In short
Podcast Summary: Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam, and Justin Richmond
Episode Title
Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament
Overview In this episode of *Broken Record*, hosts Leah Rose, Stone Gossard, and Jeff Ament—the founding members of Pearl Jam—discuss their musical journey, the making of their latest album *Dark Matter*, and the evolution of their creative process. The episode dives deep into the influences and experiences that shaped Pearl Jam’s sound and the collaborative nature of their songwriting.
---
Key Moments and Themes
Background on Pearl Jam
- Formation of Pearl Jam:
- Stone and Jeff’s musical journey began in the 80s with the band Green River.
- After forming Mother Love Bone, the duo faced tragedy with the death of lead singer Andrew Wood.
- Their collaboration with Chris Cornell on the Temple of the Dog project led to the formation of Pearl Jam, alongside Eddie Vedder.
- Pearl Jam's debut album *Ten* was released in 1991, achieving immense commercial success.
- Current Work:
- The latest album *Dark Matter* was produced by Andrew Watt, known for his work with various high-profile artists.
- The album release further solidifies Pearl Jam's legacy in the music industry.
Recording Process Insights
- Collaborative Environment:
- Stone and Jeff emphasize the importance of collaboration in the recording process, stating that working together allows for spontaneous creativity.
- The environment at Shangri-La studios, where they recorded, facilitated focused and productive sessions.
- Handling Song Disagreements:
- They discuss how Andrew Watt played a crucial role in mediating and guiding the creative process, allowing for open communication and trust among band members.
- The approach was to quickly move on from disagreements to maintain momentum.
- Embracing Change:
- Stone and Jeff express a shift in their mindset towards songwriting; they now embrace the idea of reconstructing songs quickly rather than sticking rigidly to initial ideas.
The Influence of Andrew Watt
- Watt’s Role:
- Andrew's deep knowledge of Pearl Jam’s music inspired the band to explore new directions and sounds, pushing them to create a more aggressive record.
- His enthusiasm and energy were vital to the recording sessions, keeping the creativity flowing.
Songwriting Dynamics
- Individual Strengths:
- Each band member brings unique strengths to the songwriting process, from Ed’s ability to craft impactful melodies to Jeff’s overarching understanding of the song’s structure.
- Stone and Jeff detail how their collaborative approach allows them to blend their styles effectively.
Live Performances
- Translating New Material:
- The band is excited about performing new songs live, believing their long-standing fanbase is ready to embrace the new material.
- They acknowledge the unpredictability of live performances and the joy of experiencing their songs evolve in front of an audience.
---
Key Takeaways
- Collaboration Over Competition: The episode highlights the importance of collaboration in music, fostering a creative environment where each member’s voice is heard.
- Evolving as Artists: Gossard and Ament discuss their growth as musicians, both individually and as a band, emphasizing the joy of musical exploration without the pressure of expectations.
- Fan Connection: The enduring relationship between Pearl Jam and their fans is evident, with the band’s commitment to providing meaningful live experiences.
Conclusion This episode of *Broken Record* offers a rare glimpse into the inner workings of Pearl Jam, showcasing how the band has evolved through collaboration, personal growth, and a deep connection to their music and fans. Their latest album *Dark Matter* reflects this journey and sets the stage for a new chapter in their storied career.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:06Pushkin. This is an iHeart Podcast. In today's super competitive business environment, the edge goes to those who push harder, move faster, and level up every tool in their arsenal. T-Mobile knows all about that. They're now the best network, according to the experts at Ooclas Speedtest. And they're using that network to launch Supermobile, the first and only business plan to combine intelligent performance, built-in security, and seamless satellite coverage. That's your business, Supercharged. Learn more at supermobile.com. Seamless coverage with compatible devices in most outdoor areas in the U.S.
0:48where you can see the sky. Best network based on analysis by Ookla of Speedtest Intelligence Data 1H 2025. Every great music conversation goes beyond the surface. The influence that shaped an artist's sound. The moment that changed their creative direction. The story behind the story that fans never hear. Claude helps you discover those deeper connections. Upload interviews, liner notes, or music journalism, and Claude reveals patterns across an artist's entire journey, showing how influences become innovations. Whether you're a music journalist, passionate fan, or someone who loves understanding creative processes, Claude matches your curiosity about what really drives great artists.
1:29Try Claude for free at claude.ai slash brokenrecord. This episode of Broken Record is brought to you by Chase Sapphire Reserve. Traveling is one of life's greatest joys. Honestly, can anything be more exhilarating? Well, actually, yeah, with Chase Sapphire Reserve. It's your gateway to the world's most captivating destinations. First, you will earn eight times points on all purchases through Chase Travel. And the card gets you into Sapphire Lounge by the club at select airports nationwide and access to one-of-a-kind experiences. Whether you are booking a once-in-a-lifetime trip or your next weekend escape, Discover more with Chase Sapphire Reserve at chase.com slash sapphire reserve.
2:11Cards issued by JPMorgan Chase Bank and a member FDIC. Subject to credit approval, terms apply. Pearl Jam, Stone Gossard, and Jeff Amitt are two of the Seattle scene's most foundational musicians from the 80s and 90s. Stone and Jeff started playing together in 1984 as members of Green River, which eventually dissolved, leading singer Mark Arm to form Mudhoney. Later, Jeff played bass and Stone played guitar in Mother Love Bone, until their lead singer, Andrew Wood, died of an overdose just days before their major label debut in March of 90. Reeling from Andy's death, Jeff and Stone started recording with Soundgarden's Chris Cornell on a side project called Temple of the Dog.
2:54That featured vocals from a then-unknown singer from San Diego named Eddie Vedder. Later that year, Jeff and Stone asked Eddie to join their new band with guitarist Mike McCready. As Pearl Jam, they released their debut album 10 in August of 91. The album went 13 times platinum and charted on Billboard for nearly five years. Since then, Pearl Jam have released 11 more albums and built a diehard fan base, thanks in part to their outstanding live shows. Last week, they released their latest album, Dark Matter, which was produced by Andrew Watt, who's recently worked with Miley Cyrus, Iggy Pop, Post Malone, and one of my favorite projects in a long time from Ozzy Osbourne.
3:35On today's episode, Leah Rose talks to Stone Gossard and Jeff Amant about how Andrew Watts' encyclopedic knowledge of Pearl Jam helped inspire some of their best performances to date. Stone and Jeff also open up about the inner workings of the professional relationship, and Stone remembers the first time he met Eddie Vedder, who marked the occasion by passing him a handwritten poem. This is Broken Record. Line of notes for the digital age. I'm Justin Richman. Here's Leah Rose's conversation with Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard and Jeff Amant. When you set out to record the new album, did you have a feel in mind that you wanted to, you know, achieve for the new album something that was completely different from Gigaton, or did it all sort of come together spontaneously?
4:25man i mean have we ever had a plan and has the plan ever been what we actually ended up doing i think stone and i have lots of side conversations about what we hope the plan could be but it's usually never that no we didn't know what we were going to do all of us individually have aspirations for where we think the band can go or how it could kind of be different you know I think all of us are always aiming for trying to expand on what we've done in the past. And we have the experience of being in the band and having flashes of what's possible. And those aren't always easy to recreate in different scenarios, especially recording scenarios.
5:07But this was a big time flying blind. And I think with Eddie having met Andrew and worked with him a little bit, it was sort of like, we're just going to show up in LA and we're, you know, this young kid, he loves Pearl Jam. He's a, you know, he's a producer. He's, you know, he's, and Eddie had a great experience working with him on his solo record. And so we just all said, well, you know, we'll show up. That sounds fun, easy. And, you know, immediately we were, we were making music and good stuff was happening. So we, we sort of, we got hooked in pretty quick to the process. Do you think the setting had anything to do with recording at Shangri-La and being near the ocean and being in California?
5:49Do you think that influenced the music at all? You know, I mean, we started at Andrew's house the first session. So the second session was sort of like thrown together last minute. And Rick opened up some time for us at Shangri-La, which was very generous. I love that studio. Me too. Like, I love that there's like no TVs and that it's sort of minimal. And there's like, really, the only thing you can do if you're not playing music is to shoot pool. I love it when like the five of us can get in a room and just be focused. And it just feels like when we can do that, we always hit a vein. In that session, there was three days where it's just that spot that you want to be as a band where it's just like it's just going, you know.
6:32And that studio had a lot to do with us making a record really quickly, I think. I think we got maybe four from the very first session, which was in Beverly Hills at Andrew's old spot. And that was like a year previous. And we were there for 10 days or something like that. maybe seven or eight I can't remember but we hit something that was great but there was also some stuff that we kind of started to maybe sort of kind of think too much again or get too much in our in our old process and I think then we had a year off and it was amazing to go back and then sort of have memories of what we did that first time and then really kind of go in and everyone stayed you know pretty focused of and it's really the focus being whatever you're you know bringing in today or however the song starts to go, just be ready for it to kind of get ripped open and rearranged and touched by everyone.
7:26And you have to have some courage when it comes to that kind of stuff, but also that it's just makes it so much more of a band thing. Everyone's invested. Everybody is like writing and thinking about the song at that moment. And I mean, we've done it before like that, but I don't ever want to go back. Honestly, it was like, you know, in terms of that process. I loved it. How does the band handle when there's little squabbles over parts of songs? If somebody brings something and you start playing and somebody wants to take it in a different direction and not everybody's agreeing, what's the communication like?
7:59And who ultimately wins? I think we were trusting Andrew really on this record because he's the producer and we're going to make a record with you. Might as well trust his instincts and and go with it. So I think that having him there was, was helpful in terms of just navigating that stuff. I think if anything gets too squabbly, we just move on to something else and that this gets left behind probably more than anything. So I think all of us, you know, got to see how the group process ended up being a better process for almost everything, you know, at every juncture you'd kind of, you know, and it was all very quick, which would made it better.
8:38It's like sort of ripping the bandaid off quick. You know, it's like, got an idea, throw it down. It's already changed. It's, you know, it's gone before you, you know. And it was great. And Ed is inspired in those situations too. He writes so quickly when he's in on the process of the writing, as opposed to just getting a demo and like sitting with it in his room for weeks. You know, it's like, it's much more fruitful for him to be there saying, let's double that or I don't like that part let me get back to that other thing quicker you know I need a chord here I need a different chord getting me to this you know to this next bit and then it just becomes kind of a group process that's not the same as an individual kind of writing a song but it's and that's I think that's what's special about this record is that it really is a lot of reconstructed sort of quickly ideas you know and I think we learned a long time ago that if you're fighting too hard for something, it usually, even if it ends up on the record, it usually, I don't think it ends up being a joyful memory for the rest of the band.
9:43And even a joyful memory for you as a writer, I think. So I feel like as I've gotten older, I welcome ripping my thing open. And I think it's far more interesting that way. I think the collaborative process to me is one of the most interesting things. If you can really trust the other people in the band that you're collaborating with, it will usually come back way more interesting and have a different perspective that you can't have if you just have tunnel vision for your song. So it's not that different than how we made the last couple of records with Brendan, really. I mean, moving super fast and if Ed's not sort of latching onto something, moving on to the next thing.
10:25And so I think we're better in those environments. I think Andrew's enthusiasm, his unbridled enthusiasm was a an element of it he never he never let us get down on ourselves at all individually for me like playing in there and sometimes being in there and going you know i don't know what i'm doing it's like he would no matter what he would just be like oh that's great no wait go back you know like he would just have this like you're gonna get you're gonna figure this out you're my favorite guitar player you know it's like just you know what i mean but not necessarily that but it's just like he just just infused you with he wasn't gonna let it get you down and he knew that that's not where you're gonna get a good performance so yeah it's manipulative on on one hand but it also works you know and and so i think you know his knowing the songs and loving pearl jam so much and just being a fan it was a major factor in sort of keeping the thing moving along and him really actually i know how to play all your songs i can show you where you You know, this should have been a minor chord, but you didn't.
11:28It's just cool. I'm so glad that you did that. So he had a lot of energy for that. So that was a big factor, I think, in the record. Yeah, and in talking about those times when you're stuck, he could reference old songs. He would be like, yeah, like that thing that you do in Hail Hail, or he would reference things. And sometimes that would unstick you because it would pull you out of a pattern that you were stuck in, and it would make you think about it in a different pattern. And, you know, I never felt stuck for more than a minute. Wow. You know, when you were working on stuff with him. So that's pretty great.
12:00I'm fascinated by Andrew Watt because he's now produced albums for Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop. Yeah. He's working with you guys, the Rolling Stones last record. Yeah, he's just going through his collection of childhood bands and going, I'm going to work with this man and I'm going to work with this man. It's all his reality. We're just, you know, we're just part of his dream right now, which is great. We'll take a ride with him. It's incredible. And is he like, was there anything since he has such a deep knowledge of Pearl Jam? Was there anything from your catalog that he felt like he wanted to hear more of from a fan perspective?
12:34Completely. But he wouldn't necessarily tell us exactly what that was. But I think he wanted us to write more kind of collectively and quickly, kind of probably more like our earlier process was where it's like we didn't have any time or we never even realized you could have more time. And so we just stuff was just happening quick and nobody had time to think about it too much. And they just he wanted to make a heavy record. I think he really wanted it to be an aggressive Pearl Jam record and from the get go. So and he he had great sounds right away. You know, we just went into the studio and he kind of had stuff kind of set up.
13:09You could go on and try this amp or try that guitar, but it was all kind of dialed in. So we were stuff was sounding good, like kind of immediately. So that was that was good. He works fast, kept us interested for sure. And I had a lot of conversations after that first session, you know, like phone conversations with him where he would ask about how did this song get written? How did that song get written? And so he was I think he was like trying to mine like, OK, whatever the process was on that particular song, that's we need to revisit that process. Not necessarily like a similar riff or a similar sound even, but like the creative process.
13:47I think he was really trying to tap into, you know, ultimately, I think the best way we work with each other. I mean, I think it's we talk about it all the time about I think we all have strengths that sometimes like if we lean into those strengths, it turns out better. Can you quickly like run down what you feel everyone in the band's strengths are? Like who does what the best? man well i mean we have we have ed who can like if you have a if you have two chords or an interesting repetitive pattern he can write a melody over that that's like memorable and he can attach words to it that make you feel something deeply which to me is one of the most incredible things to witness to be in the room when that's happening and something's coming out of the ether and then all of a sudden the line comes out that's like this you know just this beautiful two-line piece of poetry yeah we have that we have matt cameron in the band who can like you know play drums around anything and make it interesting and has such a unique style and such a unique way to like accent things and places that you wouldn't expect which sometimes turns the groove around in a really cool way we have mike mccready who fucking rips and if you're working fast and he's just playing, it's like you tap into that thing that, you know, you have a guy that can really take a song over the top.
15:10I think Stone and I are sort of the lunch pail guys. I think Stone would come in with a riff and I might say, hey, what if we simplify that little part of the riff? Or he has a really busy riff and I'll just find the three big chords that sort of work over that riff. And I think sometimes some of the best stuff that we've done have been in that in that spirit and then you have jeff whose ear and his listening to kind of the whole picture and understanding how where the glue needs to be understanding really listening to the vocal really understanding where how the vocal sits in the track and supporting that and sort of being this ear that has that you know that big picture perspective on sonics and music history and you know an incredible you know audiophile well let me say one more good thing about stone because he's just said such nice things.
16:00Stone also plays guitar like a drummer. Like his right hand is almost like having another drummer in the band, which I think some of the best stuff that we've done are when there's sort of almost those two kind of frenetic rhythmic elements happening when the drummer and Stone's right hand are sort of battling or, you know, joining up. And I think there's, I think there's moments on this record that have kind of classic Stone riffage. I was just going to say, I think Dark Matter is a really great example of, and I think that was one of the last songs we wrote, but that's a great example of the sort of mishmash of what is possible.
16:36And it started out with Matt Cameron stepping in the day before and just warming up on his drums, getting ready to record that day and just starts playing this beat, which is the beat that's in Dark Matter. but it was, he was kind of playing it on a snare and it wasn't like as aggressive as that, but it was like that beat was there. And we all just looked at each other and went, that's what he does every day. It's amazing. He comes in and he plays that thing. It's like, how is that not a song? And we just rolled tape and we grabbed that beat and we looped it. And Jeff and I took that same loop home that night.
17:06And both of us wrote different parts that ended up being the verse and kind of the chorus melody parts. And the next day we had a song that was this weird combination of everybody sort of being there, but not anybody being in charge of what happened. And I just, I live for that stuff now. It's like, I want to make a whole record where it's just like, don't bring anything in or bring in only bits and pieces. If we need a bit or a piece, be ready for it. But that group arrangement is just a, it's brilliant. And it's, I think it's less common now. There's just more individual songwriting efforts and brilliant songwriting efforts.
17:48And I love that our place in rock right now might be more of like, hey, we do it as a, we do it in a way that you can't replicate because you can't, you know, five different states of mind are attacking it from a different point of view. So I think that's a great example of what's possible when you write as a group. Yeah. Yeah. And then Stone, how would you describe how you and Mike McCready play off each other and how you come up with your parts together? How does that process work? You know, we just kind of feel it out. I think the less we talk about it, the better it is in general. But, you know, I think, you know, as you play in a band, you kind of look for the spot where nobody's playing or maybe there's a point in the musical phrase where it needs some support or it's something sagging or you need to.
18:36So I kind of usually head for that spot and that accent, and I'll start just figuring out maybe it's a one note thing, or maybe it's like just a two note climb into that note, or, you know, you just start kind of going through your little process of taking little building blocks and stacking them up and kind of seeing if it feels like it's supports the architecture of the song or whatever. And I think Mike comes from a place of very much just needs to feel it and then just needs to play and winds his way through, you know, a track and just finds his melody or his feel that makes him feel good, you know.
19:17Jeff, you mentioned that there wasn't anything to do at Shangri-La other than to play pool, you know, in between recording, hanging out. I noticed on the intro of the first song, Scared of Fear, it sounds like it builds to a pool break. Yeah. Was that inspired by Shangri-La? And I'm just curious how you guys have thought traditionally about the album openers, like those little intros to the albums. Oh, well, that was a piece that I sort of came up with. It sort of felt like the pool break right at the start of the record didn't feel like it, I felt maybe too abrupt and so um yeah i recorded most of that in montana like just kind of going back and forth with andrew like you know him saying like yeah it should be 25 30 seconds and so i gave him like a minute with a bunch of ambient loops and yeah a bunch of music and i love making that sort of stuff in which we you know the our very first record the master slave pieces was sort of a very early sort of version of that kind of piece of music and some of it was me taking the actually the little melody at the end of the record and sort of changing i actually took that little three chord melody that ed's playing on guitar at the end of the record and i sort of transposed it to fit a key lower than the beginning of the key that's that scared of fear starts so just to just to make it feel like there was a little boost when when stone comes in with that riff very cool that That is the pool table from Scheinbleau.
20:53Yeah, that's recorded there. Was it Sean Penn? A couple of Neumanns. I think it was maybe Sean Penn that broke the... Seems like a solid break. Yeah, it looks like... I bet the balls spread around the table. The fanciest mics ever on a pool table. How many takes did they get, though? It's like two hours of like, let's do it again. At most. After a quick break, we'll be back with more from Leah Rose, Stone Gossard, and Jeff Amant.
21:53Thank you.
22:15your whole team can text and stay updated even when they're off the grid. That's your business, Supercharged. Learn more at supermobile.com. Seamless coverage with compatible devices in most outdoor areas in the U.S. where you can see the sky. Best network based on analysis by Ukla of Speedtest Intelligence Data 1H 2025. This episode of Broken Record is brought to you by Chase Sapphire Reserve. Everybody loves to travel, right? We can getaways, a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, all of it. And no matter where you're going, Chase Sapphire Reserve is your gateway to the world's most captivating destinations.
22:55Travel is its own reward, you know. You're out there having experiences you can't have any other way, and with your Chase Sapphire Reserve card, you're also being rewarded. You earn eight times points on all purchases through Chase Travel. So let's say you book a trip to Hawaii. You go surfing at Sunset Beach. you go hiking on a volcano, and you go out to dinner. With the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, you're actually earning points for going on a grand adventure anywhere you go, any trip you take. And that's not even mentioning how the card gets you into the Sapphire Lounge by the club at select airports nationwide and access to one-of-a-kind experiences like music festivals and sports events.
23:32Whether you're booking your next big trip or a weekend escape, Chase Sapphire Reserve makes travel more rewarding. Discover more with Chase Sapphire Reserve at chase.com slash sapphire reserve. Cards issued by JPMorgan Chase Bank and a member FDIC. Subject to credit approval. Terms apply. As a small business owner, you don't have the luxury of clocking out early. Your business is on your mind 24-7. So when you're hiring, you need a partner that grinds just as hard as you do. That hiring partner is LinkedIn Jobs. When you clock out, LinkedIn clocks in. LinkedIn makes it easy to post your job for free, share it with your network, and get qualified candidates that you can manage all in one place.
24:17Here's how it works. First, post your job. LinkedIn's new feature can help you write job descriptions and then quickly get your job in front of the right people with deep candidate insights. Second, either post your job for free or pay to promote it. Promoted jobs get three times more qualified applicants. Then, get qualified candidates. At the end of the day, the most important thing to your small business is the quality of the candidates you attract. And with LinkedIn, you can feel confident that you're getting the best. Then, data. Based on LinkedIn data, 72 % of SMBs using LinkedIn say that LinkedIn helps them find high-quality candidates.
25:00And last, share with your network. You can let your network know you're hiring. You can even add a hashtag hiring frame to your profile picture and get two times more qualified candidates. Find out why more than 2.5 million small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring today. Find your next great hire on LinkedIn. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash gladwell-fake. That's linkedin.com slash gladwell-fake to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. We're back with Stone Gossard and Jeff Amant. I'm curious about the song Wreckage, which I love so much. It's so pretty. How did that song come about?
25:49What do you remember from that session? The main thing I remember is Ed sitting down with the guitar and sort of playing basically the chords to the verse. And then we just kind of moved through that. Ed kind of kept adding parts. I mean, that song, I mean, from my standpoint, it felt like it was getting written on the move, you know, like as he was adding chords, then another vocal melody happens. And we got the bulk of that song down, I think, in a few hours. Yeah. And I think that there's an open G tuning, which is Andrew kind of coming along with that sort of a distinctive, it sort of breaks it out of what might be a little bit more of a straightforward song and sort of adds some harmonic and rhythmic variety to it.
26:35So I think that's a pretty distinctive part of that track as well, is that sort of open G strum that he's got going on there. And also Upper Hand. That's one of these songs that it sounds like it's going to be so incredible live. Do you think about how the songs are going to translate to the stage when you're recording them or before you go in or is that a consideration? I don't think I do. I think there was something about when they created that piece. I mean, that was Ed and Andrew and Josh that sort of created that pre-instrumental piece. I could imagine like when you're creating that, that you're setting a mood and a tone for the song that's about to come.
27:17And we sort of got into that yesterday in rehearsal, just trying to recreate the sounds of that piece. It's going to be a fun one just because it's going to create such a mood live, I think. How the outro is, it's sort of a wide open outro. It's sort of a place where, again, where Mike and Matt can really shine. Yeah, it's nice that that opening piece really gives it more room to get to that sort of crescendo. Without it, I think it would be, it's almost too short. You wouldn't be in the song long enough before you're at the crescendo. So this is sort of gives it that nice runway to kind of ease you into it.
27:58And it's a beautiful, it's a beautiful piece. It is beautiful. Josh Klinghofer really sort of wrote the chords, I think, to that. When it comes to writing songs that end up being anthemic, are there any like tricks or anything that you can always rely on? Or is that not even a consideration when you're making music? What do you mean by anthemic? Just like something that'll soar on stage in a live setting. I think, I mean, usually the kinds of things that translate and that are allowed to soar are pretty simple in terms of their presentation. I think the more detail you get, you know, as you if you're writing a song in your house and you're sort of starting to add on more parts and you're kind of your acoustic part is getting more complex.
28:47All of that stuff tends to not translate when it comes to a room where two big chords and some space and one riff where everybody's kind of playing together at one point and then maybe it opens up and does something else. But I just think, you know, it really is primary colors to start out with, you know, and a change that that that feels good or that that has impactful, you know, chord change or a rhythmic pulse change or a tempo change or whatever it is. So, yeah, but I think simplicity is probably the key, you know, and I think that's that's a good place for us to be is is not getting too into the detail of all the different ways you can play the same chord.
29:30Before we move on from the new album, are there any songs, any stories about recording the songs that you want to talk about? Anything that really stands out? I love the story of how we got Won't Tell, which started out with Jeff Amon having a dream. And I've been telling this and I'm not sure I've been, I'm not sure I'm telling the story right. Right. Yeah. I mean, without going, I mean, it's a, it's kind of a long story, but I, but I had a fairly realized dream of a song that I woke up, which I occasionally do. And you sort of lay down. And usually when you listen to it again, it's like nonsensical and bad and whatever.
Read the full transcript
30:06But this thing actually was like, when I listened to it, I was like, wow, there's something in there. And even the lyric, I think we were like, you know, probably three quarters of the way through through the last session and I was there early and Andrew had said hey hey you got something and so I played him he goes man that's awesome and it was a complete song and he said what if we just give Ed the lyrics and the band can learn the music and let Ed sort of interpret the lyrics and it took a couple of couple of rounds for Ed to sort of like I think come up with something that he was super happy about but he ended up coming up with like almost as like a dream of a dream you know it's like me telling him and then him sort of interpreting it in this almost like kind of a psychedelic way which the dream was pretty psychedelic so it was just a brand new way to write a song yeah and it was the song was written on a baritone guitar josh klinghoffer had bought us all these baritone guitars and I had it in this open tuning and had kind of written the piece in that because the dream involved an electric dulcimer that sounded kind of like Neil Young, but it was a woman playing this electric dulcimer.
31:25So you're not talking about Joni Mitchell. But it's Joni Mitchell's in the dream, isn't she? Yeah, Joni Mitchell came to him in his sleep. Yeah, we had a conversation in the dream. Wow, what'd you guys talk about? It was about a song that she and Neil wrote together, and this is that song. Wow. This is the song. But we're not going to share publishing with him about it. Have you guys ever played with Joni? We haven't. We did share an airplane ride with her in about 93 in Canada. And then when we got on the plane, I was sitting in the aisle seat, and she was sitting in the aisle seat right across from me.
32:06And I mean, this might come off as stalker-ish, but I was listening to a lot of Joni Mitchell at the time. So I reached into my CD wallet, which it was 1993. So, and I put in Blue and I put on my headphones and during the flight, I would just look over every once in a while and go like, wow. You just like stare at her and mouth the lipstick. No, I didn't stare at her. I didn't stare at her, but I was, I sort of felt like I'm in Canada and I'm listening to Blue and I'm sitting across from Joni Mitchell. so there it is crazy reverence I mean she's like one of my favorite just artists because she's I think as much because she's a great painter as as a great musician I I love that and her feel her right hand and just her how she tells stories like you know I think it it leans on jazz but it's so her because she small town Canadian girl you know I think I think I relate to that part of it too, because she sort of grew up not too far from where I grew up, just across the border.
33:04Oh, that's so cool. After 10 took off in the beginning, and all of a sudden you guys started playing with other really huge artists, was there anybody who you found yourself on stage with where you were just like, what is going on? Everybody. I mean, I felt that way about the Chili Peppers right off the bat when the chili peppers took us out just watching john fruscianti every night in chat i mean there's the way those guys played it was so much bigger than anything we'd ever heard in terms of like oh that's how you like that's how your stage can sound that's how they play the whole sound and i think we were still in our you know all the vibrations were very fast we were we weren't tuning into each other in the same way that we've learned more now to be able to do but that was an amazing experience you know seeing you know seeing neil young play with booker t and the mgs and that tour was jim keltner that was like never done yeah i mean never heard a pocket like that deep before it's like everyone was out pocketing each other it's like you know what i mean like the one was somewhere you know incredible so i mean but we've had that over and over again seeing U2 play, all those early opportunities to see bands go out and smoke.
34:27The show we played with Keith Richards and Steve Jordan and Charlie Drayton, that show was... Also, just witnessing bands play with so much space. I think that's... I do remember on those Neil Booker T, I remember just sort of listening to a conversation that Keltner and Duck Dunn were having about like, yeah, we keep... Duck would say like, yeah, we keep asking Neil, like, are we playing the groove? It doesn't feel like we're playing the groove in the right place. And because it sort of helped make Neil's songs, they just sounded different. Those Crazy Horse songs sounded different with Booker T and those guys.
35:01It just swung differently. But the space, like watching Duck and Keltner play together was like, I mean, there was four or five shows where I remember I was just sort of sitting between them, like 15 feet from them, taking basically a master class in rhythm section, you know, and going like, that's how you play on a mid-tempo song, like right there. I mean, I think my playing changed overnight from playing in those 10 shows. Neil seems like he's so energized when he's playing with you guys. Has he ever articulated to you like what it is about Pearl Jam that gets him like so pumped? You know, he called me last summer.
35:41They were mixing Mirrorball and Atmos and he was just so, he was so generous and so kind, in terms of he just goes, man, your guys' playing on this is so great. And I think I move so fast from record to record, I don't really get a chance to listen back, but I'm really listening to how you guys chose to play. And I appreciate it so much. And I hope we get to do it again. And of course, you're like, oh, can we please do that again? Because we'll give you more space and we'll be so much better than we were in 1995. After him playing, he plays the song once for us. We learn the chords and he's like, okay, we're going to record it.
36:16and then you record it and it's like done great you know it's like I was just you know warming up mostly we were just trying to remember the chords you know which of course he loves because that's how he is he's like oh that's great you know it's like which is fun but playing with Neil is you know that's a such an honor it's just like incredible you know yeah he seems so just like open and connected to whatever it is that sends him information and inspiration yeah and then he just loses his mind and then you get to lose your mind too you know it's just like playing you know three chords which is there's nothing more satisfying than being having transcendence in three chords where it's like it's not you know it's not all the years of your studying music and it's not you know any sort of science or any kind of you know anything that is rigor you know It's just literally joyful play with three notes.
37:14How long does it take you guys to get comfortable with somebody like that in the studio? Do you go in there super nervous? Or is there a period of time where you have to sort of settle in? I remember that session. I remember sweating a lot. And then I got crazy sick the fourth or fifth day. like I think that was the day they recorded uh was it even that many days how many days was it it was it was five days total but it was four days of recording the Neil songs and then the fifth day they went in and they recorded that version of I got id okay which I but I but I had I had the flu like for two days so it might have just been like pushing down the pressure and anxiety and just trying to you know in the focus and and you're in the studio with like one of your favorite if not your favorite artist ever and not wanting to let him down and let the whole session down none of us are studio musicians i mean there's people that can come in and like chart things out in two seconds like play by ear in such a way that you know lots and lots of people can do that that's never been certainly not ever been my you know so you know you're kind of trying to find the basic chords and then quickly find something that helps those chords and it was nerve-wracking for me for sure I mean half the record I because I listened to the Atmos mix after he said that they mixed it and and half the record I'm like I don't remember playing that at all wow like you know there's places where I'm moving a lot I'm like man I don't remember playing that at all do you like it when you hear it back oh yeah it's probably one of my favorite things that we've ever done and I think it's partly like that it was largely like a dream it felt like a dream because he would come in well he had two songs at the start he had act of love and downtown and then he would go stay on his boat at night and come in and i remember like the second or third day he came in with the ocean and it was like it was like six pieces of paper taped together and it was like just you know like bob dylan verse you know just like 20 verses and and kind of going like oh shit like this is going to be a lot but it was it was essentially three chords for eight minutes yeah he was just going back to wherever he was staying on his boat is that what you're saying yeah he was just going back to his boat and like you know smoking weed and fucking writing new songs and then he'd come in and go okay here's his next song you know so we were just experiencing it with him in the in that moment so he was he was just happy to have him turn into something and we were just kind of on for the ride since i have both you guys together is it okay if I ask you a little bit about Green River?
39:55Sure. How do you feel about like talking about the old stuff in general? Is it a drag? It's fine. No, no, love it. No? Oh, okay, cool. How did you guys even meet? How did you start playing together? Well, I think it's like almost 40 years to the day. Like somewhere March, April, 40 years ago, we met at the Metropolis, which was a sort of communal punk rock club that this guy Hugo opened up. And I'm not even sure if there was a band playing that night, but I was hanging out with Mark. Mark Harm. And Stone was with his friend Chris Pepperd. And Stone and Chris represented a very youthful, sarcastic Pacific Northwestern energy.
40:39And I had sort of a farm kid, Montana, not like serious energy. And I think it was like an odd, you know it was a little bit of a weird first meeting and then like within a month or two uh mark and steve were like hey we want our friends stone to play and i was like stone the guy that i met like i was like ah not sure you know about that guy and then i remember steve which is which is this is crazy because when you think about the how that band sort of worked and even part of the reason that maybe steve didn't want to be in the band anymore because we got too heavy steve was selling me on Stone saying like, he's got a Marshall and a Les Paul.
41:22And in my mind, I was like, fantastic. Like, like two, you know, two guitars, it'll be, you know, cause Steve was playing really super clean guitar. Yeah. Yeah. He had a super twin that was like really loud, but just so piercingly clean. And so I was like distorting my bass more and more, just trying to like make it into whatever I thought that the band should be. And so the idea that there was going to be a Les Paul and a Marshall. That convinced you? That won me over. What do you remember, Stone, about your first meeting? Just like a flash of like kind of outside talking, you know, outside the metropolis, you know, having a conversation and, you know.
42:04But this is at a time where I probably have been playing guitar for maybe a year and just like kind of, you know, dinking around on it. Like I wasn't a guitar player. I mean, I could play a bar chord maybe at that point so but the idea that you know that that was cool and that and that we all kind of just decided to be in a band together and that it's gone on in this way that it has it's one of the great mysteries and you know phenomenons for sure obviously of our lives but just like it just goes to show that you just you don't know where something's going to go and you kind of follow it and jeff's and i's journey with each other i think symbolized by that first encounter that we didn't we haven't always understood each other and we haven't always i i think that we see the world in different ways and i think we're in our like you know late honeymoon right now where we're just like we you know we get to see each other and we're kind of like wow this is still going this is pretty good how did this work out you know because Because it's really phenomenal.
43:09But, you know, I think us sticking it out with each other in certain ways has been one of the it's the biggest thing that's happened in my life, for sure, in terms of all the things that I've learned from Jeff and that we've learned together just by having our relationship work. All the other the community that's connected to Jeff and I through the years. It's crazy. It's incredible. Yeah, it's weird. I saw an interview that you guys did in 1990, right after, it seemed like maybe a month or so after Andy Wood had died. And you were sort of like stuck with the album, with the Mother Love Bone, with the Apple album.
43:49And I guess it was time to promote it. And there's one point, Jeff, where you're like, yeah, like, who knows, like, what we're even going to do next. And it was, I don't know, like how soon before that was, that Pearl Jam came together. but it was just such a crazy moment to see captured on video. Do you remember that time? Well, yeah. And I think about that time a lot because I think how we both reacted to Andy passing, we both handled it really different ways. Our relationship has been this slow reveal of each other and understanding each other. And I think there's a point when you come from such different backgrounds and have such different sort of chemistry.
44:35I feel like it probably took 10, 15 years into our relationship where I was like, where I really like trusted and really respected Stone, you know? And I think he would say the same thing, but I think that's been the, why the journey has lasted this long. I think like a part of me feels like, why did it take me that long? And I think some of it's like you're in your 20s And I think even moving through Andy passing, like, to be honest, like, I didn't have much of a safety net at that point. So I was like, I felt a teeny bit of desperation. Like, how am I going to pay my rent? I'm 27 years old. Do I need to go back to school?
45:17You know, does lightning only strike once? Is that over? and so it was probably the first time in my life where I felt pressure I felt real real pressure on like I sort of felt like I lost my my will or my you know the strand that I was sort of on that you know it was a little bit haphazard and you're sort of living paycheck to paycheck and you're just playing music and having fun with your friends and whatever but then there's a point you're 27 28 years old and this thing that you've sort of been working on for you know three years with my little love bone. Yeah, and you guys had gotten a deal that probably was like super exciting and like felt like you were making some real traction.
45:54Yeah, I just quit my job. It was the first time in my life I didn't have a job, you know, so. Yeah. And, you know, and Stone like hit the ground running and wrote a bunch of beautiful tracks that ended up, you know, I mean, Black, you know, I mean, arguably the best song that we've written as a band and Stone came up with that music that right off the bat, you knew that there was like this beautiful energy behind it and that the melody and the outro that he wrote like it you know it that was how he responded to Andy passing and whereas I was like I was scrambling I didn't know I didn't know if I was going to play music anymore I thought maybe I'll go back to school and be a teacher you know move back home work on the farm I didn't know so thank god that Stone wrote those songs and I was hanging out with Mike a bunch he worked right across the street from me and they were playing together.
46:45And so Mike was working me and Mike was working stone. And it's sort of like, we ended up playing together. Luckily, I live with my parents, so I didn't feel the same kind of pressure that Jeff felt as far as like, I was 24 years old living with my parents. So that's just shows you where I'm, I was at, but I look back at that summer as being like, you know, just one of those moments in your life where it's like, it's just raw and real and yeah you know they the way that things fell into place after that we started playing together we recorded Matt Cameron which is like also just like dreamlike like we'd all love Matt so much but we're like did a couple rehearsals went in the studio with him sort of knocked out these six seven instrumental tracks and then you know the process of like you know Stone had the idea like hey let's ask Jack Irons to play with us we're like we don't even have a band like that was so bold you know and then him suggesting like he goes well i know this guy crazy eddie like you know he's not a drummer but you know and so and and the how fast that all happened and like playing with dave cruzan and dave cruzan like you listen to what he played on on 10 and and those early songs like it's it informs our sound more than i think we thought at the time like dave really brought a really interesting element to the band and the groove and but it happened so fast it's like it's it's nuts you know less than a year of us meeting ed we were touring with the red hot chili peppers i mean that's like had a record out it's nuts it's nuts i was dreaming that's like saying dreams can still happen you got to just like see it and like you know take a chance jump off a cliff like you know imagine that there is things conspiring to make things work out, you know, like believing in that process, you know, and it's, that's a, that's something that you get, you know, you land on your face 80 % of the time, but then you get those 20 % where, oh shit, well that worked out, you know, like, and it's, it becomes, you know, it becomes ingrained.
48:47And I think we've been like that ever since it's the, anything could happen. I mean, we're, we've, we've been living a dream for, you know, for a long time and I think now we really are recognizing how lucky and how fortunate we are to kind of every day like be like we could think of weird art projects or side projects or anything we want you know like I want to go you know paint for a year or whatever all of that's possible you know what I mean so it's it's it's good we're we're still in the dream after last break we'll be back with Stone Gossard and Jeff Amons.
49:50With Supermobile, your performance, security, and coverage are supercharged. With a network that adapts in real time, your business stays operating at peak capacity, even in times of high demand. With built-in security on the first nationwide 5G advanced network, you keep private data private for you, your team, your clients. and with seamless coverage from the world's largest satellite-to-mobile constellation, your whole team can text and stay updated even when they're off the grid. That's your business, Supercharged. Learn more at supermobile.com. Seamless coverage with compatible devices in most outdoor areas in the U.S.
50:31where you can see the sky. Best network based on analysis by Ukla of Speedtest Intelligence Data 1H 2025. This episode of Broken Record is brought to you by Chase Sapphire Reserve. Everybody loves to travel, right? We can getaways, a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, all of it. And no matter where you're going, Chase Sapphire Reserve is your gateway to the world's most captivating destinations. Travel is its own reward, you know. You're out there having experiences you can't have any other way, and with your Chase Sapphire Reserve card, you're also being rewarded. You earn 8x points on all purchases through Chase Travel.
51:09So let's say you book a trip to Hawaii, you go surfing at Sunset Beach, you go hiking on a volcano, and you go out to dinner. With the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, you're actually earning points for going on a grand adventure. Anywhere you go, any trip you take. And that's not even mentioning how the card gets you into the Sapphire Lounge by the club. At select airports nationwide and access to one-of-a-kind experiences like music festivals and sports events. Whether you're booking your next big trip or a week in escape, Chase Sapphire Reserve makes travel more rewarding. Discover more with Chase Sapphire Reserve at chase.com slash sapphire reserve.
51:44Cards issued by JPMorgan Chase Bank and a member FDIC. Subject to credit approval. Terms apply. As a small business owner, you don't have the luxury of clocking out early. Your business is on your mind 24-7. So when you're hiring, you need a partner that grinds just as hard as you do. That hiring partner is LinkedIn Jobs. When you clock out, LinkedIn clocks in. LinkedIn makes it easy to post your job for free, share it with your network, and get qualified candidates that you can manage all in one place. Here's how it works. First, post your job. LinkedIn's new feature can help you write job descriptions and then quickly get your job in front of the right people with deep candidate insights.
52:31Second, either post your job for free or pay to promote it. Promoted jobs get three times more qualified applicants. Then, get qualified candidates. At the end of the day, the most important thing to your small business is the quality of the candidates you attract. And with LinkedIn, you can feel confident that you're getting the best. Then, data. Based on LinkedIn data, 72 % of SMBs using LinkedIn say that LinkedIn helps them find high-quality candidates. And last, share with your network. You can let your network know you're hiring. You can even add a hashtag hiring frame to your profile picture and get two times more qualified candidates.
53:13Find out why more than 2.5 million small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring today. Find your next great hire on LinkedIn.
53:39We're back with the rest of Leah Rose's conversation with Jeff Amant and Stone Gossard. You talked about when, Jeff, when you and Stone met and you sort of felt like you were coming from two different worlds. When you guys met Eddie and he was from San Diego, did he feel like culturally super different from you guys? And were you guys sort of like, oh, were music vets in Seattle? And was there like kind of like a hazing period at all when he came into the fold? no i i mean i remember i remember having four or five phone conversations with him before he came up and and all we were talking about was like not wanting to be in a band with people who were slackers like he i remember him talking about like i i want to hit the ground running and like i you know i make t-shirts and i do this and i was like i make t-shirts and like just sort of like before i even really hung out with him i sort of felt like wow there's going to be another guy in the band that's going to like be as excited about this peripheral stuff as I am so I think before he you know I mean he we had those three songs that he had sang over at that point but I was as excited about just him talking about how serious he was about it you know like that he that he you know and that was what he said when he flew up he said I want to fuck around I want to go straight to the rehearsal and I want to start playing I don't want to go get coffee or I don't want to.
55:06And so there wasn't a lot of time. We didn't really sit around and talk about what it was going to be. I mean, that first week we rehearsed and wrote for four or five days. We went in the studio on the fifth day. Sixth day, we played a show at the off-ramp. And the seventh day, we went inside the Bulls and the Sonics at the Kingdom. We really didn't talk about what it was. And he even says, when he flew home, he's like, I wonder if I'm in the band you know like at that point there was no we just weren't communicating about it so pretty awesome I think maybe I picked him up at the airport is that right so I picked him up at the airport and I think the we we said hi or whatever and I think I had talked to him maybe once or twice on the phone not not as much as Jeff but just a little bit or whatever and I think he he handed me something and I opened it up and it's like he had drawn me a picture and I maybe a little poem or something, but I was just like, I was totally touched.
56:00And that was one thing that also was evident about him is he was, he had a very sweet demeanor that was very, you know, I mean, you know, we're so used to like the back of the van and just, you know, fuck you, whatever, like, you know, that sort of low grade, you know, competition meets, you know, jokes or whatever. And he was a serious person who was really thoughtful and very like sensitive. And so he was a huge breath of fresh air to kind of just be around somebody who is just very, he just seemed very thoughtful about his process and about people around him and what he was doing and conscientious, you know.
56:39That is so sweet. Yeah. Do you think that because you both went through sort of a tumultuous start with Green River and with Mother Love Bone, that once Pearl Jam was established, did it feel more solid and stable? No. I mean, I felt like the first three, four years or five, six years, it felt, I don't think it ever felt stable. It feels stable now. Yeah. Pretty stable right now. But like literally like so much, you know, years of moments of greatness, moments of like thinking, oh, this was awesome. And had, you know, always good shows, always like transcendent moments. And, you know, but also just it's just a lot of stuff and a lot of things coming together that always that have to kind of everyone's got to be humming together or it's sort of there's always something to worry about.
57:39Yeah. I think, too, I think the moment that I stopped caring about, like, you know, the importance of me in the context of the band or that as soon as I gave up that, like, I need to get songs on the record or I need to my vision or whatever. As soon as I gave that up, which is probably 15 years ago or something, that's when it felt stable to me. That's when it felt like this is all icing and I'm just going to keep working hard and hopefully I can have some weird little idea that I can pull the band over into my little weirdness. And I have had those moments where you're like, oh my God, I can't believe the band recorded this idea that I knew was on the edge of what we would want to do.
58:22But it's also going into those situations without any expectation. Just going like, it's like, hey, I got a couple of things here. if there's anything here that works. Or I got this weird idea to do a couple of shows or this artwork or whatever this project is. As soon as you don't put any gravity on it, it's like, and when it happens, it's just like so joyful. And the stability comes with a joy, I think, really. But it's true. This is a band where you just have to let go of expectations about it. You know, and Ed is our band leader and he's been an amazing band leader. I mean, given the variety of ways that band leaders can organize a band, I mean, Ed's written, we've written lyrics, all of us individually have written whole songs, lyrics, everything.
59:09He's always been this person who's like, I'm open to it. You know, you don't get to do it by right. You know, you don't, you don't get to say when you get to do it, but it's all happened, you know, and it's all of us have sort of asserted ourselves at different times and know what that's like and know that that's a it can be satisfying and then kind of a dead end at the same time, you know, like, because, you know, there's always a reaction to every action, you know, I think, like Jeff said, the more you let go of expectations, the more stuff kind of just shows up on your plate or somebody says, Hey, I know you got something, you know, like, let's do it.
59:46Or like this record, like all of us, you know, even though a lot of these songs have been kind of bastardized and kind of reimagined and you had to let go of a lot of stuff. I think all of us individually feel like we're represented on this record better than we have been maybe ever in terms of, at least for me, when I listen back, it's like, I can hear parts. I didn't write the song, but my part that I loved and it figured out, I'm hearing it. I can hear it in the, you know, it's making an impact in the song. So it's the marathon and we're, we're, we're sort of, we're in that spot now where we can really enjoy it more because you once you get used to letting go and seeing why that is satisfactory or why that works you you do it more often you know because we could take two years off fine you know i mean like you know whatever nice yeah but it's almost like feels like you need that just to kind of reset and live life and come back and you have this like special thing that you can come back to oh my god feels like the creative itch well and just like seeing your old friends and going, wow, we still have this song, which is like literally three chords.
1:00:54And we go into a room and everyone sings it back to us. And we just experience that moment of like, oh, yeah, we wrote this song. And I like it more now than ever. And I never actually knew what it was about. But now I do, you know, 20 years later, you know, whatever. Yeah, that's interesting how songs can change over time. Oh, my God. Totally. Now, the new tour, I think you've said that you're going to be playing a lot more of the new material. Is that sort of feel like a challenge where you have to win people over again? You know, we've done such variety and such a collective set list for so long that I think our audience is ready to follow us and be part of the journey of whatever we're going to try to do.
1:01:40And I think the material that we just wrote is really strong. I think that there's not going to be any letdown between the material. And you know that on any given night or any given tour, there's always another one. So we've had plenty of not great shows. We've had plenty of nights where we were flat. And you just pick yourself up and do a better job the next day and something good happens. So at this point, I think we're all confident that we can go out and kind of have fun. And we're not out that much. We don't play that many shows. So it's it stays fresh and it's going to be fun. Do you have any pre-show rituals?
1:02:18Do you listen to anything before you go on stage? Do you eat something specific? Do you have to like do a certain warm up? Like what are you doing to get yourself psyched up for the night? I mean, I think I think everybody has a different routine and a different diet. And I certainly do. I certainly feel like if I eat before soundcheck and then I soundcheck, and then if there's some, there's usually two or three songs on the set list that we haven't played or maybe we haven't soundchecked. So then there's some woodshedding going on, and then there's a little, you work out a little bit, a little stretching.
1:02:57But we all have different sort of patterns as far as that goes. So sometimes that part can be tricky because the space is tight. So you're all together in like one room? Pretty much, yeah. Pretty much. I mean, Ed has a room that he can sort of, that he can go get away from us and sort of craft the, you know, fine tune the set list. And there's a, you know, there's like a little workout meditation room that we sort of can go in and out of. Yeah, you know, I can't really go on stage with a full stomach. and, you know, it's like I don't want to be, like, burping up onions, like, in the middle of a song or whatever.
1:03:36And I think the older you get, too, like, the, I don't know, the more ritualistic that you are about it. It's like you know it works and you know it doesn't work. You know, I think I heard, did you interview Duff? Yeah, I did. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I heard you talk about, he was talking about, you know, it's like being an athlete or whatever. Totally. he ices his legs with ice buckets after yeah yeah yeah i do i mean i've done all that stuff like ice baths for oh wow 20 years or something afterwards or whatever but but but also waking up early the next morning getting to the gym and just moving and you know it's like in the days that you don't do that you kind of pay for it you get end up getting on stage and you can't move the way you want to because you're 50 something years old in my case 61 yeah you know i i mean i think Duff just got off doing like, you know, probably a couple hundred shows in the last three years with Guns N' Roses.
1:04:30So he's had to be more than that, right? Oh, my God. They worked. Played Missoula, Montana. I mean, that's how the tertiary they got. What about you, Stone? What's your pre-show ritual? You know, I don't really have any pre-show. I think it's, I need one. I need some more pre-show stuff, I think. Yeah, that's right. Jack Black's year one. I'll watch on repeat. me and Mike sort of can't stop watching it. I'm not sure. It's something about that movie. I just can't stop watching it. But I just try to stay light and try to not get too in my head about worrying about it or, you know, and I think that's for me the biggest, you know, if I start to kind of think too much or get too inside my own head about it, that's when usually things aren't going wrong.
1:05:18So just having some lightness and just sort of easygoingness about it and feeling like it's just playing our songs and you know and just go out there and be ready and i'm i'm looking forward to this tour i want to even be lighter about it all you know because i think i've spent a lot of time worrying about it and not feeling kind of worthy of a lot you know like so there's nothing worse than having a you know a place go ballistic when you you and your mind feel like you're sucking or the band is just totally laying there and not really doing anything but the crowd it is, you know, to have like all these people pay money and be excited, you know, it's like, if you're, if you're feeling like you're not really giving them that.
1:05:57So I feel good about this new material for sure. Is there a spot in the tour that is ideal to see Pearl Jam? Like, should you go see the band in the beginning of the run, middle or near the end? Little Rock, Arkansas. Oh no, we're not playing Little Rock this year. I was second, second markets are always, you know, that to me, it's like, that's where kind kind of where we aren't, the pressure's off, so good things can happen, you know? And you don't have any, like, family or friends at the show. Yeah, it's not, you know. The best. Yeah. And you never know. It goes, you know, it's a natural cycle.
1:06:29We'll have some good nights and some nights that are a little bit whatever, not as good. And you can't predict them. Yeah. You know the old adage is, great soundcheck, terrible show. You ever heard that before? Oh, no. You've got to be careful when you go out there and just, like, smoke a soundcheck, and you're just like, oh, man, Tonight is going to be just so good. It's like, watch it. Just when that happens, it's got to watch out. Is there anything else? I know you guys only have an hour. Is there anything else you want to talk about, about the new album? I know I skipped like 30 years of your career.
1:07:03No, this was great. It was such a nice, it was nice to visit with you. And to visit with you too, Jeff. Yeah, yeah. This is our first interview that we've done together on this album cycle. Oh, awesome. We've done a lot of these together over the years though. But this is my favorite part. Like when you do the first couple with at least one other person in the band, it's when you start to understand the record. Because at this point, it's just you listening to your parts and listening to the songs and you interpreting. And so when you do it with somebody else, you just get this other perspective.
1:07:37And sometimes your unique perspective is completely wrong. So it's nice. Well I hope you have a ton of fun on the tour It sounds like you're super into the album And everyone's re-energized Yeah Thanks so much for doing this, I appreciate you Thank you very, very much Nice talking to you Thanks to Stone Gossard and Jeff Amitt For going deep on their legacy In Pearl Jam's new album Dark Matter You can hear it along with our favorite Pearl Jam songs On their playlist at brokenrecordpodcast.com We'll also include some other songs From Stone and Jeff's career Subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com slash Broken Record Podcast, where you can find all of our new episodes.
1:08:19You can follow us on Twitter at Broken Record. Broken Record is produced and edited by Leah Rose with marketing help from Eric Sandler and Jordan McMillan. Our engineer is Ben Toleday. Broken Record is a production of Pushkin Industries. If you love this show and others from Pushkin, consider subscribing to Pushkin Plus. Pushkin Plus is a podcast subscription that offers bonus content and ad-free listening for$4.99 a month. Look for Pushkin Plus on Apple Podcast subscriptions. And if you like this show, please remember to share, rate, and review us on your podcast app. Our theme music's by Kenny Beats.
1:08:56I'm Justin Richmond.
1:09:02This episode of Broken Record is brought to you by Chase Sapphire Reserve. Traveling is one of life's greatest joys. Honestly, can anything be more exhilarating? Well, actually, yeah, with Chase Sapphire Reserve. It's your gateway to the world's most captivating destinations. First, you will earn eight times points on all purchases through Chase Travel. And the card gets you into Sapphire Lounge by the club at select airports nationwide and access to one-of-a-kind experiences. Whether you are booking a once-in-a-lifetime trip or your next weekend escape, Discover more with Chase Sapphire Reserve at chase.com slash sapphire reserve.
1:09:40Cards issued by JPMorgan Chase Bank and a member FDIC. Subject to credit approval, terms apply. Ah, come on. Why is this taking so long? This thing is ancient. Still using yesterday's tech? Upgrade to the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. Ultralight, ultra-powerful, and built for serious productivity. With Intel Core Ultra processors, blazing speed, and AI-powered performance. It keeps up with your business, not the other way around. Whoa, this thing moves. Stop hitting snooze on new tech. Win the tech search at Lenovo.com. Lenovo, Lenovo. Unlock AI experiences with the ThinkPad X1 Carbon powered by Intel Core Ultra processors so you can work, create, and boost productivity all on one device.
1:10:25With the new IHOP value menu, six bucks is all it takes to go to your happy plates where stacks of pancakes with bacon and eggs are just six bucks every day. French toast, sausage, and eggs are, you guessed it, six bucks. And fluffy omelets come with a side of pancakes and only cost six bucks. Go to your happy plates every day at IHOP. Seven bucks in some locations. Available every day for a limited time at participating restaurants in the U.S. Hours may vary, no substitutions. Not valid with other discounts or promotions. Prices may vary. This is an iHeart Podcast.
From the publisher
Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament are two of the Seattle scene’s most foundational musicians from the 80’s and 90’s. Stone and Jeff started playing together in 1984 as members of Green River, which eventually dissolved, leading singer Mark Arm to form Mudhoney.
Later, Jeff played bass and Stone played guitar in Mother Love Bone until their lead singer Andrew Wood died of an overdose just days before their major label debut in March of 1990. Reeling from Andy’s death, Jeff and Stone started recording with Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell on a side project called Temple Of The Dog that featured vocals from a then unknown singer from San Diego named Eddie Vedder.
Later that year, Jeff and Stone asked Eddie to join their new band with guitarist Mike McCready. As Pearl Jam, they released their debut album Ten in August of ‘91—the album went 13 times platinum and charted on Billboard for nearly five years.
Since then, Pearl Jam have released 11 more albums and built a die-hard fan base thanks in part to their outstanding live shows. Last week they released their latest album, Dark Matter, which was produced by Andrew Watt, who's recently worked with Miley Cyrus, Iggy Pop, Post Malone and Ozzy Osborne.
On today’s episode Leah Rose talks to Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament about how Andrew Watt’s encyclopedic knowledge of Pearl Jam helped inspire some of their best performances to date. Stone and Jeff also open up about the inner-workings of their professional relationship, and Stone remembers the first time he met Eddie Vedder, who marked the occasion by passing him a hand-written poem.
You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite Pearl Jam songs HERE.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.




