I was under the impression that Mike was drug-free by the time Mad Season released Above in 1995. Wasn't that the project to celebrate him quitting drugs?

mad season sounds drenched in drug mire and despair.

I thought the techno phase was around the time No Code came out?

he relapsed again around 2000

LOL, the only creative thing that taking MDMA or ecstasy (MDMA + speed) does is to your dancing!

Granted having taken MDMA it can give you a different perspective on how things sound, kind of creates a new horizon. I cant imagine being artistically creative whilst taking MDMA! Admittedly in the aftermath it does leave you feeling pretty empty/depressed which could be a good state for grasping at the anxieties you face and putting them down into words.

Isn't there footage of Mike with a pipe on TB2k?

I witnessed Ed take a big hit on stage at St Lou 03.


I would venture a guess that every member of PJ has been a regular smoker in the past. Also would bet that a few members are still regular smokers.

remember the Stone interview in High Times around 94-95? that was brilliant.

Didn't Ed say Severed Hand had been started in 2000 in Va Beach while he was fucked up on E?

drugs?
it's not not the band hired some mexican dude who was a average at best keyboard player simply for the heroin he muled

That sounds vaguely familiar. Virginia Beach was the first show after Roskilde. Its known that he wrote I Am Mine in his hotel room. I can't recall if he did indeed write or start Severed Hand at that point as well. If he did, and he was fucked up on Ecstasy around the time of first show back after losing 9 fans, that seems a little weird.

Another post said that
Sure. It was 1995. Mike was battling alcohol and rehab, and we all know how Layne ended up. Its easy for that to translate into the music and lyrics.


Have you ever tried to do anything creative on drugs? Your senses are enhanced and altered to the point where you might be able to find different ways of utilizing your creativity. Lots of horrendous stuff is written on drugs, but if you think drugs haven't done good things for music, look at the Beatles catalog from 1966 until 1970. That period was fucking brilliant and it was fueled by a competitive spirit with other musicians and the constant use of marijuana and LSD.

I put up a Bill Hicks video in the "EV & Smoking" thread. He's also got a great bit about drugs enhancing music. Its from the early 1990s and its pretty vulgar.

^^^Actually, Mike was clean. He met one of the other members in rehab and they wrote a few tunes afterwards. Later Mike added the AIC members trying to inspire Staley to get clean.

I had never heard about this before! Have the guys mentioned this somewhere, or where have you got this information?

I remember hearing that too.

Yeah, this is what I've also read. The idea was to surround Layne with drug-free players that would also encourage him to get clean.

Yet the project is named after the harvest season for hallucinagenic mushrooms.

Ironic, yes, but I don't see anything else in it. It's just a name.

I believe in 2000 it was prescription drugs that he got fucked up on, whereas back in the early 90's it was alcohol and cocaine.

http://members.tripod.com/~walpurgisnight/boomtheory3-31-99.html
matt mentions in that online chat from 1999 that he smokes "the green"
im pretty sure he had kids at that point, not sure though

Oh man that transcript takes me back. I remember when that happened.

wish i coulda been part of it