CANTRELL & IAN JOIN FORCES… BUT NOT IN A SUPERGROUP
When Vince and I saw Alice in Chains last month, there was a lot of hub-bub in the crowd ’cause Scott Ian and his wife, Pearl “Meatloaf’s Daughter” Aday, were very visibly sitting in the VIP section of the balcony. But seeing Scott Ian at a New York metal show isn’t really that unusual, so I didn’t think much of it at the time.
As it turns out, though, Ian and AIC’s Jerry Cantrell are, indeed, friends – and now business partners. So says a press release:
Two icons of rock have joined forces to create a new rock bar and performance space in Las Vegas. Alice in Chains guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell and Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian plan to launch the venue, Dead Man’s Hand, in November.
The bar will feature none of the trendy décor, snobby attitude and outlandish prices so prevalent in Vegas. Instead, Dead Man’s Hand will favor grit over glitz, providing customers great music, cool atmosphere and affordable drinks all year long.
“We want this to be a place that we would want to hang out in,” Ian says. “There’s a huge segment of the music audience that likes to go out but doesn’t want to go to places that only play Lil Wayne and Lady Gaga and charge $750 for a bottle of vodka. We want to be the opposite of that.
“I always wanted to have a cool joint with some friends that would be a great place to go at night,” adds Cantrell, “It’s close to Los Angeles, and a lot of cool bands and people hit Vegas. We wanted to make a fun place for everybody to hang.”
I don’t quite buy the whole “Hey we’re a Vegas club but we’re a cool Vegas club” but – the press release then goes on say that “The venue’s first event will be a November 7th party for Bluff Magazine,” which already strikes me as pretty fancy schmancy; so those bottles of vodka might cost $200 instead of $750.
Still, anyone who goes to Vegas thinking it’s gonna be cheap was fooling him or herself to begin with. I haven’t been to Sin City since much earlier this century, but I had a great time when I was there. I might check this place out if I ever make it back.
-AR
