McCready gradually went back to playing guitar and finally joined another band called Love Chile. A childhood friend, Stone Gossard, went to one of the band's shows and appreciated McCready's work after hearing him perform Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Couldn't Stand the Weather". Gossard had known McCready before high school when the two would trade rock band pictures with each other. After the demise of Gossard's band Mother Love Bone, he asked McCready if he wanted to play music together with him. After a few months of practicing together, McCready in turn encouraged Gossard to reconnect with his Mother Love Bone alum Jeff Ament.