Jerry Cantrell Still Gets Rush From Fans Responding to New Songs

On Thursday’s Loudwire Nights (Jan. 30), Jerry Cantrell joined Chuck Armstrong to celebrate the release of one of the best albums of 2024, his latest solo LP, I Want Blood. Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

“It’s always cool to have a little bit of time, you know, where it’s left the nest and people make friends with it, digest the music,” Cantrell told Chuck about I Want Blood.

“I’ve had the chance to play some of it and do some shows in South America and the U.S. … We were in Buenos Aires and they’re singing everything, including the guitar tagline and solos. That record had only been out for maybe a couple of weeks or something, and they knew it.”

Though Cantrell has been making music for nearly four decades, it was clear he still gets a rush from fans responding to what he creates.

“It takes you aback, it’s pretty impactful that people connect to it,” he admitted.

“You want to make something that makes you feel good to make and then standing in front of people, playing it, and seeing them respond is always the best thing … That’s the whole game.”

Jerry Cantrell Looks Back at ‘Cornerstone Song’ For Alice In Chains

In addition to celebrating I Want Blood, Cantrell took some time to reflect on the legacy of Alice In Chains.

During the interview, he found out that Loudwire recently named “Check My Brain” as one of the 25 best rock songs of the last 25 years.

“It’s always nice when anybody considers your work worth noting,” Cantrell shared. “Whether that’s a list or conversation or, you know, Grammys or any of that — if you’re in the conversation, you’re doing something right.”

He said that’s really all an artist can hope for, to have a song or album stand the test of time and be talked about years after it was created.

“You want to be part of the story,” he added.

“That song was an important cornerstone song for us kind of deciding to continue on.”

As he thought about “Check My Brain,” Cantrell recalled meeting producer Nick Raskulinecz and playing him the song for the first time.

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“Within about 20 seconds he’s like, ‘I’m in,'” Cantrell remembered. “I showed him the demo and he’s like, ‘I’m in. I’m in. This is fucking great. I want to do this.'”

That led to 2009’s Black Gives Way to Blue, Alice In Chains’ fourth studio album and their first without Layne Staley.

“That record was a new rebirth for us — and a continuation as well.”

What Else Did Jerry Cantrell Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• Why he decided to create spoken word versions of songs from I Want Blood for the vinyl release: “It [was] just an idea for like the B-side of the single. I don’t really come out of a record with any extra stuff. What is on the record is what I had, so it’s always tough coming up with B-sides or extra tracks … I don’t know why Jim Morrison popped in my head. I’ve been a big Doors fan and I thought, well, that would be kind of cool.”
• What it was like jamming with Billy Gibbons at his 75th birthday at the Troubadour in Los Angeles: “ZZ Top to me, and Billy as a guitar player, it’s one of my earliest influences … That was kind of surreal standing on the stage at soundcheck and going through ‘Rooster’ and having Billy do all the color work.”
• Why he quickly connected with Tim Montana: “Tim’s a great dude, man, and I think he’s a really talented songwriter and guitar player. We met when we toured together at the end of last summer with Bush and Candlebox and Bones UK and it was really nice meeting him and becoming friends.”

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Jerry Cantrell joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday, Jan. 30; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.

Jerry Cantrell at Billy Gibbons’ 75th Birthday Celebration

Jerry Cantrell + Tim Montana at Billy Gibbons’ 75th Birthday Celebration