Smells Like Alternative

FYI: Mad Season

by acostill on May 16th, 2008

Let’s do an FYI on Mike McCready’s side project, cause Mad Season was spectacular and it’s a nice, rainy day in May.

• Mike McCready went into rehab during the production of Vitalogy, where he ran into The Walkabouts bassist John Baker Saunders.
• The duo returned to Seattle from Minneapolis in 1994 and teamed up with Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin.
• The trio wrote two songs together before they had a vocalist, “River of Deceit” and “Wake Up”.
• McCready invited his friend Layne Staley to join and the band became complete.
• The band’s first gigs were at Seattle’s Crocodile Cafe in October of 1994, even though they didn’t have one song completed or a band name.
• Their first band name was the Gacy Bunch, named after John Wayne Gacy and The Brady Bunch.
• The band appeared on Pearl Jam’s Self-Pollution Radio on January 8, 1995 and performed “I Don’t Know Anything” and “Lifeless Dead”.
• The band finally settled on the name Mad Season, which is an English term for the time of year when ’shrooms’ are in bloom.
• Mad Season’s only album Above was released on April 15, 1995 through Columbia Records.
• The album was recorded at Bad Animals Studio, which is co- owned by Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart.
• Above would eventually hit the #24 position of the Billboard 2oo and go on to Gold status.
• “River of Deceit” reached #2 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks and #9 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
• The lyrics to “River of Deceit” were influenced by Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet, which consists of 26 poetic essays that discuss life and the human condition.
• The tracks “Long Day Gone” and “I’m Above” feature vocals from Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan.
• Mad Season contributed their version of “I Don’t Wanna Be A Soldier” on the 1995 John Lennon tribute compilation Working Class Hero.
• On April 29, 1995 the band performed at the Moore Theatre in Seattle, which was recorded.
• The Live at the Moore video was released on August 29, 1995 and not only contains the April performance, but also the “River of Deceit” music video and the band’s Self-Pollution performance.
• In 1997 Layne was in no shape to do much, despite the rest of the band wanting to continue on with Mad Season.
• Mark Lanegan replaced Layne and the band changed it’s name to Disinformation in 1997.
• Disinformation began work on their debut album in 1998, but were unable to record it due to the member’s schedules.
• On January 15, 1999 bassist John Baker Saunders passed away from a heroin overdose.
• On April 20, 2002 Layne Staley’s body was found.

“Lifeless Dead”

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POSTED IN: FYI