Alice in Chains back on tour and ready to rock Soundwave

Veteran rock giants throw off the chains to still blow the young 'uns away, proving their resurrection is one that's here to stay

Alice in Chains are back with a run of dates for Soundwave 2014.

Alice In Chains co-founder Jerry Cantrell is reminiscing about ugly strippers, gaffer tape and Van Halen, as he gazes out his window "on a fine Seattle day - (10) degrees and overcast".

Cantrell - the band's chief songwriter, guitarist and co-vocalist - fondly recalls an escalating series of pranks between his outfit and Van Halen that almost got out of hand on their 1991 tour.

"The very last show they got us really good," he says.

"They covered the whole stage with upside down gaffer tape. They had the most unattractive strippers you could imagine come out and dance around and then they had the crew come out dressed as Little Bo Peep with sheep and lambs when we were doing Man In
the Box."

To top it all off, as Alice in Chains tried to chug through their final song, Van Halen began carrying off their equipment, a piece at a time.

"They left Sean with a kick drum and a snare drum, they left me with one cabinet and I think they may have taken (bassist) Mike's stuff completely off," Cantrell says laughing.

The early 1990s were Alice In Chain's glory years, with the band achieving mainstream success a year earlier than Seattle brethren Nirvana, after MTV put Man In the Box on heavy rotation.

The grunge wave pushed their music to a huge audience and they had a series of hit records including the quadruple platinum Dirt (1992), the chart-topping EP Jar Of Flies (1994), and No. 1 album Alice In Chains (1995).

And then it all came to a screeching halt thanks to heroic levels of drug abuse, which saw the band go on indefinite hiatus from 1996. Drugs ended up claiming the lives of frontman Layne Staley in 2002 and original bass player Mike Starr two years ago.

Cantrell, who wrestled with his own drug problems, admits he thought it was all over for Alice In Chains.

"When Layne passed away that was pretty much it," Cantrell says. "So to have the band start back up organically like it did (was incredible)."

The reunion, for a tsunami victims benefit concert in 2005, turned into a series of gigs with various stand-ins including Mark Lanegan, James Hetfield and Scott Weiland, before the big-haired William DuVall signed up as Staley's full time replacement.

"Having William come on board and take on all the bulls--- he was going to have to take from a lot of people, and see him become accepted and go far beyond where you thought he could go . . . It's been a successful run," Cantrell says.

Their first album in 14 years, 2009's Black Gives Way To Blue went gold in the US, peaked at No. 5 there, and No. 12 here.

"We have our own standards and we're lucky enough that if we've met that standard, it seems to resonate with other people and, most importantly, the people who've been with us all along," Cantrell says.

Australian fans got their first taste of the new line-up at Soundwave that year when Alice blew most of the hot new acts off the stage. Cantrell has "warm" memories of the weather being sunny - very important to Seattle natives - and the people fantastic. He says they played some great rock shows and "hit quite a few of the casinos. You've got some nice poker rooms in Australia".

They are back for another run of dates with Soundwave 2014 and their new album, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here released in May this year, confirmed the resurrected band were here to stay, debutingdebuted at number 2 in the US, number 10 here and getting was flogged by US rock radio. The title is a deliberate shot at "Right-wing religious nuts", as Cantrell calls them.

"We thought that might disturb a little s--- there and that was intentional," he says.

"The song (the title is taken from) deals with how lame we are to people because we believe something different or live in a different way. It's an odd thing we haven't grown with the times. (It) wasn't any sort of political manifesto. It's just a great song and a great title."

And you know you've made it to legendary status when you get mad respect in a big movie.

Director Judd Apatow paid tribute to the band in This Is 40, when Paul Rudd's character blows his top at his wife and daughters singing Nicki Minaj and he tries to get them into the 1992 track Rooster instead.

"This is called good music, from somebody's heart," he tells his family.

"This is what's going to survive in 100 years."

They look at him blankly.

"It doesn't make people happy," his wife, complains.

"It makes me happy," he says.

The band loved that scene.

"A lot of directors have an incredible sense of musical history and to have that song be part of that movie . . . I love that movie, especially the singing and him saying, 'Just once I wish one of you had a d---!' "

SEE Alice In Chains, Soundwave, Feb. 28, Flemington Racecourse, $184.65, oztix.com.au