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I was born on April 5, 1966, in Pensacola, Florida. I'm not sure why my family ended up in Seattle but I know they moved there shortly after I was born. I was an only child, my mother was an elementary school art teacher and my father was a city employee. My parents were into artists like Hendrix and Santana, and as a child I would soak them in while beating his my dad's bongo drums with pencils. By the time I reached the age of 10 my friends had turned me onto Kiss and Aerosmith. Shortly after my 11th birthday I walked into Kennelly Keys, a local music store, and purchased my first electric guitar, a Mateo Les Paul Copy that I still owns. By the eighth grade I formed my first band Warrior, which shortly after was renamed Shadow. Shadow began by performing for my friends during free periods in high School. We started off by covering Kiss and UK metal bands like Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, and Thin Lizzy. After high school, Shadow moved to Los Angeles hoping to land a record deal. I found a job working at Aron's Records while the band played a few unsuccessful gigs. Shadow headed back to Seattle 13 months later. Shadow broke up soon after returning to seattle. By 1988 I had all but given up playing guitar. I had cut my hair short and decided to go back to school. Spending my days at a local community college and working at night in a video store. I rarely played guitar, and was very depressed. A friend of mine named Russ Riedner convinced me to start playing again and in my words, " He got me out of my college mode and back into playing guitar." One night I was sitting around at a party with Pete Droge, an old friend of mine. I had my guitar and I was just jamming to a Stevie Ray Vaughan record when Stone (a member of pearl jam now), whom I'd known for a few years walked up and said, 'Wow, you're really good!' At the time Stone's band Mother Love Bone, was happening, so I was really pleased that he liked my playing. I continued playing and tragically, only days before the release of Stone's debut album, Mother love Bone singer Andrew Wood died of a drug overdose. About three months later, Stone called asking if I wanted to jam. So we got together and everything clicked. A short while after we played together, Stone called and asked whether I'd be interested in joining his new band. I was excited at the possibilities: Stone had tons of songs - the beginnings of 'Alive' and 'Black'- and I was like, 'Shit, Yeah!' Our guitars really complemented each other; his sense of melody and rhythm, my lead style. Meanwhile, Jeff Ament was unsure weather or not he would join the band, but after Stone invited him out to dinner, and the two chatted, Jeff made up his mind to join the project. Mookie Blaylock, named after the then New Jersey Nets Basketball player, began to take shape in early 1991. We only needed a singer and a Drummer. We began laying down demo tracks with Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron, one of these tapes which had three instrumental demo's on it, landed in the hands of Eleven drummer Jack Irons. He sent it to his friend Eddie Vedder who dubbed vocals over the three songs, which he named 'Alive', 'Once', and 'Footsteps'. The rest of the band was in the process of recording the Temple of the Dog album when Eddie jumped on board, for me it was my first time, as an artist, in a studio: It was one of the greatest times in my life. It was my first experience doing an album, and yet it was really laid back and easy. Reach Down was my first lead on an album, and I was so excited. I'd been in a studio before, but never to record an album or anything. I did that in one take! I soloed through the whole thing and ended up with the headphones wrapped around my face. I was totally flushed. The guitar work in that track represents one of my proudest moments. The Temple of the Dog album was a success and Mookie Blaylock, now renamed Pearl Jam, was now focused on recording their first album. Pearl Jam has been the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. And i hope that it will continue to make history. its been 15 years since the band formed and it hasn't changed. I'd like to thank all the fans and to all the great people out there who support us. OH YEAH MY NAME IS MIKEY AND I LIKEY BANANAS
