interview de Mike:
Go on the road with Pearl Jam
“Immagine in Cornice” follows Pearl Jam on the band’s last tour of Italy. It’s the band’s first concert DVD in four years. Guitarist Mike McCready explains that Italian audiences can be tough: They “try to figure you out, and you prove yourself to them.”
On Tuesday, Seattle rock heroes Pearl Jam released “Immagine in Cornice,” the band’s first concert DVD in four years, documenting its last Italian tour. Guitarist Mike McCready phoned in Wednesday to talk about what went into making it.
Toward the beginning of the DVD you tell a funny story about hiding under the Scorpions’ limo. When did that happen, and how did it contribute to you wanting to be a rock star?
(He laughs, giving details that suggest it happened after a July 16, 1982, concert at the University of Washington.) My friend Dan and I had gotten kind of backstage and we snuck through the trucks. It was a little easier to get back there somehow. And I had just gotten right close to the limousine and got right underneath it because I was pretty small. And they came running out right at that time.
I jumped out. I had my poster. I think I scared the bass player, Francis Bucholz. … Klaus, the singer, signed my poster, and gave me a half glass of champagne in a kid cup. So my friend Danny and I shared that. I think we were maybe 14 or 15. Maybe I was even younger than that.
I had been playing in bands since I was about 11. And that probably just gave me a whole ’nother aspect of (thinking) now I really wanna do it. I remember being quite excited about it.
Talk about why you chose to document a tour through Italy.
Early on when we were playing there we had some really tough crowds, and they were not into us. … Italian crowds try to figure you out, and you prove yourself to them, is what I’m guessing. I remember Eddie getting into it when we were playing a couple of places.
You had some hecklers?
Oh, yeah. Threats and stuff like that. We’re playing clubs, you know. I remember … the first time I saw Ed diffuse a situation. We were playing in a club that should have held about 100 people, but I believe there were probably 300 people there and there was one exit. It was really a tight, scary place.
Some guy was kind of threatening him or spitting on him. I can’t remember what it was. So he stopped the show and kind of talked to him (and) got everyone to rally up and enjoy the show. He really turned the situation into a positive.
We later played opening for U2 on another tour. And I remember the crowd was quite indifferent to us then. That being said, after that happened, when we got kind of big and we came back (and) people respected that and we respected them. They’ve just been really passionate, exciting crowds. And it’s a beautiful place to go, too.
How did you work with director Danny Clinch? Was it really collaborative, or did you just give him free rein?
There were cameras set up everywhere (but) it wasn’t very intrusive. That’s where our band is really critical, because we’re kind of sticklers about that stuff. We like to keep … our backstage pretty private – even though it’s pretty boring. We have a pingpong table back there.
Was there apprehension because there was the band’s need to have that boundary?
There is a need (for) the boundary. But there is also a mystique that I think has been created over the years. … We try to consciously let people have their own image of what they think we’re about. So we try not to give them too much (imagery). And that’s been by design.
You actually worked with Danny on some of the …
Interlude music.
Yeah.
I’m actually down in L.A. right now. I’m trying to do some demos to get some (film) projects … scoring, that kind of thing.
He asked me if I would create some music for a scene of Ed on the bus, I believe, and a couple of other scenes of (bassist) Jeff (Ament) and other people talking backstage. And that was honestly my impetus to start doing what I’m doing now. … I gave him some stuff, and he liked it, and it kind of gave me some confidence. Maybe I can do this in other venues aside from our own stuff.
You don’t see a lot of Matt (drummer Cameron) in the DVD. What’s up with that?
(Laughs) Matt Cameron is the best drummer in rock ’n’ roll in my mind, and I’m not only saying that because he’s in our band. I just love him, and he’s a great individual.
He comes and he plays his show and then he goes back to the hotel. He’s all business. And I think he was maybe not as interested. He was fine with being filmed and everything. I think they ended up doing pingpong or something. But the interview parts and hanging out and stuff, he’s just not into that that much. He just likes to do his own thing, and more power to him – whereas I’ll be all over it as much as I can.
It’s just a different personality type. Ed’ll do it. I’ll do it. … (Guitarist) Stone (Gossard) and Matt were a little more apprehensive about doing some stuff. And Jeff is fine. He can jump in and out of the world of fame or whatever easily. And he loves to skateboard. That was good footage of him doing that.
I remember talking to someone about skateboarding with Jeff.
I know he skates with Mark (Arm) and Steve (Turner) from Mudhoney.
Maybe that was it.
Jeff is a maniac. He goes on skate trips down the coast in his car. And they find all these bowls and he’s into it, and he loves doin’ it. It always makes me nervous when we’re on the road, because it makes me think he’s gonna break his arm or something.
I’m trying to imagine being a skate kid, showing up to a bowl and going, “Hey, it’s the guys from Pearl Jam and Mudhoney.”
(Laughs) I think some of the time that happens, and I think some of the times kids probably wouldn’t even know. They’re too young. I think that happens in Europe a little bit.