOLAS The point of me moving in with Layne was to be a support for him, to help him to—you know, I don’t know what he exactly wanted. He just wanted me around him, and I suppose I probably wanted the same. When I moved in, he laid out the law. He said, “If there’s any interventions, I’ll never speak to you again.” Being 25, 26 years old and not knowing better, I listened. It was pretty dark. It’s difficult living with someone that you absolutely love, and you’re essentially watching them kill themselves.
But there were also a lot of good times living with Layne. Like when his family or my family would come over and all of us would be hanging out. He and I had a lot of great times just watching movies or jamming on guitars. We’d go grocery shopping together at 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning so people didn’t bug him. Layne took me to Eddie Vedder’s house in 1995 when Eddie broadcasted a radio show called Self-Pollution Radio from his basement. I met Eddie that night, and Layne introduced me to Chris Cornell. And I watched Layne perform with Mad Season.
MIKE MCCREADY A lot of hallucinogenic mushrooms grow in the area around Surrey, England, where we mixed the first Pearl Jam album, and the people there call the time when they come up the “Mad Season” because people are wandering around mad, picking mushrooms, half out of their minds. That term has always stuck in my mind, and I relate that to my past years, the seasons of drinking and drug abuse.
BARRETT MARTIN Mike McCready, who I’d known off and on and had jammed with at house parties, said he wanted to form a band with this bass player, John Baker Saunders, who he’d met at the Hazelden rehab clinic. Mike asked me to come jam with him and Baker, and I said sure, since the Trees weren’t doing anything. I immediately liked Baker because he had this blues background—he was from Chicago—and the three of us had this good chemistry. It was just real blues-based rock; it didn’t sound grunge and it didn’t sound like any of our bands. Mike said that he wanted to find a singer, and he mentioned Layne.
JOHNNY BACOLAS Layne never answered the phone, and we’d never answer the door if someone just knocked. You’d have to let us know you’re coming. Mike called and spoke to me, and he’s like, “Dude, wanted to come and hang out and say hi to you guys. I just got out of rehab, and I had this idea for this band.” I’m the one who let him in the house, and he played Layne these songs. Before they were Mad Season, they were going to call the band the Gacy Bunch. Like John Wayne Gacy, the killer. (Laughs.) I remember thinking, That’s a pretty cool name, but damn, that’s a pretty negative connotation!
Mark Lanegan sang on a couple of songs on the album. He was a good friend of Layne’s. I saw Mark Lanegan at the house more than any other of Layne’s friends, to be honest with you. At the time, he had his issues. I’d talk to him for five or 10 minutes in the living room, just small talk. He’s one of the sweetest guys I’ve ever met. Zero intimidation factor. Like meeting Bill Cosby or something.
BARRETT MARTIN Even though I’d lost respect for Alice in Chains on tour because of the resonant attitude of “We’re the big rock stars,” I wasn’t opposed to Layne being in the band, because he had an incredible voice and he was always cool. We did a couple of rehearsals with Layne and he was actually clean at that time; he had stopped using heroin. The beauty of that Mad Season record is that we were all sober. We wrote the songs in a couple weeks, played a couple unannounced shows, and recorded the album in about two weeks. It was fast.
BRETT ELIASON I produced, recorded, and mixed the Mad Season album. Layne was not healthy. Heavy, heavy drug use. Such a sweet guy, such an amazing talent. One of the best singers I’ve ever recorded. He could just stand out there and light it up. The problem was getting him there. We were in cahoots with his roommate, who’d help get Layne off the couch and point him in our direction.
Layne would show up and he’d go back to the bathroom and be doing dope back there and you’d wait for hours before he was ready to come back out. He was pretty open about it. I asked him, “Why? Why are you doing this to yourself?” He said, “I’m either going to drink or I’m going to do dope, and drinking is harder on me.”
JOHNNY BACOLAS Either during the making of the record or after, McCready started getting really concerned about Layne. He really wanted Layne to go back to Hazelden, where Layne had been in the past. He knew that Layne really liked this one counselor, whose name was Lowell, kind of a Harley-Davidson biker-type dude. McCready flew Lowell out one day and surprised Layne. Layne agreed to go back to Hazelden, but he only ended up staying for two or three days before flying back to Seattle. That was it for drug
rehab.
MIKE MCCREADY I was under the mistaken theory I could help him out. I wanted to lead by example.
JOHNNY BACOLAS Ultimately what happened is Layne’s mom and his stepfather, Jim, convinced me that I was essentially enabling Layne, that I was making life a lot easier for him to continue doing what he’s doing. Now there was someone that bought him the groceries, took care of the day-to-day affairs of living. Stuff that pretty much anybody that’s into heroin that deep seems to neglect. So I moved out after about six or seven months.
TOBY WRIGHT (producer/engineer) I had engineered Alice in Chains’ Jar of Flies acoustic EP—the first EP ever to debut at number one—which they recorded after they finished that Lollapalooza tour. The third Alice in Chains album, the one with the three-legged dog on the cover, started with me coming up to Seattle and working with Jerry at his house. The strategy between Susan, Jerry, and myself was to get me up there, and as soon as the other members heard I was in town, hopefully their ears would perk up and they’d go, “What’s goin’ on? What are we doin’?” And that’s exactly what happened. It got Sean interested, brought Mike in. All of a sudden, boom, we were jamming, and I’d go over to Layne’s place and get him.
NICK TERZO The third album was when Alice in Chains accomplished their goal of boxing me out. I heard very few demos. They picked Toby Wright, who I brought in once to engineer something for them. I would not have picked Toby Wright. I think he was more of an engineer, and they could have used a full-on producer again. At the time, I didn’t think he had the experience to deal with the challenges he was going to face.
TOBY WRIGHT I had a special relationship with Layne. I had already gone through a phase of smokin’ weed and doin’ coke and heroin and all that kinda shit, so we could identify with each other and I kinda knew how to talk to him. Which I guess was one reason why I was hired to continue with them. I was able to really get down to some personal issues: “Here’s a piece of paper and a pencil. Write it all down. Make a song out of your pain, because pain makes for great music.”
SEAN KINNEY A lot of the songs that Jerry and Layne wrote, you can hear what they have to say to each other right there. It’s spelled out, in a roundabout way. It’s a way more malicious and brutal album than Dirt was.
TOBY WRIGHT There were so many rumors going on about Layne and his lifestyle at the time: “Layne has gangrene and lost both of his arms.” “Oh, my God, he’s lost all of his teeth!” But the band never answered any rumor calls, because they didn’t think it was anybody’s business. There was a lot of speculation that the album would never happen. I heard rumors about some of the record executives betting against the record being made. I was like, Oh, really? Watch this.
NICK TERZO I felt Toby was more of an enabler in a way, too. Because he enabled the label to be shut out. As someone who’s being hired by a record label, I think you have to have better diplomatic skills than that. You’re serving two masters in a way.
MIKE INEZ Toby was very, very patient. He was such a soldier and just trying to keep the energy upbeat. He’s a brother for life. The cover of that album is very gray, and I think that was the general feeling of the band. And Seattle, when we were doing the record, I remember that feeling real gray.
TOBY WRIGHT One of the things that happened when we were recording was the Mad Season record went gold. So at 6 in the morning we were still in the studio with Layne, and the heads of Sony, Donnie Ienner and Michele Anthony, called and were congratulating him. And at the end of the conversation, they said, “Oh, yeah, by the way, you have nine days to get your record done.”
So they call him up to congratulate him and then threaten him. (Laughs.) So he wrote that into the lyrics. It’s the second verse: “Call me up congratulations ain’t the real why/There’s no pressure besides brilliance let’s say by day nine/Endless corporate ignorance lets me control time/By the way, by the way …” I think the recording process went another month or two after that.
The band didn’t do very much touring on the dog record, but they got offered to do this Unplugged show by MTV, in 1996.
ALEX COLETTI Before the show, I went to Alice in Chains’ rehearsal space in Seattle. When I walked in, I was happy to see Layne eating a bucket of chicken. He had on fingerless gloves and they were all greasy, so he wouldn’t shake my hand, but I got the elbow shake. He was really friendly. Seeing him eating that chicken just blew away my concerns of what condition Layne’s gonna be in. He was really in a great place. When he got to New York, I think he was still in good health.
MIKE INEZ Scotty Olson, who played with Heart, was playing with us that night; it was really special to have another energy up onstage with us. We discovered at that show that songs like “Sludge Factory” were even heavier acoustic. Layne that night was so haunting. His voice, especially his performance on “Down in a Hole,” it still brings a tear to my eye. There was a couple times I had to pull my eyes off of Layne and remind myself, Hey, I’m at work. Instead of being a fan here, I better concentrate on my bass chords. He was just so mesmerizing.
TOBY WRIGHT I recorded it and mixed the show. It was an amazing performance to watch. With Unplugged, you can do a song as many times as you wanna until you capture the performance that you wanna release, but you can’t do any overdubs. And Layne kept forgetting the words to “Sludge Factory.” It got pretty funny. I think he was nervous because Donnie and Michele happened to be sitting right in front of him.
SUSAN SILVER Alice did a four-show run opening for Kiss. Kansas City was the last show. I remember standing there at the soundboard with the tour manager. As soon as they went on I looked over at him and said, “This is the last time we’re gonna see these guys together onstage, Kevan, I just feel it.”
MIKE INEZ That was our last show with Layne. That was really just a heartbreaking thing. Dragster races only last a couple of seconds because you can only burn that hot and go that fast for a short amount of time without having to rebuild your motor. And once again, we were there for each other, and it was like, Okay, let’s step back and reevaluate.
SUSAN SILVER Layne’s situation was heartbreaking over and over, and I didn’t realize how it affected me until the daily crisis management was over. I didn’t realize how psychically drained I was until after the last record and after those Kiss shows, when they finally stopped touring and stopped being active altogether.
BARRETT MARTIN We had started making a second record for Mad Season; we had 16 or 17 tunes that we were working on. We were gonna do the same thing—have Layne be the main singer and lyric writer, and have Lanegan be involved. But I could never get either of them to come down to the studio. And then McCready had this idea of doing a new band called Disinformation. I guess Lanegan was gonna be the singer, but again, he never showed up, not once. We talked, Mike and Baker and I did, about getting another singer. And then Baker died.
JOHNNY BACOLAS I was at Baker’s house probably a week and a half before he died, which was in 1999. He lived in a tiny house over by Green Lake, another suburb of Seattle, and was playing in a band called the Walkabouts. He was really sad that they weren’t finishing Mad Season record number two. And I remember that he was kind of stressing financially. He was just really somber. When he first came out of rehab and I met him, he was extremely excited because it was a fresh start. I remember leaving his house that last time feeling, This is not the normal Baker I’m used to. There’s just something not right.
BRETT ELIASON Baker had a girlfriend from Belgium who’d gone back to school in Europe, and I think he felt really lonely. He ended up turning back to dope. I’ve heard this kind of story a few times, where if you do what you used to be able to do, your body can’t take it anymore. Baker hit the floor, and the gentleman that was with him was brave enough not to run, and he called 911. But he was dead by the time they got there. He was a sweet man, a smart man. It’s crushing. So sad.
BARRETT MARTIN I was the last guy to talk to Baker. I spoke to him on the phone the night he died; we were
supposed to meet for lunch the next day, since I hadn’t hung out with him in a little bit. I guess that night this dealer came over, and Baker overdosed and died right there on the kitchen floor. And this shows the sleaziness of the drug dealer—the guy didn’t even call an ambulance right away. He left Baker in an overdosed state, and then later, I guess, called the cops to say, “You better go check on this guy.”
And when Baker died, that was it. The band was done.
KEVIN MARTIN The making of Candlebox’s second album, Lucy, was a disaster. Scott wanted to quit the band, but he wasn’t telling anybody, so he was playing drums like a robot. Everybody was really unhappy and tired and overworked. When we said no the first time about getting into the studio to make a record, we should’ve stuck to it. Were we being pressured? Yeah. The label and management were like, “We need to make this record. We need to make this record.” To capitalize on the success of the first album, they want you to follow up with it and be able to get it out as soon as you can.
KELLY GRAY Everybody had just gotten done with a tour. They just got beat to death on the road. They weren’t ready to make the second record yet. Hindsight being 20/20, if they’d waited six months it probably would’ve been a lot better.
KEVIN MARTIN Also, nobody would show up to the studio. Why? Because they had a lot of money. People were buying houses, and it’s like, “We got a job to do.”
SCOTT MERCADO I don’t think I was one of those people that would’ve just flat-out not shown up. Pete back then was obsessed with golf, so if it was sunny out we knew he was gonna be golfing and we weren’t gonna be doing music. (Laughs.) Also, Pete at that point, that was before he was clean and sober, and he was having a hard time.
