William DuVall, the frontman for the band Alice In Chains, played an acoustic set at CNET’s Smart Home in SanFrancisco. The songs are off his solo album One Alone.
Charlie Wagner/CNET
In an age of pop stars and musicians with their own personal brands, rockers like William DuVall, the talented guitarist and singer from the reassembled 90s grunge group Alice In Chains, is a proud band guy through and through. From his early hard-core days with Neon Christ in Atlanta to his time touring, writing and performing with Alice in Chains, DuVall has always been drawn to working as part of a collective. In fact, it wasn’t until last year that the prolific musician released his first solo album, One Alone, a revealing album about catharsis and DuVall fighting his own personal demons.
With just DuVall and his acoustic Gibson Hummingbird guitar, the album is simple, bare and pure. He describes it as one guitar, one voice all the way through. Originally he wrote a few of the songs on One Alone for another artist he was producing. It was only when a recording engineer asked DuVall why he’d give away music so good that he realized he could make an entire album for himself.
“I had the makings of a body of work that could sit well as an album,” said DuVall during an interview at the CNET Smart Home in San Francisco. “Putting out a record under my own name was a bit of a psychological hurdle for me. I’ve been a band guy all of my life since I was 15-years-old.”
Luckily for all of us, he expanded those songs into a powerful full album.
CNET recorded DuVall playing three songs from One Alone in our Smart Home and he stuck around to answer questions about his career, music and influences. He was equal parts nice and badass.
Watch our interview with DuVall:
Watch DuVall play Strung Out on a Dream:
Watch this:
William DuVall performs Strung Out on a Dream
3:10
Watch DuVall perform Til the Light Guides Me Home:
Watch this:
William Duvall performs Til the Light Guides Me Home
2:52
Watch DuVall play White Hot:
Watch this:
William DuVall plays White Hot from One Alone album
4:17