Pearl Jam/Mad Season guitarist Mike McCready discussed the power behind the photos of his late Mad Season bandmate Layne Staley and John Baker Saunders in his new book Of Potato Heads And Polaroids in a new Format interview.
“It’s kind of an emotional ride,” McCready says. “There are people that are gone. There’s Layne Staley, and my friend Baker who played in Mad Season…those guys are dead. That’s pretty intense, to see that, because I miss those guys, and it makes me sad. And you see them in this one moment…I remember where they were in that moment. And there’s only one photo of it, ever. But now it’s in the book, so I hope people will enjoy that but know it’s intense, because those guys were obviously alive when I did that.”
He also discussed jamming with Baker and Tom Petty.
“I got to jam with Tom Petty and my late friend Baker, and Tom played drums,” McCready says. “In the 90s. It was very bizarre and awesome. And as he was leaving, I asked if he’d take a picture. And I’ll never forget that—he did it. I always think about that one. Like, ‘Oh yeah, that happened!’ And the weird thing is that Tom Petty played drums! I didn’t know he played drums.”
