Mike McCready wants Temple Of The Dog reunion with Chris Cornell

Chris Cornell and Mike McCready playing at Rock Hall Of Fame 2013
Chris Cornell and Mike McCready playing at Rock Hall Of Fame 2013 (Image credit: Getty)

Mike McCready says he’d love to reunite with his former band Temple Of The Dog for the 25th anniversary of their self-titled record.

The Pearl Jam guitarist recalls performing a couple of songs from the record with the former supergroup’s singer Chris Cornell last year at a Mad Season show and says he’d do it again “in a heartbeat.”

He tells Rolling Stone: “We did a couple of Temple Of The Dog songs last January. I did Mad Season with a symphony and Chris was nice enough to come out and sing for that. My feeling was, ‘Wow, it would be cool to do this again.’

“I don’t know what the answer is with the re-release of the record, but I would love to do something for the anniversary. That’s kind of Cornell’s thing.

“I would love to play live anytime with those guys. I’d play live with them in a heartbeat.”

The grunge project was founded in memory of the members’ late musician friend Andrew Wood, then-vocalist of Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone, who died from a heroin overdose in 1990.

The lineup included McCready, Cornell, Eddie Vedder, Wood’s Mother Love Bone bandmates and current Pearl Jam guitarist and bassist, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, along with drummer Matt Cameron.

Last year Cornell took his label’s side in a legal row over the ownership of Temple Of The Dog’s master tapes from their 1991 album, after they discovered they’d come into the possession of studio boss Rajan Parashar’s following the death of his brother Rick, who produced the record.

Pearl Jam are currently touring North America.

Pearl Jam tour dates 2016

May 10: Toronto Air Canada Centre, ON
Jun 09-12: Manchester Bonnaroo, TN
Jul 09: Telluride Ride Festival, CO
Jul 14:Pemberton Music Festival, BC
Aug 05: Boston Fenway Park, MA
Aug 07: Boston Fenway Park, MA
Aug 20: Chicago Wrigley Field, IL
Aug 22: Chicago Wrigley Field, IL

Cornell offended by Temple Of The Dog critics

Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.