Elton John, veteran pop rocker, will be making his guest appearance on “Black Gives Way to Blue,” the forthcoming album from Alice In Chains.
On the title track of the album, John plays piano. A recent press release describes the song as a heart stirring and moving tribute to Layne Staley, late lead singer for Alice In Chains.
In a recent press release, Jerry Cantrell, vocalist and guitarist for Alice In Chains said, we were thinking of adding piano onto that track. A friend said we should call Elton. I laughed and said, sure I’ll get on that right away. I decided it would be worth at least trying so I wrote an email to Elton and explained the meaning of the song to us and told him it was a raw and real open hearted song that was for Layne. We sent the track to Elton and he called us right away saying he thought the song was beautiful and wanted to play piano on it. His reaction blew us away.
Cantrell added, Elton John was a big influence for my songwriting. Having him on our song is quite an honor for us.
John said, I’ve admired Jerry Cantrell for a very long time. I was quite flattered when he asked if I would play on their song “Black Gives Way to Blue.” I couldn’t resist. The recording session was great. It’s a very beautiful song.
Cantrell said Elton was in Vegas wrapping up his run of “Red Piano.” We flew in and for a couple hours hung out. When we walked into the studio and saw the sheet music on Elton’s piano for the song it was so meaningful on many levels. That experience was very magical.
“Black Gives Way to Blue” is scheduled to be released on September 29. It will be the first studio release from Alice In Chains in over a decade. It will mark guitarist/singer William DuVall’s debut as the new frontman for the band. DuVall Cantrell, Sean Kinney, drummer, and Mike Inez, bassist, recorded the album with Nick Raskulinecz, producer (Foo Fighters, Rush) in Northridge, CA at Studio 606 and in Hollywood, CA at Henson Studios.
The first single of “Black Gives Way to Blue” called “A Look in View” is streaming at Alice in Chains’ website along with the companion music video for the song. The cover art and complete track listing for the album are also featured on the website.
Alice In Chains is planning to launch their pre-release tour. In early September it will be kicking off. So far the trek has 16 cities scheduled across the country. The band will be warming up for their outing with an appearance on August 22 at Ponoma, CA’s Fairplex with the very first Epicenter Show. The gig will also be featuring Linkin Park and Tool.
