Johnny Bacolas
Musician - Sleze, Alice N’ Chains, Second COming
Johnny Bacolas emerged from Seattle’s mid-80s metal underground, co-founding Sleze in 1984 with James Bergstrom before bringing in a teenage Layne Staley as vocalist. The band evolved into Alice N’ Chains, a glam-leaning precursor to Seattle’s heavier sound. Bacolas played throughout garages, VFW halls, and school auditoriums, part of the early ecosystem that shaped the city’s music identity and placed him close to the origins of the metal-to-grunge transition.
By the mid-90s, he moved into the post-grunge era as a founding member of Second Coming. The band reached national attention with a major-label deal and Billboard-charting singles, positioning Bacolas as a bridge between Seattle’s raw 80s underground and its 90s industry breakthrough.
Photo by Rachel Crick at London Bridge Studio, where AiC recorded their 1st album
Transcript
In the winter of 1986, my band at the time, Alice N’ Chains, spelled Alice-apostrophe-N-Chains, had our first recording session in a real recording studio, with a real engineer.
The studio was London Bridge, a studio that had just opened that year. We just had to record there. Everyone was talking about the studio. We heard of this amazing engineer, Peter Barnes, who was notorious for making drums sound huge, like Bonham. We had just changed our name and began focusing on all original music. We were about 16 to 17 years old.
Once we entered the studio doors, we began getting so excited. The sessions were a blast. The camaraderie, the innocence, the naivety, the first time feeling all left a powerful impression on my young brain. It was from this session that I decided to be a recording artist for life and have stayed true to this decision to this day.
This experience was an important part of my evolution as an artist. I cherish the memories of that session.
Johnny Bacolas, Musician, Producer, The Roomba Kings.