Alice n 'chains

Vocalist Lane Staley, guitarist Nick Pollock, bassist Johnny Bacolas and drummer James Bergström first came together as part of Sleze in 1986. Bacolas, one of the founders of Sleze, returned to the group after a short stay in the Ascendant group. Initially, he played guitar in Sleze, but after returning he picked up a bass guitar. According to Bakolas, it was after the reunification that the question of changing the name of the group began to be raised ^[1] :

We talked about different concepts for backstage passes. For example, the pass might say: "Sleze: Welcome to Wonderland." This ended up discussing the name change of the group. And we said: “Alice in Wonderland?” How about how about this? Maybe ... "Alice in chains"? We could have her in bondage ! ”I liked how“ Alice in Chains ”sounds. I remember that I returned to the next rehearsal of the group and told the guys. The problem was a reference to female slavery, which our parents would never do. Lane's mother was a very strict Christian. So we ended up changing the name to “Alice N 'Chains”, which made it more like “Alice and Chains”.

However, Staley's mother, Nancy McCallum, disapproved of this ^[1] :

I could still understand the joke called Sleze. But when Lane came home and said that they were changing their name to “Alice N 'Chains,” I didn't like it. I said: “Honey, this is female bondage. You will not use such a name - it will push away your female audience. I am absolutely sure of it. ” He was adamant, but so was I. For the first time in my life I did not talk with him for almost two weeks, it bothered me, I felt insulted. How could my child choose a band name such as “Alice in Chains”?

Johnny Bacolas claimed that the decision to use the letter “N” with an apostrophe in the band’s name had nothing to do with the Los Angeles band Guns N 'Roses . The renaming took place in 1986, the year before the name “Guns N 'Roses” was widely publicized after the release of their first album Appetite for Destruction in July 1987 ^[3] .

According to Staley, they chose this name because they were going to dress in women's clothing and play heavy metal as a joke ^{[4] [5]} .

Alice N 'Chains recorded two demos, mostly known as Demo No. 1 and Demo No. 2, both in 1987. Physical copies of audio tapes are rare, since only a hundred copies of Demo No. 1 were released.

Preparation for the recording of "Demo No. 1" began while the band still called itself Sleze. Mike Mitchell played the bass then, and according to producer Tim Branom, it was Mitchell who could be heard on the tracks “Fat Girls” and “Over the Edge” ^[6] . The recording of these two compositions took place at London Bridge Studios with the participation of the brothers who founded the studio, Rick and Raj Parashar ^[6] . A few months later, Mitchell left the band and Bacolas became the bass player again. They recorded another song called “Lip Lock Rock”, which also entered the band’s first demo, and then changed their name to Alice N 'Chains.

Demo number 1 - list of tracks

1. “Lip Lock Rock” - 4:24
2. Fat Girls 3:39
3. Over the Edge 2:44

Demo number 2 - list of tracks

1. Sealed with a Kiss - 2:49
2. “Ya Yeah Ya” - 3:11
3. Glamorous Girls 2:48
4. Don't Be Satisfied - 3:27
5. “Hush, Hush” - 2:29
6. Football - 2:01

Shortly after the breakup of Alice N 'Chains, Staley joined another group of musicians led by guitarist Jerry Cantrell , who was eventually named Alice in Chains . This group has gained international fame as part of the grunge movement of the early 1990s, along with other groups from Seattle , such as Nirvana , Pearl Jam and Soundgarden . Staley also formed the Mad Season supergroup with Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready and Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin.

Nick Pollock created the band My Sister's Machine, in which he acted as a vocalist and main author of texts ^[7] . He later sang in the band Soulbender , which also included Queensrÿche guitarist Michael Wilton. ^[8]

Bergstrom became one of the founders of Second Coming, and later Bacolas joined him, replacing Ron "Junkeye" Holt with bass. It is noteworthy that Lane Staley appeared as a guest on their debut album LOVEvil ^[9] . The group signed with Capitol Records in May 1998, recorded two more studio albums and one mini-album , which lasted until 2008 ^[10] . After that, Bacolas recorded with The Crying Spell and Lotus Crush.