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Remaining Alice In Chains Members Reuniting For Summer Shows

MTV.com reports that the surviving members of Alice In Chains will be reuniting for a number of gigs this summer, and a possible North American tour, and are seeking a vocalist for those gigs and possibly for recording future material with the band either under their name or a new band name.

In the words of Jerry Cantrell, "There will be some Alice in Chains shows this year — that's a fact." There may even be a new record from the grunge rockers, who've been idle for close to 10 years. At this point, the guitarist said, all he can really say is that the band is active, and that the remaining members of Alice — himself, bassist Mike Inez and drummer Sean Kinney — will be taking the stage this summer to perform songs from the band's catalog.

"We're making it up as we go along," Cantrell explained. "It's what we always did in the past. We're writing the book as we live it. We feel confident that we will have a good time and that it's something that will live up to the same level. It's an exploratory thing, and we're just having fun with it. We'd like to go out and play for the people that supported us and love the music as much as we have all these years. We want to celebrate what we did and the memory of our friend."

Cantrell of course refers to Layne Staley, the late Alice In Chains frontman, who died in April 2002 from a mixture of heroin and cocaine at 34 years old.

"We have played with some [singers] who can actually bring it and add their own thing to it without being a Layne clone," Cantrell explained, adding that the three remaining Alice In Chains members will be meeting with several would-be Staley proxies in the coming months, to front the group at European festival gigs. Alice in Chains have been listed as one of the acts performing at Austria's NovaRock Festival in June, but the guitarist said nothing's been confirmed yet.

Kinney said the band hopes to play several North American dates this summer. Cantrell, Kinney and Inez started jamming together late last year, and the reunion will get into full swing March 10, when the reunited Alice in Chains perform at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey, as part of VH1 Classic's "Decades Rock Live" homage to Heart. Former Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro, Velvet Revolver bassist Duff McKagan, "American Idol" winner Carrie Underwood, Rufus Wainwright and Gretchen Wilson are also set to appear. Cantrell promised a host of other special guests during the show, but he wouldn't give names.

The band will perform with Comes With the Fall frontman William DuVall — a member of Cantrell's touring band. DuVall could, theoretically, be part of the Alice in Chains fold come this summer. "We've done some rehearsing with Will and we're having a lot of fun with him," Cantrell said. "But we're still in the beginning stages where we're trying to figure out what we want to do. He could cut it, without a doubt — but we haven't made a final decision on that yet."

Kinney continued, "I don't see continuing as Alice and replacing somebody. ... We're not trying to replace Layne. We want to play these songs one more time, and if it seems like the right thing to do, it'll happen. I don't know how long it will go or where it will take us. It's kind of a tribute to Layne and our fans, the people who love these songs. It's not some 'I'm broke and I need the money' situation. We love playing together."

Kinney said Alice in Chains had been approached by the producers of "Rock Star" for the reality show's second season. They turned the offer down.

Read the full article at MTV.com.