Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready remembered the release of Temple of the Dog’s album a day after the 25th anniversary of the release of the album:
I know I’m a day late, but…
My memories of Temple Of The Dog are getting to hear these incredible songs on Chris Cornell’s demo tape and getting to be part of this project. Temple was my first real record to play on and it was glorious!
On “Reach Down” they let me go crazy on the lead. I remember recording “Hunger Strike” and using the ‘out of phase’ pickup on my strat to start the riff.
“Pushing Forward Back” was in a strange time-signature that Stone wrote so I struggled with it for a bit.
I will always be grateful to Chris for giving me a chance and trusting me, a hyper guitar player that he didn’t know, to play on his beautiful music! Forever grateful to Stone, Jeff, Matt and Ed as well!
I remember being late for the video shoot at Discovery Park and almost not being in the video! Glad I made it…
I miss Andy.
love,
Mike
You can read Jeff Gorra’s 25th anniversary retrospective for Alternative Nation ‘Call Me A Dog: The Resonance of Temple of the Dog 25 Years Later’ by clicking here.
