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 Two Feet Thick proudly presents an exclusive, previously unpublished interview with Pearl Jam lead guitarist Mike McCready from July 2006.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.
(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.)
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Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 2:24 pm
Former PJ Drummer
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:37 pm Posts: 15767 Location: Vail, CO Gender: Male
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.
Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 9:25 pm
Master of Meh
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 11:00 pm Posts: 13226 Location: Adelaide, AUS
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.
Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 10:52 pm
Global Moderator
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
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.
_________________ "Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR
Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 10:59 pm
Master of Meh
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 11:00 pm Posts: 13226 Location: Adelaide, AUS
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.
Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:35 pm
Global Moderator
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
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
_________________ "Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR
Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:41 pm
Master of Meh
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 11:00 pm Posts: 13226 Location: Adelaide, AUS
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.
Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 1:41 am
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Joined: Mon Feb 27, 2006 5:24 pm Posts: 3909 Location: The Land of Plenty
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
Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 1:29 pm
AnalLog
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 11:36 pm Posts: 25824 Location: south jersey
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
Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 1:39 pm
Got Some
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:19 pm Posts: 1294 Location: Oakville, Ontario Gender: Male
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...
Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 1:56 pm
AnalLog
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 11:36 pm Posts: 25824 Location: south jersey
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
_________________ Feel the path of every day,... Which road you taking?,...
Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 2:35 pm
Mike's Maniac
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:51 am Posts: 6944 Location: Long Island Gender: Male
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.
Post subject: Re: TwoFeetThick - lengthy unpublished McCready interview, 2006
Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 3:00 pm
Got Some
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:19 pm Posts: 1294 Location: Oakville, Ontario Gender: Male
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
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