Fans of the Seattle Grunge scene are in for a treat with Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready’s Rock Opera project currently in the works, which he says will honor his friend, late Soundgarden and Temple of the Dog singer Chris Cornell.
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In a new interview with Guitar World, Pearl Jam's McCready says he was inspired by and will be honoring late Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell -- also Mike's bandmate in Temple of the Dog -- while also drawing on his experiences in the Seattle Grunge scene he was an integral part of creating.
“I look at him as one of the greatest singers and songwriters of all time, aside from being a friend,” McCready says. “I love Chris and I’m working on a little project about the Seattle scene and a musical kind of rock opera thing. It’s just from my experience in the Seattle music scene, and he’s part of it.” As for the form this new project would take, Mike adds he could see it as, “a record and maybe some sort of stage/play thing."
McCready had shared one of the first songs from the project at the beginning of August -- "Crying Moon" -- a song Mike said he "wrote as a goodbye" to Cornell, which became "part of [his] process in dealing with his death."
No release date for the rock opera has been set just yet, but the guitarist adds, “I’m working on a script and I’ve got about 18 songs that I’m working on, and I’m singing on it... It’s been a long journey."
McCready also says in the new chat that Pearl Jam's Andrew Watt-helmed follow-up to 2020's Gigaton is “just about finished,” adding, “I think there’s a few tweaks here and there that have to happen, and we’re probably not going to have anything out this year.”
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