In 1987, after being kicked out of his family home, Jerry Cantrell moved into Seattle rehearsal complex The Music Bank at the invitation of his friend Layne Staley. A 24-hour facility, frequented by hundreds of local musicians, The Music Bank, in Cantrell's eyes, was "fucking awesome."
"It was like boystown, y’know what I mean?" he recalled to music writer Tom Doyle. "Nobody was watching you and you could do whatever the fuck you wanted. There was always a band playing, there was always chicks around. Somebody always had some weed or some beer."
