Why I'm In Radio In a Nutshell

Two weeks ago, the big man Mark Thompson was gracious enough to give me his Alice In Chains tickets. He thought he was doing me a favor. He did me a HUGE favor. As I type this, there are 13 days seperating us from Black Gives Way To Blue. This is Alice In Chains first studio album in FOURTEEN years. Now here's the big question. With Layne Staley gone for over seven years, HOW THE F*CK CAN THIS BE ALICE IN CHAINS? HOW CAN THERE BE AN ALICE IN CHAINS WITHOUT LAYNE STALEY? Here's how : 16 years ago I met Mikey. He was two years younger than I was. He was the "elder statesman" of his class, like I was of mine. Basically this meant we were teenagers who could grow beards and buy beer for all our friends without the saftey net of a fake ID. Mike taught me how to play guitar. I'd watch him tear it up in bars every night with his band, jamming on GnR, Creed, Pearl Jam, and of course AIC songs. Every Night he'd send Don't Follow out to me. We made promises, "Brothers for life" non homo erotic type stuff. Well Mike died in late March of 2002 of a heroin overdose. Stupid Sh*t and a waste of a great life. Three weeks to the day, Layne Staley died of the same mistake. Well I needed to keep my promise to Mike, not for him but for me. I wasn't the one who F*cked up but why does that mean I couldn't keep my promise. Never did become a rock star, but I'm a DJ for a bad ass radio station in South Jersey. I play AIC for him. Well Alice In Chains never promised to replace Layne Staley. YOU CAN'T. They also never broke their promise. Why should they break their commitment to themselves, to music, and to YOU, because Layne screwed it all up? I look at Black Gives Way To Blue as AIC: The Next Chapter. Jerry Cantrell has his signature sound all over the place and when I listen to the new single Check My Brain? I don't hear guys trying to recreate anything. I hear Alice In Chains. Black Gives Way To Blue comes out on September 29th. AIC is moving on and we should too. For those who fell behind. For those would never want us to wait for them. Say Goodbye Don't Follow. Below is proof that Alice In Chains is ALIVE and ready to kick some major ass.