In our most recent poll we asked you what you thought of Jerry Cantrell’s announcement that Alice in Chains was working on new material (with touring singer William DuVall on vocals), tentatively due in 2008. Would any new Alice material be worth a shit? The results were close. You said:

• “With Jerry, Mike and Sean still in the band it will be great. William Duvall’s voice adds a lot, too.”
  31 votes (24%)
• “It’ll be OK but not anywhere near as good as previous AIC material.”
  55 votes (42%)
• “It will be crap; they shouldn’t tarnish the legacy of Layne Staley and Alice in Chains.”
  45 votes (34%)

For once, I think you assholes got it right. Cantrell is an amazingly talented songwriter and player, and anything he writes will be “good;” Sean Kinney and Mike Inez are great players as well, and they’ll give the songs the right feel. But without Layne in the band there’s a certain magic — not to mention vocal style — that will be missing. Still, I’m pretty excited to hear whatever they come up with.

-VN