Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready lately revealed that he’s drawing on his experiences within the Seattle grunge scene for a brand new rock opera.

Talking with Guitar World, the musician mentioned the venture is impressed by and honors the late Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, who was additionally McCready’s bandmate within the supergroup Temple of the Canine.

“I have a look at him as one of many best singers and songwriters of all time, except for being a good friend,” McCready mentioned about Cornell by way of Consequence. “I really like Chris and I’m engaged on somewhat venture in regards to the Seattle scene and a musical form of rock opera factor. It’s simply from my expertise within the Seattle music scene, and he’s a part of it.”

It has been famous that final month, McCready shared the primary preview of the rock opera when he posted a dwell efficiency of a Cornell tribute referred to as “Crying Moon” on Instagram. He informed Guitar World that he’s presently envisioning it as “a report and perhaps some kind of stage/play factor.”

“I’m engaged on a script and I’ve acquired about 18 songs that I’m engaged on, and I’m singing on it,” the artist continued. “It’s been a protracted journey.”

Throughout the identical interview, McCready, who joined the ranks of Pearl Jam members, mentioned the band’s follow-up to 2020’s Gigaton is near completion. “It’s nearly completed,” he mentioned. “I feel there’s a number of tweaks right here and there that need to occur, and we’re most likely not going to have something out this yr.”

McCready additionally praised producer Andrew Watt for bringing “an power and a youthfulness and a fantastic ear to us that I feel we would have liked” to the classes. “[Watt] acquired us right into a room and simply pushed us as onerous as we could possibly be pushed,” he added.

“You understand, it’s onerous for a quote-unquote outsider to come back into our world as a result of we’ve finished issues a sure manner. We’re open to new issues, however we’re additionally in our personal world. We’ve finished issues for 30 years. So we all know the dynamics of our band very properly. However typically we have to get pushed and questioned, and Andrew did a fantastic job of that.”