Mad Season was a grunge band formed in late 1994 by existing members of three popular bands of the day as well as a friend of one. It is best known for the single 'River of Deceit', and is generally considered a one-hit wonder.

• Layne Staley - Vocals - Alice in Chains
• Mike McCready - Guitar - Pearl Jam
• Barrett Martin - Drums - Screaming Trees
• John Baker Saunders - Bass - Friend of McCready

The group began when McCready, Barrett and Baker set up some informal jam sessions. It should be noted that Baker had performed with blues talents such as Little Pat Rushing , Hubert Sumlin , Sammy Fender , and the Lamont Cranston Band .

After the trio immediately wrote two songs, 'Wake Up' and 'River of Deceit', which would later appear on their album Above, McCready called Staley and proposed that he join, which he did.

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 in October 1994, which turned out to be a big success. In fact, the song 'Artificial Red', which was also to appear on the album, actually came together during the show itself.

Two more gigs were scheduled at the same venue, with the band calling themselves the Gacy Bunch, after both the notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy of Chicago and a beloved sitcom from the 1970s.

On January 8 of 1995, the band made an appearance on Pearl Jam's Self-Pollution Radio worldwide broadcast, performing 'Lifeless Dead' and 'I Don't Know Anything'.

After gaining more popularity, they recorded an album and changed their name to Mad Season, which is an English term for the time of the year when psilocybin mushrooms are in full bloom.

The album, Above, which was recorded in Seattle at Bad Animals Studio (co-owned by Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart) and co-produced by the band and Pearl Jam sound engineer Brett Eliason , featured 10 songs. The album was released on March 15, 1995 on Columbia Records to critical acclaim.

Staley died on April 5, 2002 in his condominium from an apparent overdose/suicide of cocaine and heroin, exactly 8 years after Nirvana's Kurt Cobain's suicide.

Baker died of a heroin overdose in January of 1999.

See also Grunge Super Groups.

External link

• The River of Deceit: a Mad Season Homepage

Sony Music: Mad Season Mad Season Guitar Tablature Nilentropy.com: Mad Season