It’s been a good couple of weeks to be a grunge fan. Fourteen unreleased Nirvana tracks landed on (and subsequently disappeared from) the Internet, the genre’s most enduring icon was celebrated by an 1,000-musician strong stunt, and now we have a newly discovered recording of Alice in Chains from all the way back in 1989.
The footage comes from a show that AIC played at Washington State University a mere month after the band signed their record deal with Columbia.
The footage also comes along with a complete history of the gig, compiled by Alternative Nation. The article contains interviews with local news outlets, radio spots advertising the gig, and photos. But perhaps most interesting is the revelation that Layne Staley was troubled by drug addiction even then. Former WSU student Brian Marin found out as much after meeting the band.
“Layne disclosed something to me that night – that he’d never taken the stage where he wasn’t high on something. I remember thinking how sad that was – that the idea that he didn’t think he could get on stage unless he was using, seemed scary to me.”
For more Alice in Chains, check out the story of how Layne Staley almost fronted Audioslave.
