Looks like the dude from Thin Lizzy, sounds like Layne Staley. That is amazing.

When Bon Scott died in 1980, the rest of AC/DC caught lightning in a bottle by having Brian Johnson take Scott’s place. In the world of soundalike hard rock singers, this is like pulling the golden ticket on the first Wonka Bar.

It’s less weird that Johnson got to sing “Big Balls” for the rest of his life than that this sort of thing has happened twice more that we can think of off the top of our head: Arnel Pineda is Steve Perry’s vocal clone in Journey (damning us all to relentless live performances of “Don’t Stop Believing”) and William DuVall took over frontman duties for Alice in Chains after Layne Staley’s 2004 death.

Alice heads up the first night of Holiday Havoc tonight at The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel along with Dead by Sunrise and Smile Empty Soul. Guitarist Jerry Cantrell has the afterparty at Dead Man’s Hand, which he co-owns with Scott Ian — who’s on the turntables doing DJ duties Fridays in December. It’s like the class photo for hard rock in the early ’90s. Holiday Havoc continues tomorrow with Muse, Cage the Elephant, Paper Tongues and the Afghan Raiders.

By Jason Scavone

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