In 1987, Layne Staley met guitarist and song-writer Jerry Cantrell at a party and allowed him to stay at the Music Bank Hotel with him. Eventually, Cantrell invited Staley to join his band, Diamond Lie, which soon added Cantrell's friend, bassist Mike Starr . They recruited drummer Sean Kinney , who was dating Starr's sister, to complete the lineup. The new group began writing original material and playing clubs in Seattle, eventually taking the name "Alice in Chains." (The name derived from one of Layne Staley 's former bands, Alice N' Chainz, originally called "sleeze") According to Staley, Alice N' Chainz would dress in drag at concerts, and he noted that he felt the name would fit a band that "dressed in drag and played speed metal.") The band signed with Columbia Records in 1989. After recording a series of demos in early 1989, the band offered its first official release in July 1990, We Die Young EP . The title track became ...