New ALICE IN CHAINS Singer: 'I Don't Think I Could Sound Like LAYNE STALEY If I Tried'

November 22, 2009

ThisIsNottingham.co.uk recently conducted an interview with ALICE IN CHAINS singer William DuVall. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

On being chosen to sing for ALICE IN CHAINS:

"It's a great honor and it's a great responsibility. But at the same time, it's a band, and in that respect I'm going to give my all no matter what I'm doing or what band I'm in.

"This is obviously a really great thing but it's more about moving ahead than looking back. This is not about nostalgia; it's about building a new template for how to be ALICE IN CHAINS. It's a completely different band now to what it was."

On the differences between old and new:

"There's a lot of elements that make it different and despite what people say, I don't think I sound like Layne Staley. I don't think I could sound like Layne Staley if I tried. I'm not trying to imitate anybody to begin with, I'm just trying to go out there and do these songs my way. If there's a resemblance to what happened before that's purely because that's the song people have known for years."

"I'm not going to take all of these extreme liberties with the melody and get all 'American Idol' on it. I'm going to do it the way it should be done and I'm going to sing it from my own experience.

"It's going to be coming from my own place of truth. If that resonates with the listener then maybe that's what makes them think, 'He sounds like Layne!' It's because they're getting the same feeling of truth that they got when he sang it. In reality I don't sound any more like Layne than I look like Layne."

"It's respect for Layne too. He was great because, in part, he was such an individual, and I'm an individual. I loved what he did so much that I'm going to put my own spin on it. That's the only respectful thing to do, for myself, for the fans, for Layne and for this band."

On ALICE IN CHAINS' new album, "Black Gives Way To Blue":

"The album is out because we thought it was worth putting out. We dig it. This was about proving something to ourselves first, and I think a by-product of that is that perhaps we might provide an example for possibilities for other people within their own lives.

"We all experience tragedy at some point and what do you do? Do you lay down and die or do you get up and go with your head up and find a new way to be bad ass?"

"Our story has a dimension to it that makes it quite different from any other. The list of bands that have had to bounce back and triumph over the adversity of losing a singer is pretty short."

On ALICE IN CHAINS' future:

"We're on a mission. We're proving something to ourselves and we're proving something to a lot of people."

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).