JERRY CANTRELL On ‘I Want Blood’ Solo Album: ‘I’d Stand It Up Against Any Work I’ve Done In My Career’

ALICE IN CHAINS guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell spoke to Australia’s Heavy about his upcoming album, “I Want Blood”which is due on October 18 via Double J Music. The LP, co-produced by Cantrell and Joe Barresi (TOOL, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, MELVINS),was recorded at Barresi‘s JHOC Studio in Pasadena, California. The album features contributions from bass heavyweights Duff McKagan (GUNS N’ ROSES) and Robert Trujillo (METALLICA),drummers Gil Sharone (TEAM SLEEP, STOLEN BABIES) and Mike Bordin (FAITH NO MORE),and backing vowels from Lola Colette and Greg Puciato (BETTER LOVERSex-THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN).

Asked about his previous comment that “there’s a confidence to this album”, Cantrell said: “Well, I would hope that most artists would feel pretty confident about their new record. If you don’t, you probably shouldn’t put it out. Making an album, it’s a real commitment, and it’s also a real special opportunity that not everyone gets to do. So I take it really seriously. I also have a lot of fun with it, too, and enjoy the process, ’cause it’s a long ride to demoing it and writing it and then recording it and then taking it out on tour. So, you’re looking at a two-to-three-year commitment there. And you wanna be marching out of the studio with something you feel pretty strongly about. ‘I Want Blood’it’s the best record I could have made at that time. And I’d stand it up against any work I’ve done in my career. So, I have that confidence about it, but I make music for me first, and if it satisfies me, I’ve been really lucky that it seems to do the same for a lot of people who’ve been interested in work that I ‘ve been involved in. Rock and roll’s not for everybody, but it finds its people, so it’s time to throw it out there and see who grabs on to it.”

Regarding his remark that “I Want Blood” is completely unlike his last solo album “Brighten”, Cantrell said: “Yeah, well, I mean, it’s a different record. It’s new songs. It was made in a different time. I’ve made four [solo albums] now— ‘Boggy Depot’, ‘Degradation Trip’, ‘Brighten’ and ‘I Want Blood’ — and I dare you to say any one of those records sounds like the other one. They’re all supposed to be unique, and they shouldn’t sound like your other records. You can count on your musical fingerprint being there, so it should sound like you. I guess what I was talking about earlier is I’m pretty lucky that I can go into a lot of different fields and zones as far as songwriting, and people seem to have followed me when I’ve gone to those places. And so there’s a lot of turf to play around on. What you wanna do is feel like you’re standing on some fresh turf when you do a record, that you’ve done something new, maybe you’ve stepped up a little bit, hopefully you’re getting better at your craft, and it’s another one you can throw out to everybody and share with the world. And I definitely feel that way about this record.”

Last month, Jerry told Sylvia of the Las Vegas radio station KOMP 92.3 about the songwriting process for “I Want Blood”: “Well, I think you have to start each record the same way. There are habits that I instilled in myself and also by being a member of ALICE. We never pulled any punches. We didn’t varnish anything. We didn’t sand any rough edges off — ‘warts and all’ was our approach. And so I kind of carry that wherever I go. But the main ethos, if you will, I guess, that I carry within and outside the band, is you have to start from an absolute zero. It doesn’t matter what you did before. You did that record, you wrote those songs, so it’s gotta be something completely new. And so that’s kind of a daunting task, but it’s necessary. ‘Okay. It’s a blank chalkboard, blank piece of paper, absolute zero. What am I gonna do now?’ If you’re starting from that and not really relying or trying to compete with your past work, it’s kind of a freeing thing. You also have the experience of having made some great records and wrote some great songs and been part of some really amazing collectives of people, musicians to make those records. So, I had a pretty good group of folks together to make this one, too — Gil Sharone, Mike Bordin, Robert Trujillo, Duff McKagan, Vincent Jones, Lola Colette and Greg Puciato and Tyler Bates and Joe Barresi. And that’s a pretty good group of folks right there. So, you start from a zero and you just go and see where you end up.”

Cantrell‘s tour with BUSH concluded last month, with the North American outing wrapping up at the iconic Greek Theater in Los Angeles on September 15.

“Brighten” came out in October 2021. The LP was Jerry‘s first project without ALICE IN CHAINS in 19 years.

Jerry‘s career outside of ALICE IN CHAINS has consisted of two other solo albums and contributions to major film soundtracks. Cantrell‘s first solo album, “Boggy Depot”was released in 1998, followed by his second album, “Degradation Trip”. In addition to his solo artist work, Jerry you have released music on soundtracks for several films, including “Spider-Man”, “The Cable Guy”, “John Wick 2”, “Last Action Hero” and “The Punisher”.

ALICE IN CHAINS regrouped in 2006 with William DuVall joining the band, and releasing their third LP with DuVall in the lineup, “Rainier Fog”in August 2018.