Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready is “so excited” about band’s upcoming album
Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready has discussed the band’s upcoming album with producer Andrew Watt which he is “so excited” to release.
While the album is yet to be officially announced, bassist Jeff Ament previously revealed Pearl Jam hope to release the follow-up to 2020’s Gigaton in 2024. For the record, they have sought the help of Watt, who also recently produced The Rolling Stones’ comeback single ‘Angry’, and McCready is thrilled with what they have created so far.
“He brings this very positive energy and knows how to get really good sounds,” the guitarist said to SPIN of working with Watt. “At the same time, his energy kind of kicked us in our asses a little bit. He would be like ‘Come on, dude,’ you know? He is kind of yelling and jumping up and down a lot and being happy. He’s a fan, but he has great structure ideas, great sound ideas, and song ideas. I’m so excited about what he did with us.”
When asked to elaborate, McCready added: “The record’s gonna have some great examples of Matt Cameron’s drumming that just blew my mind. He took it up about 10 notches for this new record, and it really is because of Andrew’s enthusiasm, and, again, him jumping up and down and saying ‘Try it again!’ and then saying ‘Oh, we got it!’ and on to the next thing. He pushed us to play as best as we could. It’s hard for us to listen to other people because we have so many ideas ourselves.”
McCready also revealed that Pearl Jam went into the studio without any concrete ideas of what they wanted to record. On changing their approach to making music, he said: “There was a little bit of anxiety but also, I feel like we’re at a point in our career where we can take chances and not do the same thing. I think we have a mindset of being open to that.”
The guitarist continued: “Andrew told us not to bring any of our stuff, except for Matt’s drums. Andrew, or Brendan for that matter, knows exactly what each amp sounds like and what they’re gonna do. I don’t know that until I’m doing it. I just know what I like to hear.”
Meanwhile, Pearl Jam recently covered the Pink Floyd track ‘Brain Damage’ for the first time in a decade during a concert at Minnesota’s Xcel Energy Center. Watch the footage below.
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