The surviving members of Alice in Chains [ tickets ], who recently announced plans to mount a tour this year, have nailed down a handful of US club shows.

The group--guitarist Jerry Cantrell, drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Inez--launches the five-date run in mid-May, with stops planned in the Los Angeles area, San Diego, Chicago, Boston and New York City. Details are included below.

Singer William Duvall of Atlanta-based rock trio Comes With the Fall--which has backed Cantrell during some of his solo outings--will handle vocals on the upcoming tour, along with "a few other special guests and musical friends honoring the legacy left behind by Alice's late singer, Layne Staley," according to a press release.

Following the brief US jaunt, AIC heads to Europe for a run on the summer festival circuit. More information about those shows is posted at the band's website.

Staley--who died of a drug overdose four years ago--Cantrell, Kinney and original bassist Mike Starr formed Alice in Chains in Seattle during the late '80s, and released their debut album, "Facelift," in 1990. The disc spawned the group's breakthrough hit "Man in the Box," and secured the band's place in the pantheon of early '90s Seattle-based acts--which also included Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden--credited with ushering in the grunge scene.

Alice in Chains went on to release two additional full-length albums (1992's "Dirt" and 1995's "Alice in Chains) and two EPs (1992's "Sap" and 1994's "Jar of Flies"). Collectively, the releases featured numerous hit singles, including "Got Me Wrong," "Rooster," "Would?" "No Excuses," "Grind," "Heaven Beside You" and others.

Gold-certified "Sap" is the only one of the group's original releases to fall short of platinum or multi-platinum status. "Dirt" is the group's best-selling release, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, which in May of 2000 certified the album quadruple-platinum for shipping 4 million copies in the US.

Inez joined the band after Starr exited in 1993.

Following its '92/'93 touring cycle in support of "Dirt," the group did not tour behind any of its subsequent releases--reportedly due to Staley's addiction--but did give a 1996 performance on "MTV's Unplugged," which was released in album form later that same year. The group also filled the opening slot on the first four dates of KISS' 1996 reunion tour.

Last month, Cantrell, Kinney, Inez and Duvall performed in Atlantic City, NJ, during the taping of an upcoming episode of VH1's "Decades Rock" dedicated to fellow Seattle-based rockers Heart. The program is scheduled to air May 5, according to AIC's website.