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 Post subject: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
PostPosted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 9:52 am 
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This was a really great read, well worth checking out:

Quote:
http://www.twofeetthick.com/2010/10/tft-exclusive-archival-interview-with-mike-mccready/

At TwoFeetThick.com, we strive to provide unique, intense coverage of all things Pearl Jam. Two Feet Thick proudly presents an exclusive, previously unpublished interview with Pearl Jam lead guitarist Mike McCready from July 2006. During the nearly 90-minute interview, McCready discusses a wide variety of PJ- and non-PJ related topics, including: how the band relearns old songs it plans to add to its concert setlists; the estimated 30-40 unreleased songs still in Pearl Jam’s vault; inner-band tension surrounding the start of the 2006 world tour; McCready’s decision to publicize his long struggle with Crohn’s disease; running into a high school friend while wearing a dress; and the fate of the once-beloved Mr. Pickles. It’s rare to have such raw and direct insight into our favorite musicians; we’re fortunate to have access to this wonderful conversation with writer and passionate PJ fan Brian Smith.

Image


(Hope I didn't step on TFT's toes, I waited a few days to allow you guys to post it first if you wanted to. Wouldn't want anyone curious to miss it, really great interview.)


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 Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
PostPosted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 2:11 pm 
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Nice interview.
We will probably never see more than 10 for those 30-40 unreleased songs. I love these interviews when we get a glimpse of what they have locked up in the "hermetically sealed" vault.

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 Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
PostPosted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 2:24 pm 
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On recording a reported 30-40 songs for “Pearl Jam” (avocado) – McCready: Yeah. There’s a song called “Rise and Fall” that Ed wrote that didn’t make it. Yeah, there’s a couple others. From this session, there’s another 10. And from all the past sessions, there’s got to be 30-40. And some are complete, and some are just kind of crap, and some are works in progress and some never really made it. Like, ‘Well, we’ve got a verse and a chorus and a verse and a chorus.’ But then we just put it on the backburner, because it never sparked any kind of (fire). “Black, Red, Yellow” was that way early on, and that came out and actually sounded OK. There’s more stuff. There’s a lot more stuff. And we just take all of those tapes and put them in this hermetically sealed (Laughs) — but that’s when we were at Kelly’s old house, in the basement. It’s a long story. But we have a new vault; we moved it out of there. … But there’s a lot of stuff. There’s a ton of different stuff. Plus, we record every single show, so there’s jams from that. I think you’re going to see some interesting, creative stuff come out. Not to toot our own horn, but some really creative ideas, via the fan club, via Kelly and us.



of the earth?


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 Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
PostPosted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 9:25 pm 
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62strat wrote:
McCready: Yeah. There’s a song called “Rise and Fall” that Ed wrote that didn’t make it.

of the earth?

I'm assuming so.

Here's some other stuff I found interesting or notable:

Quote:
On slowly breaking out Binaural and Riot Act tracks as the tour unfolded

McCready: I think we’ll see more of them as — well, this leg’s almost over. But as we get to Europe, maybe we might do a little bit more. We had a list of songs that we had been practicing, and it had, like, “God’s Dice” on it. But we haven’t put them into any sets. The only reason that I can think of is, that we’ve tried to do as much new stuff as possible.

This interview was done the day of the first San Fran show from 2006 - and they played Gods' Dice later that night.

Quote:
On reworking older songs, such as “Garden”

McCready: Oh, you like it? OK. That one was really hard. Stone came in, and we’re all kind of tired, and he’s like, ‘I’ve got this idea. I want to re-work ‘Garden.’ ‘ And we’re like, ‘Mmm.’ (Laughs.) ‘Aw, man. Let’s just go home, you know? We already have ‘Garden.’ ‘ And it was a tough thing, because I think Ed was kind of at the end of his rope, and we were getting ready to go on tour. But after we did it about 10 or 20 times it came out OK.

(Stone arranged a new intro)

Yeah. He arranged that whole idea. I think he just woke up one morning and started messing around. I was skeptical at first. But it’s fun to bring that thing back.

I'd always wondered how the reworked Garden came about.

Quote:
On recording a reported 30-40 songs for “Pearl Jam” (avocado)

McCready: Yeah. There’s a song called “Rise and Fall” that Ed wrote that didn’t make it. Yeah, there’s a couple others. From this session, there’s another 10. And from all the past sessions, there’s got to be 30-40. And some are complete, and some are just kind of crap, and some are works in progress and some never really made it. Like, ‘Well, we’ve got a verse and a chorus and a verse and a chorus.’ But then we just put it on the backburner, because it never sparked any kind of (fire). “Black, Red, Yellow” was that way early on, and that came out and actually sounded OK. There’s more stuff. There’s a lot more stuff. And we just take all of those tapes and put them in this hermetically sealed (Laughs) — but that’s when we were at Kelly’s old house, in the basement. It’s a long story. But we have a new vault; we moved it out of there. … But there’s a lot of stuff. There’s a ton of different stuff. Plus, we record every single show, so there’s jams from that. I think you’re going to see some interesting, creative stuff come out. Not to toot our own horn, but some really creative ideas, via the fan club, via Kelly and us.

Four years later...

*tumbleweed rolls by*

Quote:
On how much feedback that band provides in terms of mixing for its official bootlegs -

McCready: We listen to the bootlegs and say, ‘Well, maybe we want to hear a little bit more crowd sound from the Argentina show,’ and preliminary stuff. But then we just let them run with it. … I think we listen to it more for the crowd. The things that get kicked around, oddly enough, are like what Kiss’ Alive sounds like. That’s what we want. That’s what we grew up listening to. The 70s-era live sound; that’s what we kind of want to capture.

Great question, but I'm a bit surprised by the answer - the boots have been all over the place since Brett left in terms of consistency, I wonder if they're still checking them out now and then.


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 Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
PostPosted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 10:52 pm 
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I liked the reworked garden, but even if I didn't I'm in favor of them reworking old songs for a bit. If they like it great. if not abandon it, but it's fun to mix things up, and new arrangements can shed new light on the old ones.

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 Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
PostPosted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 10:59 pm 
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stip wrote:
I liked the reworked garden, but even if I didn't I'm in favor of them reworking old songs for a bit. If they like it great. if not abandon it, but it's fun to mix things up, and new arrangements can shed new light on the old ones.

Absolutely - I think you and I are the unlikely team that actually really liked the new Garden, stip.


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 Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
PostPosted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:16 pm 
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I'm pretty creeped out to learn i'm not the only huge PJ fan named Brian Smith.

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 Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
PostPosted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:35 pm 
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spenno wrote:
stip wrote:
I liked the reworked garden, but even if I didn't I'm in favor of them reworking old songs for a bit. If they like it great. if not abandon it, but it's fun to mix things up, and new arrangements can shed new light on the old ones.

Absolutely - I think you and I are the unlikely team that actually really liked the new Garden, stip.


we probably like a lot of the same stuff. It's not like either of us hate half the catalog :)

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 Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
PostPosted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:41 pm 
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stip wrote:
spenno wrote:
stip wrote:
I liked the reworked garden, but even if I didn't I'm in favor of them reworking old songs for a bit. If they like it great. if not abandon it, but it's fun to mix things up, and new arrangements can shed new light on the old ones.

Absolutely - I think you and I are the unlikely team that actually really liked the new Garden, stip.


we probably like a lot of the same stuff. It's not like either of us hate half the catalog :)

I know, I'm just horsing around.

The only stuff we sorta don't see the same way is the more recent material and even then, I still agree with you some of the time - Johnny Guitar and Comatose, for instance.


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 Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
PostPosted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 1:20 am 
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New Garden sucked.

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 Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
PostPosted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 1:24 am 
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Good interview. Now I know why McCready looks like a blowfish in Single Video Theory.


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 Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
PostPosted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 1:40 am 
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cutuphalfdead wrote:
Garden sucks.

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 Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
PostPosted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 1:41 am 
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Thanks for the link Spenno. Interesting read. He really is "The Nice One" in the band, isn't he?

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 Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
PostPosted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 3:23 am 
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cutuphalfdead wrote:
New Garden sucked.

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 Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
PostPosted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 11:26 am 
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cutuphalfdead wrote:
New Garden sucked.


Maybe, but it really added to the Philly show in 2006.

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 Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
PostPosted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 1:29 pm 
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haha, loved the question about ed's hissy fit in camden. also, the guitar tech stuff might explain why mike sounded so terrible this tour, you could barely hear the guy. great read and real honest answers, thanks for posting!

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 Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
PostPosted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 1:39 pm 
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warehouse wrote:
haha, loved the question about ed's hissy fit in camden. also, the guitar tech stuff might explain why mike sounded so terrible this tour, you could barely hear the guy. great read and real honest answers, thanks for posting!

the interview was from 2006, so i'm guessing/hoping that if the guitar tech did have any problems with Mike's setup, that he would have figured it out by this tour...


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 Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
PostPosted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 1:56 pm 
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chino wrote:
warehouse wrote:
haha, loved the question about ed's hissy fit in camden. also, the guitar tech stuff might explain why mike sounded so terrible this tour, you could barely hear the guy. great read and real honest answers, thanks for posting!

the interview was from 2006, so i'm guessing/hoping that if the guitar tech did have any problems with Mike's setup, that he would have figured it out by this tour...

when i said "this" tour i was talking about the 2006 tour

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 Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
PostPosted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 2:35 pm 
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It's seems like when Ed wants to get down and work, even though he shares alot of the lyric and songwriting now, that he rather Obsessive over the process, he hinted this ruined his first marriage and then Mike makes it sound like when he got sick, ed kinda gave him a "Man Up" response.

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 Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
PostPosted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 3:00 pm 
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warehouse wrote:
chino wrote:
warehouse wrote:
haha, loved the question about ed's hissy fit in camden. also, the guitar tech stuff might explain why mike sounded so terrible this tour, you could barely hear the guy. great read and real honest answers, thanks for posting!

the interview was from 2006, so i'm guessing/hoping that if the guitar tech did have any problems with Mike's setup, that he would have figured it out by this tour...

when i said "this" tour i was talking about the 2006 tour

gotcha!


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