Pearl Jam's Mike McCready Misses Alice in Chains' Layne Staley

Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready Misses Alice in Chains’ Layne Staley

2011-10-10

Story by Anne Erickson

Pearl Jam guitarist feels close to Alice in Chains’ Layne Staley

Great talents of the ‘90s all too often carried torments of drug addiction and depression — from Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain to Alice in Chains’ Layne Staley — ending in tragedy. Looking back on those loved and lost, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready says he still carries a deep sadness about the sudden loss of Staley, both on a personal and professional level.

When asked by Seattle radio station 107.7 the End KNDD-FM who was most missed from the recent Pearl Jam documentary, Pearl Jam Twenty, McCready said, hands down, his buddy Staley. “I think out of that, I would say Layne from Alice in Chains. I miss him a lot,” he said. “I knew him pretty well. We did a record together with [Seattle grunge group] Mad Season, and he was just a guy that struggled, but he was a sweetheart and just couldn’t get out of his addiction. So, I miss him. I saw a picture of him and his ex-girlfriend, and we used to go to parties together and stuff, and I miss him. And I miss my friend [John] Baker [Saunders] who was the bass player of that band [Mad Season] … I miss those guys.”

Given the chance to put Staley and Starr in Pearl Jam Twenty, and give his two cents on the guys, McCready responded, “I don’t know. Layne, to me, was a guy that never really ragged on anyone. He was a cool guy, and I don’t recall him ever making fun of people or being mean spirited or anything. I remember that about him… and he was funny and an amazing vocalist. He was a great guy. And Baker was my friend that came from Minneapolis and he was just this … killer bass player and funny guy and totally not Seattle, so it was funny for him to be here and have to integrate into this city.”

The Cameron Crowe-directed Pearl Jam Twenty will arrive on DVD/Blu-ray Oct. 25. The movie will also run Oct. 21 on PBS, as part of the series American Masters. The documentary will arrive as a standard, single disc with 30-minutes of bonus footage, or as a three-disc “deluxe set” package, with the deluxe edition featuring four hours of extra footage. (Photo: Pearl Jam via Facebook.)

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Anne Erickson

Meet the expert - Author, writer and editor Anne Erickson is a Detroit-based music reporter and radio host. She has written for the USA Today Network, Consequence.net, Blabbermouth.net, Loudwire.com and many more. Anne holds a master's degree from Michigan State University. Contact Anne at anne@audioinkradio.com.