Biography
William DuVall, an American who writes songs, plays multiple instruments, and sings with great power, launched his professional path in the early 1980s as the frontman for the punk rock band Neon Christ, which proved influential. During the late 1990s, he helped establish the Atlanta hard rock and heavy metal ensemble Comes with the Fall. By 2006, he had joined grunge legends Alice in Chains as co-vocalist, contributing to three of their albums, one of which was the 2018 release Rainier Fog. His debut solo effort, One Alone, came out in 2019.
Born and raised in Washington, D.C., DuVall relocated to Atlanta upon turning 14. Although Jimi Hendrix provided his initial inspiration, the developing punk and hardcore community in Atlanta became the environment where he honed his skills. Awareness Void of Chaos marked his first group effort, but it did not endure long, much like the brief yet important Neon Christ, which connected to hardcore contemporaries Corrosion of Conformity and Bl'ast and produced two significant albums prior to disbanding in 1986. Following Neon Christ's end, DuVall spent a brief period with Bl'ast before assembling Final Offering in 1987. The next year brought collaboration with bassist Hank Schroy and drummer Matthew Cowley in the power trio No Walls, inspired by Jimi Hendrix, which issued the album Full Moon in 1992 under the guidance of Living Color guitarist and songwriter Vernon Reid.
An ASCAP Pop Music Award arrived for DuVall in 1996 after he co-wrote the Grammy-nominated track "I Know" performed by Dionne Farris, and during that same period he established the glam rock group Madfly with guitarist Nico Constantine, bassist Jeffrey Blount, and drummer Bevan Davies. Madfly put out Get the Silver in 1996 and White Hot in the Black in 1998 before adopting the name Comes with the Fall in 1999 once Blount had left. Bass responsibilities shifted to Adam Stanger, leading to the band's self-titled debut album in 2000 and The Year Is One the following year. They accompanied Alice in Chains founder Jerry Cantrell on his solo tours throughout 2001 and 2002, at which point DuVall received an invitation to sing the Alice in Chains material originally handled by Layne Staley, who had passed away from a drug overdose in April 2002. Cantrell extended a permanent position in the reformed Alice in Chains to DuVall in 2006, with his initial onstage appearance alongside the band occurring at VH1's Decades Rock Live event that paid tribute to Heart.
The reformed lineup outlasted the prior version of Alice in Chains, delivering the studio albums Black Gives Way to Blue in 2009, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here in 2013, and Rainier Fog in 2018 while conducting prosperous tours domestically and internationally. DuVall joined forces in 2016 with guitarist Ben Weinman from the Dillinger Escape Plan, guitarist Brent Hinds of Mastodon, drummer Thomas Pridgen from the Mars Volta, and bassist Wielbert Collinson of Dethklok to create the hard rock and progressive metal supergroup Giraffe Tongue Orchestra, resulting in the album Broken Lines. His first solo album, One Alone, appeared in October 2019 via his personal DVL imprint.
Born and raised in Washington, D.C., DuVall relocated to Atlanta upon turning 14. Although Jimi Hendrix provided his initial inspiration, the developing punk and hardcore community in Atlanta became the environment where he honed his skills. Awareness Void of Chaos marked his first group effort, but it did not endure long, much like the brief yet important Neon Christ, which connected to hardcore contemporaries Corrosion of Conformity and Bl'ast and produced two significant albums prior to disbanding in 1986. Following Neon Christ's end, DuVall spent a brief period with Bl'ast before assembling Final Offering in 1987. The next year brought collaboration with bassist Hank Schroy and drummer Matthew Cowley in the power trio No Walls, inspired by Jimi Hendrix, which issued the album Full Moon in 1992 under the guidance of Living Color guitarist and songwriter Vernon Reid.
An ASCAP Pop Music Award arrived for DuVall in 1996 after he co-wrote the Grammy-nominated track "I Know" performed by Dionne Farris, and during that same period he established the glam rock group Madfly with guitarist Nico Constantine, bassist Jeffrey Blount, and drummer Bevan Davies. Madfly put out Get the Silver in 1996 and White Hot in the Black in 1998 before adopting the name Comes with the Fall in 1999 once Blount had left. Bass responsibilities shifted to Adam Stanger, leading to the band's self-titled debut album in 2000 and The Year Is One the following year. They accompanied Alice in Chains founder Jerry Cantrell on his solo tours throughout 2001 and 2002, at which point DuVall received an invitation to sing the Alice in Chains material originally handled by Layne Staley, who had passed away from a drug overdose in April 2002. Cantrell extended a permanent position in the reformed Alice in Chains to DuVall in 2006, with his initial onstage appearance alongside the band occurring at VH1's Decades Rock Live event that paid tribute to Heart.
The reformed lineup outlasted the prior version of Alice in Chains, delivering the studio albums Black Gives Way to Blue in 2009, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here in 2013, and Rainier Fog in 2018 while conducting prosperous tours domestically and internationally. DuVall joined forces in 2016 with guitarist Ben Weinman from the Dillinger Escape Plan, guitarist Brent Hinds of Mastodon, drummer Thomas Pridgen from the Mars Volta, and bassist Wielbert Collinson of Dethklok to create the hard rock and progressive metal supergroup Giraffe Tongue Orchestra, resulting in the album Broken Lines. His first solo album, One Alone, appeared in October 2019 via his personal DVL imprint.
Albums
