This record comes three years after Brighten, so you’re really closing the gap on your solo releases. What does that suggest about your enthusiasm for, and confidence in, your solo material these days?
“Well, I don’t often get the opportunity to do them. In an unplanned way, the four [solo] records have been done in twos, back-to-back. So Boggy Depot [1998] and Degradation Trip [Volumes 1 & 2, 2002] were done back-to-back, and the same with Brighten and I Want Blood. I didn’t intend for that to be the case, but life is cyclical and you go with what you feel. I had a really great time making and touring Brighten, so when I got back from that tour, I quickly got into working on a new batch of tunes. I felt it was something I wanted to continue to explore a little bit, and I had the opportunity and time to do it. All you can really do in life is follow your gut.”
This is a very different record to Brighten. You mention the records being made ‘back-to-back’, but did any of these new songs come during the making of Brighten but didn’t fit, musically or thematically, or did they all come later as a direct response?
“I’m always recording ideas, stumbling upon ideas that pique my interest and throwing them down. I might not get back to it right away, but it’s down. I do that constantly. After some time, I’ll start going through ‘the riff mine’, as I call it, which can often spawn other things spontaneously. There’s a couple of riffs I’ve had around for a couple of years, but lyrically and sonically, the majority of this record happened in the last year-and-a-half – a completely clean slate, which is a good way to start. Alice In Chains were never really a band that had a lot of extra stuff that didn’t make it to a record, so you get what you get, which is something I’ve carried with me when I work outside the band.”
You mention a clean slate, but there appears to be connective tissue between Brighten and I Want Blood. Take, for instance, the song Afterglow from this new record, with its connotations of glowing embers that follow bright flames. Is there a connection?
“There is. I remember reading that David Bowie would return to a handful of subjects for a lot of his material, and I relate to that. If you feel a connection to previous work, then that’s good – that’s what you want because that’s your musical fingerprint and you can, within reason, go where you want and that’s going to go with you. Meanwhile, you’re creating stuff that never existed before, while trying to get better at your craft. It’s as surprising to me where things end up as it is to anyone else. I’m a fan of this record. If I wasn’t me and I wasn’t in Alice In Chains, I’d be a fan of Alice In Chains and these records I’ve made.”