Main Instrument - Lead guitar
Other Instruments - Slide, backing vocals, piano, bass, rhythm guitar
Publishing name - Jumpin' Cat Music
Birthday - April 05, 1966 in Pensacola, Florida
Mike McCready, the lead guitarist, was born on April 5, 1965. He grew up in northeast Seattle listening to Kiss and heavy metal. He later listened to the Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Jimi Hendrix. He was recruited to PJ by Stone and has been the lead ever since. Mike is definitely the purest musician of the band. He often doesn't take as much part in the issues the band has faced, but anyone who has seen him in concert knows the dedication that Mike brings to this band. In late 1994, after winning his fight against alcohol and drugs in rehab, he contacted some friends to form a side project. Among them were Layne Staley, the vocalist for Alice in Chains. They became Mad Season and had a few hits. Among the things Mike is known for, is loving Led Zepplin, loving to party, and getting crazy at concerts.
Cool Facts-
Was in a band named Shadow
Influences include KISS, Hendrix
Member of Mad Season
Friend of Mr. Potatohead
Was in Temple of the Dog
Lead guitar...sonic guitar solos
McCready and his wife, Ashley O'Connor, are the parents of two children. The couple currently resides in Seattle, Washington.
McCready suffers from Crohn's disease, which he was diagnosed with at the age of 21,[50] and has worked to bring awareness of the disease. He has since endorsed President Barack Obama specifically for his health care program, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which covers mandates health insurance to be available to those with pre-existing conditions. In 2012, McCready made "Life is a Pre-existing Condition," a video about the importance of nationalized healthcare. Jennifer Jaff, founder of Advocacy for Patients, was the inspiration for this video. McCready performs an annual concert to benefit the Northwest chapter of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, and has played at the event in a UFO tribute band called Flight to Mars as well as a reunited Shadow line-up.
Substance abuse
McCready has had two different bouts with substance abuse. The first came in the early 1990s, when McCready was fighting drug and alcohol addiction:
We had a lot of meetings where they would say, 'Hey Mike, you're getting way too fucked up.' But we're all really good friends and we love each other and I think they actually thought I was going to die, but they never took steps to kick me out of the band, which I can't believe because I fucked up so many times. I was drunk and making an ass out of myself and they were concerned about it....I'd clean up for a little while then I'd fall off the wagon, like addicts do....When everything blew up, everybody kind of lost their minds....I was clean for about a month...well, semi-clean; I can't bullshit about that...but I fell off the wagon after the Kurt Cobain thing. That fucked with everybody really hard. I mean, how do you get to that point of depression where suicide's the only way out?
McCready's second bout came during the sessions for Pearl Jam's 2000 album, Binaural:
I was going through some personal problems. It was my own stuff I was dealing with. That was a tough time. I was out of it. That was due, at the time, I was taking prescription drugs. I got caught up in it, because of my pain.
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