Career beginnings (1994–1995) During the production of 1994's
Vitalogy,
Pearl Jam guitarist
Mike McCready went into drug and alcohol rehab at the
Hazelden Clinic in
Minnesota, where he met bassist
John Baker Saunders. In 1994, when the two returned to
Seattle,
Washington, they formed a side band with drummer
Barrett Martin. McCready played in bands such as
Pearl Jam and
Temple of the Dog, Martin with
Skin Yard and the
Screaming Trees and Saunders with blues talents such as Little Pat Rushing,
Hubert Sumlin, Sammy Fender, and
The Lamont Cranston Band. Immediately the trio set up rehearsal time together and wrote the music for two songs that would later become Mad Season's "Wake Up" and "
River of Deceit", both of which would later appear on the band's album
Above. McCready then brought in friend and
Alice in Chains frontman
Layne Staley to round out the line-up. McCready had hoped that being around
sober musicians would push Staley to get himself sober. Despite not having a single song completely prepared (only beginnings of songs, according to Martin) and not even having a name for the band, McCready scheduled an unannounced show at the
Crocodile Cafe on October 12, 1994, which was a big success. with the band calling itself The Gacy Bunch, after both the notorious serial killer
John Wayne Gacy of
Chicago and the 1970s
sitcom The Brady Bunch. performing "Lifeless Dead" and "I Don't Know Anything".
Dormancy, Disinformation, and Dissolution (1996–1999) The band continued to play shows during the spring of 1995 before going on hiatus so that the members could return to work with their main bands. In 1997, attempts were made by McCready, Saunders and Martin to revive Mad Season, As a result, Mad Season was without a singer. With Staley now out of the picture, the band recruited vocalist Mark Lanegan (of the Screaming Trees), who had previously guested on the
Above album (as well as at live shows) as its new permanent singer. With the switch in frontmen the group also switched names adopting the Disinformation moniker in late 1997. Work reportedly began in 1998 on what would have been Disinformation's debut album, although between everyone's busy schedules, it became difficult to meet in the studio together. Over the course of the year the quartet gradually grew apart, making a Disinformation album all the more unlikely. Another critical blow was dealt to the project in January 1999 with the death of bassist John Baker Saunders from an overdose of
heroin.
Post-breakup Following Saunders' death, McCready returned to working and touring with Pearl Jam and also later formed a new side project,
The Rockfords. Martin briefly returned to work with Screaming Trees before the band disbanded in 2000. Since then Martin has worked as an occasional touring drummer for
R.E.M. and performs with R.E.M guitarist Peter Buck in the band
Tuatara. Staley briefly reunited with Alice in Chains in the late 1990s before dropping out of the public eye permanently. His body was later found on April 19, 2002, in his condominium, the victim of an apparent overdose of
cocaine and
heroin about two weeks prior. Lanegan went on to a relatively successful solo career, worked with
Queens of the Stone Age, and performed with
Isobel Campbell on the 2006
Mercury Prize nominated album,
Ballad of the Broken Seas, and as part of a duo with
Greg Dulli under the name
The Gutter Twins. On February 28, 2010, McCready performed at the
Hootenanny For Haiti at the Showbox at the Market in Seattle along with the likes of
Velvet Revolver,
Loaded and former
Guns N' Roses bassist
Duff McKagan,
Fastbacks bassist
Kim Warnick, and former
Alien Crime Syndicate,
Sirens Sister and
Vendetta Red bassist
Jeff Rouse as well as
Truly and former
Screaming Trees drummer
Mark Pickerel among others. A number of songs were covered during the show, including
Belinda Carlisle's "
Heaven Is a Place on Earth",
Hank Williams' "
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry", In 2012, Martin, McCready and McKagan, along with singer
Jeff Angell and keyboardist
Benjamin Anderson collaborated on an album called
Walking Papers. Spurred by this collaboration, Martin, McCready and McKagan revisited the unreleased Mad Season material. In July 2012, Martin confirmed that Mark Lanegan would be singing several songs on a new Mad Season release. In October 2012, Barrett Martin announced a Mad Season box set:
Legacy Recordings released an expanded deluxe edition of
Above in April 2013. A three-disc
boxset comprising two
CDs and one
DVD, it includes a digitally remastered version of the studio album, the
John Lennon cover "I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier", some unreleased tracks from the band's unfinished second album with lyrics and vocals by Mark Lanegan, the band's "Live at the Moore" performance on April 29, 1995, on CD, DVD, and vinyl, and a previously unreleased full concert video of the band's
New Year's Eve performance from the now-defunct
Seattle club RKCNDY as well as video of the band's performance from the
Self-Pollution radio broadcast. Mad Season reunited again for a special concert titled "Sonic Evolution" with the
Seattle Symphony Orchestra on January 30, 2015, at
Benaroya Hall in Seattle. At this show,
Chris Cornell filled in for Staley on vocals, and McKagan filled in for Saunders on bass. Kim Virant of Lazy Susan and
Jeff Angell of
Walking Papers also provided vocals at the gig. The concert was recorded for the live album Mad Season & The Seattle Symphony -
Sonic Evolution / January 30, 2015 / Benaroya Hall and was released August 28, 2015. The album debuted at number four on the
Billboard Top Classical Crossover Albums chart.
New material In July 2015, Martin announced on
Facebook that he was recording new Mad Season material with McCready and McKagan. The fruits of the collaboration resulted in a project called The Levee Walkers, which released the songs "Freedom Song" and "Tears for the West" in 2016 with singer
Jaz Coleman and the song "All Things Fade Away" in 2017 with singer
Ayron Jones. ==Musical style==