During the decline in grunge popularity during the mid-nineties, Kinney was a member of a Willie Nelson tribute band that also included Johnny Cash, Kim Thayil of Soundgarden, and Krist Novoselic from Nirvana. Kinney also played drums for his Alice in Chains band mate Jerry Cantrell's solo album, Boggy Depot. Four years later, he founded the short-lived project Spys4Darwin with friend and fellow Seattle musician Chris DeGarmo of Queensrÿche fame. Joined by Mike Inez (AIC's bassist since 1993) and Vinnie Dombrowski, they recorded and released the 6-track EP, microfish, in May 2001.