Nueva entrevista a Alice In Chains
New Interview With Alice In Chains
Sacado de // From: http://portalternativo.com and revolver magazine
La revista Revolver incluye en su nuevo número (abril 2013) un especial sobre el nuevo álbum de Alice in Chains, “The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here”, en la que Jerry Cantrell, guitarrista/vocalista del grupo habla de la temática de la canción que da título al álbum.
¿Como se suele decir? Hay dos cosas que no debes sacar en una conversación o discusión: política y religión. Pero, joder, creo que vamos a hablar de esto un rato (risas)
He visto que el mensaje básico de la mayoría de sistemas religiosos está en contradicción con como se aplica. El elemento humano para joderlo todo. Parece joder las verdades básicas de aceptación, amar al prójimo, ayudar a los otros, no matar o robar. Todas esas son ideas buenas. Y la mayoría de grandes religiones tienen esas cosas como dogmas básicos de su sistema de fe. Siempre me asombra que algunas de las cosas más odiosas y dañinas se hacen en nombre de alguna clase de sistema de fe.
La revista, según recoge Grunge Report, también habla con el vocalista/guitarrista William DuVall de otro de los temas, “Phantom Limb”:
Creo que la canción tiene una pizca de autodeterminación, como creo que tienen muchas de mis canciones favoritas de Alice In Chains. Mucha gente le da vueltas a lo de muerte-descomposición en las letras del grupo y eso está bien porque es parte de la vida pero yo siempre he visto el hilo temático de supervivencia que hay en todo el catálogo del grupo. La mentalidad de ese tema es que vas a seguir excavando hasta tu último aliento. Y si mueres, incluso tu espíritu tendrá cosas por decir.
Según parece, “The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here” se pondrá a la venta el 14 de mayo.
IN ENGLISH
Revolver Magazine’s new Alice In Chains cover story includes some descriptions of songs from AIC’s new album The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here, due out on May 14th.
The soaring and acoustic driven “Voices” was the first song to be written for the new album after AIC’s fall 2010 tour, after Cantrell wrote it he had surgery for an injured glenoid labrum. Other songs on the album include “Low Ceiling” which features the lyrics ‘Old Mr. Fun is back/Wonder where he’s been hiding at.’ Pretty Done, Breath on a Window, and Choke are described as mid-paced doom rockers.
“Phantom Limb” has lyrics penned by William DuVall. DuVall describes the track as “I think the song has a tinge of self-determination about it, as I think a lot of my favorite Alice in Chains songs have. A lot of people dwell on the death-and-decay element in the group’s lyrics, and that’s fine because that is a part of life, but I’ve always dug the survivor lyrical thread that runs through the group’s entire catalog. The mentality of that tune is that you’re going to keep digging ’til your last breath. And if you die, then even your spirit is going to have some things to say.”
Cantrell said, “What’s the old joke? There are two things you never want to get into a conversation or argument about: politics and religion. But fuck, I guess we’re going to be talking about this for awhile [He laughs].”
When asked what inspired the track “The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here” Cantrell said, “Read a fucking paper.”
“What I’ve seen is the most basic message to most faith systems is in contradiction with how it gets applied. The human element seems to fuck it up. It seems to fuck up the basic truths of acceptance, loving your brother, helping each other out, not trying to kill each other or steal each other’s shit. Those are all pretty good ideas. And most of your major religions have those things as basic tenets of the belief system. It always amazes me that some of the most hateful and hurtful things are done in the name of some sort of belief system.”
Kat Bjelland habla sobre sus planes de futuro
Kat Bjelland talks future plans
Sacado de // From: http://blog.thecurrent.org
¿Cuánto tiempo ha pasado desde que dejaste de tocar?
Toqué en Londres, mi hijo Henry era joven entonces. Creo que fue en el 2002. Y luego hemos tocado aquí, con Katastrophy Wife. Fue hace unos ocho años.
¿Crees que vas a tocar de nuevo?
Si. Realmente quiero. Yo y mi amigo Mike estuvimos hablando de tener un show debut en el Teatro Ritz, es un buen lugar. Pero tenemos que conseguir un grupo juntos primero. Tengo canciones y todo, y necesito un baterista y un bajista. No se sabe muy bien cómo hacerlo. No salgo bastante. Quiero algo muy pesado, una batería bien dura, como Dave de The Bastards o algo así.
¿Con qué frecuencia escribes nuevas canciones?
Bueno, escribo todo el tiempo, toco mi guitarra un poco y luego escribo. Creo que vale la pena tener un EP de canciones realmente buenas. Pero quiero decir que escribo todo el tiempo en el piano por ejemplo, pero no lo grabo todo.
¿Tu nuevo proyecto tiene un nuevo nombre?
Sí, no sé qué todavía. Estoy estudiando en , voy a esta clase en la escuela East-West en herbolaria, así que cuando me inspiro para escribir Siempre he leído acerca de la patología y de las enfermedades y la anatomía, combinado con la materia fantasma, paranormal, y luego el hinduismo. Y luego mi enojo normal. Y todo eso va junto.
Si queréis leer el resto de la entrevista, pasaros por:
IN ENGLISH
How long has it been since you’ve played out?
I played in London, my son Henry was young then. I want to say it was 2002. And then we played here I guess, Katastrophy Wife at Grumpy’s Downtown. It was about eight years ago.
Do you think you’ll play out again?
Yeah. I really want to. Me and my friend Mike were talking about having a debut show at the Ritz Theater, that’s a good venue. But I need to get a band together first. I have songs and everything, and I need a drummer and a bass player. I don’t really know how to go about it. I don’t go out enough. I want a really heavy, good heavy drummer, like Dave from the Bastards or whatever.
How often do you write new songs?
Well I write all the time, I play my guitar a little bit and then I write. I think I have about an EP’s worth of really good songs. But I mean I write all the time on the piano over there, but I don’t record them all.
If you want to read the complete interview: http://blog.thecurrent.org
Dave Grohl: medios digitales vs medios analógicos
Dave Grohl talks digital vs. analog for next Foo Fighters album: Watch
Nueva entrevista a Scott Weiland
New Interview with Scott Weiland
Sacado de // From: http://www.clevescene.com
Empezó con la gira en solitario a principios de este mes y ahora estará en la «House of Blues» el miércoles, el frontman de los Stone Temple Pilots, Scott Weiland, dice que tocar en el noreste de Ohio todavía significa algo especial para él. Aunque nació en California, pasó su juventud en Bainbridge Township.
«Desde la edad de cuatro años hasta el momento de mi primer año en la escuela secundaria, yo viví en Ohio», dice. «Mi novio vivía a una hora de mi y mi bajista era justamente de la misma región. Y el [tour manager] se veía obligado a conducir el RV (Vehículo de uso recreativo) también. »
Para la gira actual, Weiland ha estado tocando una serie de canciones de los dos primeros álbumes de STP , Core de 1992 y Purple de 1994. Eso, a su vez, provocó que los chicos de Stone Temple Pilots diesen un comunicado diciendo que Weiland estaba «despedido». Weiland afirma que todavía es un miembro de la banda y que no puede legalmente ser despedido en contra de su voluntad. «Creo que fue una reacción al hecho de que esta gira se había vendido en una semana», dice con respecto a la declaración de la banda. «No ha sido probablemente la cosa más inteligente que ellos han podido hacer, ya que yo fundé la banda y hay ciertos términos legales dentro del contrato que no tienen sentido en cuanto a esa decisión, o a la posible amenaza de ello».
Admite, sin embargo, que las últimas giras con STP no han sido muy inspiradoras.
«Mi filosofía es que yo no tengo ganas de estar en la carretera y tocar grandes éxitos muy conocidos que hemos estado tocando durante cinco años seguidos», dice. «Hemos estado haciendo eso, y en medio de hacer eso, hemos hecho un álbum que nos llevó un año y medio. Esa no es la manera de STP de grabar. Hacemos grabaciones en dos semanas. Si vamos a hacer algo, tenemos que volver al estudio con Brendan O’Brien, que cuenta con una trayectoria con nosotros y consigue inspirarnos de nuevo. Tenemos que hacerlo de esa manera y salir a la carretera con un poco de emoción, no sólo convirtiendo nuestro legado en lo que Journey o Foreigner son. Eso no es lo que somos. No es para eso por que llegamos aquí. Eso no es para nada lo que yo hago. »
En su lugar, cree que el enfoque de Soundgarden es más apropiado. La banda continuó grabando nuevas canciones y profundizando en su catálogo desde la reforma de hace tres años.
«Si. Creo que eso es muy bueno «, dice. «Más que nada, hemos sido una gran banda en vivo. La razón de por qué a los críticos no les gustábamos era porque dijeron que eramos algo que en realidad no eramos. Ellos pensaron que sonábamos como una banda de Seattle. Probamos que los críticos estaban equivocados sobre nuestra carrera cambiando de sonido en todos los álbumes. No sonábamos como los Beatles, pero llevábamos ese plan y la idea de ser una banda. Claro, hay algunas bandas que tienen un sonido y lo hacen muy bien. Pero nos fijamos en la idea de los Beatles y de tener que hacerlo bien, teníamos que evolucionar. Nos tuvimos que meter en un capullo de vez en cuando y salir como una mariposa y no una fea polilla «.
IN ENGLISH
Out on a solo tour that started earlier this month and comes to House of Blues on Wednesday, Stone Temple Pilots’ frontman Scott Weiland says playing Northeast Ohio still means something special to him. Though born in California, he spent his youth in Bainbridge Township.
”From the age of four until right before my freshman year of high school, I lived in Ohio,” he says. “My fiancé lived an hour from me and my bass player is right from the same region. And the [tour manager] being forced to drive the RV right now, too.”
For the current tour, Weiland has been playing a number of deep tracks from STP’s first two albums, 1992’s Core and 1994’s Purple. That, in turn, provoked the guys from Stone Temple Pilots to issue a terse statement saying that Weiland was “terminated.” Weiland maintains he’s still a member of the band and can’t legally be removed against his will. “I think it was a reaction to the fact that this tour had sold out within a week,” he says with regard to the band’s statement. “It was probably not the smartest thing for them to do since I founded the band and there are certain legal terms within the contract which don’t make sense as to that decision, or that threat.”
He admits, however, that the last few tours with STP haven’t been particularly inspiring.
“My philosophy is that I don’t feel like going on the road and playing a greatest hits set that we’ve been playing for five years,” he says. “We’ve been doing that and in the midst of doing that, we made an album that took us a year-and-a-half. That’s not the way STP makes records. We make records in two weeks. If we’re going to do something, we need to get back in the studio with Brendan O’Brien who has a track record with us and get re-inspired artistically again. We need to do it that way and get out there on the road and get out there with some excitement and not just turn our legacy into what Journey or Foreigner is. That’s not what we’re about. That’s not why we got into this. That’s not at all what I’m about.”
Instead, he thinks that Soundgarden’s approach to touring is more appropriate. The band has continued to record new songs and dig deep into its catalogue since reforming three years ago.
“Yeah. I think that’s very cool,” he says. “More than anything, we’ve been a great live band. The reason why critics didn’t like us because they thought we were one thing that we weren’t. They thought we sounded like a Seattle band. We proved those critics wrong over our career and changed from album to album. We didn’t sound like the Beatles, but we took that blueprint and the idea of being a band. Sure, there are some bands that have one sound and do it really well. But we looked at the idea of the Beatles and thought to really do it right, we had to evolve. We had to go into a cocoon every once in a while and come out as a butterfly and not an ugly moth.”
Mike McCready sobre la reedición de Mad Season y sobre lo nuevo de Pearl Jam
Interview: Mike McCready on Mad Season Reissue and New Pearl Jam
Sacado de // From: http://www.premierguitar.com and http://aliceinchainschile.blogspot.com.es
Mike McCready concedió recientemente una entrevista para Premier Guitar, en donde habló sobre la reedición del «Above» de Mad Season, que podrán leer a continuación, en donde además se refirió a sus recuerdo sobre Layne Staley y John Baker Saunders, y algo sobre el nuevo álbum de Pearl Jam, un poco sobre Soundgarden y más.
En 1994, el guitarrista de Pearl Jam Mike McCready salió de un centro de rehabilitación de alcohol en Minneapolis, Minnesota. Además de alejarse con éxito de sus adicciones, McCready también conoció a un espíritu afín en la forma del bajista del área de Seattle[Nota: en realidad se movía en la escena del blues de Chicago] John Baker Saunders y los dos se unen a través de su amor compartido por la música. Después de salir de Minnesota, McCready y Baker se reunieron en Seattle y con Pearl Jam en un hiato temporal, decidieron formar un proyecto musical paralelo. Para completar el grupo contaron con la ayuda del baterista de Screaming Trees Barrett Martin y del vocalista de Alice in Chains Layne Staley. Así nació Mad Season.
Ahora, casi 20 años después, McCready y Martin están reeditando el único álbum de Mad Season, «Above». El álbum, actualmente está disponible para pre-preventa, será publicado el 2 de abril y viene en un set de lujo de dos CDs y un DVD. Además del material original, se incluyen canciones extras inéditas del segundo álbum sin terminar de la banda con una nueva letra y voz del cantante de Screaming Trees Mark Lanegan. También se incluye el primer lanzamiento oficial del DVD de la última actuación del grupo, el Live At The Moore, y un video inédito del concierto completo de víspera de Año Nuevo de la banda en la ahora extinta RKCNDY Seattle club.
Nos ponemos al día con McCready para obtener la primicia sobre la reedición de Mad Season, así como del equipo que él ha estado usando últimamente y lo que se espera de Pearl Jam en el 2013.
¿Cómo fue que surgió el proyecto Mad Season?
«Cuando nos juntamos en 1994 la idea inicial desde mi punto de vista… Estaba en rehabilitación por problemas con el alcohol y conocí a un tipo ahí [John Baker Saunders] que tocaba el bajo y que me gustó mucho. Era este músico de viejo blues divertido y brusco, que contaba divertidas historias y ponía a Bob Dylan en su habitación; enseguida me cayó bien. Así que le dije, ‘¿Querrías tocar algo de blues algún día o volver a Seattle a ensayar?’ . Por entonces pensaba en ayudar a gente que sufría adicciones (a las drogas) o de alcohol y hacer un proyecto. Mi corazón estaba en eso en esos tiempos por ingenuo que fuese. De ahí surgió la idea inicial de Mad Season.»
¿Cómo fue que Layne se involucró?
«Sabía que Layne andaba en un viaje parecido así que lo llame y le dije, ‘Hey, ¿quieres venir a hacer un disco?’ y se anotó. Le dije que quería tocar con Barrett Martin porque me encantaba Screaming Trees y era un baterísta fantástico y que tenía a Baker que seguro que le caería bien y entonces nos juntamos todos.»
¿Cual fue la contribución de Layne en el «Above»?
«Le dije a Layne, ‘Hey hombre, aporta con lo que quieras. Canta, escribe letras; tu eres el hombre. Si tienes ideas de canciones, tráelas’. Era algo libre de formatos en el cual todos hacíamos cosas y era una cosa expresiva surgida de esa inclinación inicial de mantenernos todos limpios y sobrios. No acabó funcionando pero uno tiene que vivir y aprender. Uno tiene que hacer esas cosas.»
¿Cuál era el estado de ánimo de Layne durante ese tiempo?
«Su estado de ánimo, por lo que recuerdo, fue muy receptivo a hacer las canciones. Sentía que cantaba de forma muy sincera, desde el corazón sobre sus problemas y sentía que estaba muy metido en el proyecto. Estuvo presente en todo lo que hicimos, tomó decisiones y ayudó con el artwork. Estuvo ahí al 100% mentalmente. Quizá estaba teniendo problemas con ciertas cosas en ese momento pero lo que recuerdo es que estaba ahí. Si escuchas las letras te puedes hacer una idea de donde estaba mentalmente en ese momento.»
He leído que tu utilizaste una guitarra Gibson EDS 1275 double-neck en el Above.
«Sí, la double-neck, sí lo hice. Mi tipo de influencia y mente en ese momento estaba en Jimmy Page. Todavía la tengo, y creo que la usé en «Lifeless Dead» y un par más. En una en las que más resalta y que aún lo hace de alguna manera es en la última canción, «All Alone.» Si puedes oír eso, sabes lo que es. Estaba tocando una de cuello de 6 cuerdas con las pastillas apagadas consiguiendo relativas armonías y eso es lo que sucede con una de cuello de 12 cuerdas hasta arriba con las pastillas de encendidas. Eso que sucedió realmente fue un accidente, pues yo estaba tratando de obtener la de cuello de 6 cuerdas, pero yo no tenía mis interruptores en el orden correcto, pero oí estos sonidos que salieron de la guitarra. Eso fue como ‘Tenemos que hacer algo con esto, vamos jammear con ella’.»
¿En el proceso de poner esta reedición en orden y lista para el lanzamiento, encontraste alguna dificultad, emocionalmente hablando, al escuchar esas canciones en la grabación que hiciste con Layne y John Baker Saunders?
«Toneladas. No había escuchado ese disco durante 10 o 12 años. Lo escuchaba si es que lo ponían en la radio y me sentía feliz pero triste, no sé si eso tiene sentido. Me siento como… orgulloso de esta canción, pero también estoy muy triste de que mis amigos no estén aquí. Así que escuchar el disco de nuevo y escuchar algo de material en vivo, fue un poco agridulce. Me pone triste que Layne y Baker no estén aquí para experimentar la vida ahora como unos hombres mayores. Mis valores ahora son diferentes de lo que eran cuando yo tenía 26 años y pienso en ellos, cómo serían si estuvieran aquí hoy. Es difícil.»
¿Qué los llevó a tomar la decisión de relanzar el «Above» ahora?
«La decisión de hacerlo vino hace un año. Estaba vagando por las bóvedas de Pearl Jam y sólo miraba las cosas que tenemos en allí y miré por encima de la esquina y me di cuenta de una pequeña cinta de dos pulgadas de Mad Season en vivo en el Crocodile Cafe. Me dije: ‘No me acordaba de esta grabación!’ [Risas]. No me acordaba que existía, así que estaba un poco sorprendido. Luego recordé que teníamos una unidad móvil y Brett Eliason estaba grabando desde afuera del viejo Crocodile Cafe. Ese fue nuestro show de lanzamiento del disco. Estaba intrigado y quería escucharlo, así que hice una copia de ello y se la envié a Barrett y dijo: ‘¿Estás interesado en hacer algo con este disco de nuevo?’ Y él se involucró en esto.»
¿Cómo hicieron para que Mark Lanegan se involucrara añadiendo su voz a los temas inéditos?
«Grabamos un segundo disco que se iba a llamar Disinformation. Era 12 o 13 canciones, de las cuales en ocho avanzamos bastante – el resto eran solo demos. Así que teníamos toda esta música que estaba ahí, y yo pensando que nunca vería la luz del día pero por suerte Barrett llamó a su amigo, Mark Lanegan. Yo siempre había querido a Mark para que cantara en este material, durante 15 años, pero nunca funcionó. Así que él dijo envíame el material y escogió tres canciones, «Locomotive», «Black Book Of Fear» y «Slip Away», y fue agradable ponerlas en el re-lanzamiento. Ahora no puedo pensar en nadie más perfecto para cantar en cualquier tipo de material de Mad Season que Mark Lanegan.»
«Grabamos un segundo disco que se iba a llamar Disinformation. Era 12 o 13 canciones, de las cuales en ocho avanzamos bastante – el resto eran solo demos. Así que teníamos toda esta música que estaba ahí, y yo pensando que nunca vería la luz del día pero por suerte Barrett llamó a su amigo, Mark Lanegan. Yo siempre había querido a Mark para que cantara en este material, durante 15 años, pero nunca funcionó. Así que él dijo envíame el material y escogió tres canciones, «Locomotive», «Black Book Of Fear» y «Slip Away», y fue agradable ponerlas en el re-lanzamiento. Ahora no puedo pensar en nadie más perfecto para cantar en cualquier tipo de material de Mad Season que Mark Lanegan.»
Sé que Pearl Jam está trabajando en el nuevo álbum. ¿Qué es lo que puedes decir al respecto en este momento?
«Andamos trabajando en terminar la segunda parte del disco que empezamos hace como dos años. Decidimos relajarnos un poco después de sacar siete canciones que creo que estarán en el próximo disco. No estoy seguro. Todo depende de como vaya la próxima sesión. Tengo la sensación de que sacaremos algo este año. Todos estamos muy prolíficos aportando ideas y estamos todos hablando y vamos a empezar a ensayar dentro de un mes. Tengo la sensación de que tendremos algo este año. No sé si todos en el grupo tienen la misma sensación pero voy a hacer todo lo que pueda para que la cosa avance si tengo posibilidad. Me gustaría que saliera este año porque quiero salir un poco de gira y esas cosas.»
Con la nueva reedición de Mad Season y el reciente documental Pearl Jam Twenty dirigida por Cameron Crowe, así como la reedición del Ten hace unos años, parece que has estado pasando mucho tiempo mirando hacia atrás en tu carrera y me estoy preguntando si eso es algo que te preocupa especialmente hacer?
«En cuanto a mí, me gusta ver las cosas en un sentido histórico sólo para tener una especie de sensación de aquello. Es doble realidad, hay una parte de mí que le gusta y hay otra parte que dice: ‘Bueno, tenemos que seguir, vamos a seguir adelante.’ Lo más emocionante es crear cosas nuevas, pero revisitar el disco de Mad Season fue triste, emocionante e importante para mí como tratando de darle a esta cosa en un sentido coherente para que las personas tengan una idea de la sensación al respecto. Hay un arte en sí mismo. Fuera de eso surgieron un montón de cosas nuevas que Barrett Martin y Duff McKagan [bajsta de Guns N’ Roses] y yo hicimos desde ese segundo disco inédito de Mad Season. Pulimos esas ideas y las apretamos un poco. Estamos actualmente buscando cantantes para ese proyecto, que probablemente no será llamado Mad Season – será llamado de otra manera. Hemos conseguido algunas voces iniciales de Jaz Coleman de Killing Joke, que suenan realmente increíble. Así que estamos esperando que podamos encontrar algunos cantantes por ahí que les guste cantar sobre esto. Hay un nuevo elemento a lo Mad Season que es lo que supongo que estoy tratando de decir.»
¿Cómo te involucraste con Duff McKagan?
«Lo conozco de toda la vida. Fue al Roosevelt, el mismo high school que yo y es un buen amigo. Siempre lo vi como un chico cool punk rock que andaba por Seattle, Washington. Yo era más un chico metalero. Él estaba adelantado a su tiempo estando en Seattle. Se vino a los ensayos de mi banda, Shadow, la noche antes de irse a Los Angeles y le dijimos, ‘Hombre, ¿qué haces?’ y creo que llevaba una Gibson SG colgada y nos dijo, ‘Me mudo a Los Angeles para convertirme en estrella de rock’. Nos quedamos como, ‘¡¿Qué?!’. Al año siguiente, o quizá fueron seis meses después, sacó el ese álbum “Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide” [con Guns N’ Roses] y me dije, ‘¡Lo ha conseguido!’. Así que Duff y yo hemos formado una pequeña sociedad musical y una amistad con Barrett y estamos haciendo un nuevo proyecto»
Vi cuando te subiste al escenario con Soundgarden en el Paramount Theater de Seattle. ¿Cómo estuvo eso?
«Estuvieron increíbles. Soy un fanático absoluto de Soundgarden así que siempre he estado atento a lo que hacen. La verdad es que no sé si me puse demasiado pesado o se alegraron de verme, no lo sé. Les llevé pizzas una vez al local de ensayo antes de salir de gira y Matt [Cameron] me llamó y me dijo, ‘Hey, ¿querrías salir y tocar en ‘Tighter and Tighter’?’ Es una canción de la que siempre hablamos Stone y yo con Matt diciendo, ‘Dios, tienen que tocar esa canción. Es tremenda’. Así que Matt dijo, ‘¿Quieres salir a tocarla?’. Fue como, ‘¡Si!’. Pude ver a Matt tocando con Soundgarden y es un monstruo con ellos. Toca de forma diferente que cuando lo hace con nosotros, así que fue cool verlo desde otro punto de vista y me quedé, ¿¡Oh dios mío! ¡Dios eso es una de las mejores maneras de tocar la batería que haya visto en toda mi vida!’. Daba la sensación de ser una vuelta a casa. Una especie de, si, seguimos aquí haciendo cosas. Me recordó hace 20 años cuando empezamos con Temple of the Dog. Me encanta ver a esos chicos.»
Mad Season surgió en un momento tan dinámico en el Seattle de 1994 que fue casi como estar en la cresta de una ola en esa escena. ¿Cuál es el legado de Mad Season?
«Espero que el legado de Mad Season sea la memoria de Layne Staley y de Baker. Mostrando por donde nos movíamos en aquellos años musicalmente y líricamente desde la perspectiva de Layne. Dar a conocer que existimos por un breve momento en el tiempo y que había un montón de triunfo y una gran cantidad de tragedia como sucede en la vida. Sólo espero que la gente pueda escucharnos y logren hacerse una idea de eso.»
IN ENGLISH
In 1994, Pearl Jam lead guitarist Mike McCready exited an alcohol rehabilitation center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In addition to successfully kicking his addictions there, McCready also met a kindred spirit in the form of Seattle-area bassist John Baker Saunders and the two bonded over their shared love in music. After they left Minnesota, McCready and Baker got together in Seattle and with Pearl Jam on a temporary hiatus, decided to form a musical side project. To fill out the group they enlisted the help of drummer Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees and Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley. Thus Mad Season was born.
Now, nearly 20 years later, McCready and Martin are reissuing Mad Season’s one and only album, Above. The album, currently available for pre-order, releases on April 2 and comes in a deluxe two-CD/one-DVD set. In addition to the original material, extras include previously unreleased tracks from the band’s unfinished sophomore album with new lyrics and vocals by Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan. Also included is Mad Season’s first official DVD release of the group’s last show ever performed, Live At The Moore, and an unreleased full concert video of the band’s New Year’s Eve performance at now-defunct Seattle club RKCNDY.
We catch up with McCready to get the scoop on the Mad Season reissue as well as the gear he’s been favoring lately and what to expect from Pearl Jam in 2013.
How did the Mad Season project first come together?
When we got together in 1994 the initial idea of it from my point of view…I was in rehab for booze and I met this guy Baker [John Baker Saunders] in there who played bass and I liked a lot. He was just this funny, crusty old blues player who had some pretty cool stories and was cranking Bob Dylan in his room; I just immediately liked him. So I said, ‘Do you wanna play some blues sometime or come back to Seattle and jam?’ My thought process back then was to help people who were suffering from addictions or alcohol to maybe do a project. That was where my heart was at the time, however naïve it was. That’s kind of where the initial idea for Mad Season came from.
How did Layne Staley get involved?
I knew Layne was kind of on that journey so I called him and said, ‘Hey dude, you wanna come make a record?’ and he was into it. I told him that I wanted to play with Barrett Martin because I loved the Screaming Trees and he was a fantastic drummer and I had this guy Baker that he would probably like and then we all got together.
What was Layne’s contribution to Above?
I talked to Layne about it and said, ‘Hey man, you bring in whatever you want. You sing, you write the lyrics; you’re the man. If you have any song ideas bring them in.’ It was a free form thing that we all kind of did and it was an expressive thing out of that initial inclination to get us all kind of clean and sober. It didn’t end up working, but you have to live and learn. You have to do those things.
What was Layne’s state of mind like during this time?
His state of mind, from what I recall, was very receptive to doing these songs. I felt like he was singing honestly from his heart about his struggle and I felt that he was really into it. He would show up for everything we did and made decisions and had artwork. He was there 100 percent in my mind. He may have been struggling at that time with things, but my recollection was that he was there. If you listen to the lyrics I think that can kind of tell you where his mind was at that time.
Was it difficult to get so many guys from other bands all together at one time?
We were all luckily not doing anything at that time. Pearl Jam wasn’t in the studio, Alice in Chains wasn’t out on the road and the Screaming Trees were back so we had a little time. It ended up being like a window of six to eight months where we ended up playing six shows, filmed them, and did the record. We did a lot in a small period of time.
What were the sessions themselves like?
They were fun and kind of quick and easy. They sounded really raw to me. We had Brett Eliason, who was doing our Pearl Jam sound at the time, and I wanted him to do the record because I liked how he got sounds and we communicated in the same way. So we rehearsed a bit at a studio in West Seattle and just came up with rough ideas. They were all kind of songs that happened because of the four guys that were in the band. I guess that’s what happens in all situations, but they were songs that were different than what I would have brought to Pearl Jam at that time.
I’ve read that you used a Gibson EDS 1275 double-neck guitar on Above.
Yeah, the double-neck, yes I did. My kind of influence and brain at that time was way into Jimmy Page. I still have it and I think I used it on “Lifeless Dead” and a couple others. The one that sticks out the most and still kind of does in a haunting sort of way is the last song, “All Alone.” If you can hear that, you know what it is. I was playing the 6-string neck with the pickups off so you’re getting the relative harmonics off that with what is happening on the 12-string neck up top with the pickups on. That actually happened out of an accident, I was just messing around trying to get the 6-string neck to work but I didn’t have my switches on in the right order but I heard this chiming kind of thing coming out of the guitar. I was like ‘We gotta do something with this, let’s just jam on it.’
In the process of getting this reissue in order and ready for release, did you encounter any difficulty, emotionally speaking, in listening to those songs you did with Layne and John Baker Saunders on tape?
Tons. I hadn’t listened to that record for 10 or 12 years. I’d listen to it if it was on the radio and I’d feel happy but sad, I don’t know if that makes sense. I’d feel like, I’m proud of this song but I’m also very sad that my friends are not around anymore. So getting over that and listening to the record again and listening to some of the live stuff, is kind of bittersweet. It makes me sad that Layne and Baker are not around to experience life now as an older guy. My values now are different than what they were when I was 26 and I think about what those guys would have been like if they were still around. It’s hard.
What led to the decision to re-release Above now?
The decision to do it came around a year ago. I was wandering through the Pearl Jam vaults and just looking at stuff we have in there and I looked over in the corner and I noticed a small two-inch tape of Mad Season live at the Crocodile Café. I thought to myself, ‘I don’t remember recording that!’ [Laughs]. I didn’t realize that existed so I was kind of shocked. Then it came back to me that we did have a mobile unit and Brett Eliason was recording it outside the old Crocodile Café. That was our record release show. I was intrigued and wanted to listen to it, so I got a copy of it and sent it off to Barrett and said, ‘Are you interested in doing anything with this record again?’ and he was into that.
How did Mark Lanegan get involved with adding vocals to the unreleased tracks?
We recorded a second record that we were going to call Disinformation. It was about 12 or 13 songs, eight of which were pretty realized —the rest were just demos. So we had all this music that was just sitting there that I thought would never see the light of day but luckily Barrett called his friend, Mark Lanegan. I’d wanted Mark to sing on this stuff forever, for 15 years, but it never kind of worked. So he said send me the stuff and picked three songs, “Locomotive,” “Black Book of Fear,” and “Slip Away,” and was agreeable to put them on the re-release. I can’t think of anybody more perfect to sing on any type of Mad Season stuff than Mark Lanegan now.
Let’s talk a little bit about your gear. What amps are you currently using right now?
I’m using 65amps right now—I think it’s a 30-watt. Peter Stroud makes them and I love the amps a lot. So I’m using that in conjunction with a Satellite head—Satellite is a local [Seattle] company—and I think it’s a 32- or 35-watt. I run both of those consecutively generally through four Marshall 25-watt speakers. I run a combination of the 65 and the Satellite generally the whole time when we’re doing Pearl Jam shows live. Then I kick on one more head called a, uh…hold on I’m trying to remember. I just changed my rig around…I’m never kind of satisfied.
Don’t worry, no guitarist ever is.
Yeah! What is that? It’s just kind of this obsessive weird thing.
I know exactly what you mean; I’ve blown so much money over the years. You can’t ever seem to get what you want.
Hence the Stones song. Who knew that song was about guitar players and their rigs? [Laughs.] But that third amp is a Savage head made by Andy Wolf who is the Stones guitar tech. I use the Savage for a clean tone, which goes through two 10″ speakers. I use the two consecutively as I said before then when I’m about to do a solo I kick all three on. I think I might also use this Billy Zoom Reverb and Tremolo unit that I bought from him when X was out. He makes these things and they are amazing and I would highly recommend them to anyone.
What is on your pedalboard?
It has a myriad of things on it right now. I’ve got the tried-and-true original Ibanez Tube Screamer because Stevie Ray Vaughan used one and I’ve been using it ever since. I love the fuzz from it. I also use a Dunlop Crybaby Wah pedal. The thing I’ve been really excited about lately that I saw the guys in Soundgarden using at their rehearsal is the POG2—the Poly Octave Generator. I’ve been doing a little bit of scoring and I worked on an episode of Shameless and did this movie Fat Kid Rules the World and ended up using the POG on a few things because it makes the guitar not sound like a guitar. It makes it sound like a weird calliope or an organ—kind of makes some cool sounds. I also have a Line 6 delay, a Line 6 phase, the old MXR Phase 90 for sure. I just bought a 670 DOD flanger but I’m not sure if I’m going to use it or not but I’m gonna try to. That’s kind of it for my rig right now, but I’m always open to new things. Like you said, never satisfied.
What guitars have you been playing lately?
Well there’s the King of Kings, the 1959 Gibson Les Paul that I love and cherish. I was very lucky to find it from Danny’s Music in Everett [Washington] about 17 years ago. Right around the time of the Mad Season record actually. It was ridiculously priced back then, it was like $25,000 or something.
I know Emerald City Guitars downtown in Seattle has one priced at like $300,000 now.
I know dude, and last year it was like $400,000! I went down there and played it and I look at that thing all the time but I go, ‘I can’t pay $400,000 for a guitar.’ It’s like buying a fucking house, but I felt that same way when I bought this one for $25,000 years ago. I was like ‘This is a ridiculous amount of money.’ I traded a bunch of guitars in for it but I’m very glad I did.
Do you take that guitar on the road?
It depends. Some places I do and some places I don’t. I’m probably not going to take it out as much coming up but it’s hard because nothing sounds or plays that good. I use it for “Alive” when we’re out there. I can’t get the tone from any other Les Paul that that thing gets. I mean to be Spinal Tap about it, with the sustain I can hold it, have a bite and come back. [Laughs] It’s totally true though, the thing just plays like butter and it’s beautiful, a little dinged up. That being said, I’ll probably bring it out on the road this year. I probably shouldn’t but guitars are meant to be played. I don’t want to hold it and be precious with it to the point that I don’t enjoy it and it makes the songs sound better to me when I use that guitar.
What other guitars are you using at the moment?
So I have the ’59 Les Paul, I have a ’59 TV Yellow Gibson Les Paul Junior—kind of Johnny Thunders cutaway—which I totally love. Then I bought a ’56 single-cutaway Gibson Les Paul Junior. The latest one that I love a lot is the David Gilmour Fender Black Stratocaster. Whew! Andy Wolf had one of those and I played it and I was like ‘This thing plays amazing!’ I also have a ’52 refinished Fender Telecaster and a Gretsch Billy Zoom model. Those are my main ones right now.
How does your approach to playing a solo differ when you’re playing in the studio versus playing live? And how do you approach a solo in general?
I would say that 98 percent of the time my solos in the studio are either first or second take. When I’m not thinking about it and just feeling it, it’s always been the case that that’s been the best solo. So I usually just go with what my initial inclination is of what I grab out of the air. I don’t really know how to put it in any other terms than that. There have been a couple of times when I sat down and thought out solos. [Producer] Brendan O’Brien had asked me to do that for “Amongst the Waves” [on Pearl Jam’s Backspacer] so if you listen to that, that is a more thought-out solo. Live, I will definitely take more chances but that could be out of laziness. I didn’t want to figure out all my solos after I did them [Laughs]. Also, I feel different ways on different nights so I may start off fast, I may start off slow. Hopefully I’m not thinking about it too much and am just feeling the moment of the song. That’s when the best solos come out and I do the best stuff and it makes me go, ‘Wow, I just did that?’ And I don’t know how to get back to there, but that’s okay because it’s just a snapshot of that moment. Feeling is number one, which is such a cliché but it is definitely true.
Just to touch on Pearl Jam for a bit, I’m sure you’ve heard that Ten has just become only the 22nd album ever to sell more than 10 million copies. What does that mean to you?
Wow! It’s almost unreal. I think back when we were doing that record and how it was such a long journey for me to get there. I’ve been playing in bands since I was 11 years old and that’s all I ever did. So when I finally got the chance to do a major label record and to play with some guys who were all really good, I knew something was good there. I didn’t know how good it was, but I knew everyone was firing on all cylinders and I just felt like, ‘Yeah, we can go kick some ass.’ Cut to a year later when that thing was selling a million records, I had no idea that that was ever going to come. I was just amazed to get a record deal and to quit the day job and not work as a prep cook anymore. So when I hear that we’ve sold 10 million records and it’s only the 22nd time that that’s ever happened, that’s all cake. The fact that it’s still selling and that people are buying it—I am just honored.
I know Pearl Jam is currently working on the new album. What you can say about it right now?
Well, we’re gearing up to finish the second part of the record that we started about two years ago. We all decided to pull back a little bit after we had done about seven songs, which I think are going to be on the next record. I’m not really sure. It all depends upon how this next session goes. I have a feeling that we’ll have something out this year. We are all very prolific in bringing in ideas and we’re all in conversation and are starting to rehearse in about a month. I feel like we’ll have something by this year. I don’t know that everyone in the band feels that way, but I’m going to do my damndest to move it along if I can have any kind of say in it. I would really like to get it out this year because we would really like to do some touring and things like that.
I’m curious to know, when you guys are recording and are all bringing in new material, do you personally write fully fleshed out songs in your off time, or do you bring in ideas and all kind of all collaborate together?
It’s all of those things. Specifically for myself, I will demo ideas in my studio and try to make them as good as possible and if Matt [Cameron] isn’t around I will use a local drummer friend of mine to help me get an idea down. So I’ll bring fully realized demos to the equation and then it all kind of changes from there because everybody kind of goes, ‘Well why don’t you take out this part or put this in here or move this over here or do half of that?’ Stone [Gossard] and Jeff [Ament] are great editors so once you have your demo you bring it in and people scrutinize it and they either like it or they don’t. If they do then I just go, ‘Dude, if you have any ideas, just go for it.’ I also want to be able to add to people’s songs in the way that I do and I think I’m kind of the coloring on top of a lot of ideas and melodies at times. I feel like if Ed [Vedder] brings in a song, I want to be able to do a solo that’s cool for it. He may not have any ideas for what that is yet until I do it right there on the spot. Sometimes Jeff will bring in a couple of riffs and we’ll just jam on that. Matt will bring in parts of stuff. That being said, everyone brings in fully realized demos, too. It’s like everything; we have a lot of stuff. We don’t have any outside songwriters. [Laughs.]
With the new Mad Season reissue and the recent Pearl Jam Twenty documentary directed by Cameron Crowe as well as the reissue of Ten a few years back, it seems like you’ve been spending a lot of time looking back on your career and I’m wondering if that is something you especially care to do?
For myself, I like to look at things in a historical sense just to have some sort of feeling from it. It’s twofold really, there’s part of me that likes it and there’s another part that goes, ‘Well, we have to continue, let’s keep moving forward.’ The most exciting thing is to create new things, but to revisit the Mad Season record has been sad and exciting and important to me to kind of put this thing out in a coherent sense for people to get a feeling about it. There’s an art in that itself. Out of that though came a bunch of new stuff that Barrett Martin and [Guns ‘N’ Roses bassist] Duff McKagan and myself did from that second unreleased Mad Season record. We pulled from those ideas and kind of tightened them up a little bit. We’re now currently looking for singers for that project, which probably won’t be called Mad Season—it will be called something else. We’ve just gotten some initial vocals from Jaz Coleman from Killing Joke, which sound really amazing. So we’re hoping we can find some singers out there that would like to sing over this. There is a new element to the Mad Season thing is what I guess I am trying to say.
How did you get involved with Duff McKagan?
I’ve known him forever. He went to Roosevelt, the same high school that I went to, and he’s a dear friend of mine. I always looked up to him as the cool punk rock kid that was around in Seattle, Washington. I was like a metal kid. He was definitely ahead of his time when he was around here in Seattle. He came down to my band Shadows’ practice place the night before he moved down to L.A. and we were like, ‘Dude, what are you doing?’ I think he had a Gibson SG slung to his back, and he was like, ‘I’m moving to L.A. to become a rock star.’ We were just like, ‘What?’ Then the next year or maybe six months later they had that [Guns ‘N’ Roses] Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide album out and I was like ‘He did it!’ So Duff and I have now formed a little musical partnership and friendship with Barrett and we’re doing a new project right now.
I saw that you also hit the stage with Soundgarden at the Paramount Theater in Seattle. What was that like?
Soundgarden was amazing. I’m a total Soundgarden fan so I hovered around them a lot. I think I became either very annoying or they were happy to see me, I don’t know. I brought them pizzas one time at their practice right before that tour and Matt [Cameron] called me up and said, ‘Hey, do you wanna come out and jam on the song ‘Tighter and Tighter”?’ Which is a song Stone and I had been talking to Matt about and saying, ‘God, you gotta do that song. It’s so killer.’ So Matt said, ‘Do you wanna come out and play on it?’ I was like, ‘Yes!’ It was fun. I got to see Matt Cameron play with Soundgarden and he is a monster with them. He plays differently then he does with us so it was cool to see him from another point of view and kind of go, ‘Oh my God! Jesus Christ that is some of the best drumming I’ve seen in my life.’ It kind of felt like a coming home I guess. Like, oh yeah, we’re all still doing stuff. It kind of reminded me of 20 years ago when we were just starting with Temple of the Dog. I love seeing those guys, even just around town.
Mad Season came about in such a dynamic moment in time from Seattle—1994 was almost like the crest of a wave in that scene. What is the legacy of Mad Season?
I hope the legacy of Mad Season is one of Layne Staley and Baker’s memory. Showing where they were at all those years ago musically and lyrically from Layne’s perspective. To know that we existed for a brief moment in time and there was a lot of triumph and a lot of tragedy as there is in life. I just hope people can listen to those and get a feeling from that.