Given To Wail 2.0 - The Mike McCready Page

The album took shape quickly, most of the music had been written by Stone over the past year and only required Eddie to add lyrics and Mike to add the solo's. Stone gave both them the freedom they required to complete the songs. For Mike that meant a lot of blues phrasing, and "Alive" is one of the moments where he shines brightest. Heavily influenced by Ace Frehley's solo from "She" Mike created, through simply combining lightning fast blues licks, one of the most memorable recorded performances of our time. Soon the band hit the road and fans quickly discovered that leads like those in "Evenflow", which shined on the record, were even more powerful and mesmerizing live. It was about this time that Mike wrote the music to "Yellow Ledbetter", his tribute to Jimi Hendrix, and a song that to this day closes the majority of Pearl Jam shows.

Pearl Jam was on top of the world and soon they headed into the studio to record they're much anticipated sophomore effort V.S. Mike's style developed and broadened, adding country licks to songs like "Daughter" and "Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town". He wrote the majority of "Glorified G" and once again gave us our fix of blues throughout the jam-oriented album. V.S. was a huge success, shattering records in units sold in one week, the band proved them to be more then a flash in the pan. They appeared at the MTV video award where they played "Rocking in the Free World" with Neil Young, Mike smashing his guitar and amp after the performance. The band stopped doing videos and the media focused on Eddie Vedder's problems excepting fame, painting him as a recluse, tortured by fame. What few knew was Mike was fighting for his life, far from the spotlight.

Mike had been battling his alcohol and drug addiction for a while, using, to hide his insecurities: "When everything blew up everybody kind of lost their minds...I'd clean up for a while then I'd fall off the wagon, like addicts do." In the spring of 1994 Mike had been clean for a month when Kurt Cobain took his own life: "I fell off the wagon after the Kurt Cobain thing. That fucked with everybody really hard. I mean how do you get to the point of depression where suicide's the only way out?" Mike began missing band rehearsals and everybody became concerned: "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." In the summer of 1994, after the recording of Pearl Jam's Third album "Vitalogy" Mike made perhaps the most important decision of his life, he checked into rehab.

With "Vitalogy" in the mixing stages Mike left for a Minneapolis rehab center where he spent time dealing with his problem and learning about himself: "They (Pearl Jam) were very supportive. Stone even came out and visited me. They called me all the time, and it was cool because I really needed their support. They're my greatest friends. I couldn't believe it; when you clean up, you start realizing that people actually care about you. You just don't think about it when you're using all the time because you're only into the people you're using with. It clouds everything." It was during this time the band held a meeting, Mike attending by phone, which resulted in the firing of then drummer Dave Abbruzzese who would be replaced by none other then Jack Irons. Also, while in rehab Mike met John Baker Saunders a Seattle bass player, with whom he would become good friends. After completing rehab Mike hooked up with Saunders, Layne Staley (Alice in Chains), and Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees). Calling themselves The Gacy Bunch, they began to play small gigs in places like the "Crocodile Cafe" in Seattle. After the band was featured on Eddie Vedder's "Self Pollution" radio show, people wanted more, and after writing more material the band decided to release an album.

The band recorded the album over a 10 day period and released it in March of 1995 under the new name "Mad Season": "A lot of hallucinogenic mushrooms grow in the area around Surrey, England, where we mixed the first Pearl Jam album, and people there call the time when they come up the 'Mad Season' because people are wandering around mad, picking mushrooms, half out of their minds. That term has always stuck in my mind, and I relate that to my past years, the seasons of drinking and drug abuse." The album was a success and showed for the first time Mike's strength as a songwriter, however Mike was eager to get into the studio and record his first "sober" Pearl Jam album.

By the time Pearl Jam entered the studio to work on their forth album, all the members had side projects including Mike's short lived punk band "Bumrush", which included Pearl Jam photographer Lance Mercer. "No Code" showed the influence of these side projects with its diversity. The album, released in August of 1996, included a taste of eastern music inspired by the arrival of Jack Irons, Jeff Ament's project "Three Fish", and Eddie Vedder's collaborations with the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Mike contributed several songs as he began to redevelop his relationship with those in the band and become more intricate to the bands creative process.

After a successful 1996 world tour, and an appearance by Eddie and Mike at the Tibetan Freedom Concert, the band has once again given us another amazing album. "Yield", was released in February of this year and includes three tracks written by Mike, including the first single, "Given To Fly". The band is currently in the middle of a US summer tour and rumor has it Mike may be releasing an album with his new project "Disinformation"- we'll keep are fingers crossed.

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In honor of Mike the majority of this bio was ripped off from the following articles :)

Alive-Pearl Jam's Mike McCready Says Goodbye to Drugs and Alcohol and is a Better Man For it.
Jeff Gilbert-Guitar World April
1995

Blood On the Tracks
James Rotondi-Guitar Player
January 1994