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Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready Discusses His Upcoming Graphic Novel and Rock Opera Inspired by Seattle’s Grunge Scene (Exclusive)
Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready is the mastermind behind a fascinating multimedia project titled Farewell To Seasons. Farewell To Seasons is an original graphic novel that tells a fictional story by McCready based on his experiences during the heyday of the Seattle grunge scene. A deluxe version will come packaged with a vinyl LP boasting a companion rock opera composed by the guitarist.
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The album features songs written from the perspective of one of Farewell To Seasons’ characters. The novel and LP will be released by Z2 Comics and are due out on October 6.
McCready recently chatted with American Songwriter about Farewell To Seasons, which he started several years ago. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer explained that the project began coming to fruition during some downtime he had when Pearl Jam’s tour in support of its Gigaton album was postponed due to the global health crisis.
“I just started thinking about my world and the Seattle rock scene and people that have … died in it, and … wondering kind of was it all worth it for those guys,” McCready noted. “[S]ome of them were my dear friends, and some I didn’t know as well.”
Regarding the story, Mike said, “I wanted to create something that was a historical fiction with a fantasy element to it.” He wound up developing three characters, one of which was based on himself. The other two represented aspects of different musicians from the grunge scene.
“One [is] David Williams, which is kind of my character,” McCready shared. “Then there’s Jonathan Alexander, [who is] kind of the tragedy character, and Angela May Sunrise, which is … a female character.”
More About the ‘Farewell To Seasons’ Story and Characters
McCready explained that the novel follows those characters’ “connection throughout the years, from the mid-80s to like the mid-90s.” He noted that the story looks at “their triumphs [and] their tragedies, but in the context of a fantasy.”
Regarding the fantasy aspect of the story, Mike said, “There’s a character named the Queen of the Seasons, who is the narrator. And she’s kind of the oracle that dreams up the stories.”
Then, there are two spirits, named Shade and Spark. McCready pointed out, “Shade is kind of the deceiver, and will kind of push our characters in different directions for ill. And [Spark] is more of the seer of futures. … Both of those spirits will taunt and contact our characters throughout the story.”
McCready came up with the idea for the script, which is being co-written by veteran comic-book author Mark Sable. Mike told American Songwriter that the novel is “about a third of the way done.”
Asked if readers will be able to recognize fictionalized depictions of grunge bands or artists in Farewell To Seasons, McCready said, “I would imagine they can, yeah. … I think that they’ll be able to see elements of characters that are from the scene here.”
Mike added, “[W]hat I really wanted to do … was create its own world, with its own characters, but based on historically significant events that happened here in Seattle, Washington. But … I wanted to keep it in a context of kind of fantasy … that’s not been kind of talked about a million times in the Seattle scene.”
Farewell To Seasons is being illustrated by Sebastián Piriz.
About the ‘Farewell To Seasons’ Rock Opera
McCready reports that the music for the companion rock opera, which he’s been “working on … for about four years,” is finished.
As he noted, the album was written from the perspective of David Williams as “a eulogy for another character.” The recording actually is a condensed version of a larger musical piece McCready hopes to eventually complete that would incorporate more of the Farewell To Seasons story.
The album, which Mike is considering his first real solo record, features “eight songs with an overture and an underture.”
In conjunction with the album, McCready took singing lessons for several years so that he could contribute lead vocals to the record.
“I wanted it to be as good as possible and not put something out that I’m embarrassed by,” Mike maintained. “So I’ve been working very hard on that aspect of it.” He added, “I feel like I did [it] to the best of my ability, and I’m proud of it.”
McCready also played guitar on the album, of course, as well as piano. He reported that a variety of other musicians lent their talents to the record as well.
“[Guns N’ Roses member] Duff McKagan’s playing bass on a couple of tunes,” he shared. “Stefan Lessard from Dave Matthews Band is playing bass on a couple. There’s Chris Friel, who’s from my band Shadow back in the day and [from] a band called Goodness. He plays drums. … Mike Musberger who played [drums] in The Posies … [is] playing on it. Molly Sides from Thunderp*ssy is singing backups on it. Another drummer named Nate Yaccino, who’s also an engineer, [is] playing on it. So it’s been a conglomeration of all these people.”
McCready’s Plans to Promote ‘Farewell To Seasons’
As of now, the album only will be made available on vinyl included with deluxe editions of Farewell To Seasons. You can pre-order the novel and various packages now at Z2Comics.com.
McCready told American Songwriter that he’s planning to attend the San Diego Comic-Con International event in late July to promote Farewell To Seasons.
He also shared that he’s discussing possibly releasing some advance tracks from the rock opera.
In addition, Mike said he’d like to play some shows in 2027 to promote the project.
(Photo by Mat Hayward/Getty Images)
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