Another Famous Grunge Singer Once Tried to Join Alice In Chains

The late Layne Staley is well-known for being the vocalist of one of the biggest bands of the 90s, Alice in Chains. After he died in 2002, they went on to reform with a new frontman: William DuVall. Notably, however, another famous grunge singer once tried to join the band.

Back in 2014, Alice in Chains’ founding guitarist, Jerry Cantrell, made an appearance on Mohr Stories with host Jay Mohr. During then conversaiton, he revealed that former Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland reached out to him, at some point, about singing for AiC.

“I got a call from Weiland [laughs]. There was a discussion from his end, I think about [singing for Alice in Chains],” Cantrell confessed. Notably, he did not say exactly when this happened, possibly so as not to cause controversy with members of Weiland’s other bands: STP or Velvet Revolver.

While he never became an official member of Alice in Chains, Weiland did sing with the band live. Above, you can check out some fan-shot footage of him joining them onstage for a performance of “Angry Chair.”

Sadly, Weiland also passed away. In 2015, the beloved rock singer was found dead on his tour bus in Bloomington, Minnesota. He was 48 years old. Weiland had been touring with the Wildabouts, a side-project supergroup also featuring producer Doug Grean and Queens of the Stone Age drummer Joey Castillo.

A medical examiner later determined that Weiland’s cause of death was due to an accidental drug overdose

Weiland’s death came 13 years after the death of original Alice in Chains vocalist Layne Staley. He was found dead in his apartment on April 19, 2002. Medical examiners determined that, similar to Weiland, his cause of death was due to a drug overdose. They also reported that he’d likely been dead for roughly two weeks before his body was discovered.

In a 2024 interview, Cantrell reflected on his early friendship with Staley. Speaking to Rick Beato, he recalled the two of them having a lot in common. “We liked a lot of the same music, but we also had very individualistic tastes,” he said. “Things that he liked and things that I liked that were that were ours, and then we shared a bunch in the middle.”

He later added, “Of course, I miss him to death, but I appreciate the time we had, and the music we made together, and I carry on the tradition we started together.”

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