Before Mookie and Temple and after Shadow, there was Love Chile. After Shadow had dissolved and Mike found himself returning to life outside of music, he soon realized that he couldn't stay away from the music for long. With the support of Russ Reidner, who ended up in Goodness with Danny Newcombe, and with Mark Patterson (who would later be part of Blind Horse with Bruce Fairweather from MLB), Mike found himself jamming again. This time, however, the band had no name, no drummer and little direction.

Chris Friel, who holds an on-going impression in Pearl Jam lore from Shadow to Pre-Ten demos to the Rockfords, would sit in with the band for one show with the band under the name of "The X-Men." As the trio jammed off and on, they recorded various demos but never putting anything serious to tape.

In this late 1988/early 1989 setting, Mike also began playing with another band of friends: James Hill, Aaron Murat, and Vinny Beatty, who now plays bass for The Color of the East. The quarter called themselves Love Chile, armed with countless jams, 12 to 15 actual songs, and, eventually, a 5-song demo.

As the story goes, the band only played two shows before Stone and Jeff came to see their long-time friend McCready play, one on the second floor of a loft in Seattle's U District opening for Flop and the second at the OK Hotel. "Everybody was just kind of just hanging out and [Mike] plugged his guitar into [some] kid's amp and just started wailing," Jeff recalls of meeting Mike for the first time at a house party during the MLB days. As fate would have it, on a warm, June night in 1990 at the OK Hotel in Seattle, Love Chile was opening for Jangle Town, a band which featured Chris and Rick Friel as well as Reidner (ed. note -- these guys don't stray far do they? :). Something happened at this show as Stone and Jeff saw the seemingly limitless potential Mike can possess on stage. Chris Friel also recalls that it was "probably the greatest [he'd] ever seen [Mike] play."

After this, Stone called Mike to jam and the two soon got together. They quickly started writing and demoing. Jeff didn't stray far either as he had been busy with War Babies and Luv Co., which at one point Mike was a part of during this same time period. (side note: Luv Co. featured an ever-revolving cast of characters whose catalog featured mostly 70s covers from Aerosmith to Bad Company staples. The band played about 5 shows, all in Seattle)

It was after this point that Jeff had reunited with Stone and started playing with him and Mike in Stone's attic. Soon, the trio realized they had the early pieces to a puzzle without a clear picture. Enter Matt Cameron as a session drummer and the doors were open for both Temple of the Dog and the beginnings of Mookie Blaylock.