Biography
During the 1990s, assorted side endeavors featuring musicians from prominent Seattle rock outfits surfaced, though most never reached beyond a devoted niche audience drawn chiefly from admirers of those primary groups (Brad, the Rockfords, Three Fish, Tuatara, and others). Clear exceptions surfaced, however, with Temple of the Dog and Mad Season standing out. The latter included Alice in Chains vocalist Layne Staley, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin, and the sole participant based outside Seattle, bassist John Baker Saunders, whose prior work encompassed blues artists such as Hubert Sumlin and the Lamont Cranston Band.
McCready's stay at a Minneapolis rehab facility during summer 1994 to address issues with alcohol and substances led to his introduction to Saunders. Upon returning to Seattle, McCready contacted Staley, then likewise seeking to confront substance challenges, and Martin completed the lineup. Their initial rehearsal immediately revealed a strong rapport that produced fragments later developed into tracks including “Wake Up” and “River of Deceit.” Performing first under the name Gacy Bunch, the four made their live debut on Sunday, October 16, 1994, at Seattle’s Crocodile Cafe. Although only a handful of songs existed at that point (Martin later noted the set consisted mainly of “jams and beginnings of songs”), the show persuaded everyone that studio recording should follow.
Renamed Mad Season after the seasonal window when psilocybin mushrooms reach peak growth, the group tracked material at Bad Animals studio in Seattle, self-producing alongside Pearl Jam sound engineer Brett Eliason. Two selections aired on Pearl Jam’s Self-Pollution Radio broadcast of January 8, 1995, ahead of the ten-track album Above, released the following March. The record blended somber ballads with harder-edged material, received gold certification, peaked just outside the U.S. Top 20, and featured guest vocals from Screaming Trees singer Mark Lanegan; its opening single “River of Deceit” became a major rock-radio success.
A limited number of live appearances followed, along with discussions of additional writing and recording, yet Mad Season remained a solitary venture. Later in 1995 the live video Live at the Moore captured a Seattle performance, and the group contributed a version of John Lennon’s “I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier” to the tribute album Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon. Material for a second album was reportedly composed but never tracked. The musicians briefly considered substituting Lanegan for Staley and adopting the name Disinformation, yet no further recordings materialized, and the participants parted ways permanently. Both Saunders and Staley later succumbed to drug overdoses.
McCready's stay at a Minneapolis rehab facility during summer 1994 to address issues with alcohol and substances led to his introduction to Saunders. Upon returning to Seattle, McCready contacted Staley, then likewise seeking to confront substance challenges, and Martin completed the lineup. Their initial rehearsal immediately revealed a strong rapport that produced fragments later developed into tracks including “Wake Up” and “River of Deceit.” Performing first under the name Gacy Bunch, the four made their live debut on Sunday, October 16, 1994, at Seattle’s Crocodile Cafe. Although only a handful of songs existed at that point (Martin later noted the set consisted mainly of “jams and beginnings of songs”), the show persuaded everyone that studio recording should follow.
Renamed Mad Season after the seasonal window when psilocybin mushrooms reach peak growth, the group tracked material at Bad Animals studio in Seattle, self-producing alongside Pearl Jam sound engineer Brett Eliason. Two selections aired on Pearl Jam’s Self-Pollution Radio broadcast of January 8, 1995, ahead of the ten-track album Above, released the following March. The record blended somber ballads with harder-edged material, received gold certification, peaked just outside the U.S. Top 20, and featured guest vocals from Screaming Trees singer Mark Lanegan; its opening single “River of Deceit” became a major rock-radio success.
A limited number of live appearances followed, along with discussions of additional writing and recording, yet Mad Season remained a solitary venture. Later in 1995 the live video Live at the Moore captured a Seattle performance, and the group contributed a version of John Lennon’s “I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier” to the tribute album Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon. Material for a second album was reportedly composed but never tracked. The musicians briefly considered substituting Lanegan for Staley and adopting the name Disinformation, yet no further recordings materialized, and the participants parted ways permanently. Both Saunders and Staley later succumbed to drug overdoses.
Albums
