The ever busy guitarist, who is prepping the expanded reissue of Mad Season's 1995 album "Above" for April -- which will featured other, newly finished tunes from that era -- and who is also about to head back into the studio to work on Pearl Jam's next album, says he hopes to release songs by the as-yet-untitled group with McKagan and Martin on his own new label, Hockeytalkter Records.
"I have a little record company called Hockeytalkter Records -- it's what my three year old son calls a helicopter. I would like to put some of this stuff out on 45. If that happens, it'll be great."
The new side-project follows McCready's recent involvement in McKagan and Martin's other band, Walking Papers. The Pearl Jam guitarist contributed to a pair of tunes on Walking Papers' self-titled 2012 album.
Pearl Jam Guitarist 'Stoked' For New Album
"A bunch of stuff was happening last year," Barrett Martin says. "Mike and I were putting together this Mad Season collection. Duff and I and Jeff Angell were starting the Walking Papers album which we asked Mike to play on. Then Mike started his own record label… I had a whole bunch of song ideas and Mike had a whole bunch of song ideas and Duff had a whole bunch of song ideas that were not making it into Walking Papers. We decided that we would go into the studio and record them. Right now they're being sent out to different singers. Mike and Duff are overseeing that because they know everybody."
There is no set release date for any of the material, but Martin says it will depend on the as-yet-unrevealed list of singers. "As the different singers finish their songs and turn them in, that will determine when they get put out," he laughs.
