#mike mccready interviews

[tradingstorieswiththeleaves]

“This was one of the first times that I’d written lyrics as well as all the music to a song. We were trying to get it ready for the record and we were running out of time. It was getting down to the wire and Eddie didn’t have any lyrics.

We were on tour in Mexico, and I remember thinking that if I don’t come up with some lyrics for this song now, it’s not gonna make the cut. I just sat down and wrote what I was feeling, in terms of how it’s an inside job for me to take care of myself, my demons or whatever, and find a spiritual solution, so that was the angle I was looking at.

When we got back from that tour and Ed put his vocals on it, it sounded amazing. I really wanted to write an epic piece of music, and I think the band helped me to pull that off. I played the acoustic intro underneath the strange, dissonant notes that Stone put over the top, which made it sound darker and cooler.

Live, I go totally Jimmy Page and use my double-neck SG [Gibson EDS-1275] for this. I don’t generally write solos out, but I did for this one. I wanted to put something down that would be a solo that I’d always want to reproduce when we played the song live.”

(Mike McCready for Guitar Player, 2022)

📸 by Tim Durkan

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

[fuckyeahvanhalen86-95]

Pearl Jam's Mike McCready recalled how Eddie Van Halen told him he "didn't really like" the way Van Halen's debut album sounded, suggesting that it was another example of how the late guitar hero always strove to improve.

Musicians who got to sell millions of records and achieve worldwide fame might seem like the very definition of a person who "made it". For many of those world-famous musicians, however, you never truly "make it" in absolute terms, as there is always room to improve and further hone one's craft. Pearl Jam's Mike McCready is certainly an example, as he concurred during a recent interview with The Rock that incessantly striving for perfection makes the process interesting.

Similarly, he recalled an exchange with Eddie Van Halen which illustrated how the late guitar icon was constantly evolving through his career. McCready said (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar):

"I talked to Eddie Van Halen before he died. I got to meet him once when we were doing the 'Lightning Bolt' record. I just happened to be listening to Van Halen's first record as I was driving to the studio that day. He was there, and I was like, 'Hey, dude, I was just listening to the first record. It's incredible. I got it when it came out', blah, blah. And he was like, 'I didn't really like how that record sounded.' And I'm like, 'It's amazing! How did you not like it?' So, I think he had that kind of mindset of never [being] satisfied."

McCready isn't the only one who spoke of the Van Halens' dissatisfaction with the sound on their debut album. Last year, engineer Donn Landee noted how the sound of "Van Halen" left the band's members somewhat dissatisfied, but that Alex Van Halen later told him they eventually got their sound right:

"They were extremely quiet. We didn't hear anything about [the sound of the album] until well after Van Halen was out. They were disappointed; it's not what they had in their mind when they came in to do the record. But Al told me we got it [right] later on. What we got on tape for '1984' was much more to his liking."

[thekylemeredith]

I've got a new interview with Stone Gossard coming soon (4/17), but until then let's revisit my talk with Pearl Jam's Mike McCready for tonight's show!

Archers of Loaf also drop by + favs from They Might Be Giants, Ramones, Cracker, Rockfords, & more.

6p ET on 91.9 WFPK

#pearljam #archersofloaf #ramones

[sophiezscanz]

{give credit if reposting on other sites :)}

[spencereidluvr]

i’m eddie vedder and i sing, i do.

[ananxiouscryptid]

Mike does Interviews!? And I never knew about it?? I love Jack White I am so looking forward to listening to this :)

[rearviewmirror10]

Pearl Jam interview on ABC's In Concert (late 1991/early 1992)

[shamandrummer]

Joy Harjo: I Pray for My Enemies

In her first new recording in a decade, Joy Harjo -- the first Native American named Poet Laureate of the United States -- digs deep into the indigenous red earth and the shared languages of music to sing, speak and play a stunningly original musical meditation that seeks healing for a troubled world -- I Pray for My Enemies, newly released in March 2021.

Collaborating with producer and engineer Barrett Martin on this unique new album, Harjo brings a fresh identity to the poetry and songs that have made her a renowned poet of the Muscogee Creek Nation and one of the most authentic and compelling voices of our times.

In a recent interview Harjo said, "The concept for I Pray for My Enemies began with an urgent need to deal with discord, opposition. It could have been on a tribal, national or a personal level. I no longer remember. The urgency had a heartbeat and in any gathering of two or more, perhaps the whole planet, our hearts lean to entrainment -- that is, to beat together."

Latin Grammy-winning producer, composer and founding father of the historic Seattle music scene, Barrett Martin brings a new dimension to Harjo's unique sound-world -- her words and music spoken, sung and explored in a vibrant mix of classic instrumental sounds. Harjo and Martin describe it as "funkified spoken word" inspiring "elegant jazz, urban soul, and inner city, reservation grit." Harjo sings and speaks her poetry, as well as playing saxophone and flute, on an album she describes as "very much of-the-moment." Martin holds it all together with drums, upright bass, keyboards and production duties on I Pray for My Enemies. He assembled an all-star band to explore Harjo's work, featuring Peter Buck (R.E.M.) on electric guitar and feedback; Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) on electric guitar solos; Krist Novoselic (Nirvana) on acoustic guitar; and Rich Robinson (Black Crowes) on electric guitar solos. Additional players include renowned Iraqi oud master Rahim Alhaj; trumpeter Dave Carter and percussionist/backing vocalist Lisette Garcia. Harjo's stepdaughters sing harmony vocals, and her husband Owen Sapulpa plays surdo drum on the album. Harjo defines songs and poems as distinctly different expressions, and both are featured in the 16 tracks that make up I Pray for My Enemies. Her words and music, older and newer, get a fresh new identity here. The album opens, however, with a traditional Muscogee song "Allay Na Lee No." "Music travels," she says, adding, "It travels through history, ancestors and especially loves ports and waterways." Some of Harjo's defining poems appear here -- "An American Sunrise," "Fear," "Running" and "Remember" -- refracting her own experience as a Native American woman of her culturally defining generation. "Calling the Spirit Back," from an early collection of Harjo's poems, and the new song "How Love Blows Through the Trees" -- written when COVID-19 reached her home in Tulsa, OK -- echo the suffering of a world experiencing a pandemic. "Once the World Was Perfect" is based on a version of a Muscogee Creek creation story, which describes a time similar to now. She says, "We lost our way in the dark, forgot who we were, then had to find our way again." Vignettes and "licks" of songs and poems also appear on I Pray for My Enemies, ranging from the epiphany of "We Emerged from Night in Clothes of Sunrise" to the playful "trickster" piece "Rabbit Invents the Saxophone." Both feature Harjo's soulful sax. "Stomp All Night" delivers all the primal energy the title suggests, inspired by Muscogee Creek social dances. Harjo's poetic music is just the medicine the world need at this time.

[justinsentertainmentcorner]

Chris Morris at Variety, via Yahoo! News:

Eddie Van Halen, whose innovative and explosive guitar playing kept the hard rock band that bore his family name cemented to the top of the album charts for two decades, died on Tuesday morning after a long battle with cancer. He was 65.

Van Halen’s son Wold announced the news. “He was the best father I could ever ask for. Every moment I’ve shared with him on and off stage was a gift. My heart is broken and I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover from this loss,” he tweeted.

Born in the Netherlands and raised in Pasadena, he founded Van Halen with his older brother, drummer Alex; the siblings were joined by vocalist David Lee Roth and bassist Michael Anthony in the first recording lineup of the group, which exploded after star-making gigs at such West Hollywood clubs as Gazzarri’s and the Starwood.

It was instantly apparent from “Eruption,” the solo showcase on Van Halen’s self-titled 1978 debut album for Warner Bros., that Eddie Van Halen was an instrumentalist to be reckoned with. In a mere one minute and 42 seconds, the axe man detonated a dazzling display of fretboard tapping, ringing harmonics, lightning-fast licks and smeared, dive-bombing effects.

Writing about that recording in Rolling Stone’s 2015 poll of the 100 greatest guitarists – in which Van Halen placed eighth, between Duane Allman and Chuck Berry – Mike McCready of Pearl Jam wrote, “It sounded like it came from another planet…[I]t was glorious, like hearing Mozart for the first time.”

Acting as the band’s musical director and co-authoring the band’s tough-riffing songs, which straddled the boundary between hard rock and heavy metal, Eddie Van Halen found immediate success, and formulated a style that would be emulated by hordes of long-haired rockers.

The group’s first LP “Van Halen,” though it climbed no higher than No. 19 in the U.S., would ultimately be certified for sales of 10 million copies. Its next five multi- platinum albums all reached the top 10; “1984,” released in its titular year, contained the band’s first and only No. 1 single, the synthesizer-driven “Jump,” and sifted another 10 million units.

Ongoing conflict between the guitarist and the antic front man Roth – who reportedly took exception to Van Halen’s extracurricular work, which included jaw-dropping lead guitar chores on Michael Jackson’s ubiquitous 1983 single “Beat It” — led the singer to split with the act after its elaborate and wildly successful 1984 tour.

Such a defection would likely have split a less popular band, but Van Halenfound even greater sales after ex-Montrose vocalist Sammy Hagar replaced Roth. Between 1986 and 1995, the group released four consecutive No. 1 albums.

However, Hagar ankled Van Halen after a tiff about the group’s planned greatest hits package. Eddie Van Halen brokered a truce with former singer Roth long enough to complete a pair of new tracks with the vocalist for the 1996 collection, but after another wrangle, a planned reunion with the singer broke down, and Gary Cherone, vocalist for the Boston pop-metal unit Extreme, signed on for a single album, “Van Halen III” (1998), which tallied comparatively meager sales.

Eddie Van Halen was dogged by personal and health issues that would intermittently interfere with his work in music over the course of the next decade. A chronic joint problem, exacerbated by his reckless onstage style, forced him to undergo hip replacement surgery in 1999. The onset of cancer – likely the result of heavy smoking – led to the surgical removal of part of his tongue in 2000.

The recording of three songs with Hagar for the two-disc compilation “The Best of Both Worlds” led to a lucrative 2004 reunion tour with Van Halen’s second lead singer. However, the alliance proved to be temporary, and it marked the end of both Hagar’s and bassist Anthony’s association with the group (though they would serve as representatives at the band’s 2007 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, which the Van Halens and Roth declined to attend).

After years of false starts, Van Halen reconvened in 2007 with Roth as the front man and Wolfgang Van Halen, Eddie’s 16-year-old son, replacing Anthony on bass. Though a tour grossed more than $90 million, it was plagued by rumors of inter-band strife.

Eddie Van Halen’s escalating drug abuse and alcoholism hastened his 2007 divorce from TV actress Valerie Bertinelli, his wife of 16 years, after a protracted separation. He entered rehab in 2007, and was reportedly sober from 2008.

“I was an alcoholic, and I needed alcohol to function,” he said in a 2015 interview with Chuck Klosterman. “I didn’t drink to party. Alcohol and cocaine were private things to me. I would use them for work. The blow keeps you awake and the alcohol lowers your inhibitions. I’m sure there were musical things I would not have attempted were I not in that mental state.”

A second tour fronted by Roth was launched on a more even keel in 2012, supporting an all-new album on Interscope, “A Different Kind of Truth,” which vaulted to No. 2. However, Eddie’s surgery for diverticulitis forced postponement of shows in Japan, which were among the first international dates since 1984.

Though whispers of further shows would swirl thereafter, Roth opined that “I think Van Halen’s finished” in a September 2019 radio interview in Detroit, just weeks before news of Eddie Van Halen’s treatment for throat cancer surfaced in the press.

Edward Lodewijk Van Halen was born Jan. 26, 1955, in Amsterdam. His father played the clarinet, saxophone, and piano, and both he and his brother Alex were schooled on the latter instrument from the age of six. They continued their studies after the family moved to Pasadena in 1962.

Though Eddie – who never mastered sight reading — would perform at classical piano recitals, he sought something contemporary and took up the drums, while Alex began playing guitar. The two teenage musicians would ultimately switch off their instruments; Eddie claimed Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, the respective guitar stars of Cream and Led Zeppelin, as his principal inspirations.

After high school years spent in local party bands, the brothers founded a new quartet – which they unwittingly named Genesis, ignorant of the English group’s existence – in 1972 with singer Roth, whose PA system they were renting for gigs, and bassist Mark Stone, who was replaced by Michael Anthony.

An attention-grabbing date at Gazzarri’s on the Sunset Strip by the rechristened Van Halen led to a demo session with Gene Simmons of KISS, who in the end opted out on working further with the band. However, as bassist Anthony recalled at the group’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, the act was signed after Warner Bros. chief executive Mo Ostin and producer Ted Templeman caught the band at a 1977 show at the Starwood.

Produced by Templeman, the band enjoyed a hit run of six albums with Roth as front man. Both “Van Halen II” (1979) and “Women and Children First” (1980) reached No. 6 nationally, while “Fair Warning” (1981) and “Diver Down” (1982) hit No. 5 and No. 3 respectively.

In the wake of the extroverted Roth’s exit and Hagar’s arrival, some anticipated a downturn in Van Halen’s popularity, but the new vocalist’s flair for power balladry and Eddie Van Halen’s still-puissant guitar attack thrust four albums to the sales pinnacle: “5150” (1986), “OU812” (1988), “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” (1991) and “Balance” (1995).

However, the band never found similar chemistry with Cherone, and Van Halen only witnessed renewed life when it regrouped with Hagar and Roth in the new millennium.

Eddie Van Halen is survived by his second wife, the band’s former publicist Janie Liszewski, whom he married in 2009, and his son.

RIP Eddie Van Halen.

[1962dude420-blog]

Today we remember the passing of Andrew Wood who died March 19, 1990 in Seattle, Washington

Andrew Patrick Wood (January 8, 1966 – March 19, 1990) was an American musician. He was the lead singer and lyricist for the alternative rock bands Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone. Wood formed Malfunkshun in 1980 with his older brother Kevin Wood on guitar and Regan Hagar on drums. The band used alter ego personas onstage, with Wood using the name Landrew the Love Child. Though the band only had two songs released, "With Yo' Heart (Not Yo' Hands)" and "Stars-n-You", on the Deep Six compilation album, they are often cited as being among the "founding fathers" of the Seattle grunge movement. During his time in Malfunkshun, Wood started relying heavily on drugs, entering rehab in 1985.

By 1988, Malfunkshun had disbanded and Wood began jamming with Green River members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament. They soon began writing original material and formed Mother Love Bone the same year, adding guitarist Bruce Fairweather (also a former member of Green River) and drummer Greg Gilmore to the lineup. The following year, the band signed a deal with PolyGram, issuing a six-song EP, Shine, before going on tour, supporting The Dogs D'Amour. Towards the end of the year, the band recorded their debut album, Apple, which was scheduled for release in 1990.

Due to his struggle with drug addiction, Wood checked himself into rehab in 1989, hoping to get clean for the release of Mother Love Bone's debut album. He died in Seattle on March 19, 1990 at the age of 24, after being found in a comatose state by his girlfriend following a heroin overdose.

Wood was born in Columbus, Mississippi, to David C. Wood and Toni Wood, and raised on Bainbridge Island, Washington. He was the youngest of three children; he had two older brothers, Kevin and Brian. Wood and his brothers were exposed to various types of music by their parents, who also supported their children when they were learning how to play instruments. Wood became a fan of acts such as Elton John, Queen, Aerosmith, and Kiss.

In 1980, at the age of 14, Wood formed Malfunkshun with his brother Kevin, recording their first demo tape in April 1980. Drummer Regan Hagar joined soon after with the band, playing shows in Seattle, Washington. Each member adopted onstage alter egos, with Andrew becoming Landrew the Love Child, Kevin becoming Kevinstein, and Hagar becoming Thundarr. Unlike most grunge groups in Seattle, Malfunkshun were influenced by glam rock with Wood described as "a hippie, glammed-out rock & roll god, equal parts Marc Bolan and Jim Morrison," with his look and vocal style influenced by frontmen such as Freddie Mercury, Paul Stanley, and Marc Bolan. Wood developed a drug habit at a young age, having smoked marijuana and cigarettes at the age of around 11 or 12. By 1985, he had started to rely heavily on drugs to help with his "rock star" persona, and entered rehab the same year.

Malfunkshun recorded a number of demos in 1986, two of which, "With Yo' Heart (Not Yo' Hands)" and "Stars-n-You," were included on the "legendary"  Deep Six compilation album released by C/Z Records the same year. The band continued to play shows in Seattle, opening for Soundgarden, The U-Men, and Skin Yard. However, in 1988, Malfunkshun disbanded.

Although the band never released an album and were also turned down by Sub Pop for "not being grunge enough," Malfunkshun, along with Green River, are often cited as "founding fathers" of the Seattle's grunge movement.

Wood and Hagar began playing with Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament of Green River, which disbanded in 1988, performing, on occasion, as the cover band Lords of the Wasteland. Former Green River guitarist Bruce Fairweather was added to the lineup, while former 10 Minute Warning and Skin Yard drummer Greg Gilmore replaced Hagar, forming Mother Love Bone the same year.

The band soon signed a deal with PolyGram, and, through their own subsidiary label Stardog, issued a six-song EP, Shine, in 1989. John Book, of Allmusic, stated that the EP "contributed to the buzz about the Seattle music scene." The band spent the rest of the year touring, including shows supporting The Dogs D'Amour, and recording their debut album. With high expectations of the album, Wood checked himself into rehab due to his struggle with heroin addiction, hoping to get clean for the release of album, staying there for the remainder of the year.

In 1990, the band continued to play shows in Seattle, waiting for the release of their album, Apple. Wood died only weeks before the release of the record. Some rock critics consider them to be one of the greatest bands of the Grunge era

On March 16, 1990, Wood was found in a comatose state by his girlfriend, having overdosed on heroin. Wood was taken to Harborview Hospital and placed on life support. On March 19, physicians suggested that Wood be removed from life support and he was pronounced dead at 3:15 pm that day. The official cause of death recorded on Wood's death certificate is hypoxic encephalopathy. Wood's remains were cremated. His burial site is located at Miller-Woodlawn Memorial Park in Bremerton, Washington.

Apple was released posthumously later in the year, receiving positive reviews. David Browne of The New York Times wrote that "Apple may be one of the first great hard-rock records of the 90s" and that "Andrew Wood could have been the first of the big-league Seattle rock stars."

Shortly following Wood's death, former roommate and friend Chris Cornell of Soundgarden wrote two songs, "Reach Down" and "Say Hello 2 Heaven", as a tribute. Cornell approached Gossard and Ament about releasing the songs as singles before collaborating on an album. Adding drummer Matt Cameron, future Pearl Jam lead guitarist Mike McCready, and future Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder, they formed Temple of the Dog in 1990 to pay tribute to Wood, releasing one self-titled album in 1991.

In 1992, PolyGram reissued both Shine and Apple as the compilation album Mother Love Bone, while the song "Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns" was included on the soundtrack to the film Singles. The same year, Los Angeles band Faster Pussycat wrote the song "Mr. Lovedog", from the album Whipped!, in tribute to Wood. Bradley Torreano of Allmusic stated that the song "offered a sad elegy to another charismatic figure in the metal world."

Seattle rock band War Babies, which briefly featured Mother Love Bone's Jeff Ament on bass, dedicated the song "Blue Tomorrow" off their eponymous 1992 debut album to Wood. In 1993, Seattle post-grunge band Candlebox released their self-titled debut featuring the single "Far Behind", which was written in Wood's memory.

Wood's former bandmate Stone Gossard compiled Malfunkshun recordings from 1986 to 1987 and released the studio album Return to Olympus through his Loosegroove Records label in 1995. In 2005, director Scot Barbour completed production on the documentary Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story. The film documents Wood's music career as well as his family background. The film premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival. In October of the same year, the film was screened at the FAIF Film Festival in Hollywood, California. The film was released in 2011 on DVD as part of a 2CD+DVD set entitled "Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story" including the Return to Olympus album, a bonus CD including many interviews and demos, and the movie on the DVD disc.

In 2011, the album Melodies & Dreams was released. It featured unreleased songs and demos that Wood recorded throughout his life, including a song that he recorded with Chris Cornell, "Island of Summer", which is the only existing recording with the two of them singing together. Wood is featured in the 2011 documentary Pearl Jam Twenty, about the story of Pearl Jam. Friends including Chris Cornell, Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard talk about him in the film and home-made footage featuring Wood is shown.

[lifewasted]

Mike and Stone KISW radio interview from two days ago. Good stuff.

[musicrunsthroughmysoul]

I found an opposite example, too.

Context: Eddie spun Mike around by his ankles and then just left him there on the ground and I think Jeff was almost going to pick him up to do the same thing but Mike got up before he could. (And then seems like afterward Jeff was apologetic about it/checking in to see if Mike was all right otherwise.)

Sweet boys who care about each other (x)

[thekylemeredith]

After recently posting a 2012 interview with Mike McCready, I found a follow up from 2013 that had never really been put out, one where he mentions offering to start a project with #kurtcobain.

So in celebration of #PearlJam’s Dark Matter, here ya go.

[sophiezscanz]

[poetyca]

Pearl Jam

  I Pearl Jam sono un gruppo grunge/alternative rock statunitense, formatosi a Seattle nel 1990.

Sono stati tra i gruppi più famosi e di successo degli anni novanta: in carriera hanno venduto oltre 60 milioni di copie di cui 30 milioni soltanto negli Stati Uniti. Nonostante il loro stile differisca molto da gruppi quali i Nirvana e gli Alice in Chains, caratterizzati rispettivamente da profonde influenze punk e metal, hanno creato una di quelle che sono considerate le tre vie del grunge, insieme alle due precedenti, più affine al rock classico degli anni settanta.

Secondo la rivista Rolling Stone, il gruppo «spese la maggior parte degli anni novanta ad allontanare la propria fama» per via del loro atteggiamento anti-commerciale.

Tuttora in piena attività, il gruppo raccoglie consensi di critica e di pubblico, continuando a influenzare numerosi gruppi rock contemporanei.

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Jam

Pearl Jam is an American rock band, formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band’s line-up has comprised Eddie Vedder (lead vocals), Mike McCready (lead guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar) and Jeff Ament (bass). The band’s fifth member is drummer Matt Cameron (also of Soundgarden), who has been with the band since 1998. Boom Gaspar (piano) has also been a session/touring member with the band since 2002. Drummers Dave Krusen, Matt Chamberlain, Dave Abbruzzese and Jack Irons are former members of the band.

Formed after the demise of Gossard and Ament’s previous band, Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam broke into the mainstream with its debut album, Ten, in 1991. One of the key bands in the grunge movement of the early 1990s, over the course of the band’s career, its members became noted for their refusal to adhere to traditional music industry practices, including refusing to make proper music videos or give interviews, and engaging in a much-publicized boycott of Ticketmaster. In 2006, Rolling Stone described the band as having “spent much of the past decade deliberately tearing apart their own fame.”

To date, the band has sold nearly 32 million records in the U.S. and an estimated 60 million worldwide. Pearl Jam has outlasted and outsold many of its contemporaries from the alternative rock breakthrough of the early 1990s, and is considered one of the most influential bands of that decade. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic referred to Pearl Jam as “the most popular American rock & roll band of the ’90s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Jam

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