Jerry Cantrell Speaks on How Guns N’ Roses Icon Treated Alice in Chains in Early Days, Explains Why He & Metallica’s James Hetfield Are Elton Fans

“It’s interesting that Hetfield or I would be into Elton,” Jerry said.

During an appearance on Q104.3 New York, Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell talked about Guns N’ Roses, bassist Duff McKagan, Elton John, Metallica, and more.Jerry is promoting a new record titled “Brighten,” which features McKagan among special guests.

When the interviwer said, “We’ve got to mention some of the other guys on this record, including Duff McKagan, who plays bass on several tracks, and he even produced you playing bass on the ‘Siren Song,'” Cantrell replied (transcribed by UG):

“Yup, he did. Duff is an old friend of mine, and he’s a guy I’ve always admired. And we’ve jammed together in one form or another.

“When we first started doing gigs with Alice, he joined us on the road for a lot of gigs, playing guitar and just hanging out with us, giving us support, and was a part of us to get us going.

“That meant a lot to me. His band was really inspirational to Alice in Chains when we were forming.

“And they [Guns N’ Roses] were breaking, and they were something new coming out of the old. Sitting down and playing with him is an awe-inspiring experience.

“He’s so quick and so talented, he can go anywhere you want to go. And every once in a while, he’ll surprise you.

“He listened to the demo bass on ‘Siren Song’ and he was like, ‘Man, you shouldn’t change that, that’s a really good bass line.’

“I’m like, ‘OK, I’ll do that but show me how to play it so I’m not sounding like a guitar player playing bass.’ So he gave me a couple of tips.

“But it was great. He only intended to do a song or two but once I got him over in the seat, and we finished the song or two we were working on, I’m like, ‘How about this one? How about this one?’

“Before I knew it, he knocked out five or six songs in two days.”

I think it’s interesting that people like you and your music, and even James Hetfield and Metallica, hard rock bands, and countless others really count Elton’s music and Bernie’s [Taupin] lyrics as really influential to them.

“Sure. You have to think about age. James is a couple of years older than me. I’m 55, he’s probably 57 or something like that, so we were kids of the ’60s, we were born in the 60s and grew up in the ’70s, so what was playing in the ’70s…

“We probably moved into rock toward the later part of the ’70s and into the ’80s, and then started making it ourselves.

“But that was the music that was on the radio – Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, there are so many great songwriters.

“And also a real, healthy diverse mix of styles – R&B, there was disco, I grew up with a couple of country fans…

“And my mom and dad, there was dance and swing and stuff, my grandmother watched Lawrence Welk every week, and so that was on in our house.

“When I got a guitar in my hands, that’s when everything changed, that’s when I’m gravitating toward more guitar-heavy stuff.”

We got to mention Elton played on the Alice in Chains albums, he did the [2009] song ‘Black Gives Way to Blue.’ And you actually sent him the demo for this cover of ‘Goodbye,’ right?

“I did. It’s really interesting, looking back at it, I didn’t intend this to be the case, but I look at a song like ‘Black Gives Way to Blue,’ and the fact that Elton was involved in that and wanted to be a part of it…

“And what that song meant was a fresh start for the band, and also saying goodbye to our dear friend Layne [Staley]…

“It’s such an emotionally potent song, and it also closes the record, and it’s only a couple minutes long. It’s really similar to a song like ‘Goodbye.’ I think there are connections there, kind of psychically.”

He’s a huge music fan too, right?

“Absolutely. It’s interesting that Hetfield or I would be into Elton, and it’s really not too unusual for Elton to be into all sorts of music too.

“We’re all fans of music, whatever style speaks to you, and probably through your life, things change.

“Maybe you start getting into jazz when you didn’t listen to it before. Or maybe you go through phases – maybe your high school years were one thing and it kind of morphs into something else.

“It’s a language we all share and it kind of becomes like the soundtrack to your life. A song will come on the radio and it instantly takes me to a place in time.

“Like – I was in eighth grade, I was in Pennsylvania, my dad was out of town, and I invited some friends over, and we got into his moonshine…”