Latest news with #JerryCantrell
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jerry Cantrell on his lifelong love of Black Sabbath and touring with Ozzy Osbourne (before taking his bassist)
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Judging by his cavernous riffs, it's not hard to see that when it comes to guitar, for Jerry Cantrell, the apple doesn't fall far from the Sabbath tree. It's a fact, and Cantrell isn't hiding it. 'Those [Black Sabbath] albums and songs are timeless,' he says. 'They spoke to me then; they speak to me today.' Sabbath first entered Cantrell's orbit when the burgeoning riff meister was a grammar-school student in Pennsylvania in the late '70s. From the moment Cantrell took in the opening chords of Iron Man, he was hooked. So it must have been sweet when just over a decade later, in 1991, Cantrell's band, Alice in Chains, supported Ozzy Osbourne on his first 'farewell tour,' the No More Tours Tour. 'We've had a close relationship with Ozzy since then,' Cantrell says. So when Tom Morello called Cantrell to ask Alice in Chains to participate in Back to the Beginning, it was an easy 'Yes.' 'It's an honor,' Cantrell says. 'I just think it's cool to be going back to their hometown and honoring the band, Ozzy and all of us who are fans and who have been influenced by them.' How did you first get wind of the Back to the Beginning show? 'We got a call from Tom Morello, who is kind of handling this whole thing. He asked if we'd be into showing up to celebrate some Sabbath, and we were very happy to be included.' What were your initial thoughts once you understood the scale of the show? 'First and foremost, I'm a huge Sabbath fan. Most of us rocker types would put Sabbath in the top tier of why we do what we do, and as our biggest influence. And we've [Alice in Chains] have had a long relationship with Ozzy, who took us out [on tour] in '91, and gave us one of our first breaks – and gave us a bass player [Mike Inez]! [Laughs]' What was it like touring with Ozzy? 'It was pretty cool to get that slot. We were just going to go out for a run, and then Ozzy asked us back for a few more. We hit it off with the band, obviously, Zakk [Wylde], Randy [Castillo] and Mike Inez. Ozzy was really cool to us and supportive. It was just a good vibe. We made a lot of lifelong friends, and having the opportunity to play on a big stage for one of your heroes is always a pretty big deal for a young artist.' Can you remember the first time you heard Black Sabbath? 'I was probably in seventh or eighth grade. I was living in Pennsylvania, where my dad was stationed. I had a neighbor whose name I think was Dale, and he had a great stereo system. I used to always hear him rocking out next door, and I took to hanging out with him. He turned me on to Black Sabbath and Pink Floyd, which would have been 1978 or 1979.' Once you picked up guitar, how did Tony Iommi influence you? 'He's one of the prime faces of the [guitar] Mount Rushmore, if you want to put it that way. And he's one of the handful of guitar players that really impacted me with the riffs, intensity and the band that he was a part of.' Sabbath's music is simple, but it's hard to replicate. What did Alice in Chains take away from it? 'The best music is pretty straightforward and simple. I mean, what are you trying to do? When you first have the crazy notion in your head to follow your dream and think, 'I'd like to do that, too,' [Sabbath] are the guys you look to. You emulate your heroes until, at some point, your own identity starts to shine through. 'The lesson is that you're just trying to find yourself and hope that at some point you have some sort of impact, too. But those are really lofty ideas that I don't really think are front of mind.' 'First off, you just want to rock. [Laughs] You want to make your own rock that makes you feel like the rock of Black Sabbath, like, 'That's badass, man,'you know? You want to create something that's badass that has its own identity and flavor. We've been able to accomplish that, and that feels good. 'The lesson is to do what makes you feel happy and to create music you enjoy making. If you can satisfy yourself as an artist, and as a group, and throw something out there into the world, you've already won the game. Those are all the lessons and goals that we learned from listening to the bands that came before us, like Black Sabbath and Tony Iommi, one of my favorite guitar players.' What's a nuance of Tony's playing that stands out, and do you have a favorite riff? 'The heaviness, the bends, the larger-than-life, doomy quality and the power of his guitar. I pretty much dig everything he's ever done, so it'd be hard to pick out a riff. There are so many of them, but the first one I ever heard was Iron Man. That's the one that struck me at the beginning.' Have you decided what Alice in Chains will play? They asked us what we'd be interested in, and we picked four or five, but we still don't have a final idea of what we're going to play 'We had a little meeting a few months back, but it's still in motion and in flux. We're going into it like all the other bands, and we'll do whatever they want us to do. We threw out a bunch of songs that we liked, like Children of the Grave, Hand of Doom and Fairies Wear Boots. They asked us what we'd be interested in, and we picked four or five, but we still don't have a final idea of what we're going to play.' What does it mean to you to not only be a part of this show, but to witness it? 'As a fan, it's something you want to do. You want to be there, and it's going to be very satisfying. As a musician who's been doing this for decades and been in a band that's gone through changes like Sabbath has, it's a triumphant thing. They're representative of what it takes to last for decades and to be sent out on your own terms. It's worth celebrating.' This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.
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Scotsman
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Today at Download Festival: set times, stage clashes and weather forecast
It's the final day at Download Festival 2025 - and hopefully no exhaustive stage clashes today, right? Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Korn are set to to close out Download Festival 2025 this evening. The nu-metal giants take to the Apex Stage, alongside Bullet For My Valentine, while Steel Panther and Sikth headline the other stages. We say one last 'hello' from Download Festival and bring you today's set times, stage clashes and weather forecast. After two unforgettable days of incredible music and festival atmosphere, today marks the final day of Download Festival 2025 , taking place at Donington Park in Derbyshire. Tonight is the night for the devoted Korn faithful, as the pioneers of nu-metal are set to perform their highly anticipated headline set on the Apex Stage (21:25), with an incredible line-up performing before them including Bullet For My Valentine (19:00), Spiritbox (17:00), and Meshuggah (15:40). Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Elsewhere at the festival, the party continues as Steel Panther headline the Opus Stage (20:05), promising a night of glam metal excess. Extreme metal enthusiasts will also not want to miss Sikth's closing performance on The Dogtooth Stage (22:05). Over on the Avalanche Stage, emo-pop-rock fans can look forward to Kids in Glass Houses headlining at 20:20. Here's your set and stage times for this epic final day at Download Festival, and a look at what significant set-time clashes are occurring. Download Festival 2025 - stage times for June 15 2025 All information correct as of writing. Any last minute changes will be amended but do keep an eye on the Download Festival app also for any sudden stage changes. Apex Stage Korn are set to headline Download Festival this evening - but are there any stage clashes on the final day? | RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP via Getty Images 21:25 - Korn 19:00 - Bullet For My Valentine 17:00 - Spiritbox 15:40 - Meshuggah 14:25 - Jinjer 13:10 - Power Trip 12:00 - Bleed From Within 11:00 - Orbit Culture Opus 20:05 - Steel Panther 18:45 - Lorna Shore 17:35 - Airbourne 16:25 - Jerry Cantrell 15:30 - Alien Ant Farm 14:35 - Municipal Waste 13:40 - The Ghost Inside 12:40 - Nothing More 11:50 - Seven Hours After Violet 11:00 - The Southern River Band Dogtooth Stage 22:05 - Sikth 21:10 - Whitechapel 20:15 - Fit For An Autopsy 19:20 - Cattle Decapitation 18:25 - Novelists 17:25 - Unprocessed 16:25 - President 15:25 - Vowws 14:30 - Survive Said The Prophet 13:35 - Vower 12:40 - Faetooth 11:50 - Archers 11:00 - Neckbreakker The Avalanche Stage hosted by Kerrang! Radio 20:20 - Kids in Glass Houses 19:10 - Me First and The Gimme Gimmes 18:00 - Turbonegro 16:50 - Dead Poet Society 15:50 - House of Protection 13:50 - Spiritual Camp 12:50 - Amira Efleky 11:50 - Arrows in Action 11:00 - Harpy The Den 23:00 - Metal Night 10:00 - Rock Kids Ace of Spades Tavern 01:00 - Attitude Era 23:00 - Decade 10:00 - Download's Korn Quiz with Kitty Cowell The Doghouse 23:30 - End of the World Party 22:00 - Salt Sweat Sugar 11:00 - Rockfit The Outpost 23:00 - Cinema What stage clashes are set to occur today at Download Festival 2025? Not quite as many as Saturday, but still some significant clashes are set to occur on the final day of Download Festival 2025: Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Orbit Culture (Apex), The Southern River Band (Opus), Neckbreakker (Dogtooth), and Harpy (Avalanche) all kick off the day at 11:00, forcing early choices. Bleed From Within (Apex) at 12:00 clashes with Sophie Lloyd (Opus) and Bex (Avalanche). Archers (Dogtooth) at 11:50 clashes with Seven Hours After Violet (Opus) and Arrows in Action (Avalanche). Nothing More (Opus) at 12:40 clashes with Faetooth (Dogtooth) and Amira Efleky (Avalanche). Power Trip (Apex) at 13:10 clashes with The Ghost Inside (Opus), Vower (Dogtooth), and Spiritual Camp (Avalanche). Jinjer (Apex) at 14:25 clashes with Municipal Waste (Opus), Survive Said The Prophet (Dogtooth), and House of Protection (Avalanche). Meshuggah (Apex) at 15:40 clashes with Alien Ant Farm (Opus) and Vowws (Dogtooth). Spiritbox (Apex) at 17:00 clashes with Airbourne (Opus), Unprocessed (Dogtooth), and Turbonegro (Avalanche). Bullet For My Valentine (Apex) at 19:00 will clash with Lorna Shore (Opus), Fit For An Autopsy (Dogtooth), and Me First and The Gimme Gimmes (Avalanche). Steel Panther (Opus) at 20:05 is a major clash with Kids in Glass Houses (Avalanche) and Fit For An Autopsy (Dogtooth). Korn (Apex), headlining at 21:25, will overlap significantly with the end of Steel Panther (Opus) and the closing set from Sikth (Dogtooth). Korn's set will also clash with the final moments of Kids in Glass Houses (Avalanche). What is the weather forecast today for Download Festival - and the pollen count? According to this morning's forecast from the Met Office, it's forecast for 'Sunny intervals changing to partly cloudy by nighttime,' with a high of 23 and a low of 13. UV levels will once again be high so apply sunscreen and keep hydrated to avoid heat stroke, while the pollen count is also high - combined with the dusty elements, those with respiratory issues be safe.
Los Angeles Times
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Jerry Cantrell taps into the zeitgeist on new solo album ‘I Want Blood'
Jerry Cantrell's signature stylings consistently land him near the top of 'best guitarist' polls. His heavy, nuanced songs and personal lyrics — from Alice in Chains' 'Rooster' to 'Cut You in' and his four solo records — are multilayered, often willfully opaque and always powerful. Yet he sometimes finds that only a German word gets the point across. In the opening lines of 'Vilified,' the first track of his latest album, 'I Want Blood,' he sings, 'Simulate the feel / Of all that's true and real / Hey-a schadenfreude crescendo / Hey-a skew the innuendo.' 'Yeah, you don't get to use 'schadenfreude' in a lyric very often, so I was kind of happy to check that one off the list,' Cantrell says with a hearty chuckle. 'At different times, [people] seem to take a little bit more pleasure in creating chaos and pointing fingers at each other,' he furthers of the song's topical gist. 'It seems like we've kind of been living through that, one of those periods where it's a little more prevalent, in your face. That word gets thrown around, and I think it's an appropriate descriptor.' It can be hard to find an appropriate descriptor for Cantrell. Since 1990, he's come across as prickly, goofy (proof positive: 1990s shenanigans clad in a blue Speedo at New Jersey's Action Park on MTV's 'Headbanger's Ball'), thoughtful, serious, wasted, and now, thankfully, 20 years sober. Born in Tacoma, Wash., the one-time high school choir president was an aspiring rock star who hung around at a Guns N' Roses concert to hand a demo tape to Axl Rose. Which, the story goes, the red-headed stranger promptly tossed into a nearby trash bin. Sans an Axl assist, Alice in Chains still emerged from a crowded Seattle grunge scene and found deserved fame thanks to several timeless, hit-laden studio albums and EPs in the early to mid '90s. Addiction also found the band, ending the lives of half its members, singer Layne Staley in 2002 and ex-bassist Mike Starr in 2011. Cantrell relocated part-time to L.A. where he found a strong community of sober creatives, and he's now thrived substance-free for 20 years. Cantrell, 58, explains, 'I still live in the Seattle area as well, but L.A. kind of became my adopted sober home, and my Bermuda Triangle is basically Seattle, Oklahoma and L.A.' Which makes his gig at the Tulsa Theater a hometown show, with his dad's side of the family based in Oklahoma 'for generations.' Speaking by phone ahead of his concert, Cantrell has already had a full day. After soundcheck, an afternoon meet-and-greet and interview, he'll 'jump in the shower, get my body working and do a rock show.' Oh, and his younger brother [David] is probably waiting for him to get off the phone, he says. Life seems as good as the music he's making, yet no shortage of Cantrell lyrics delve into a drug-pervasive darkness. 'I Want Blood' seems rife with double meanings and entendres, with titles and lyrics like 'Off the Rails' or 'Throw Me a Line' that could refer to struggling with desire and substances or seeking salvation. Which were once maybe the same thing. 'That's a part of who I am,' Cantrell explains. 'I'm a sober alcoholic, so that's always going to be in there. But I wouldn't say that any particular song or the whole record is geared toward that. It's a thread in the tapestry. When I'm writing songs, I try to put multiple meanings of certain phrases or lines. My job is to take my experience in the world and spit it back at itself. And do it in some sort of fashion that feels authentic and honest to [me],' Cantrell says. Successful touring and records with both Alice in Chains (featuring singer William DuVall since 2006) and solo — among myriad other projects — can never ease the trauma of losing so many friends in the Seattle scene. And more pointedly, the death of Cantrell's mother Gloria from cancer when he was just 21. But the singer-songwriter is adept at funneling past pain into the present, and seems driven and solid in his creativity and life. 'Records for me are a lot of hard work,' Cantrell says. 'You have to maintain a lot of focus over a period of time, and be able to keep your vision intact through all the turbulence. Making a record is [seriously] turbulent as hell,' he says. 'You're bringing something that does not exist out of the f— darkness into being.' That said, both musically and personally, there's often an undercurrent of sarcasm and even some levity in and around the darkness. 'You've got to be able to have a little bit of a sense of humor about yourself, and also the world in general, you know, or it's gonna be a [really] long grind.' A prime example? Spinal Tap. Not just the movie, but Cantrell's brief moment onstage with the band at the Universal Amphitheater, the storied venue whose incarnation since 2016 has been the Tap-appropriate the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Cantrell's memory is slightly hazy, but he recalls being invited to play, 'Christmas With the Devil' with Tap. Virtuosic Toto guitarist Steve Lukather was at the gig, and 'I think Jennifer Batten [of Michael Jackson fame] was there too. You've already got two heavy weights. I show up. I don't have a guitar. I don't have an amp,' he recalls. 'They've got all their big Bradshaw systems, aircraft control tower-sized amplifiers set up on stage.' Harry Shearer and Michael McKean — bassist Derek Smalls and guitarist David St. Hubbins in their metallic alter-egos — approached Cantrell somewhat sheepishly. 'I know we invited you down, but we've got these guys, and we don't have an amp for you,' they told the guitarist. 'On a counter they had a little battery-powered Marshall, a little mini amp,' Cantrell remembers. 'I'm like, 'Dude, put that on the stage and tape it down and put a big boom mic all the way down to it. That's [pure] comedy.' ' The duo was surprised Cantrell was up for the schtick, Shearer questioning, 'You'll do that?' 'I'm like, 'Yeah, dude, that's f— Spinal Tap. I'll play through that thing.' They thought it was a great idea, and we did it.' Cantrell got his Stonehenge moment, and he's still stoked by the memory. 'I had my own personal Spinal Tap moment, which I helped create with Michael McKean!' That 'making it up as you go along' spirit found its way into the deluxe version of 'I Want Blood.' Seeking to create something cool for collectors, but without extra songs to release, Cantrell thought he'd try a spoken-word take on Device's 'Vilify.' He felt the result wasn't 'quite cool enough.' Fortunately, in making 'I Want Blood,' Cantrell was 'surrounded by a bunch of talented people, and my demo partner, Maxwell Urasky, is a talented musician. I'm like, 'Hey, man, you want to try to put some music to this? I just wrote a record. I don't want to write another piece of music.' ' Urasky composed a 'score,' for a spoken-word version of 'Vilify,' and Cantrell showed the completed version to 'I Want Blood' producer Joe Barresi (Queens of the Stone Age, Tool, Bad Religion), 'and I think [collaborators] Greg Puciato and Tyler [Bates, musician/composer] as well.' The consensus? Cantrell needed to do a spoken-word version of every song on the just-finished album. There was a two-week deadline. And the album's remaining eight songs new music and soundscapes to go under Cantrell's recitations. The singer recited the lyrics for each song, then sent them to his musical allies. 'Everybody rallied. I'm just as surprised as anyone at the end of the day,' Cantrell laughs. 'Like, holy crap, that's fucking cool. You never would have got there if you weren't engaged and in the process and trying to figure it out. It's always fun to just to see what the hell I can pull off, or be a part of pulling off, or creating.' He joins the grand tradition of dark artists like Jim Carroll or William Burroughs in the spoken-word world, or as Cantrell quips, '[William] Shatner and [Leonard] Nimoy.' 'It was kind of fun to get into that space, that kind of calm, audiobook kind of voice,' he admits, and while he's currently reading Cormac McCarthy (which seems the perfect accompaniment to Cantrell's songwriting), he's focused on music rather than a career in audiobooks for the foreseeable future. Cantrell doesn't write the simplest of songs to parse, but it seems he wants to be seen, as well as have listeners see parts of themselves in his music. The aural dig is worth it for all. While the reward of making a record is certainly in the creation, it's also in the reception, as the singer-songwriter notes. 'This is a good record. It was like, 'I want to release this, and put my name on it; I stand behind it.' You throw it out there. I've been lucky enough to have people react to it, support it and get it. Get it,' he emphasizes, concluding, 'You know, that's the whole thing.'
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jerry Cantrell Performs Alice in Chains' 'Hate To Feel' for First Time in 30-Plus Years: Watch
The post Jerry Cantrell Performs Alice in Chains' 'Hate To Feel' for First Time in 30-Plus Years: Watch appeared first on Consequence. Jerry Cantrell kicked off his 'I Want Blood' North American tour on Friday night (January 31st) in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and performed the Alice in Chains song 'Hate to Feel' for the first time in more than 30 years. The deep cut from the seminal 1992 album Dirt hadn't been performed by Alice in Chains or any member of the band since a November 1993 show. Get Jerry Cantrell Tickets Here Cantrell and his solo band dusted off the tune 13 songs into a 17-song set in Niagara Falls, and played it again over the weekend at shows in Sayreville, New Jersey, and Portland, Maine — which means it will likely remain a staple in the set during the duration of the tour. Singer Greg Puciato (Better Lovers, ex-Dillinger Escape Plan) is part of Cantrell's touring band, and often takes on the late Layne Staley's vocal parts on the Alice in Chains songs in Cantrell's sets. Fan-filmed video of 'Hate to Feel' shows Puciato and Cantrell harmonizing on the murky number. Among the other Alice in Chains songs in the Niagara Fall set were classics 'Them Bones,' 'Down in a Hole,' 'Would?,' and 'Rooster.' Cantrell's tour in support of his 2024 album I Want Blood runs through a March 9th gig in Seattle (pick up tickets here). See Jerry Cantrell and his solo band perform 'Hate to Feel' from a couple different angles below. Jerry Cantrell Performs Alice in Chains' 'Hate To Feel' for First Time in 30-Plus Years: Watch Spencer Kaufman Popular Posts Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar Win Big at 2025 Grammys: See Full Winners List Tame Impala Score First-Ever Grammy Win Doechii Brings the House Down with "CATFISH" at the 2025 Grammys: Watch Nine Inch Nails Announce 2025 "Peel It Back World Tour" [Updated] P!NK Steals the Show with Cover of 'Babe I'm Gonna Leave You' at FireAid: Watch Nirvana's Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Pat Smear Reunite for Surprise Performance at FireAid: Watch Subscribe to Consequence's email digest and get the latest breaking news in music, film, and television, tour updates, access to exclusive giveaways, and more straight to your inbox.
