Duff McKagan and Sean Kinney are teaming up for their own radio show.

Details as to when and where this will air won’t be announced for a while, but they’re already recording some shows, and they’d like to get you involved.

The guys will be doing a segment called “Random Stuff with Sean & Duff”, where they’ll answer questions submitted by fans.

What we need is for you to email us a brief question. It could be about anything; music, movies, food, travel, advice, or even their mutual disdain for milk.

We’re looking for anything that will get a little conversation going, and also answer the burning questions you’ve been dying to ask.

So keep it short and to the point, include your name, and email us today at askseanandduff@gmail.com

Thanks,

Baldy

There’s nothing quite like a plane ride between festival gigs.

Picture the airport in Santiago filled with Alice In Chains, Faith No More, Loaded, Down, Megadeth, and a few more bands that I don’t even know, all being chased after by fans trying to get a last minute autograph or picture.

It was a bit like a South American heavy metal petting zoo, just with more hair & tattoos.

After that mayhem, we loaded up and flew to Sao Paulo on a flight that was so turbulent I thought those tattoos were gonna get knocked off of some of the passengers.

We made it there alive with tattoos intact though, and landed in rainy Sao Paulo.

Rain.

As a Seattle based band, Alice In Chains knows a thing or two about rain.

And having read the forecast ahead of time, we all knew the probability that the final day of the SWU festival in Sao Paulo was going to be a wet one.

And it was.

Have you ever driven to the mall on a rainy day and not been able to find a decent parking space? And you don’t have an umbrella, so the 15 seconds it takes to get from your car to the mall doors is swift soaking wet misery?

Now imagine stretching that 15 seconds out to 12 hours, with the rains coming and going, on your feet the whole time, squished in amongst 60 or 70 thousand other drenched music fans.

That takes dedication.

By the time Alice hit the deck (at midnight), it was a constant, steady downpour, and it never let up for the next 90 minutes that they played.

But it seemed that the rain dampened everything except the Brazilian fans’ enthusiasm, as they were a great crowd, especially when you factor in the conditions they put up with all day.

And it’s not like the band hasn’t played in rain before either.

Since stages are covered though, usually it’s relatively dry unless there are high winds blowing in.

It wasn’t terribly windy in Sao Paulo, but the stage was completely soaked all the way back to Sean’s drum kit, and the rains were falling on the first five feet of the stage, which is where the mic stands and guitar pedals all live, which means that’s where Jerry, Mike, & William live for the most part, so they got soaked as well.

Thankfully no one slipped & fell down, and no one got electrocuted, so their hair getting wet was the only real misfortune of the night.

Other than that, it was a great night, and I can say with a good amount of confidence that it won’t be another 18 years before Alice In Chains returns to Brazil, and hopefully many more countries in South America.

And since this wrap-up started in the airport, lets end it there.

Two nights later we’re at the airport getting ready to depart.

The band had been waiting in line for about 5 or 10 minutes to board the flight out of Sao Paulo. I noticed some glances here and there, but none of the other people in the boarding area approached the guys. Then a girl working in the gift shop came over with a camera, and as soon as the band posed for a shot with her, it was like the floodgates had been opened. People came rushing over and suddenly it was like the camera phone Olympics had begun. My personal favorite was all of the older folks who had no idea who the guys were, but were taking pictures anyway, and even asking to pose with the guys. Finally an older woman approached our tour manager and in awesome broken English asked, “Who them?”

He thought about it for a second or two and replied, “The Backstreet Boys”.

I think her grandchildren are going to be confused when they see the picture.

We arrived at the airport in Santiago at 6:00 A.M. Thursday, and when the band de-planed there were three fans waiting for them at the end of the walkway.

That was a pretty good indication of what we were about to get into.

Apparently they were airline or airport employees, and they knew what flight we were on, and were camped out waiting the second the guys walked off of the plane.

Once we passed through customs and made our way to baggage claim, there were another 30 or so more fans waiting.

Remember, it was 6:00 A.M. The only thing I’m doing at 6:00 A.M. is sleeping, so to see that many fired up fans waiting to meet the band was really cool.

It didn’t take long for word to slip out where the band was staying either, as a bunch of fans were camped out across the street from the hotel not long after we arrived.

They were holding up banners, singing Alice songs, and screaming whenever a band member appeared.

(I’m sure that the average Ritz Carlton guest wasn’t too thrilled to be serenaded by Man In The Box as they were trying to eat their room service wine & cheese, but I suppose that if you can afford to stay at the Ritz, then you can afford ear plugs too.)

The fans were even screaming up at the rooms where the guys were staying, which prompted my idea that Sean should cover Mike in a blanket and dangle him over the balcony so the fans could get a better look. Unfortunately there were no terraces in the hotel, so that homage to Michael Jackson didn’t end up happening.

We stuck around the hotel that first night, which ended up being fairly comical as the fans outside the front of the hotel figured out that the guys were in the hotel bar, so a bunch of them kept parading past the windows with the banner. Then later when we made our way to the restaurant at the opposite end of the hotel, the fans and banners appeared over there. They were all very polite and respectful the whole time, and just really excited to see the band, which was cool.

Friday was a day off, so Jerry went golfing, Sean rented Harleys with Duff and some other guys and went riding, and Mike, William, & I went sightseeing.

So despite Jerry being dive bombed at the golf course by birds who thought he was trying to hit their eggs instead of golf balls, everyone had a great day getting out and seeing some of Chile.

And then there was show day.

I’m not even sure I can sum up the Chilean fans in one word, although when Mike looked over at me towards the end of Dam That River, I just mouthed the word WOW to him.

When the band walked out on stage, the place erupted, and with the first “Ah!” of Them Bones, the venue absolutely exploded.

I literally couldn’t hear William or Jerry singing for the first two songs, as the fans were singing every word and completely drowning out the vocals coming from the stage.

I’m not ashamed to say that I was covered in goose bumps for the first two songs of the set. It was that incredible.

There’s no question that Santiago was one of the top 5 crowds I’ve ever seen at an Alice In Chains show, and it wouldn’t take much to convince me that they may have been the most enthusiastic.

When Angry Chair segued into Man In The Box, it was like popping a cork on a champagne bottle, and 50,000 people sprung into the air and started jumping up & down in unison again.

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that level of excitement at an Alice In Chains show, and it was awesome.

It sort of reminded me of Mike Inez petting an English bulldog, or me opening a can of Diet Mountain Dew.

Unrestrained, 100 percent, all-out joy.

The fans in Santiago are among the best we’ve ever seen, and the band has already said that their first trip to Chile definitely won’t be their last, and I can’t wait to come back and do it all again.

WOW.