Mike McCready
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Michael "Mike" McCready (born April 5, 1965) is Pearl Jam's guitarist.
McCready was born in Pensacola, Florida, USA, but his family moved to Seattle shortly after his birth. As a child, his parents played Hendrix and Santana, while his friends listened to KISS and Aerosmith; McCready would frequently play bongo drums. At the age of 11, McCready purchased his first guitar and began taking lessons—aiming to imitate Paul Stanley of KISS.
In eighth grade, McCready formed his first band, Warrior, whose name soon changed to Shadow. Originally a cover band playing during free periods in high school, the band eventually began writing original material. After high school, Shadow attempted to cut a record deal in Los Angeles, but, 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."'
Shadow split up soon afterwards, and McCready lost interest in guitar for some time, before finally joining another band called Love Chile. A high school friend, Stone Gossard, heard the band, appreciated McCready's work, and asked if he wanted to join a band he was forming. The two worked together and recruited another guitarist, Jeff Ament. Together with Matt Cameron and Eddie Vedder, the group formed the band Pearl Jam (originally known as Mookie Blaylock).
At this point in time, Pearl Jam became one of the most famous modern bands with the release of Ten. McCready frequently soloed, and added a blues touch to the music (influenced by Stevie Ray Vaughan).
McCready had difficulty coping with the fame, however, and was fighting drug and alcohol addiction:
"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. 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? 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."
During the production of Vitalogy, McCready eventually went to rehab in Minneapolis, where he formed a side band, The Gacy Bunch. After several live shows, they changed their name to Mad Season.
McCready suffers from Crohn's disease.
References
- Gilbert, Jeff. Alive-Pearl Jam's Mike McCready Says Goodbye to Drugs and Alcohol and is a Better Man For it. Guitar World, April 1995.
- Rotondi, James.Blood On the Tracks. Guitar Player, January 1994.