Barrett Martin (the drummer who played with Layne in Mad Season) said that when he stood to the side of the stage, he could hear the sound of Layne’s vocal resonance come out of Layne's body LOUDER than it did coming out of the speakers, Layne's voice was that powerful. Layne drew the Above album cover art and wrote the lyrics to the original songs he sang on the Above album so they're about his addiction and recovery/12 step, Wake Up is basically telling himself to wake up from the 10-year love affair with drugs Slow suicide's no way to go (of course that is what happened, after the KISS shows in 1996 to 2002 it was a 6-year long slow suicide). My Top 5 Mad Season songs: Wake Up (Live at the Moore, 1995), Artificial Red (Live at the Moore, 1995), River of Deceit (Live at the Moore, 1995), a toss-up between I Don't Know Anything (Live at the Moore, 1995) OR X-Ray Mind (Live at the Moore, 1995), I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier (Live at the Moore, 1995... John Lennon wrote it, Layne PERFECTED the vocals, the song is good until they decided to put a distortion pedal on the saxophone, then it's just noise). According to Barett Martin, "Layne was an extremely intelligent, humorous, and gracious human being, and he cared about things like politeness and kindness to strangers, qualities that seem to be forgotten in today’s narcissistic, nihilistic culture. He laughed easily and talked openly with his fans, and his guest list at shows was always reserved for the young, marginalized people who couldn’t afford to buy a ticket. Those were Layne’s people, the ones without a voice, and through the power of poetic language, Layne gave them a voice." Barrett Martin's best personal memory of Layne "came when we were making the Above album and he was in the studio lounge reading Kahlil Gibran’s iconic book, The Prophet, a book I highly recommend everyone read at some point in your lives. I told him I had read it as a teenager, and I liked the part about the arrows you fire into the world to keep the darkness at bay. Layne said that as musicians we were like burning arrows, arcing across the sky. We started talking about what it meant to be an artist with a spiritual message and I can tell you that Layne deeply felt that he had a spiritual message to convey in his music, even if his lyrics were dark. And that is because darkness must exist first in order for light to emerge in contrast to it; the two are inseparable parts of the same continuum." "This theme is evident in all of Layne’s songs, both with Mad Season and Alice In Chains, and that is because he existed in a realm between darkness and light, a place where he could see both. So please remember this: Layne was very young when he wrote and sang those lyrics, he was only in his mid-twenties (27 when he was with Mad Season between mid to late 1994-April 29, 1995 before he went back to AIC to record Tripod), yet he said a huge amount with that incredible voice. Listen to his words, because he was singing a particular kind of truth that anyone who has lived under difficult circumstances can understand." Several years after Layne’s passing Barrett Martin got a call from an old friend in Massachusetts who had a couple of young children. While on a family drive through the countryside, he was playing the Above album when the last song on the album, "ALL ALONE," came on. One of the little ones in the back seat asked if there were angels singing on the song, a question that he relayed to Barrett over the phone. “Yeah, he was a certain kind of angel,” Barrett said, “a dark one perhaps, but an angel all the same.” I'm in the camp of No Layne/No Chains, because no matter which singer you put up there to sing those songs, it'll only be a cover. Layne had a unique voice you cannot replicate or replace. A lot of those songs were great because Layne pretty much wrung his entire soul out singing them, others were personal to Layne and to have someone else sing those, the songs lose their meaning because the new guy didn't go through the ordeals those songs are inspired by. Layne was so much more than his drug addiction. He was able to come up with lyrics, melodies, and harmonies off the top of his head. He knew that Jerry Cantrell was playing with the wrong people and gave him contact info for Sean Kinney and Mike Starr. He wrote the lyrics for the songs he sang on Mad Season's Above album and drew the cover art for that album. Layne was a genius in his own right. He was able to figure things out in a snap off the top of his head. Layne just had his demons. At the age of 34, he looked more like an 80-year-old man. He knew he screwed up, between the drugs and his own depression and then his former fiancee dying, Layne just couldn't find a way to dig himself out of his own mess, and at the end with his teeth problems and organs failing on him, he gave up trying. He lost sight of who his true friends were and who was using him. He was never going to give up the drugs. Instead, he tried to attain the same high he felt the first time he did drugs and could never achieve it. Layne wrote songs that gave a normal person insight into the mind and journey of an addict. The pain and depression he endured to write the most brutally honest lyrics a musician could write concerning his feelings on his own addiction and the emotional and physical strength he had to perform those songs live when all he wanted to do was curl away and lose himself in the drug haze I can’t imagine what it was like for him. He was hounded by the press about his addiction. He was ridiculed for his addiction. The music industry blackballed him for his addiction. The Grammys forgot about him when he died. As far as MTV and Rolling Stone were concerned he’s just another addicted singer. They don’t want to acknowledge his contributions to music. Layne Staley deserved better than what he received from the people around him who he thought mattered. He wrote about his feelings on his relationship with Demri, drugs, his feelings on his addiction, what he was going through, with maturity and knowledge well beyond his years. He didn’t deserve to be turned into tabloid cannon fodder by the press. Layne Staley had tried rehab 13 times (11 times at a rehab facility and 2 times cold turkey), but he could never completely give it up. He tried quitting cold turkey on two of the last attempts at rehab, but that didn't work either. He had gone into the wilderness with 3 friends, but when he got back to Seattle, he fell back into old habits and his addiction. Mad Season is made up of Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees, and John Baker Saunders and they all went through rehab. They all got together and dragged Layne out of his condo, got him excited about doing ABOVE album, thinking if he was creative he wouldn't want the drug, and for the length of time it took to do that, Layne was excited about the project, but it didn't curb his drug habit. But what came out were these dark, beautiful, haunting songs. Layne wrote the lyrics to the songs he sang on the ABOVE album (aside from the John Lennon cover I DON'T WANT TO BE A SOLDIER) and he drew the cover art for the album. They would have done a second album for Mad Season, but Layne's health had deteriorated due to his addiction and Baker died of an overdose in 1999... then Layne died in 2002. Mike Starr was the last person to see Layne alive. On April 4, 2002, Mike went to Layne’s condo. What I got from the interaction was that even though Layne told Mike he was sick, Layne still tried to get Mike to give up his prescription drug addiction. Layne was channel surfing and stumbled on Crossing Over. He turned to Mike and said, “Demri was here last night. I don’t give a fuck if you fucking believe me or not, dude. I’m telling you: Demri was here last night.” Mike, who was high on benzodiazepine, later said he was with Layne, “trying to keep him alive” and offered to call 911. Layne refused and threatened to never speak to him again if he did. Layne got agitated, telling Mike he was too high. Layne told him he was an idiot on the pills. Mike had enough. “Fine, I’ll just leave,” he told Layne. Layne, perhaps thinking he had made a mistake, said, “Not like this - don’t leave like this.” Those would be his final words to a friend he had known for nearly fifteen years. Mike went to his mother’s house and blacked out in the basement. The final encounter with Layne would haunt him for years afterward. After that, no one noticed he had died because he never answered the phone nor opened the door. AIC drummer Sean Kinney and Krist Novoselic of Nirvana would leave food for him, but he refused to open the door to them. It took inactivity over the span of two weeks for his ACCOUNTANT to notice something was wrong and called Susan Silver who called Layne's mother to alert her to the situation who then called 911. He died on April 5, 2002, but wasn't found until April 19, 2002.
Wow man. I'm 57 and was born just 8-9 months before Layne (11/29/66) and was in the same Jandra of people, music, and the times. This a well-thought-out write up and appreciate your detail and time sequence, as well as how Layne was treated by the music industry (which irks me because I feel everything he speaks in his songs). I was well am in the camp of "no Layne, no chains". I know people say I need to move on, etc etc, but this is my feeling with many bands. For instance, Dokken. No Dokken to me without Jeff Pilson and George Lynch on stage. I went to see them about 10 years ago and the only originals were Don and the drummer (who like a moron forgot his name). There are other instances too., but too many to list. Thanks for the insight, brother. I enjoyed reading it all.
this album is not very well known for being kinda well known..... among the gifted, connected, experienced, understood, and well traveled in life. pure gold to my soul
Fuck yeah! I love this album. One of the best albums of the '90. The guitarist is Mike McCready from Pearl Jam, one of the most underrated and underappreciated rock guitarists in the world. You need to hear Wake Up and X-ray Mind.👍
...and great respectful reaction. LS was waist deep by this point in time when recorded. Dying alone age 34,unknown for 2 weeks with his beloved cat,who was out of food,water but survived (His cat just passed away) Jerry Cantrall (guitarist) took the cat. He'd likely have kids,maybe a grandchild by now at age 55. Maybe more art,tho we'll never know.
BEAUTIFUL AND HEARTBREAKING!! I love Mad Season, Wake Up and Long Gone Day are amazing song and performances!! Awesome reaction. Thank you for sharing this awesome video 😊💓🤘✌️
He wrote it. 1995 near the end of his career and shortly before the final downward spiral which resulted in his passing in 2002. Heartbreaking and beautiful.
The meaning of Mad Season: River of Deceit as sung by Layne Staley. Start off by saying this is about Layne’s drug habits particularly with Heroin! Think about it: The river(blood flow in your veins) takes down the Deceit (Heroin). If you read the lyrics now with this in mind and counter the fact this eventually led to Layne’s death is poetic. He KNEW he had a problem and was conveying that to the listener. My pain is self chosen. Pull off my skin and swim to shore…Heroin addicts pick at their skin. Shore represents being off the drug…now I can grow a beautiful shell (New Skin) for ALL TO SEE. Listen again with this in mind.
Man, I started watching your Tool reactions and I'm glad that now your reaction videos of other artists are coming up in my feed. I've enjoyed every reaction I've watched you do so far and this one is no exception. This is such a great album. Several tracks also have Mark Lanegan, another legend no longer with us, doing vocals as well. The drummer, who I was glad to hear your reaction to his playing. He played drums in The Screaming Trees with Mark Lanegan. So this is truly a Seattle/grunge "supergroup".
It was during AIC-they had a break, it was a side project to get him from addiction. Guys from Mad season were clean and they thought that it would be a good envirement for Layne. He drew the cover of the album from the picture. It’s him and his girlfriend Demri. He was reading a book Prophet by Khalil Gibran which was a big inspiration for him while he was writing lyrics.
I'm assuming you've listened to Temple of the Dog before, but if not, definitely check them out. Most notable song is Hunger Strike. Band members from Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Mother Love Bone.
Beautiful reaction man love how you actually pay attention to the lyrics and the music and you can really see your emotions when listening you got a new subscriber here bro keep the layne staley coming 🤟
Absolutely love this song! Been watching your other Tool reactions as well! Great stuff! Would love to see you react to Tool's older more angry stuff! The Pot and Ænema are really fun 🤓 Also, Maynard has 2 other bands, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer! A Perfect Circle 3 Libras live on Jay Leno, Orestes, Blue, The Noose... Alice in Chains Nutshell MTV live performance! And Love Hate Love at the Moore are definitely worth checking out! Music saves lives 🎶 🎵 !!! Loving your reactions keep them coming!! 😁🖤 Tool Army!!
Thank you so much for watching Sonya, and thanks for recommending those songs, Ive been meaning to do A perfect Circle songs since a lot of people have mentioned that band. But, this songs was so great. Ill check out the Aline in Chains stuff as well.
@@anksreacts Awesome!! Thanks for the reply and great reaction btw! 😀 Will be searching for the Alice in Chains reactions too! Have a great day sweetheart 🙂
5:28 he did and he made US feel it too. The is recorded in 1994 after Jar of Flies pre AIC self titled. -Mike McCreedy (Guitarist of Pearl Jam) - Barrett Martin (Drummer Screaming Trees) - John Baker Saunders (Jazz Bass player( who later played with The Walkabouts) History: Alice In Chains were founded in 87 but then started working on Demoing facelift (first commercial album) Heavy Touring started in 89 and these guys worked hard they toured hundreds of days before a short break until late October 1993. Layne started using H heavily in 1991 but also crack ramped up and he was subsequently sober for the first half of lollaplaooza in the summer of 93. However, by the end it was obvious he was back to his old habit but far worse. So, 1994 since Layne wasn’t touring, and not because of his drug use as reported but because his long time love, also a severe user, was going to die. She was in the ICU for months due to endocarditis… she made it out that time (along with the next few ICU stays, emergency heart surgery, pig valves placed in her damaged/infected heart valves)… regardless, if you look at photos of Layne at the end of 1993 I to 1994 and beyond.. he is wearing leaver gloves AT ALL TIMES! This is to hide track marks. Now back to Mad Season and how it came to be. McCready was in rehab with John Baker Saunders and they also knew Barrett Martin had recently gotten sober and they wanted to form a group around sobriety because they wanted to help Lane get out of his addiction since it was so bad. Lane didn’t want to do it but they talked him into it by telling him he had full control over his lyrics everything obviously they all wrote it together, but wrote most of it in terms of lyrics and some melodies of the songs… Yeah, it’s weird… if you’ve never heard of Mad Season, it makes sense - it wasn’t publicly acclaimed (?) this if you aren’t 40 or older id imagine unless an older sibling or family member listens to it you probably would know / heard of and about Mad Season (SUPER GROUP) it’s almost like they have a cult following for my gen but younger kids are finally discovering it. Those of us who were around when it came out from Seattle, we Still listen to this day! Thirty years (almost) and it doesn’t get old. It’s a beautiful album and Layne has the gift to put you in your feels!knowing Laynes story in and out really allows the listener to understand him and what he is saying. Also, if you have trauma, it is super relatable… This was Laynes most personal album lyrically. Also, again, once you know Laynes full story (then his good friend mark lanagan’s story) there are three new songs sung by Mark on the rerelease Deluxe album and the band wrote them for both Baker- Saunders and Layne as each died of an OD. Baker Saunders first… Sorry for the long post but if you like this, Layne’s whole catalogue is up there with perfection.
Layne wrote the lyrics to the entire album. Although some were co-wrote and sung by Mark Lannegan. This entire album seems like a begging prayer to himself to kick his habit. There's no better example of this than the other great hit of this album 'Wake Up'.
