Mike McCready

Mike McCready with Pearl Jam, 2009

Mike McCready (born April 5, 1966 in Pensacola , Florida , USA ) is an American musician and the lead guitarist of the band Pearl Jam .

Since Temple of the Dog , the tribute project for Andrew Wood , he has played with guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament . From this project the group Pearl Jam was born.

McCready also participated in the Mad Season project .

Early years

Although McCready was born in Pensacola, Florida, his family relocated to Seattle shortly after he was born . His parents listened to Hendrix and Santana when he was a child, while his friends listened to KISS and Aerosmith . So you can say that he came into contact with music at an early age. At the age of eleven he got his first guitar and shortly afterwards lessons. During his school days he founded his first band, Warrior, which was soon renamed Shadow.

Personal

Mike McCready has had Crohn's disease (Crohn's Disease) since he was a teenager and supports a number of projects that contribute to research into the disease.

He also struggled with drug addiction and alcoholism in the early to mid-1990s . In 1995 he stated in an interview that he had overcome the addiction and looked back on the time before:

"Often when we met, the others would say, 'Hey, Mike, you can't handle it anymore.' But we're all really good friends and love each other, and while I think they really feared I was going to die, they never tried to throw me out of the band, which I can't believe because I've screwed up so many times. I got drunk and acted like an idiot and they worried about me ... I was clean for a while, and then I relapsed again, like addicts ... I was just a month clean - well, halfway clean, I don't want to tell bullshit - I had a bad relapse after the thing with Kurt Cobain . That hit us all really hard. I mean, how do you get to such a low point of depression where suicide is 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 .... I'd clean up for a little while then I'd fall off the wagon, like addicts do ... 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? )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 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.