William DuVall

William DuVall (born September 6, 1967) is an American musician, best known as being the current vocalist and a co-guitarist for the alternative metal band Alice in Chains replacing original vocalist Layne Staley, who died in 2002. DuVall joined Alice in Chains in 2006, he has since appeared on the albums Black Gives Way to Blue (2009), The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here (2013), and Rainier Fog (2018).

DuVall is also co-founder, lead singer, guitarist, and lyricist for Comes with the Fall. In his long musical career, DuVall has played a role in many bands playing in a variety of genres, an example being the influential punk rock group Neon Christ.

William DuVall was born as William Bradley DuVall was born in Washington, D.C. on September 6, 1967. His maternal grandmother was of Dutch, North African, and Moors descent. When DuVall was 14 years old, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia with his mother and step-father, who had taken a job in the city.

He has cited Jimi Hendrix as an early influence after listening to his cousin's copy of Band of Gypsys when he was 8 years old and becoming impressed by Hendrix's guitar.

Duval spent the late 1980s in college earning a degree in philosophy, with a specialization in religion. This was after he had established himself as a musician.

Early career (1983–1992)

DuVall's music career started in the early 1980s Atlanta hardcore punk scene. He first performed with Awareness Void of Chaos.

In 1983, DuVall helped found the controversial Atlanta-based hardcore punk band Neon Christ, contributing guitars and lyrics to the band's albums. Other members of this band were vocalist Randy DuTeau, bassist Danny Lankford, and drummer Jimmy Demer. Neon Christ had strong ties to hardcore luminaries Corrosion of Conformity and Bl'ast. With a couple of short East Coast tours and two albums, the politically-pointed band started gaining popularity. The band used its popularity to support many charitable causes including working to free Nigerian musician and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

The band disbanded in 1986, reuniting for a one-time show featuring the original members on December 24, 2004. Currently, the members are said to be filming a documentary, which concluded with a February 2, 2008, show at Lawrenceville, Georgia's punk haunt The Treehouse.

After Neon Christ originally broke up, DuVall was briefly the second guitarist in the popular Northern California hardcore punk band Bl'ast, contributing a small bit of writing to their second album, It's In My Blood, released on the hardcore punk–alternative label SST Records, founded by Greg Ginn of hardcore punk band Black Flag. DuVall did not, however, stay with the band long enough to record on the album.

In 1987, DuVall formed the Final Offering with vocalist Randy Gue (a former Neon Christ roadie), Corrosion of Conformity bassist Mike Dean and drummer Greg Psomas. However, Psomas's heroin habit hindered them from working consistently. Dean would go back to work with Corrosion of Conformity; Psomas died of an overdose in 1994.

DuVall spent the late 1980s with a Jimi Hendrix-inspired band, No Walls. Other members of this band were jazz bassist Hank Schroy and drummer Matthew Cowley. They released one album in 1992. DuVall gave a demo tape to Living Colour lead guitarist Vernon Reidbackstage at a show on their tour with The Rolling Stones in 1989. Subsequently, Reid brought No Walls into the Black Rock Coalition fold and helped arrange some shows for them in New York. They also recorded a demo at Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady Studios in New York under Reid's mentorship. No Walls released one self-titled album in 1992 and disbanded in the same year.

He also spent the late 1980s in college earning a degree in philosophy, with a specialization in religion.

Mid-career (1992–2007)

In 1994, DuVall co-wrote (with Milton Davis) the song "I Know" for fellow Atlanta musician Grammy-nominated Dionne Farris; this song won DuVall an ASCAP award.

In the late 90s, DuVall founded the band Madfly with Nico Constantine, Bevan Davies, and Jeffery Blount. He served as guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Their efforts included two albums, Get the Silver and White Hot in the Black, the former was released on Killing Floor Recordings, the latter through Blackheart Records, and distributed nationally by Mercury Records/PolyGram.

In 1999, DuVall, Bevan, and Nico moved on to form Comes With The Fall, adding Adam Stanger as their bassist. CWTF released their first cd Comes with the Fall in 2000, and their second cd The Year is One in 2001. CWTF began touring as both the opening band and as part of Jerry Cantrell's solo band for his Degradation Trip tours in 2001 and 2002. Follow up releases: Live 2002 CD, companion to their Live Underground 2002 DVD; The Reckoning EP in 2006 and Beyond the Last Light CD in 2007. CWTF's entire catalog was produced by William's DVL Recordings label.

In early 2000, Comes With the Fall moved to Los Angeles. Within a week of moving to the city, DuVall met Alice in Chains guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell through a mutual acquaintance who introduced Cantrell to Comes with the Fall's self-titled debut album. Cantrell started hanging out with the band and occasionally joining them onstage. The following year, Comes with the Fall was both the opening act on Cantrell's tour for his second solo album, Degradation Trip and also the singer's backing band, with DuVall singing Layne Staley's parts at the concerts from 2001 to 2002. While DuVall's band was on tour with Cantrell, Staley died of a drug overdose on April 5, 2002.

Present career (2007–present)

Quickly becoming Cantrell's go-to man, DuVall and Cantrell's musical collaborations led to DuVall joining Cantrell's band Alice in Chains, replacing Layne Staley, who died in 2002.

Initially, Cantrell and the other veteran members of Alice in Chains had said this reunion didn't necessarily foretell a future for the band and that this was just a tribute to Staley and their fans. Drummer Sean Kinney went further, saying at that time he would have liked to change the name and adding, "I don't see continuing as Alice and replacing somebody." DuVall expressed similar sentiments with regard to the task of filling in for Staley. However, the reformed Alice in Chains generated enthusiasm from their fans to convince them to keep the name. DuVall claims to have met Staley's family, who have all purportedly given the band their blessing.

In 2007, Alice in Chains began touring with Velvet Revolver and Kill Hannah. The ReEvolution tour was in two parts. The first took in many European cities and the Eastern United States. The second part, also referred to as "The Libertad Tour", is primarily a cross-country tour that spread into three cities in Canada. For the first time in 15 years, Alice In Chains toured Australia as the second headliner under Nine Inch Nails on the Soundwave Festival. Personally, it was DuVall's first visit to Australia. It had since been advertised on the official Alice in Chains website that the band – now with DuVall officially noted as lead singer – was working on new material with an album, now known as Black Gives Way to Blue, released on September 29, 2009.

In 2008, Duvall performed vocal duties with MC5/DTK at the Meltdown Festival curated by Massive Attack.

In 2011, Alice in Chains took time off after touring more than 30 countries and mourning the death of their original bass player Mike Starr, according to his long-time replacement Mike Inez. However, DuVall stated that there was a possibility of another album in the near future, commenting, "It would be fairly safe to say that you don't come this far and do all this work just to stop for another 15 years." In March, it was announced that Alice in Chains would begin recording a new album at the tail end of 2011. In May 2013, the album The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here was released.

In the meantime, DuVall has reunited with his former Neon Christ bandmates to do a documentary film called All Alone Together: Neon Christ and Atlanta Hardcore, which he said director Edgar Johnson had first pitched to him back in 2005. In 2016, he released the album Broken Lines with the supergroup Giraffe Tongue Orchestra founded by Ben Weinman of The Dillinger Escape Plan and also featuring guitarist Brent Hinds of Mastodon, drummer Thomas Pridgen of The Mars Volta, and bassist Wielbert Collinson of Dethklok and Zappa Plays Zappa.

Alice in Chains' sixth studio album (and the third with DuVall), is titled Rainier Fog and was released on August 24, 2018. The album's second single, "So Far Under", was written by DuVall, who also played the guitar solo on the track. The third single, "Never Fade", was co-written by DuVall and Cantrell, who also share lead vocals, with DuVall singing the verses and the pre-chorus, while Cantrell sings the chorus. The song was inspired by the deaths of DuVall's grandmother and the late Soundgarden lead vocalist Chris Cornell.

In December 2018, DuVall and Jerry Cantrell were tied at No. 10 on Total Guitar/MusicRadar's "15 best rock guitarists in the world right now" poll.

On January 16, 2019, DuVall along with Jerry Cantrell, Pearl Jam's guitarist Stone Gossard, bassist Jeff Ament, and drummer Josh Freese performed Soundgarden's "Hunted Down" at the Chris Cornell tribute concert "I Am the Highway".

Solo career

DuVall released his first solo album, One Alone, on October 4, 2019, through his label DVL. The lead single, "Til The Light Guides Me Home" had its world premiere on BBC Radio 1's Rock Show on July 21, 2019. The second single, "White Hot" was released on October 1, 2019.

The U.S. tour to promote the album started on October 21, 2019, in Atlanta. DuVall also announced a European tour for March and April 2020.

Other ventures

DuVall was an extra on Jean de Segonzac's 2001 science fiction film Mimic 2 and had a non-speaking uncredited role in James Foley's 2003 film Confidence starring Ed Burns and Rachel Weisz. He played a bar patron in the opening scene of the film.

In 2019, DuVall directed a documentary about jazz drummer Milford Graves titled Ancient to Future: The Wisdom of Milford Graves.

In 2008, DuVall performed vocal duties with MC5/DTK at the Meltdown Festival curated by Massive Attack.

In February 2018, Framus Guitars released the "William DuVall Talisman Signature" model designed by DuVall.