a couple years later when we formed our own band, mad season, we talked about how our life experiences, together and separately, had brought us all to this singular point. the point of deciding to create together, with the focused intention of making a good record. and that is exactly what we did. we made the record we wanted to make, about how we felt, musically and spiritually. i have always felt that it was the finest rock record i ever had the priviledge of making, and i think the rest of the band would agree.

unfortunately, we lost baker sounders, the bassist, a couple years ago, in a similar manner. now there are only three of us from that band left, but the music we made together is the statement of that friendship and trust. and i think that is what defined layne as an artist: because he made the kind os music he wanted to make, not what the trends dictated. he cut a wide swath through popular music with his style and it helped define the trends that are still being copied today. he lived what others pretended to live. and then he wrote about it.

my best memory of layne was when we were making the "above" album. he was in the studio lounge reading kahlil gibran's "the prophet". i had read it a few years earlier so we started talking about what it meant to be an artist and have a spiritual message. i don't need to get into the specifics of the conversation, but suffice it to say that layne staley felt as though he was on a spiritual mission through his music. not a rock mission, a spiritual mission. and i think that is evident in his words and in the timbre of his voice. when you hear it, you know it. he was an authentic artist in a time of imposters.

i'm not going to quote the prophet; you can read that for yourselves. but i would like to quote a japanese death poem in the form of jisei, the art of writing a final poem, moments before one's death. this one seems to best describe how i felt about layne staley, in his life and his death.

My sword leans against the sky.
With it's polished blade i'll behead
The buddha and all of his saints.
Let the lightning strike where it will.

....." (end)