Atheist’s Kelly Shaefer and Testament’s Steve DiGiorgio have teamed up with guitarist/producer Ryan Vincent (Legend) and drummer Sean Rehmer (Dejector/Mercurial) for a stunning cover of Alice In Chains’ “Rotten Apple,” off the group’s 1994 EP Jar of Flies. While the track is already in rotation at Corridor of Covers on Liquid Metal on SiriusXM, Decibel got the exclusive video.
The origin of how long-time friends/collaborators Shaefer and DiGiorgio found Vincent and Rehmer went a little like this: “This song came together as a result of my friend and studio owner Ryan Vincent at Apollo Audio Alt in Missouri,” says Shaefer. “Over COVID times, he had done some cool collab covers and produced ’em from his studio. So, he and drummer Sean Rehmer had laid this down, and I think initially they had another singer, and it didn’t work out, so Ryan and I had worked together on my new band Till The Dirt. Steve DiGiorgio plays on the title track [from our upcoming debut album], so we were all sort of already working together on that. As a result, Ryan asked me to sing on the track. I immediately thought of that bass line, and how cool it would be to have my old friend and bass player extraordinaire Steve DiGiorgio play fretless on it. He agreed, and I think it came out really cool. We are all AIC fans, as anyone with good hearing should be, so it was a lot of fun, as well as a tribute to one of the most brilliantly unique bands of the ’90s. The video has that ’90s vibe as well. We hope we did it justice.”
Adds DiGiorgio: “Kelly hit me up for some bass on a track for his new band, Till The Dirt, and being a fan of his music I was all up for it. Not only that we share the same old-school first wave of thrash time way back when, he is also one of the original king screamers. Some time after that he hit me up for another track, but this time a cover of Alice In Chains. Fuck yes! His voice is also very versatile and fits this particular band’s sound perfectly. Also, have to mention that Mike Inez wrote an awesome bass line that was fun to interpret and put my personal fretless touch to. The video shows a nice tribute to the late Layne Staley, who was very influential with that unique voice and style of his.”
“What I see is unreal
I’ve written my own part
Eat of the apple, so young
I’m crawling back to start”
