Mike_McCready

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Mike McCready Mike McCready Mike McCready Mike McCready on stage with Pearl Jam in Berlin, Germany on September 23, 2006 Background information Birth name Also known as Born Genre(s) Occupation(s) Instrument(s) Years active Label(s) Associated acts Michael David McCready Petster April 5, 1966 (1966-04-05) Pensacola, Florida, U.S. Alternative rock, grunge, hard rock Musician Guitar 1979–present A&M, Epic, Columbia, J Pearl Jam, Temple of the Dog, Mad Season, The Rockfords Santana, while his friends listened to Kiss and Aerosmith; McCready would frequently play bongo drums.[1] At the age of eleven, McCready purchased his first guitar and began taking lessons. In eighth grade, McCready formed his first band, Warrior, whose name soon changed to Shadow. Originally a cover band playing during free periods at Roosevelt High School, the band eventually began writing original material and recording demo tapes.[2] After high school, McCready worked at a pizza restaurant where he befriended musician Pete Droge.[3] In 1986, Shadow relocated to Los Angeles, California and attempted to cut a record deal.[2] However, according to McCready: We played to a couple bartenders down there, but even though it was a bad scene, it was a good experience. Basically, we weren’t that good of a band, and we didn’t realize it until we got down there. I guess we lost our focus, got really bummed out and came back to Seattle.[1] In 1988, Shadow returned to Seattle and split up soon afterwards.[2] McCready lost interest in playing guitar for some time, stating that he "was so depressed about life."[4] He cut his hair, enrolled in a local community college, and spent his nights working at a video store.[1] He credits a friend named Russ Riedner for "getting me out of my college mode and back into playing guitar."[1] McCready was inspired to pick up his guitar again after attending a Stevie Ray Vaughan concert at The Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington. McCready said: As soon as he started "Couldn’t Stand the Weather", these huge clouds rolled in overhead, and rain began pouring down. When the song ended, the rain stopped! It was like a religious experience, and it changed me. It lifted me out of the negative mindset I was in, and it got Notable instrument(s) Fender Stratocaster Gibson Les Paul Junior Michael David McCready (born April 5, 1966 in Pensacola, Florida) is an American musician who serves as the lead guitarist for the American rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding members of Pearl Jam. McCready was also a member of the side project bands Mad Season and The Rockfords. Biography Early life Mike McCready was born in Pensacola, Florida, but his family moved to Seattle, Washington shortly after his birth. When he was a child, his parents played Jimi Hendrix and 1 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia me playing again. forever for that.[4] I thank him Mike McCready Pearl Jam Pearl Jam was formed in 1990 by Ament, Gossard, and McCready,[9] who then recruited Vedder and drummer Dave Krusen. The band signed to Epic Records in 1991. After the recording sessions for Ten were completed, Krusen left Pearl Jam in May 1991.[2] Krusen was replaced by Matt Chamberlain, who had previously played with Edie Brickell & New Bohemians. After playing only a handful of shows, one of which was filmed for the "Alive" video, Chamberlain left to join the Saturday Night Live band.[10] As his replacement, Chamberlain suggested Dave Abbruzzese, who joined the group and played the rest of Pearl Jam’s live shows supporting the Ten album. Ten broke the band into the mainstream, and became one of the best selling alternative albums of the 1990s. The band found itself amidst the sudden popularity and attention given to the Seattle music scene and the genre known as grunge. McCready frequently soloed, and added a blues touch to the music (influenced by Stevie Ray Vaughan). The single "Jeremy" received Grammy Award nominations for Best Rock Song and Best Hard Rock Performance in 1993.[11] Pearl Jam received four awards at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards for its music video for "Jeremy", including Video of the Year and Best Group Video.[12] Ten was ranked number 207 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time,[13] and "Jeremy" was ranked number 11 on VH1’s list of the 100 greatest songs of the ’90s.[14] Following an intense touring schedule, the band went into the studio to record what would become its second studio album, Vs., released in 1993. Upon its release, Vs. set at the time the record for most copies of an album sold in a week,[15] and spent five weeks at number one on the Billboard 200. Vs. was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album in 1995.[16] From Vs., the song "Daughter" received a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and the song "Go" received a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance.[17] Feeling the pressures of success, the band decided to decrease the level of promotion for its albums, including refusing to release music videos.[18] In 1994, the band began a McCready gradually went back to playing guitar and finally joined another band called Love Chile.[1] A childhood friend, Stone Gossard, went to one of the band’s shows and appreciated McCready’s work after hearing him perform Stevie Ray Vaughan’s "Couldn’t Stand the Weather".[5] Gossard had known McCready from back before high school when the two would trade rock band pictures with each other.[1] After the demise of Gossard’s band Mother Love Bone, he asked McCready if he wanted to play music together with him.[2] After a few months of practicing together, McCready in turn encouraged Gossard to reconnect with his Mother Love Bone alum Jeff Ament.[5] Temple of the Dog The trio were attempting to form their own band when they were invited to be part of the Temple of the Dog project founded by Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell as a musical tribute to Mother Love Bone’s frontman Andrew Wood. Cornell had been Wood’s roommate. The band’s line-up was completed by the addition of Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron. The band started rehearsing songs that Cornell had written on tour prior to Wood’s death, as well as re-working some existing material from demos written by Gossard and Ament.[6] This was McCready’s first recording studio experience, and he took a central role in the project. McCready performed an epic 4-minute-plus solo for "Reach Down". According to Cornell, McCready’s headphone monitors flew off halfway through the recording of the solo, and he played the rest without being able to hear the backing track.[7] McCready considers this track to be one of his proudest moments.[8] This project eventually featured vocalist Eddie Vedder, who had arrived in Seattle to audition to be the singer for Ament and Gossard’s next band, which later became Pearl Jam. Vedder sang a duet with Cornell on the song "Hunger Strike" and provided background vocals on several other songs. The band decided that it had enough material for an entire album and in April 1991 Temple of the Dog was released through A&M Records. 2 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia much-publicized boycott of Ticketmaster, which lasted for three years and limited the band’s ability to tour in the United States.[19] Later that same year the band released its third studio album, Vitalogy, which became the band’s third straight album to reach multi-platinum status. The album received Grammy nominations for Album of the Year and Best Rock Album in 1996.[20] Vitalogy was ranked number 492 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[13] The lead single "Spin the Black Circle" won a Grammy Award in 1996 for Best Hard Rock Performance.[16] Although Abbruzzese performed on the album Vitalogy, he was fired in August 1994, four months before the album was released.[7] The band cited political differences between Abbruzzese and the other members; for example, he disagreed with the Ticketmaster boycott.[7] He was replaced by Jack Irons, a close friend of Vedder and the former and original drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.[2] The band subsequently released No Code in 1996 and Yield in 1998. In 1998, prior to Pearl Jam’s U.S. Yield Tour, Irons left the band due to dissatisfaction with touring.[21] Pearl Jam enlisted former Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron as Irons’ replacement on an initially temporary basis,[21] but he soon became a permanent replacement for Irons. "Do the Evolution" (from Yield) received a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance.[22] In 1998, Pearl Jam recorded "Last Kiss", a cover of a 1960s ballad made famous by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers. It was released on the band’s 1998 fan club Christmas single; however, by popular demand, the cover was released to the public as a single in 1999. "Last Kiss" peaked at number two on the Billboard charts and became the band’s highest-charting single. In 2000, the band released its sixth studio album, Binaural, and initiated a successful and ongoing series of official bootlegs. The band released seventy-two such live albums in 2000 and 2001, and set a record for most albums to debut in the Billboard 200 at the same time.[23] "Grievance" (from Binaural) received a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance.[24] The band released its seventh studio album, Riot Act, in 2002. Pearl Jam’s contribution to the 2003 film, Big Fish, "Man of the Hour", was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 2004.[25] The band’s Mike McCready eighth studio album, the eponymous Pearl Jam, was released in 2006. The band has begun work on its ninth studio album, set to be released in 2009.[26] Other musical projects Mad Season During the production of Vitalogy, McCready went into rehabilitation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he met bassist John Baker Saunders of The Lamont Cranston Band.[27] In 1994, when the two returned to Seattle, they formed a side band, The Gacy Bunch, with vocalist Layne Staley of Alice in Chains and drummer Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees. After several live shows, they changed their name to Mad Season. The band released the album Above through Columbia Records in 1995, and are best known for the single "River of Deceit". The band broke up following Saunders’ death in 1999 due to a heroin overdose. Staley would pass away three years later in 2002, the victim of an apparent overdose of heroin and cocaine. Mirror Ball McCready performed with other members of Pearl Jam on Neil Young’s 1995 album, Mirror Ball, and subsequently took part in an eleven-date tour in Europe as part of Young’s backing band. This tour proved very successful with Young’s manager Elliot Roberts calling it "One of the greatest tours we ever had in our whole lives."[28] The Rockfords McCready played with another side band called The Rockfords, named after one of McCready’s favorite TV shows The Rockford Files. The band features McCready’s former high school friends from Shadow, plus vocalist Carrie Akre of Goodness. The band’s selftitled debut was released in 2000. Musical style and influences McCready prefers to play "by ear" rather than from a technical standpoint. He stated, "I’m so ignorant of this technical stuff...I’m not into being a tech-head."[8] McCready’s guitar style is usually of an aggressive bluesy nature, and was described by Greg Prato of 3 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Allmusic as "feel-oriented" and "rootsy."[29] McCready has cited Kiss, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eddie Van Halen, and Randy Rhoads among his influences.[1][4][30] McCready is known to use a Fender Stratocaster and a Gibson Les Paul Junior. When the band started, Gossard and McCready were clearly designated as rhythm and lead guitarists, respectively. The dynamic began to change when Vedder started to play more rhythm guitar during the Vitalogy era. McCready said in 2006, "Even though there are three guitars, I think there’s maybe more room now. Stone will pull back and play a two-note line and Ed will do a power chord thing, and I fit into all that."[31] Of his live performances, McCready has said, "I can kind of get into a meditative state when I’m playing, something I don’t get any other way...You might see me staring up in the sky with my eyes closed. I’m not faking it. That just kind of happens."[32] As time has gone on McCready has contributed more to Pearl Jam’s songwriting process. McCready’s first writing contribution for Pearl Jam was co-writing the music for the B-side "Yellow Ledbetter" (from the "Jeremy" single), which has since become a regular set closing song during Pearl Jam live concerts. After co-writing material for Vs. and writing the music for the song "Present Tense" from the album No Code, he wrote the music for three of the tracks on the band’s 1998 album, Yield, including one of the band’s biggest hits, "Given to Fly". McCready made his first lyrical contribution for the band with the track "Inside Job", which closes the band’s 2006 self-titled album. Mike McCready "The Twenty-Five Most Underrated Guitarists" by Rolling Stone.[36] Personal life In May 2005, McCready married Ashley O’Connor in a private ceremony in Maui, Hawaii. Their first child, a daughter named Kaia, was born on April 12, 2007, the same date as his bandmate Stone Gossard’s child. The couple currently resides in Seattle, Washington. McCready suffers from Crohn’s disease, which he was diagnosed with at the age of 21,[37] and has worked to bring awareness of the disease.[38] McCready performs an annual concert to benefit the Northwest chapter of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, and has played at the event in a UFO tribute band called Flight to Mars as well as a reunited Shadow line-up.[32] Drug addiction McCready has had two different bouts with substance abuse. The first came in the early 1990s, when McCready was fighting drug and alcohol addiction: We had a lot of meetings where they would say, ’Hey Mike, you’re getting way too fucked up.’ But we’re all really good friends and we love each other and I think they actually thought I was going to die, but they never took steps to kick me out of the band, which I can’t believe because I fucked up so many times. I was drunk and making an ass out of myself and they were concerned about it....I’d clean up for a little while then I’d fall off the wagon, like addicts do....When everything blew up, everybody kind of lost their minds....I was clean for about a month...well, semi-clean; I can’t bullshit about that...but I fell off the wagon after the Kurt Cobain thing. That fucked with everybody really hard. I mean, how do you get to that point of depression where suicide’s the only way out?[27] McCready’s second bout came during the sessions for Pearl Jam’s 2000 album, Binaural: Recognition In a review of Pearl Jam’s 2006 eponymous album, Rolling Stone editor David Fricke admitted that he "screwed up" in excluding both McCready and Pearl Jam rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard from the publication’s 2003 feature "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".[33] In 2007, McCready’s guitar solos from "Alive" and "Yellow Ledbetter" were featured on Guitar World’s "100 Greatest Guitar Solos" list.[34] In February 2007, McCready and Gossard were included together by Rolling Stone in its list of "The Top 20 New Guitar Gods" under the title of "four-armed monster."[35] He was placed at #6 on a list of 4 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Year 1991 Year Title 1995 Above Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon 1996 Bite Back: Live at Crocodile Cafe Year Title 2000 Down to You: Music from the Miramax Motion Picture The Rockfords 2003 Live Seattle, WA 12/13/03 2004 Waiting... I was going through some personal problems. It was my own stuff I was dealing with. That was a tough time. I was out of it. That was due, at the time, I was taking prescription drugs. I got caught up in it, because of my pain.[7] Title Temple of the Dog Label Columbia Track(s) All Mike McCready Label A&M Hollywood "I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier" PopLlama "River of Deceit" (live) Label Epic Epic Kufala Track(s) "Silver Lining" All All Ten Club All Discography Temple of the Dog discography Pearl Jam discography Mad Season discography The Rockfords discography Contributions and collaborations See also • List of people diagnosed with Crohn’s disease References [1] ^ Rotondi, James. "Blood On the Tracks". Guitar Player. January 1994. [2] ^ Greene, Jo-Ann. "Intrigue and Incest: Pearl Jam and the Secret History of Seattle" (Part 2). Goldmine. August 20, 1993. [3] Alvarez, Tina. "Pete Droge". EMOL Music. 1996. [4] ^ Aledort, Andy. "Aural Exam". Guitar World. July 2000. [5] ^ Hiatt, Brian (2006-06-16). "The Second Coming of Pearl Jam". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/ coverstory/ pearl_jam_the_second_coming. Retrieved on 2007-06-22. [6] Alden, Grant. "Requiem for a Heavyweight." Guitar World. July 1997 [7] ^ Weisbard, Eric, et al. "Ten Past Ten" Spin. August 2001. [8] ^ Gilbert, Jeff. "Prime Cuts: Mike McCready - The Best of Pearl Jam!". Guitar School. May 1995. [9] Crowe, Cameron (1993-10-28). "Five Against the World". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/ 10560431/five_against_the_world. Retrieved on 2007-06-23. [10] Peiken, Matt (1993-12). "Dave Abbruzzese of Pearl Jam". Modern Drummer. http://pearljamhistory.no.sapo.pt/ PJArticles_Interviews_12-xx-93_-_modern_drummer.h Retrieved on 2007-07-01. [11] "Clapton Tops List Of Grammy Nominations". The Seattle Times. http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/ archive/ ?date=19930107&slug=1678641. Retrieved on 2008-08-03. [12] "1993 Video Music Awards". MTV.com. http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/1993/. Retrieved on 2008-08-02. [13] ^ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 5 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Year Group 1992 Lazy Susan 1993 Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready with G. E. Smith M.A.C.C. (Mike McCready, Jeff Ament, Matt Cameron, and Chris Cornell) 1995 Neil Young 1996 Goodness with Mike McCready (as Petster) $10,000 Gold Chain Title Twang The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration Label Silver Eye Sony Mike McCready Track(s) "Bored" "Masters of War" (live) Stone Free: A Tribute to Reprise/WEA "Hey Baby (Land Jimi Hendrix of the New Rising Sun)" Mirror Ball Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks Reprise Rhino/WEA All "Electricity, Electricity" "Oh! Sweet Nuthin’" "Dying Days" "The Getaway" "Fresh Screwdriver" Some "The Day Brings" "Yellow Ledbetter" (live) "Catching Fireflies" The Cable Guy: Original Sony Motion Picture Soundtrack Dust Breaking the Ethers West Epic Epic Warner Bros. Screaming Trees 1997 Tuatara Mark Eitzel The Minus 5 Brad Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready 1999 Goodness 2000 Stillwater 2001 Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready with Neil Young 2002 The Wallflowers 2003 Mike McCready, Stone Gossard, Cole Peterson, and Chris Friel 2004 Heart 2005 Screaming Trees The Lonesome Death of Hollywood Buck McCoy Interiors Tibetan Freedom Concert These Days Sony Capitol Good-Ink Almost Famous: Music DreamWorks "Fever Dog" from the Motion Picture America: A Tribute to Heroes Red Letter Days Live from Nowhere Near You Jupiter’s Darling Ocean of Confusion: Songs of Screaming Trees 1989–1996 Fingerprints Interscope Interscope Funkhead Music Sovereign Epic "Long Road" (live) Some "Powerless" "I’m Fine" "Dying Days" 2006 Peter Frampton A&M "Black Hole Sun" and "Blowin’ Smoke" "With You Again" "Life on the Run" 2008 Kristen Ward 2009 Dierks Bentley Drive Away Feel That Fire Chroma Sound Capitol Nashville http://www.rollingstone.com/features/ coverstory/featuregen.asp?pid=2164. Retrieved on 2008-05-06. [14] "VH1: 100 Greatest Songs of the ’90s". VH1. http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/ the_greatest/127759/ 6 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Mike McCready episode_featured_copy.jhtml. Retrieved musicNews/idUSTRE50G0B520090117. on 2008-08-09. Retrieved on 2009-01-17. [15] "Pearl’s Jam". Entertainment Weekly. [27] ^ Gilbert, Jeff. "Alive-Pearl Jam’s Mike 1993-11-19. http://www.ew.com/ew/ McCready Says Goodbye to Drugs and article/0,,308749,00.html. Retrieved on Alcohol and is a Better Man For it". 2007-08-31. Guitar World. April 1995. [16] ^ "Awards Database". Los Angeles [28] McDonough, Jimmy. "Shakey: Neil Times. http://theenvelope.latimes.com/ Young’s Biography", Anchor, 2003. ISBN factsheets/awardsdb/env-awards-db0-6797-5096-7 [1] search,0,7169155.htmlstory?searchtype=all&query=pearl+jam. [29] Prato, Greg. "Mike McCready > Retrieved on 2008-08-02. Biography". Allmusic. [17] Pareles, Jon. "POP VIEW; Playing http://www.allmusic.com/cg/ Grammy Roulette". The New York Times. amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:gifixqwgldse. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/ Retrieved on 2009-04-20. fullpage.html?res=990CE2DD113CF935A15751C0A963958260. [30] Official Sony Biography Retrieved on 2008-08-03. [31] Cross, Charles R. "Better Man". Guitar [18] Ashare, Matt. "The Sweet Smell of World Presents: Guitar Legends: Pearl (Moderate) Success". CMJ. July 2000. Jam. July 2006. [19] DeRogatis, Jim. Milk It!: Collected [32] ^ Brownlee, Clint. "McCready On Musings on the Alternative Music Another Flight to Mars". Explosion of the 90’s. Cambridge: Da seattlesoundmag.com. May 1, 2008. Capo, 2003. ISBN 0-306-81271-1, pg. 58 [33] Fricke, David. "Pearl Jam: Review". [20] Strauss, Neil. "New Faces in Grammy Rolling Stone. April 21, 2006. Nominations". The New York Times. [34] "100 Greatest Guitar Solos". Guitar http://query.nytimes.com/gst/ World. 2007. fullpage.html?res=9E05EFDA1239F936A35752C0A960958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all. [35] Fricke, David. "The Top 20 New Guitar Retrieved on 2008-08-03. Gods". Rolling Stone. February 22, 2007. [21] ^ Fischer, Blair R (1998-04-17). "Off He [36] "The Twenty-Five Most Underrated Goes". Rolling Stone. Guitarists". Rolling Stone. October 1, http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/ 2007. pearljam/articles/story/5928493/ [37] Chang, Young. "Pearl Jam Guitarist to off_he_goes. Retrieved on 2007-06-28. Tell of Life With Crohn’s". The Seattle [22] "41st annual Grammy nominees and Times. May 13, 2003. winners". CNN.com. [38] "A Conversation with Pearl Jam Guitarist http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/specials/ Mike McCready". healthtalk.com. June 1999/grammys/bigpicture.html. 25, 2004. Retrieved on 2008-08-03. [23] Davis, Darren (2001-03-07). "Pearl Jam Breaks Its Own Chart Record". Yahoo! • Pearl Jam official website Music. http://music.yahoo.com/read/ • Mike McCready at Allmusic news/12055527. Retrieved on • Mike McCready at the Internet Movie 2007-06-28. Database [24] Moss, Corey. "Pearl Jam DVD Compiles Tour Footage". MTV.com. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/ Persondata 1439384/20010214/pearl_jam.jhtml. NAME McCready, Mike Retrieved on 2008-08-03. ALTERNATIVE McCready, Michael [25] "Golden Globes Nominations & NAMES David Winners". goldenglobes.org. SHORT Musician, Songwriter http://www.goldenglobes.org/ DESCRIPTION nominations/year/2003. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. DATE OF BIRTH April 5, 1966 [26] Harding, Cortney; Cohen, Jonathan (1966-04-05) (2009-01-17). "More recording acts PLACE OF BIRTH Pensacola, Florida, expected to go their own way". Reuters. U.S. http://www.reuters.com/article/ External links 7 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia DATE OF DEATH PLACE OF DEATH Mike McCready Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_McCready" Categories: 1966 births, American rock guitarists, Grunge musicians, Lead guitarists, Living people, Mad Season members, Musicians from Florida, Pearl Jam members, People from Pensacola, Florida, Scottish-Americans This page was last modified on 18 May 2009, at 22:13 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) taxdeductible nonprofit charity. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers 8