According to Rolling Stone, ALICE IN CHAINS guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell will release his new solo album, “Brighten”, on October 29. The official music video for the LP’s first single, “Atone”, can be streamed below. Cantrell co-directed the black-and-white clip with photographer musician Jim Louvau, singer/guitarist Greg Puciato, visual artist Jesse Draxler and photographer Tony Aguilera.
“As a fan of Ennio Morricone scores and Sergio Leone movies, it’s got a bit of that outlaw vibe, with a cool psycho hillbilly stomp,” Cantrell told Rolling Stone about “Atone”. “It’s been kicking around in my head for like 20-plus years, haunting me. Sometimes it takes a while for a good idea to find its best form. Such was the case with ‘Atone’.”
“Brighten” was produced by Cantrell with Tyler Bates and engineer Paul Fig. Special guests on the album include Puciato, Gil Sharone, Duff McKagan, Abe Laboriel, Jr., Michael Rozon, Vincent Jones, Jordan Lewis, Lola Bates and Matias Ambrogi-Torres. The LP includes a cover of Elton John‘s “Goodbye”, which was approved by the music legend himself.
“‘Madman Across The Water’ is one of my favorite records of all time,” Cantrell said. “Out of respect to Elton, I wouldn’t include it unless he said it was okay. He’d played piano on ‘Black Gives Way To Blue’, which I wrote for Layne [Staley], so I reached out to Elton, he listened to it, and told me ‘You should absolutely use it.’ I got the signoff by the man himself. I couldn’t think of a better way to close the record!”
“Brighten” track listing:
01. Atone
02. Brighten
03. Prism of Doubt
04. Black Hearts and Evil Done
05. Siren Song
06. Had To Know
07. Nobody Breaks You
08. Dismembered
09. Goodbye (Elton John cover)
Jerry‘s upcoming effort will mark his first full-length release since “Degradation Trip”, the epic solo album he made in 2002 with future METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo and FAITH NO MORE drummer Mike Bordin.
Cantrell announced the new LP’s completion in an Instagram post in March.
Jerry‘s career outside of ALICE IN CHAINS has consisted of two solo albums and contributions to major film soundtracks. Cantrell‘s first solo album, “Boggy Depot”, was released in 1998, followed by his second album, the aforementioned “Degradation Trip”. In addition to his solo artist work, Jerry has released music on soundtracks for several films, including “Spider-Man”, “The Cable Guy”, “John Wick 2”, “Last Action Hero” and “The Punisher”.
Back in 2018, Cantrell told Billboard that he wasn’t in good headspace when he made “Degradation Trip”. “I was just really fucked up back then, to be honest with you, and you can totally hear it on that record,” he said. “It was done right before I got sober, and it was also done right when I was dealing with the death of my band, and then the unhappy coincidence of Layne [Staley, ALICE IN CHAINS frontman] passing away right after I released that record. So it was not a good time in my life, and it totally comes across on that record.”
Cantrell added: “It’s a record I don’t listen to a lot anymore because of all those things I mentioned,” revealing that he got sober a year after it was recorded. He continued: “But it’s a record that’s important to me, and I’ll see Robert and Mike every once in a while and they’re like, ‘We should do some fucking shows, man. Some ‘Degradation Trip’ shows.’ [Laughs] I tell ’em we’ll do it someday.”
ALICE IN CHAINS regrouped in 2006 with William DuVall joining the band, and released its third LP with DuVall in the lineup, “Rainier Fog”, in August 2018.
