Confessions of a Fanboy

Layne Staley. Mark Lanegan. Barrett Martin.

What’s not to like? Throw in Mike McCready (and the less well-known John Baker Saunders) and- hey, are you telling me it’s possible to have a supergroup without a bad reality TV show?

I heard “I Don’t Know Anything” on KISW when I was living out in the Seattle area. I was driving around Midway — I can’t remember what I was doing down there at that time of night — and it came on the air. I thought it was Alice in Chains because of Layne’s voice — even McCready’s guitar work didn’t sound completely different from something Jerry might play. Listening to it now I can appreciate the differences in the Mad Season rhythm section versus that of Alice.

The DJ came on at song’s end and announced this was from Mad Season, a collaboration between guys from Alice, Pearl Jam, and Screaming Trees. I went and found a music store that stayed open late (”late night record shop…”) only to find out the album wouldn’t be released for another week or so. At that point, I did what any (in)sane music fan would do. I skipped out of work for 20 minutes on the Tuesday it was released and went and bought a copy of it, stopping at Dunkin Donuts on the way back. Hey, kids, this was in the day before Napster and the internet. I still have the CD. I no longer live within 100 miles of Dunkin Donuts. I was skinny then. I’m not now. You do the math.

Filed under: Tags: Alice in Chains, Barrett Martin, Music of the Moment, Pearl Jam