Mike Inez | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Michael Allen Ines [1] [2] |
Born | Los Angeles County, California, U.S. [3] | May 14, 1966
Genres | |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instrument(s) | Bass guitar |
Years active | 1983–present |
Member of | Alice in Chains |
Formerly of |
Michael Allen Inez (born May 14, 1966) [2] is an American rock musician and bassist. Since 1993, Inez has been the bassist of the American rock band Alice in Chains. He is also recognized for his work with Ozzy Osbourne from 1989 to 1993. Inez also has connections with Slash's Snakepit, Black Label Society, Spys4Darwin, and Heart. He is of Filipino descent. [4] [5] Inez has earned seven Grammy Award nominations as a member of Alice in Chains. [6]
Mike Inez began his career in music by playing guitar and saxophone. Since the late 1980s, his career has consisted of the role of bass guitarist in popular hard rock bands.
In 1989, more than 50 musicians auditioned for Ozzy Osbourne's group, and Inez, then a member of the local L.A. band Skin on Skin, won the spot of bassist. Within a month, Inez was playing live at a gig with Osbourne at Wembley Stadium.[ citation needed ]
Inez was an official member of Osbourne's band during their recording of the No More Tears album. However, Bob Daisley was brought in to record the bass and none of Inez's playing is on the final album. In the liner notes Inez was credited as "bass and music inspiration," as he had written the riff to the title track in a jam session. Inez also appeared on the 1993 Osbourne live album, Live & Loud .
By January 1993 Inez had moved on to his next project. Alice in Chains bassist Mike Starr had left the group after the release of their album Dirt and Inez replaced him. Inez toured throughout 1993 with Alice in Chains on the strength of the Dirt album. The group also participated in the 1993 Lollapalooza Tour. Alice in Chains' Jar of Flies EP was released in 1994 with Inez on bass. Jar of Flies debuted at #1 on album sales charts, the first EP ever to do so. [7]
Inez recorded with the band for their eponymous 1995 release Alice in Chains , which also debuted at #1. In 1996, Alice in Chains recorded their MTV Unplugged special, the first live performance the group had played together in three years. After their last live performance on July 3, 1996, Alice in Chains went on hiatus. Then in August 1998 Alice in Chains returned to the studio to release the songs "Get Born Again" and "Died". In 1999 the band went on hiatus once again, when rumors of vocalist Layne Staley's drug abuse arose. Alice in Chains officially disbanded on April 20, 2002, after the news of the death of Staley.
In 1995, Inez played with Slash on the Guns N' Roses guitarist's side group, Slash's Snakepit. The group recorded It's Five O'Clock Somewhere although Inez did not play any live shows during the corresponding tour.[ citation needed ] He also briefly rejoined Ozzy Osbourne's band on the Retirement Sucks tour after Geezer Butler resigned due to the pressures of touring.
In 1997 Inez played with his Alice in Chains bandmate, Jerry Cantrell, on his debut solo album, Boggy Depot . In the following year, Inez played on the bonus track to Black Label Society's debut album Sonic Brew , a reworked heavy metal cover version of the Osbourne track "No More Tears". At around this time, Inez formed the band Spys4Darwin with Sean Kinney, Chris DeGarmo from Queensrÿche, and Vinnie Dombroski from Sponge. They released the microfish EP, and played radio festivals in the Northwest.
In mid-August 2001, Inez temporarily replaced Black Label Society bassist Steve Gibb, who was sent home in the middle of their Ozzfest tour. In 2003, Black Label Society's Robert Trujillo joined Metallica; Inez replaced him in Black Label Society, joining for a short two-week west coast tour of the United States and a short tour of Japan for their The Blessed Hellride album. A few songs from the Tokyo, Japan show of this tour appear in the bonus features section of their live DVD, Boozed, Broozed & Broken-Boned . In 2004, Inez recorded the track "Crazy or High" with Black Label Society for their studio album release Hangover Music Vol. VI .
Following Layne Staley's death in April 2002, Inez joined Heart and toured with the band from 2002 through 2006. [8] He appears on Heart's 2003 release, Alive in Seattle, a double CD live recording that documents a 2002 concert at Seattle's Paramount Theatre. [9]
Inez also played bass and tambourine on Heart's 2004 album Jupiters Darling . [10]
In 2005, Jerry Cantrell, Inez, and Sean Kinney reunited to perform a benefit concert in Seattle for victims of the tsunami disaster that struck South Asia in 2004. By 2006 Inez, along with the surviving members of Alice in Chains, Jerry Cantrell and Sean Kinney, set out for a world tour with various guest singers to fill in for the late Layne Staley. The main singer for the band's tour was William DuVall. The band was also featured on Decades of Rock: Heart and Friends where they performed "Would?" with Phil Anselmo and "Rooster" with William DuVall. DuVall would go on to be made the permanent singer of the group, which has since released three studio albums with Duvall and toured extensively since 2006.
In late 2002, Inez was considered to replace Jason Newsted in Metallica. [11]
At the 2007 VH1 Rock Honors, Alice in Chains performed the tribute to Heart. Inez is the only musician who has been a member of both bands.
Inez was a guest player on "Under the Gun" from Motörhead's 2006 album Kiss of Death .
In early 2008, Inez recorded a "Behind the Player" instructional DVD with the help of John Tempesta. The DVD features lessons of some of Mike's favorite Alice in Chains songs, and a sit down in depth interview.
In 2019, Inez was a guest bass player on Mark Morton's debut solo album Anesthetic . [12]
Inez married his fiancée Sydney Kelly on May 8, 2010, at the estate of Susan Silver, Alice in Chains' manager. [13]
According to Bass Player Magazine, Inez uses the following basses:
They are strung with medium-gauge Dean Markley Blue Steel strings.
Inez uses four Ampeg SVT-2PRO heads, two of them plugged into four 1x18" cabinets for the lows, and the other two plugged into two 8x10" cabinets. In addition, he sends his signal direct to the mixing board with a Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver DI. [14]
Year | Album details | Band | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1993 | Live & Loud
| ||
1994 | Jar of Flies
| Alice in Chains | |
1995 | It's Five O'Clock Somewhere
| Slash's Snakepit | |
Alice in Chains
| Alice in Chains | ||
1996 | Unplugged
| ||
1999 | Nothing Safe: Best of the Box
| ||
Music Bank
| |||
2000 | Live
| ||
2001 | Greatest Hits
| Bass on tracks 6–10. | |
Microfish
| Spys4Darwin | ||
2003 | Alive in Seattle
| Heart | |
2004 | Jupiters Darling
| ||
2006 | The Essential Alice in Chains
| Alice in Chains | Bass on Disc 2 except "Would?" |
2009 | Black Gives Way to Blue
| ||
2013 | The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
| ||
2018 | Rainier Fog
| ||
2019 | Live in Atlantic City
| Heart |
Year | Album details | Band | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1998 | Boggy Depot
| Jerry Cantrell | Bass on "Cut You In", "Jesus Hands" and "Devil by His Side" |
1999 | Sonic Brew
| Black Label Society | On track "No More Tears" |
2003 | Boozed, Broozed & Broken-Boned
| Live DVD. Mike appears on the Tokyo, Japan section | |
2004 | Hangover Music Vol. VI
| On track "Crazy Or High" | |
2005 | Kings of Damnation 98–04
| On "Crazy Or High" and on "No More Tears" (from Bonus Disc) | |
2019 | Anesthetic
| Mark Morton | Tracks 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9 |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1995 | The Nona Tapes | Himself | Short film |
2013 | AIC 23 | Unta Gleeben Glabben Globben Globin | Short film |
Alice in Chains is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1987. Since 2006, the band's lineup has comprised vocalist/guitarists Jerry Cantrell and William DuVall, bassist Mike Inez and drummer Sean Kinney. Vocalist Layne Staley and bassist Mike Starr are former members of the band. The band took its name from Staley's previous group, Alice N' Chains. Often associated with grunge music, Alice in Chains' sound and style is deeply rooted in heavy metal music. The band is known for its distinctive vocal style, which often included the harmonized vocals between Staley and Cantrell, making Alice in Chains a two-vocal band.
Dirt is the second studio album by American rock band Alice in Chains. It was released on September 29, 1992, by Columbia Records. Peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart, the album received critical acclaim. It has since been certified quintuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), making Dirt the band's highest selling album to date. It was the band's last album recorded with all four original members, as bassist Mike Starr was fired in January 1993 during the tour to support the album. The album spawned five singles: "Would?", "Them Bones", "Angry Chair", "Rooster", and "Down in a Hole", all with accompanying music videos. Dirt was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. The music video for "Would?" was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Best Video from a Film, as the song was featured on the soundtrack to Cameron Crowe's 1992 film Singles.
Layne Thomas Staley was an American singer and songwriter who was the original lead vocalist of Alice in Chains, which rose to international fame in the early 1990s as part of Seattle's grunge movement. He was known for his distinctive vocal style as well as his harmonizing with bandmate Jerry Cantrell. Prior to his success with Alice in Chains, Staley was also a member of the glam metal bands Sleze and Alice N' Chains. He was also a part of the supergroups Mad Season and Class of '99.
Facelift is the debut studio album by the American rock band Alice in Chains, released by Columbia Records on August 28, 1990. The tracks "We Die Young", and "Man in the Box" were released as singles. "Man in the Box" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal in 1992. Facelift became the first grunge album to be certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), achieving this feat on September 11, 1991. The album peaked at No. 42 on the Billboard 200 chart, and has been certified triple-platinum by the RIAA for shipments of three million copies in the United States.
Jerry Fulton Cantrell Jr. is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the founder, lead guitarist, co-lead vocalist, and main songwriter of the rock band Alice in Chains. The band rose to international fame in the early 1990s during Seattle's grunge movement and is known for its distinctive vocal style and the harmonized vocals between Cantrell and Layne Staley. Cantrell started to sing lead vocals on Alice in Chains' 1992 EP Sap. After Staley's death in 2002, Cantrell took the role of Alice in Chains' lead singer on most of the songs from the band's post-Staley albums, Black Gives Way to Blue (2009), The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here (2013), and Rainier Fog (2018), with DuVall harmonizing with him in the new songs and singing Staley's vocals in the old songs in live concerts.
Alice in Chains is the third studio album by American rock band Alice in Chains. It was released on November 7, 1995, by Columbia Records, and was the follow-up to the highly successful Dirt (1992). This is the band's first full-length studio album to feature bassist Mike Inez and their last studio album to feature original lead vocalist Layne Staley before his death in 2002. It is also their final studio album to be released through Columbia. As with their previous releases, the album's songs focus on heavy emotional content and subject matter such as drug addiction, depression, religion, broken relationships, and the internal tensions within the band fueled by Staley's substance abuse. The album's music relies less on metallic riffs and more on melody and texturally varied arrangements, integrating some of the more delicate acoustic moods of their EPs.
Unplugged is a live album by the American rock band Alice in Chains, released on July 30, 1996, by Columbia Records. It was recorded on April 10, 1996, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Majestic Theatre for the television series MTV Unplugged. The show was directed by Joe Perota and first aired on MTV on May 28, 1996. Home video releases of the MTV broadcast were released on VHS in October 1996, and on DVD in October 1999. The MTV Unplugged was Alice in Chains' first concert in two and a half years, and contains live, acoustic versions of the band's biggest hits and lesser-known songs.
Degradation Trip is the second solo album by Alice in Chains guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell, released on June 18, 2002. It marks his difficult transition from Columbia Records to Roadrunner, and was dedicated to Alice in Chains lead singer Layne Staley, who died two months before the album's release. The title was taken from the song "Solitude", the fifth track from the album. Degradation Trip featured two singles and was well received by critics, faring better than Cantrell's solo debut and bearing stronger resemblance to his work in Alice in Chains. The tracks "Anger Rising" and "Angel Eyes" were released as singles. "Anger Rising" reached No. 10 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks and stayed on the chart for 18 weeks. The album has sold 100,000 copies in the U.S. as of December 2002. In April 2019, it was ranked No. 21 on Rolling Stone's "50 Greatest Grunge Albums" list. Degradation Trip was released on vinyl for the first time on January 20, 2017, with a limited edition of 1,500 copies on transparent green vinyl.
Sean Howard Kinney is an American musician, best known as the drummer and co-founder of the rock band Alice in Chains. Kinney also founded the short-lived supergroup Spys4Darwin, and has collaborated with other artists such as Johnny Cash and Metallica. He played drums for his Alice in Chains bandmate, Jerry Cantrell's first solo album, Boggy Depot (1998). Since 2009, Kinney has been co-owner of The Crocodile club in Seattle. He was a guest drummer on NBC's Late Night with Seth Meyers in September 2018. Kinney has earned nine Grammy Award nominations as a member of Alice in Chains.
Michael Christopher Starr was an American musician best known as the original bassist for the rock band Alice in Chains, with which he played from the band's formation in 1987 until January 1993. He was also a member of Sato, Gypsy Rose, Sun Red Sun and Days of the New.
William Bradley DuVall is an American musician best known as the current co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the rock band Alice in Chains. He joined Alice in Chains in 2006, replacing the band's original lead singer, Layne Staley, who died in 2002, and shares vocal duties with guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell. DuVall has recorded three albums with the band: 2009's Black Gives Way to Blue, 2013's The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here, and 2018's Rainier Fog. DuVall won an ASCAP Pop Music Award for co-writing the song "I Know" for Dionne Farris in 1996 and has earned three Grammy Award nominations as a member of Alice in Chains.
"I Stay Away" is a song from Alice in Chains' 1994 EP Jar of Flies, and the second single from the album. This song marked the first time the band wrote with bassist Mike Inez. The single reached No. 10 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks, and stayed in the chart for 26 weeks. "I Stay Away" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1995. The song was included on the compilation albums Nothing Safe: Best of the Box (1999), Music Bank (1999), Greatest Hits (2001), and The Essential Alice in Chains (2006).
"Get Born Again" is a song by the American rock band Alice in Chains and, along with "Died", one of the last two songs recorded with vocalist Layne Staley before his death in 2002. The song was released as the lead single from the compilation Nothing Safe: Best of the Box (1999) on June 1, 1999. It peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and at No. 12 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. "Get Born Again" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2000. The song was also included on the compilation albums Music Bank (1999) and The Essential Alice in Chains (2006).
"Over Now" is a song by the American rock band Alice in Chains. Written by Jerry Cantrell, who also sings lead vocals, the song is the last track on the band's third studio album, Alice in Chains (1995), and it is about the 1995 breakup of the band. The song closed the televised broadcast of Alice in Chains' MTV Unplugged performance, and that version was released as a single in 1996. The B-side is the original studio version. The single peaked at No. 4 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and at No. 24 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1996. The song was included on the live album Unplugged (1996), on the box set Music Bank (1999), and the compilation album The Essential Alice in Chains (2006). The MTV Unplugged concert was the first and only time that Alice in Chains performed the song. It was performed again 23 years later at Jerry Cantrell's solo concert at the Pico Union Project in Los Angeles on December 6, 2019.
"Don't Follow" is a song by American rock band Alice in Chains. It is the third single from the band's 1994 EP Jar of Flies. The song was written by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell, who sings lead vocals in the first part of the song, followed by Layne Staley in the second part. The single spent seven weeks on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and peaked at No. 25.
"Nutshell" is a song by Alice in Chains that originally appeared on the band's 1994 extended play Jar of Flies. The band played it on MTV Unplugged in 1996, and this rendition of the song was included on the compilation album Music Bank (1999), as well as The Essential Alice in Chains (2006). Since 2011, guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell dedicates "Nutshell" to Alice in Chains' late original members Layne Staley and Mike Starr during the band's concerts.
Spys4Darwin were an American rock supergroup formed in Seattle, Washington in 2001. The short-lived project featured members from Seattle-based groups Queensrÿche and Alice in Chains as well as the frontman of Detroit, Michigan-based group Sponge. Spys4Darwin began with guitarist Chris DeGarmo and drummer Sean Kinney, two friends who had both recently performed with Jerry Cantrell during his solo tour. They were soon joined by bassist Mike Inez and vocalist Vin Dombroski, and began jamming at Binge Studios, an abandoned paint factory in Seattle. The project marked DeGarmo's first creative work since departing from his long-held position in Queensrÿche in 1998.
Black Gives Way to Blue is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Alice in Chains, released on September 29, 2009, on the 17th anniversary of the release of their second album, Dirt. It is their first record without original lead singer Layne Staley, who died in 2002, and their first album with new vocalist and rhythm guitarist William DuVall sharing vocal duties with lead guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell, who sings lead vocals on most of the songs. The title track is a tribute to Staley featuring Elton John on piano. This is the first Alice in Chains album released on Virgin Records and their first venture away from Columbia, who handled all of their previous releases. The album debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, and was certified gold by the RIAA on May 26, 2010, with shipments exceeding 500,000 copies in the U.S. and over 1 million copies sold worldwide. "Check My Brain" and "A Looking in View" were both nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2010 and 2011, respectively. Black Gives Way to Blue won Revolver magazine's Golden Gods Award for Album of the Year in 2010.
"Rainier Fog" is a song by the American rock band Alice in Chains. It is the fourth single and the title track to the band's sixth studio album, Rainier Fog (2018). Written by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell, the song is a tribute to the Seattle music scene and the band's former members, Layne Staley and Mike Starr, and the title was inspired by Mount Rainier, a volcano that overlooks Seattle. The single peaked at No. 20 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart. Excerpts from the lyrics are featured upside down on the album cover. The full lyrics to "Rainier Fog" are inscribed on the bottom plate of Jerry Cantrell's signature Dunlop Cry Baby Wah pedal, released in April 2019.