Pearl Jam’s guitarist Mike McCready says the band’s next album is nearing completion.
McCready said the new record was “just about finished” in an interview with Guitar World, but it likely wouldn’t be out until sometime next year.
He also had high praise for producer Andrew Watt, a Pearl Jam fan who “brought an energy and a youthfulness and a great ear to us that I think we needed.”
“He kind of kicked us in our asses a little bit,” McCready explained. “He’s the most hyper guy I’ve ever met besides myself. But he’s a giant fan of our band, and he’s a really smoking guitar player in his own right.”
“He got us into a room and just pushed us as hard as we could be pushed,” McCready continued. “You know, it’s hard for a quote-unquote outsider to come into our world because we’ve done things a certain way. We’re open to new things, but we are also in our own world. We’ve done things for 30 years. So we know the dynamics of our band very well. But sometimes we need to get pushed and questioned, and Andrew did a great job of that.”
Pearl Jam’s upcoming album isn’t the only thing keeping McCready busy. He is currently working on a rock opera that is inspired by his experiences in the Seattle music scene.
McCready said he is “working on” the rock opera and currently has 18 songs. He did not specify when the project will be complete.