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Bleeding For Your Art With JERRY CANTRELL · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Jerry Cantrell.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Beautiful Jerry, thanks for joining us today, mate.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: What's happening? Brother?
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: A great deal of all, my friend. But you've got
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: a lot more happening in your world. You're actually preparing
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: to release a new album. I Want Blood On. Isn't
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: your first radio bro, So you get a little nervous
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: or anxious to release date.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's the last couple of days of
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: it being kind of semi secret. You know, We've we've
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: got a we've got a couple of songs that have
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: been out already vilified of course, the first single and
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: uh also Afterglow. So we've got a couple out there
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: that have been living in the world and people have
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: been responding to and we've been playing them in the
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: sets too. We did a couple of months on the
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: road with Bush. Uh just got off the road a
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago, and uh, yeah, it's that last
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: little bit where it hasn't quite left the nest, you
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like, uh, and so it's it's
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: still still got that kind of special feel to it
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: and uh, you know when when it when it gets
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: launched and it's not just mine anymore. It's anybody's who
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: wants to make a relationship with it, you know, So
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: anybody who digs it, can.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: You tell us a me more about it from a
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: musical point of view and what you've.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Gone for with it? Yeah, well, you know, I mean
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: it's uh, you know, it's it checks all the boxes
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: for me. Uh you know, uh, when you I never
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: really sit down and start a record with some sort
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: of intent in mind of like what kind of record
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna make. Uh. Luckily, you know, I've I've made
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: a lot of different kind of uh you know, rock
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: and music and acoustic stuff in my career. So so, uh,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of places you can go, and it's
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: just you just want to follow where the music takes
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: you naturally. And uh on when it seemed to seem
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: like I wanted to go heavy, so all right, let's go.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah you just mentioned but today you brought the singles
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Villified and After So are they a good sonic representation
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: over all or they just gotch the surface?
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Well, those are two of the cornerstone songs of the record.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: There's a there's a handful I think that are that
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: are even a little extra special, and I think those
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: two songs definitely are for sure.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: And you've been quite as saying that there's a certain
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: confidence to this album, mate, Like, but what.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: Do you mean by that?
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: Like, most people look at you and they couldn't imagine
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: not having confidence all the time.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: So what do you think that? Well? I think, you know,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I would hope that most artists would feel pretty confidentble
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: about their new record. Uh. If you don't, you probably
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: shouldn't put it out, you know. But but uh, yeah,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: it's you know, it's uh, making an album is a
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: it's a real commitment, you know, and and it's also
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: you know, a real special opportunity that not everybody gets
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: to do, you know, so uh, you know, uh I
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: take it really serious seriously. I also have a lot
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: of fun with it too, and and enjoy the process
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: because it's a long ride, you know to uh to
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: demoing it and writing it and then recording it and
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: then taking it out on tour. So you're looking at
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: a you're looking at a two to three year commitment there,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: and uh, you know, you want to be marching out
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: of the studio with something you feel pretty strongly about.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: And uh, you know, I think I want blood it's uh,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: it's it's the best record I could have made at
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: that time. Uh, you know, and I'd stand it up
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: against any any any work I've done in my career.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: I steel like uh so you know I have that
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: confidence about it. But uh uh you know, I make
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: music for me, you know, first, and uh, if if
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: it satisfies me, I've been really lucky that it's it
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: seems to to do the same for for a lot
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: of people, you know, who've been interested in in in
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: work that I've been involved in. And and uh, you know,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: it's rock and rolls not for everybody. Uh, it's it,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: but it but it finds its people, you know. So
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: it's time to throw it out there and and see
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: who grabs onto it, you know.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: And you've also said that I Want Blood is completely
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: lucky lost solo album brought and so has today.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I mean it's a different record. It's new
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: songs that was made in a different time. So I
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: made four now Buggy Depot, degradationship writing and I Want
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Blood and you know, my dairy you to say any
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: one of those records sounds like the other one, you know,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: So they're they're all supposed to be unique and and uh,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: uh they shouldn't sound like your other records, you know, Uh,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: the you can count on your musical fingerprint being there,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: So I mean it should sound like you. I guess
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: what I was talking about earlier is uh, you know,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: I've been I'm pretty lucky that I can go a
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: lot of different uh into a lot of different fields
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: and zones as far as as songwriting, and people seem
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: to have followed me. Uh you know when I've gone
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: gone to those places, and and so uh there's a
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: lot of uh, there's a lot of turf to to
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: play around on. You know. What you want to do
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: is feel like you're standing on some fresh turf, you know.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: And when you when you do a record that you've
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: done something new, maybe maybe you've stepped up a little bit. Uh,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: hopefully you're getting better at your craft. And and uh
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: and it's another another one you can uh uh you
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: can throw throw out to everybody and share, share with uh,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: share with the world, and and uh, you know, I
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: definitely feel that way about this record.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: The album starts read this single Villifid, which kicks in
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: with a wicked little drum intry before the guitar gets
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: to the whole landscape might not a statement of so.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: That that happened at the start of the album. Yeah,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: you know, uh, you know, I was when I was
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: writing all of this material, and this generally is pretty
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: close to the case with every record. You know. It's
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: it's kind of funny when you and this goes all
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: the way back to Alice too. But but you know,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: when we go into a body of work and we
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: start recording it and it starts, you know, sounding like
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: songs and sound like an album. Uh, you know, the
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: way everybody kind of puts their uh you know, uh,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: puts their own order together of how they think it
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: should go. And it's really funny because most of the time,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: everybody knows where it's going to start and knows where
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: it's going to end. We're all in agreement, you know,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: and uh and so on brighton and and also on
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: this record, I knew the I knew the opening track
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: and I knew the end track before I even started
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: recording it. I knew Villafied was going to open it.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: It's just a you know, kicking the teeth, you know,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: it's a lot of energy to it. It's just four
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: and a half minutes of fury once it starts, and
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: and uh, on the flip side it comes, I thought
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: was a perfect closer as well.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: And I really loved the album covered to You Made,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: which is a simple black and white picture of honestly
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: door face, but it's love It in rain drops and
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: water like its very subtle and long, confrontational direct contrast
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: to the album's title more Blood.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, well, I mean, you know it's that that
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: that's a that's a that's a title that grabs you.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: You know, it's a strong title. And uh, and I
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: felt like it was appropriate for the the word that
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: you know it it titles, you know. So Uh, I
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: had that song I Want Blood and and it you
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: know what it says about lyrically and and uh, you know, uh,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: just the song itself felt like something a little bit
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: new to but uh, you know, you're trying to you know,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: when you're making a record, you're trying to make things
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: complimentary and and the imagery is an important part of
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: it too. And we did a we did a great
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: photo shoot with Darren Craig out here in Los Angeles,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: and uh, working with Ryan Clark from an Invisible creature.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: He's he's he's done the art work on I mean
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: for the last four or five records I've been involved with,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: so you know, and I trust him. He gets he
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: gets what we're what we're about, and uh, you know,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: we're old school, so you know, albums used to have
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: really cool artwork on it, you know, So I still
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: want to try to try to make sure that that
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: aspect of it, the visual aspect of it, is speaking
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: as loudly as the title or the or the music.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: The album also features a selection of pretty impressive guest
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: musicians such as Duff McKagan and Robert Trio shone like
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: Bordon back vocals from Big Persciato Melee most people in
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: the miracle to have just one of those performed on
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: the album, but don't strike me to type of person
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: to have big names think of it. So something must
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: have about those exactly the album you wanted.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you know, I just got a text from
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Robert about an hour ago, you know, and about the
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: record and how excited he was that it was coming
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: out too and and uh, you know on the work
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: outside of Alice, Uh, I go to I mean, we're
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: a bunch of friends anyway to this day, so uh,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: it's you know, Alison changes making music with your buddies,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: you know, and so well, I take that same the
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: same ethos when I'm working outside the band, I call
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: my buddies, you know. And uh, I've been really lucky
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: enough to, uh, to involve a lot of my friends
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: who I admire and are who are some of the best,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: you know, best musicians and and from some bands that
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: are very important to me in my life, you know,
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: and as a musician, and and I'm a fan, you know.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: So uh it's cool that they would that they lend
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: themselves to trying to bring in, you know, an album.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: I've got a certain vision that I'm trying to achieve,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: and and uh it's it's been really great. And if
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: you notice, you know, most I think most everybody you
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: mentioned I've done multiple records with, so you know, it's
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: it's kind of got a family hang kind of vibe
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: and and uh you know, uh, everybody's really really necessary
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: to the process and and helps elevate it by their
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: individual talent and their sound and and and they're desired
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: to to try to make some kick ass rock and roll,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: you know, like like like I'm trying to do.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: And Want Blood is also coming out of t LP
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: vinyl variants that in glut an atmospheric spoken word version
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: on the album Mate, Like, I've honestly.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: Never heard of that.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: People like, where did the guy do you come from?
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: I like it. Yeah, you know, uh, it's always you know,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: you try to you know, when you're making a record,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: you're trying to to do some fun little bits or
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: or you know, sometimes you'll do like, uh, you know,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: acapella tracks or or you know it's like like some
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: some uh you know, music only no vocal And I
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: was I was trying to think how we could do
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: something special. And it was at the very end of
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: the process too, like we were getting ready, we were
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: already pretty much finished and getting ready to go to
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: press as far as you know, pressing the vinyl, and
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: uh uh, we're trying to think about the vinyl single
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: for Vilify it. And I don't know why, but I
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: just thought it might be cool to do like a
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: spoken word thing of the lyrics. So I did that.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: And really talented guy by the name Max Eiroski. Maxwell
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Eiroski who did all the demos with me for this record.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: He's a really talented dude and musician himself, and I
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: listened to it and it was okay, and it was
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: okay the spoken word, but I'm like, maybe we should
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: put some music behind that. But I'd just written a
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: record and I didn't want to write any more music.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: I'm like, you want to put something to that, And
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: so he came up with this great piece of music,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: and we put him together, brought it in and I
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: showed Joe Burissa. He's like, he got two weeks, man,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: two weeks. So I put the call out to you know,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: a bunch of friends that made the record with me
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: and a few others like Bory Mayerge did a couple
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: of them. Who's who's in my touring band right now?
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: And everybody came up with these little pieces of music
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: and we kind of put them together and ended a
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: whole record of spoken word lyrics with some cool little
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: pieces of music. Also interestingly, interestingly enough, uh, nobody had
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: really heard the whole record, so nobody had any reference
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: of what the music should sound like, and it has
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: nothing to do with the actual songs themselves. So they're
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: all little, kind of cool little creations, uh uh, in
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: collaborations with with my friends, and uh, it might be
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: something cool for for a fan, just a little kind
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: of little extra bit and a different way to uh
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: to uh, a different light to see the see the lyrics.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: And I guess I just question.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: It hasn't gone that much through the album, but it's
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: something that I've always wondered. Like you've been playing, it's
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: quite what sort of things do you do? Interesting challenging
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: for yourself? Like almost second you by.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: Now, Yeah, I mean it's it's always a process, you know,
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: and I'm always surprised. It's funny. I was doing some
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: other interviews earlier today and somebody asked me similar question.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: And you know, a guitar or music in general, Uh,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: it's always there for you. It's always there to be
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: picked up, you know, and uh I always get something
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: out of it when I pick it up. And uh,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: it's it's a cool thing that that that's uh, it's
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: a constant and it's something that you can count on,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: you know, if you if you want it, it's there,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: you know. So and uh, you know, another another part
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: of it that that uh makes it special is that
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: you feel still feel that way, you know, after doing
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: this for a lot of years, and and uh, you know,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: I still I still really enjoy music. I really dig making.
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: It and uhh yeah, I'm I'm looking forward to the
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: final third of the of the process to start.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: You know now, which is the touring. So fantastic joy.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: Well, that's all up for it. I might have been
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: an absolutely pleasure speaking with you, right walk Bloody's out on.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: Well listen, it's a damn fine album. Bro now that
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: congratulations and.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Fuck, thank you so much. Thanks for having me man,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: I appreciate it.
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: Oh, it's gree than shaty market, shamdoll.
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: Shooting um doll t I c I f I cam.
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: It's mister drink, what is.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: The m l the cat?
• 17:00
  Speaker 5: That's song as you got a man. That's as if
• 17:21
  Speaker 5: you don't know it's a hell of a show, as if.
• 17:35
  Speaker 6: It's an all show, as it were, it's all Oh,
• 18:03
  Speaker 6: save beyond my family, oh my Soviet.
• 18:11
  Speaker 5: Beyond my failure. He mine a loud no a competen
• 18:26
  Speaker 5: yob different diner. It has it. You don't know. It's
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: a hell of a show, hasn't ye. It's an ell
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: of a show.
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: It's a bird.
• 19:25
  Speaker 5: It's an ell of a show.
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: Hasn't be
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: It's a