Metallica Interview Alice in Chains: Part Two — Exclusive Audio Interview

Metallica's James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich recently met up with Alice in Chains while both bands were playing the Sonisphere Festival at Knebworth. While Metallica are better known for their 26-year body of work than their interviewing skills, their frontman and drummer sat down for a discussion with Alice in Chains about the band's new album, 'Black Gives Way to Blue.'

The FMQB Productions radio special 'Inside Alice in Chains: Black Gives Way to Blue' was an hour-long radio special, but Noisecreep is presenting exclusive segments from the radio special. In this segment, the band talk about their hiatus and what led them to come back together.

Calling it public knowledge that drug abuse was wreaking havok on the band, guitarist Jerry Cantrell says the band tried to take some time off following the release of their 1995 self-titled album. "We went off the rails and stopped touring after two number one records back to back," he says. "We were not in really good shape."

Listen to 'Inside Alice In Chains: Black Gives Way to Blue' Part Two

"The plan was to stop, because I knew for a fact that if we would have stayed out, death was imminent," Sean Kinney says. "It wasn't just him, it could have been me, it could have been anyone. We pulled back from that, and the theory was to try to get our act together so we could live and move on, health first. And it worked out the way it worked out."

Recording the 'Unplugged' album in April of 1996 was the last time Jerry Cantrell, Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Inez would play together until 2005, when those three got together to play at a Seattle benefit for tsunami victims. "It was cool, because it wasn't about us at all," Kinney said about the band's first performance since the death of original singer Layne Staley. "It was about helping other people, so it didn't feel too weird, but it was super heavy."

Hear about how current AIC vocalist William DuVall met Cantrell, how his then-band Comes With the Fall wound up not only opening for Cantrell, but being a backing band for his the tour behind his solo album, and how he came to join the Alice In Chains by listening.