Jerry Cantrell Preserves In Wake of Staley’s Death from MTV.com

Of the many fans and musicians devastated by Layne Staley's death, his former Alice in Chains bandmate Jerry Cantrell was perhaps most affected upon receiving the news. The pair formed the backbone of the seminal Seattle grunge band in 1987, and it was their dichotomy — the tension of Cantrell's hardened riffs that plodded along as Staley's sinister vocals crept behind at a skulking pace — that gave the band its appeal to metalheads and grunge punks alike. Cantrell and Staley remained the group's creative force until their swan song, 1995's Alice in Chains.

In the wake of Staley's death, Cantrell, the most visible Alice in Chains member and the only one to release a solo album, 1998's Boggy Depot, won't cancel or postpone any dates of his upcoming tour to support his second solo album, Degradation Trip, whose release date has been moved a week earlier to June 18, according to Roadrunner Records (see "Jerry Cantrell Conjures Ghost Of Alice In Chains On New LP"). He's still set to appear at four gigs — the first of which takes place Thursday (April 25) in Fort Myers, Florida, where he'll be sharing a stage with Adema — before embarking on a tour with labelmates Nickelback beginning May 13 in Albuquerque, New Mexico (see "Nickelback To Launch Tour With Jerry Cantrell").

In the days immediately following the discovery of Staley's body on Friday (see "Layne Staley, Alice In Chains Singer, Dead At 34") Cantrell could not personally comment on his loss, according to a spokesperson from his label, and instead issued a collective statement with his former bandmates following a tribute to their fallen friend and frontman at the Seattle Center (see " 'An Angry Angel' — Layne Staley Remembered By Bandmates, Friends").