EXTENDED AUDIO: From REM to the Baseball Project in depth with Scott McCaughey

He’s been an integral part of the local music scene for decades, and there’s no sign of slowing down for Scott McCaughey.

The leader of such seminal Seattle outfits as Young Fresh Fellows and The Minus 5 can’t stop himself from jumping in to seemingly every project that comes along, and he the joy and passion he has for every one was contagious during our extended visit when he swung by the 97.3 KIRO FM studios for a special session of Seattle Sounds with Seattle Weekly Music Editor Chris Kornelis and me.

We talked about the breakup of REM (hard to believe he played with the band for 17 years, as long as original drummer Bill Berry!), his love of baseball and the unique Baseball Project (one of several all-star bands featuring Scott, his good friend and REM bandmate Peter Buck and Dream Syndicate founder Steve Wynn,) and his annual St. Patty’s day tryst in the Pogues cover band KMRIA with Chris and Jenny from the Decemberists among others.

Suffice it to say he’s got a lot of tales and we had a lot of laughs, and I guarantee any fan of the local music scene will enjoy spending some time with Scott as much as we did!

You can catch Scott and KMRIA Friday March 16th at the High Dive, and with The Young Fresh Fellows and Roy Loney of Flaming Groovies fame April 28th at the Sunset along with a rare reunion of the Mighty, Mighty Squirrels!

Listen to EXTENDED INTERVIEW: Scott McCaughey

(images courtesy Minnesota Public Radio, Freeloosedirt Flickr stream)