Degradation Trip - Background

Background

Not long after the April 1998 release of Cantrell's solo debut, Boggy Depot, he began work on a sophomore record which he confidently projected for a mid-'99 release. The majority of this follow-up, later entitled Degradation Trip, was written in the seclusion of a house in the Cascade Mountains. In a state of self-imposed isolation Cantrell recorded the demos using a four-track recorder and a battered Gibson Les Paul. In 2002, he detailed the experience of writing the album and its outcome:

"In '98, I locked myself in my house, went out of my mind, and wrote 25 songs. I rarely bathed during that period of writing; I sent out for food; I didn't really venture out of my house in three or four months. It was a hell of an experience. The album is an overview of birth to now. . . Boggy Depot is like kindergarten compared to this. The massive sonic growth from Boggy Depot to Degradation Trip is comparable to the difference between our work in the Alice in Chains albums Facelift to Dirt, which was also a tremendous leap."

"I got into a writing session which lasted for three or four months where I just continued to spew and pour all of this shit out of the depths of myself from every level and aspect of my life. I dealt with a lot of issues that aren't easy for me to verbally get across. I think it's easier for me to do it in a musical venue. But it was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I'm glad I did it and I'm glad I went through the experience, but it's certainly something I don't ever want to do again."

Amidst writing a surplus of material between fall 1998 and spring '99, Cantrell showed two of his new songs to Alice in Chains' dwindling lead singer Layne Staley. Despite the band's spotty existence, Staley wrote lyrics for the demos which would become "Get Born Again," a single from Nothing Safe: Best of the Box, and the song "Died." Thus, rather than becoming Cantrell's solo work, this led to their recording by Alice in Chains in 1998, release the following year, and the esteem of being what would years later be recognized as the final material written by the band with Staley.

To continue developing his second solo album, Cantrell enlisted drummer Mike Bordin and bassist Robert Trujillo of Ozzy Osbourne. The choice would deliberately refrain Cantrell from his Alice in Chains band mates and therefore distinguish his solo career from his past. He originally booked studio time with Dave Jerden, who produced Alice in Chains' first two albums; however, Cantrell fired him after two days, claiming "It was just not working out personally. . . Mike and Robert had hooked up with me and we had been through rehearsals, and we got into the studio with Dave and it all blew up on us on the second day. It took us months to get regrouped again. . . He's a great guy and we did some great music together, but sometimes I guess you just can't go home."