Alice in Chains’ founder, lead guitarist, primary songwriter, and co-vocalist Jerry Cantrell has solidified his place in rock history, shaping the influential grunge sound of the ’90s. However, before he made his mark, Cantrell was an aspiring artist in Seattle, eager to gain recognition. One of his memorable efforts involved trying to hand over a demo tape of Alice in Chains to a certain iconic classic rock band in 1988.
“Like all young artists, sometimes you run into somebody that’s one of your heroes and, you know, pass them on your demo tape or whatever,” Cantrell shared on the Broken Record podcast.
“I lived right behind the Seattle Center, and that’s where they [Guns N’ Roses] were playing. So, I handed it to his [Axl Rose’s] security guard, and his security guard threw it away as they were walking, so it wasn’t Axl’s fault.”
Fast forward to Cantrell’s success with Alice in Chains, and he eventually befriended the members of Guns N’ Roses. He later recounted the incident to Axl Rose.
“I told Axl that story too, and we laughed about that as well!” he added with a smile.
In a full-circle moment, Alice in Chains later toured with Guns N’ Roses as their opening act during the band’s 2016 reunion tour.
In other Cantrell news, the guitarist recently revealed the heart-stopping experience of temporarily losing his beloved G&L ‘Blue Dress’ Rampage, the guitar featured on nearly every key Alice in Chains record, just last year.
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