Jerry Cantrell Reflects on More Than Two Decades of Sobriety: “I Like Life”
There’s this kind of fucked up thought that once musicians get sober, their musical abilities wane or the quality of their music dwindles. It’s not always true, but I know I’ve heard people say shit like “man, I wish they were still drinking” or “they were so much better fucked up”. One person, however, that’s dropped the “drugs” part of the old “sex, drugs, rock & roll” adage and continues to put out great music is none other than Alice In Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell.
With his solo tour kicking off at the end of this month, Cantrell sat down with Leah Rose of the Broken Record podcast (as transcribed by Blabbermouth) to chat about his career, his newest solo effort I Want Blood, and other topics. One area they delved into in the episode was Cantrell’s sobriety and whether he’s still the same songwriter and musician as he was when he was still using drugs and partying as hard. What followed was an introspective and honest answer about his sobriety and how he looks back on those times.
“I’ve written some really good songs both ways. So I think both ways work. I’ve lived through a period of my life where it worked and then it didn’t work. [Laughs] If something’s not working [anymore], you’ve gotta find a new way to do it. So, I went through that change personally about 21 years ago. I think I’m still writing — to me, anyway — as impactful, weird, fucked up music like I made when I was fucked up. So, I don’t really think that [being under the influence is] a requirement [for writing good music]. It is part of the mythos of being a musician and an artist.”
Looking back on that time, Cantrell mentioned some of his contemporaries that managed to clean up their lives and find sobriety while still making rock music. What he said he found was that he could, like them, continue to put out great music without having to get fucked up in order to do it.
“Referring to some of the guys that I started playing with right after I got sober — Billy Morrison, [Dave] Navarro, Matt Sorum, Billy Duffy — the guys who’d been through partying and then gone through the other side of, like, ‘Okay, this doesn’t work anymore. I gotta figure out a new way to do this.’ All those guys still rock, as far as I’ve last checked, and I think I’m doing okay too as far as the music element. So you can do it either way.”
As for whether he ever thought drug use was a glamorous part of being a rock star, Jerry said it was more about being a young guy in a scene where that sort of behavior was the norm. And while there was a time for that in his life, he said, there’s no more space for it at nearly 60 years old.
“Like I say, it’s part of the mythos, and you’re a young kid, so you’re gonna do all this stuff that young kids do. I’m not a young kid anymore, so I can’t do what young kids do. It would fucking kill me. So I gotta do this version of me, which I like very much. I like life. I like the consistency of life now. The ceilings are not as high, okay, but the floors are not as low either. [Laughs] You know what I mean? It’s a little bit more even, and I like that consistency.”
Cantrell’s first headlining tour in support of I Want Blood will kick off this Friday, with Filter as the opening act. You can find the full list of dates below.
Jerry Cantrell tour dates:
January 31 Niagara Falls, ON Fallsview Casino Resort
February 1 Sayreville, NJ Starland Ballroom
February 2 Portland, ME Aura
February 4 Boston, MA Citizens House of Blues Boston
February 5 New York, NY Irving Plaza
February 7 Silver Spring, MD The Fillmore – Silver Spring
February 8 Bensalem, PA Parx Xcite Center
February 11 Huntington, NY The Paramount
February 12 Norfolk, VA The NorVa
February 14 Raleigh, NC The Ritz
February 15 Atlanta, GA Buckhead Theatre
February 16 Louisville, KY Mercury Ballroom
February 18 Columbus, OH The Bluestone
February 19 Indianapolis, IN Murat Egyptian Room at Old National Centre
February 22 St. Louis, MO The Hawthorn
February 23 Chicago, IL The Vic Theatre
February 25 Tulsa, OK Tulsa Theater
February 26 Houston, TX House of Blues Houston
February 27 San Antonio, TX The Aztec Theatre
March 1 Mesa, AZ The Nile Theater
March 2 Las Vegas, NV House of Blues Las Vegas
March 4 Los Angeles, CA The Belasco
March 5 Ventura, CA The Majestic Ventura Theater
March 7 Spokane, WA Knitting Factory – Spokane
March 8 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom
March 9 Seattle, WA Moore Theatre
