More reunions: Alice in Chains, Blind Melon

According to the new Spin magazine (the one with Pete Doherty on the cover), we can expect new albums in 2008 from Green Day, U2, Metallica, No Doubt, Spiritualized, the Cure, the Breeders (really? nice!), Weezer, Portishead, and Beck.
But the big news is the return of two groups who haven't recorded in quite awhile.
Alice in Chains have been touring sporadically since 2006 with new lead singer William DuVall (replacing Layne Staley, who died of a heroin overdose in 2002 after 11 years of heavy drug abuse and 5 years of complete seclusion), though they're now expected to record a new album, their first of all-new material since 1995's self-titled album, which went double-platinum. Remember "Again"?

Big rock hit in early '96? Top 10 on the mainstream rock charts? No? OK, me neither, but I couldn't find embeddable videos for "Heaven Beside You."

It's hard to believe, based on their continued presence on rock radio, but Alice only managed to put out three albums and two EPs, due largely to Staley's heroin problems. Jerry Cantrell has released two fairly well-regarded solo albums (here's 1998's "Cut You In":)


Also back together are Blind Melon, who only managed to record two albums before lead singer Shannon Hoon died in 1995 of a heroin overdose.* New lead singer Travis Warren will make his recording debut April 22, when For My Friends is released. You can hear the new single, "Wishing Well," here.
The band certainly had their fans back in the day; 1992's Blind Melon went quadruple-platinum, and 1995's Soup went gold (in Canada). I know, everybody remembers them for the Bee Girl video, but they had some chops. Here's "Galaxie," from 1995:


*Strange but true story: I saw Sponge at the Diamond Ballroom in Oklahoma City the night Shannon Hoon died. We found out about it because Vinnie Dombrowski from Sponge announced the death from the stage, then the band played "Wish You Were Here." I'm still not sure how (or if) the guys in Sponge knew the guys in Blind Melon, but it still makes for a cool story.