Few people in music command as much respect as Jerry Cantrell.
Initially courtesy of his work with Alice In Chains through to his solo material, Cantrell has inspired generations of musicians and guitarists, being massively influential in shaping the very fabric of modern rock music. Over his career, he has released six studio albums with Alice in Chains, three solo full-lengths, had his music featured in films from Cameron Crowe, Judd Apatow and Ben Stiller and made cameos in Deadwood and Jerry Maguire.
Like I say, the full package.
Cantrell returns with his new album I Want Blood, out on October 18, featuring 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 vocals from Lola Colette and Greg Puciato (Better Lovers, ex-Dillinger Escape Plan).
Not that he needs big names as guest artists to entice people to his music, it's more a case of because he can.
Cantrell spared some time for a chat with HEAVY a couple of weeks out from the release date to talk more about I Want Blood. We start by asking how he is feeling about the new release.
"Yeah, you know, it's the last couple of days of it being kind of semi-secret," he replied. "We've got a couple of songs that have been out already. Vilified, the first single and also Afterglow, so we've got a couple out there that have been living in the world and people have been responding to, and we've been playing them in the sets too. We did a couple of months on the road with Bush a couple of weeks ago, and it's that last little bit where it hasn't quite left the nest, you know what I mean? So it's still got that kind of special feel to it. And when it gets launched, then it's not just mine anymore. It's anybody's who wants to make a relationship with it."
We press on the musical nature of I Want Blood.
"I never really sit down and start a record with some sort of intent in mind of like what kind of record I'm going to make," he replied. "Luckily, I've made a lot of different rock and acoustic stuff in my career, so there's a lot of places you can go. You just want to follow where the music takes you naturally. And on this one, it seemed like I wanted to go heavy."
In the full interview, we spoke more about the album's musical direction and Cantrell's confidence in the project. We discussed the significance of the album cover, the notable guest musicians involved, and the unique spoken word version available on vinyl. Cantrell provided insights into the creative process and the collaborative nature of the album, emphasizing a special approach to presenting the lyrics to fans, plus more.
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