The story of the Seattle grunge scene of the ’90s has been told in many mediums, but Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready is hoping to bring it to the theater stage.
In an interview with Guitar World, McCready shares how the late Chris Cornell helped inspire the endeavor.
“I look at him as one of the greatest singers and songwriters of all time, aside from being a friend,” McCready says of the Soundgarden frontman. “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.”
McCready previously previewed a song called “Crying Moon” from the opera, which he wrote about Cornell, during a recent live show with his side project, The Rockfords.
“I’m working on a script and I’ve got about 18 songs that I’m working on, and I’m singing on it,” McCready says of the opera. “It’s been a long journey.”
There was previously a grunge musical in development back in 2017, which was set to feature the music of bands including Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, but it’s yet to materialize.
Meanwhile, McCready has also been working on new music with his main gig. He says that the next Pearl Jam album, the follow-up to 2020’s Gigaton, is “just about finished.”
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
