Mad Season was formed as a brief offshoot of Pearl Jam when their lead guitarist, Mike McCready, was on holiday in Minneapolis. There he met John Baker Saunders (b. Minneapolis, USA, d. January 1999), the bass player with Lamont Cranston. The rest of Mad Season comprised Seattle luminaries Barrett Martin (drums; also Screaming Trees) and Layne Staley (b. 1967, vocals; Alice In Chains). They played their first gig with just three days notice as the Gacy Bunch (a halfway-house name between television serial The Brady Bunch and serial killer John Wayne Gacy) at Seattle’s Crocodile Cafe. There had still been no proper rehearsals when they played their second gig two weeks later. By the recording of the album they were called Mad Season, which McCready first heard in Surrey when Pearl Jam were mixing their first album. ‘It’s the time when the psychedelic mushrooms grow. And it’s a Hunter S. Thompson thing, and it certainly describes my years of alcohol, so it had stuck in my mind for a long time.’ The group’s debut featured Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan duetting with Staley. The understated performances from the star personnel helped to create an impressive and relaxed album. Staley’s continuing problems led to Lanegan taking over vocal duties. Saunders died of a drug overdose in 1999.
