In our humble opinion, Seattle has never birthed a better quality rock act than AIC…not since Jimi, anyway!  Now a cinematic endeavour will enhance their latest material…

Earlier this year, Alice In Chains released Rainier Fog (BMG), their first album in five years.

It became the band’s first Top 10 UK album, also hitting No. 1 on Billboard’s Rock, Alternative and Hard Music Charts and No. 1 on the iTunes Rock Album Chart, and has now earned them a much-deserved Grammy nomination for ‘Best Rock Album’. It’s the band’s 9th Grammy nod.

The band has announced a special Rainier Fog movie project titled ‘Black Antenna’, produced and directed by filmmaker Adam Mason. Inspired by the sound of Rainier Fog, Mason has created a stunning 90-minute sci-fi film which will be rolled out in ten episodic segments/videos beginning at the top of the new year, with each episode set to a different song from the album. A ‘Black Antenna’ preview can be seen here.

“I’m a long-time fan of the band,” says Mason. “And this was an opportunity to do something fresh and inspiring from an indie filmmaking side. The sound and vision between album and film are closely intertwined – it was a brilliant synergy that led to a really unique project.”

“We’ve always toyed with the idea of creating videos for every song on one of our albums,” says drummer Sean Kinney. “Not only did we do that for Rainier Fog, it got totally out of hand and we made a whole goddamn movie. Everything that will be seen in the videos will be footage from ‘Black Antenna’ to preface the complete film’s release.”

‘Rainier Fog’ marks a few firsts for the band: in addition to being their first album in five years, it’s their first album for BMG and their first time recording in their hometown of Seattle in more than 20 years. They recorded at Studio X, the same facility where they tracked 1995’s self-titled Alice In Chains album (back when the studio was known as Bad Animals). The Rainier Fog recording process also saw the band spend time at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles and at the Nashville studio of producer Nick Raskulinecz. Rainier Fog is the third straight Alice In Chains album recorded with Raskulinecz and engineer Paul Figueroa. The album was mixed by Joe Barresi (Queens of the Stone Age, Tool).

The band celebrated the album’s release with a sold-out international tour that saw them playing to packed houses in over 20 countries around the world. The band return to Europe in May for a run of major headline dates and festivals including Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park in June as well as three UK shows, with a date at Birmingham’s Barclaycard Arena on the 24th and Wembley Arena on the 25th. These will be the biggest headline shows the band have played to date in the UK.

A full list of UK dates, venues and ticket links can be found below.

Pete Sargeant