Mike McCready Discusses Pearl Jam’s ‘Heavier’ New Album

Pearl Jam has been working on a new album with producer Andrew Watt that will be the follow-up to the band’s 2020 album, Gigaton. According to Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, the pending album’s new material is “a lot heavier than you’d expect.”

In an interview with Classic Rock, McCready said he hoped the new album would come out sometime in 2024. McCready said several songs have already been tracked during sessions with Watt, who is a member of Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder’s solo backing band The Earthlings.

“It’s a lot heavier than you’d expect,” McCready said of the new album. “There’s the melody and energy of the first couple of records. Andrew pushed us to play as hard and melodic and thoughtful as we’ve done in a long time. I feel like Matt Cameron’s drumming has elements of what he did in Soundgarden.”

Past albums, like Gigaton, took Pearl Jam a long time to record, but working with Watt, McCready revealed, “kicked our asses [and], got us focused and playing, song after song.” The sped-up recording process resulted in Pearl Jam completing the new record much quicker than usual.

Along with the change in recording style, Pearl Jam’s next album will also feature McCready’s guitar more prominently at times.

“For better or worse, you’re gonna hear a lot more lead guitar from me,” McCready told Classic Rock. “Stuff I haven’t done in a long time. I went crazy, like with Chris Cornell and Temple Of The Dog on Reach Down [1991], all those years ago. I got to do it again.”

Elsewhere in the interview, McCready talked about his signature model Fender Stratocaster guitar, touring with Pearl Jam, approaching 60 years old and more. Read the full interview with Classic Rock here.