Jerry Cantrell: New Alice in Chains Album Could Come Next Year
Iconic grunge outfit Alice in Chains could be bringing some new tunes to the fore next year, after what must have been a scary and frustrating 2025. While speaking with Cleveland.com, guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell spoke about the last year and how it affected the band’s overarching plans to bring something new to the table.
“We’re just wrapping the I Want Blood chapter, then I’ll take the winter off and see where we’re at. We intended to work but had a little bit of a health scare with Sean, so we had to cancel some shows.
“We also had a tour planned for, like, right now that kind of fell through. So we had some bad luck; we planned on doing much more this year, but it just didn’t work out. We’ll take a look at it again probably early next year and figure out what we’re gonna do, whether go in and make another record or do some shows — or both.”
That health scare Cantrell brought up was the medical situation involving drummer Sean Kinney that forced the band to cancel their tour. Though the nature of his medical situation was never shared by the band, it was described as stark enough that they needed to cancel their tour dates.
Because of those cancelations, the only Alice in Chains performance that took place this year was their appearance at the ‘Back to the Beginning’ show to honor Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. At that show, they played “Man in the Box”, “Would?”, and the classic track “Fairies Wear Boots”.
“I mean, what a beautiful thing, and I’m so happy we were able to witness that and partake in it a little bit and just watch that happen for those guys. For (Osbourne) to will himself to do it for Sharon and the band and Tom Morello, and for everybody to organize it and for all of the great bands…I mean, we’re all Sabbath heads and Ozzy fans. That’s seminal. None of us would really exist without them.
“There’s such strong DNA from Sabbath and Ozzy in all of us — and rightfully so, earned. It’s one of the greatest bands of all time, and to have been able to do that — now, especially, in light of Ozzy passing — it’s just kind of a magical thing. You couldn’t write that; I remember one of Ozzy’s own quotes about himself was, ‘You couldn’t make me up. I wouldn’t believe it, my (expletive) life.’ So he got to close it out exactly how he wanted to. How many people get to have that sort of a closing chapter in their life?”
