Cantrell, Alice in Chains don’t follow trends

Refreshingly, Jerry Cantrell seems like a good old-fashioned, no-nonsense type of guy. He‘s not trendy —€” nor is he interested in what‘€™s "€œtrending," as he‘€™s not active on social media. At all. This isn‘€™t a curmudgeonly trait brought on by age. He just doesn‘€™t see the point.

And this isn‘€™t a new thing, him swimming upstream. At the early part of the last decade, for instance, when it came time for him to be featured on an episode of "MTV Cribs," he showed the network around his ranch in Oklahoma. Yes, an actual working ranch that he owns with his dad.

Although this may make him seem like a contrarian, you get the sense that this is just who he is. What you see is what you get. And likewise, he and his bandmates are simply doing what Alice in Chains has always done: Making music they enjoy, and if we like it, too, well, that‘s swell.

"€œIt never been about being the flavor or impressing anybody else,"€ he said in a Seahawks.com interview in January about the Seattle sound. "You know, it wasn‘t built on shtick. It was built on quality of music and the care to make it. That‘s it. That‘s why the music scene happened. We weren‘t trying to ‘make it.‘ We were just trying to be the best band we could in our hometown."

Clearly, not much has changed since then. Well, Cantrell‘€™s hair is a little shorter, but otherwise, musically, he and the band don‘t sound any worse for wear, which is really saying something, as lesser bands couldn‘t weather the painful passing of beloved bandmates, much less thrive in their absence. But that‘s exactly what happened with Cantrell and Co., who sound a lot like they‘€™re still in their prime. See for yourself Saturday at the Pearl at the Palms.

Read more from Dave Herrera at bestoflasvegas.com. Contact Dave at dherrera@reviewjournal.com.