H είδηση του θανάτου του μπασίστα των ALICE IN CHAINS, Mike Starr πριν από λίγες ημέρες θορύβησε όλους τους οπαδούς της μπάντας. Παρακάτω παραθέτουμε ένα διαφωτιστικό άρθρο για όλα όσα περνούσε ο Mike τα τελευταία χρόνια, πληροφορίες για την μουσική του πορεία, την ίδρυση των ALICE IN CHAINS και πολλά άλλα διαφωτιστικά.(To παρακάτω υλικό χρησιμοποιείτε με την άδεια των εκδοτών, αποκλειστικά για το e-tetradio από την Adriana Rubio και τον John Brandon).
ALICE IN CHAINS FORMER BASS PLAYER MIKE STARR DIES AT 44
TRIBUTE TO MIKE AND HIS ONLY TRUE BOOK BIOGRAPHY
ARTICLE
BY
ADRIANA RUBIO
(Excerpts from the book: "Unchained: The Story of Mike Starr" By John Brandon).
(Copyrighted material used with permission)
I interviewed Author John Brandon when the Unchained book came out 10 years ago. John and I became friends thanks to Mikes book bio. I was working on the Layne Staleys book Angry Chair. Soon after our first conference calls, John and I met in Seattle and from that moment on, our friendship and writing-working relation turned into something like being brother and sister. The sad news of Mikes death revived our most recent talks. The day Mike Starr died was a terrible sad day for the two of us, but even more sad for my brother friend and writing partner John Brandon. I spent two days replying to fans e-mails and posting thoughts on my facebook page. I then decided to write this article as a way to pay tribute to Mike and his book bio for fans to enjoy.
ME: Hey, my friend are you okay?...
JOHN: Not feeling too good today thinking about Mike
ME: I understand(long pause) hey, did you realize that we met thanks to the book you wrote about Mike? Im writing all this down in a damn article for the fans.
JOHN: Oh, yes, that's a good way to look at it. We never would have met without the book, for sure. It is nice of you to write an article
John wrote Unchained at Mike Starrs request while they were working together on the production of the Fear The Voices video clip in Miami in 1999. The video was handed to both Sony Music and the bands management. Disappointingly, for reason still unknown, the video was rejected without a word. Meanwhile Mike, his father John Starr, his mother Gayle and his sister Melinda agreed to be interviewed for a book that couldnt be published in its full version. The original manuscript included photographs never seen before and priceless information about Alice In Chains.
"In July of 1998, Mike Starr and I became friends. At the time he and his father John, were both battling long-term heroin addictions. I found Mike to be like no one I had ever met before. He was friendly, talkative and outgoing but a man facing some serious challenges. Mike and I both believed his story was like a movie. In November of 1999, Mike asked me to join him in Miami to produce a video for Fear the Voices to offer to Sony Music, band management and his former bandmates Sean Kinney, Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell. We spent four days together reviewing about 25 of his personal videotapes he had made during his time with Alice In Chains". Mike was very open with me wanting to write his biography. He shared his innermost thoughts and invited me into his instrument room full of guitars and amplifiers. He allowed me to play his prized Spector bass. He demonstrated to me that he still had it plucking the beginning of Rooster and Would in person. What a trip to be sitting in a room with such a talented musician. John Brandon said to me, and after a brief pause he said:
I had spoken with Gayle many times in early 2000 and I know how she was suffering because of Mikes heroin addiction. I felt sorry for her all that she had gone through. I felt she would have trade just about anything to have her son back the way he was happy, successful and for the most part normal
Gayle Starr gave birth to him at home in bed. Mike came into this world on April 4th, 1966 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Prior to his birth Mike was known as Brutus Brutus is coming a joke on a sign at the bar his father managed, the Hofbrau Bar. And when he was born, Brutus became Michael Christopher Starr.
When Mike was 12, his father gave him his first bass guitar and began taking lessons. He loved to have his friends over and be the center of attention.
Mike was very kind and considerate, remembers Gayle.Mike always had to have a lotta friends around since he was in pre-school. He just always liked to have people over to share his fun.
Mike wasnt just becoming a musician; he was becoming an entertainer with the long-haired look to boot. Throughout his entire musical career, he always kept his fans in mind. Understanding Mikes longshot dream, his father John gave him a speech with an early dose of reality. He recalls:
I bought him a real good bass for the time, a Peavy bass. I told him, if that is what youre gonna be youd better start working on it now. It aint gonna come overnight, its gonna take an awful lotta practicing and an awful lot of acquaintances. And if you dont start getting that practice and making those connections by the time youre 18, 19 or 20 years old its gonna be too late he was 12 then. (LOL!)
He had an ear for music. He seemed to get really good really early. He didnt really learn to read notes. He just learned to listen and he got it. He would pick up music very fast. He always said he would play big auditoriums, big places. Wed just said OK. I wanted to be a cowboy when I was young. So I think a lot of kids say things like that fairly young. Gayle Starr reflects.
Mikes first real band was SATO and it really made a name for them at Seattle-Battle-Of-The-Bands.
They were winning every weekend and that surprised me. Gayle says. We would pack up the whole car, all the kids and have three or four cars going, and wed go over to Bellevue or somewhere else and every time theyd come out number one. And this was after all the bands played. It was so much fun to watch it. It was so exciting. Then theyd come back the next week and do it again
SATO won more than two dozen battle-Of-The-Bands within a year. Their reward, a gig playing at a real Arena with Queensryche, Missing Persons, Wall Of Voodoo, The Plasmatics and Oingo Boingo. The musical victories were piling up for Mike. He began to become popular at Highline High School. For money, Mike and his friends would case Seattles drug houses. He or one of his friends would watch them 24/7. When the dealers were gone, Mikes guys would break in
That was our job, Mike says. Wed rip off dope houses. Wed walk around Seattle and sniff them out. Wed spend months scoping the place out. We were like Robin Hood. We stole from the rich who had all the pot and gave to the poor, which was ourselves and all our friends who needed pot. We never got caught. Thats how wed make all our money
Mike remembers one day waking up broke, doing a little selling, and going to bed with a brand new motorcycle.
We had some bikes, just go cruising around, like a little pack, Mike remembers
During the height of his SATO success in 1984 he ran into his old friend, Sean Kinney.
I saw him at a mall when we were 18 and I didnt recognize him cause he got real tall
Three years later, Mike and Sean along with Layne and Jerry ended up in the house on Des Moines way living together and having the time of their life: ALICE IN CHAINS.
Mikes mother had helped the band find the house. It was a fixer-upper.
I was amazed, she remembers. Layne was taking down shades, washing them, scrubbing out tubes. It was funny cause these guys were all cleaning and it was really kinda fun to watch. When Mike lived at my house you had to tell him to do something 18 times. They got it really cleaned up and then they put their own personality on each room
Sean, Jerry, Mike and Layne practiced constantly. Jerry and Layne were becoming world class songwriters. The band room was directly below Laynes bedroom. They chopped a hole in his floor so he could sit at his desk, listen to the instruments, write and sing in private.
Layne would cover up the hole and sing to himself so no one else could hear it, remembers Mike. Then hed stick his head through it and say, Play it again I wanna try something else, and we would. Layne would sing and write the whole song in his room up above us. Hed write all the words, then Jerry would jump in
After a few months seeing each other nearly every minute of every day began to wear on the four. Jerrys drive and determination to succeed would irritate the other three at times.
He was always the one who was our motherbitch, Mike recalls, But he got us to practice twice as much as we did and made us twice as good as the way we were
They became a signed band-act with Columbia Records. The bands debut album Facelift hit the store shelves. From that moment on they would never look back women, travelling, booze and drugs. The wild ride of fame, fortune and touring was underway.
In 1992 in Florida, Mike Starr experienced something that would foreshadow his leaving the band and possibly set the tone for the next six years. Mike had encounter with a woman who claimed to be a witch. It came just weeks before he fell under the spell of heroin and months before he would be out of Alice In Chains altogether. Mike said speculating:
Thats what caused me to lose the whole band. She grabbed some of my hair and goes: I got your hair now, Im gonna make a fucking Voodoo Doll out of it. Youre gonna be sorry. Within two months, I was strung out and out of the band. Mike Inez (his eventual Alice In Chains replacement) was sitting right there. Hell always tell me: Remember that time that chick put a spell on you, Mike and it fuckin worked and fucked up everything for you? That fuckin bitch. He believes that bitch took my career and shit and really put a hex on me. He believes it more than I do.I kinda believe it now
Whether the so-called witch had anything to do with Mikes career imploding in early1993 will probably remain a mystery. However, this information was confirmed to me by Layne Staley on February 3rd, 2002 and also by a close friend of the band who begged me thousands times not to include her name in any of my books and/or articles. She assures that the same spell had ruined Laynes life too. True or not, both Layne and Mike suffered the consequences of an unbeatable heroin addiction. These two beautiful guys, talented musicians and artists by nature kept fighting their addictions until the end of their lives.
Mike Starr experienced it almost everything while trying to get away from drugs. Drug-related arrests, a fortune spent on bails, attorneys and rehab centers. There was a period in Mikes life where he found himself miserable mandatory stays at rehab clinics, failed relationships with girls he loved, being strung out and living in his car because he was monetary broke and emotionally exhausted.
In April of 1994, Mike was in a jail cell in Houston suffering withdrawals symptoms. He thought of his days with Alice In Chains and the time his friend Kurt Cobain had stood and watched him play in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A radio speaker brought Mike unwelcome news
I couldnt believe it He remembers Courtney was reading a letter and I could barely understand what she said. But she was crying and she goes: Oh Kurt, please come back and then she is reading a letter. And Im like Wow, Kurts dead. Man life sucks. It doesnt suck as bad right now for Kurt
Eight years later Mikes best friend Layne Staley was found dead in his condo apartment (April 19th, 2002), but according to autopsy records, Layne died on April 5th, the same day Kurt Cobain passed away but in 1994.
Mike Starr continued his life struggling, detoxing and getting into rehab centers often. Being clean and performing in a band were Mikes major tasks until his final days in Salt Lake City where he closed his eyes forever. Mike had been jamming with Travis Meeks from Days Of The New. Mike was rumored to be the bass player for Travis band.
On February 18th, 2011 Mike was arrested for drug possession (six pills of Xanax and six painkillers). Travis Meeks was driving the car and Mike was the passenger. Travis was arrested for driving with a suspended license and he then was released.
Mike was under Methadone Maintenance. He had been one of the participants-patients of Dr. Drew rehab TV show last year, a conventional-commercial treatment where he was publicly abused as many other celebrities were. Aftercare programs are a must for all kinds of addictions especially for hard-core heroin addicts. Mike was suffering from intense anxiety weeks prior to his death. He was taking Xanax to calm down his anxiety. The combination of Methadone with Xanax is highly risky. He died as a result. Where was Dr. Drew? The arrest of Mike Starr for drug possession (Xanax and Painkillers) weeks ago was in the public eye. Didnt he get the news? Mike was NOT charged with heroin possession but Xanax didnt that say something to a doctor who supposedly is an expert in treating addictions? Dr. Drew knew Mike was on Methadone Maintenance so, in fact, he as a doctor knows that it cant be mixed with Xanax! To add, there were FANS who immediately spread the word out through facebook pages and all over the internet about Mike being arrested and that HE needed HELP!
Mike Starr will be forever remembered as the original bass player of the Seattle Rock band Alice In Chains, the one who worked hard along with Layne, Sean and Jerry during the early stages of the band to reach the goal of being a signed-band for Columbia Records, the funniest guy in the band and the beautiful long-haired one responsible of making girls fall in love with him in all the tours. Mike played and recorded with Alice In Chains the first album Facelift, the EP Sap and Dirt.
Mike was going to work on many musical projects this year. He will be greatly missed.
