Mine showed up from Easy Street this morning. Came with an autographed poster for a November 21, 2021 show a the showbox. Great little bonus. Looking for to spinning this later today.
Mine showed up from Easy Street this morning. Came with an autographed poster for a November 21, 2021 show a the showbox. Great little bonus. Looking for to spinning this later today.
Mine showed up from Easy Street this morning. Came with an autographed poster for a November 21, 2021 show a the showbox. Great little bonus. Looking for to spinning this later today.
Please post a picture? That sounds so so cool! I ordered from Easy Street too. Finger's crossed mine will have one too.
Mine showed up from Easy Street this morning. Came with an autographed poster for a November 21, 2021 show a the showbox. Great little bonus. Looking for to spinning this later today.
Mine showed up from Easy Street this morning. Came with an autographed poster for a November 21, 2021 show a the showbox. Great little bonus. Looking for to spinning this later today.
Please post a picture? That sounds so so cool! I ordered from Easy Street too. Finger's crossed mine will have one too.
Sure. I guess it's more of a flyer than a poster, but a nice surprise either way.
Mine showed up from Easy Street this morning. Came with an autographed poster for a November 21, 2021 show a the showbox. Great little bonus. Looking for to spinning this later today.
Please post a picture? That sounds so so cool! I ordered from Easy Street too. Finger's crossed mine will have one too.
Sure. I guess it's more of a flyer than a poster, but a nice surprise either way.
I got one too!
Mansfield 06.28.2008 | Boston 05.17.2010 | Boston 06.19.2011 EV solo | Wrigley Field 07.19.2013 | Worcester 10.15.2013 | Worcester 10.16.2013 | Hartford 10.25.2013
Vancouver 12.04.2013 | Seattle 12.06.2013 | Memphis 10.14.2014 | Quebec City 05.05.2016 | Ottawa 05.08.2016 | Toronto 05.11.2016 | Boston 08.05.2016 | Boston 08.07.2016 | Amsterdam 06.12.2018 | Boston 09.02.2018 | Boston 09.04.2018
Mine showed up from Easy Street this morning. Came with an autographed poster for a November 21, 2021 show a the showbox. Great little bonus. Looking for to spinning this later today.
Please post a picture? That sounds so so cool! I ordered from Easy Street too. Finger's crossed mine will have one too.
Sure. I guess it's more of a flyer than a poster, but a nice surprise either way.
I got one too!
Should of placed an order with them. No poster for me.
My copy has been sitting at the fucking DC post office for 10 days. No tracking updates whatsoever. Ah hell, I'm just happy I actually scored one from Luna Music.
Love this record. Probably my favorite PJ side project in a long long time. Thanks Stone.
I also ordered from Easy Street so I'm hopeful it arrives with a flyer!
"Red Rover, Red Rover, Mike McCready – Take Over!!" - E.V.
Ten Club "Ambassador" (recap-writer) - DEEP.pearljam.com 2018: Chicago 2 (Wrigley Field) 8/20 | 20(20)22: St Louis 9/18 | 2023: Chicago 2 (United Center) 9/7, Indianapolis (Deer Creek) 9/10
EV: 2018: CURE Benefit Show (Chicago - Navy Pier) 10/15
Ugh, still waiting for my copy from Easy Street. The last update for mine was arriving in St. Louis on 12/13. Hopefully soon! I love your golden ticket reference, because I feel like Veruca Salt whining: "but I want my Painted Shield record NOW".
“We All Grow Together”: A Conversation With Stone Gossard. The Pearl Jam guitarist on Painted Shield, his project with Mason Jennings, and what the future of touring holds for rock’s most revelatory live band.
Gossard performs in London in 2018. Credit: Brian Rasic/WireImage.
“We rehearsed right up until we were ready to go,” says guitarist Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam,
recalling the energy and anticipation at the start of this year, as
that band was about to hit the road in support of its 11th studio album,
Gigaton. “We had done 10 days, as much as we ever rehearse, and it was poppin’.”
Then, on March 9, as the coronavirus raged across Europe and began
its assault on America, Gossard, guitarist Mike McCready, bassist Jeff
Ament, drummer Matt Cameron and singer Eddie Vedder announced the
postponement of the first U.S. leg of their tour; a month later, they
rescheduled the European dates for 2021. “The gear was on the East
Coast, ready for us to go out,” Gossard continues, “when it became
evident that this was going to get more serious.”
Instead, Gossard spent his 2020 at home in Seattle — “Doing a lot of
virtual school and cleaning up after the kids,” he says — and working at
Studio Litho, his recording facility in the city. The guitarist, 54,
also completed Painted Shield, his first album with a band of
the same name that began in 2014 as a collaboration with
Minneapolis-based singer-songwriter Mason Jennings. The project was
fleshed out with veteran session drummer Matt Chamberlain and Brittany
Davis, a keyboard player and vocalist from Seattle. Their nine-track
debut, largely recorded in a long-distance exchange of ideas and sound
files, was “about 70 to 80 percent done when the pandemic hit,” Gossard
says. “Then we got it over the finish line,” and it became the first
release in two decades on his revitalized Loosegroove Records label,
founded in 1994 with Regan Hagar, the drummer in Gossard’s long-running
side combo Brad.
Painted Shield (from left): Matt Chamberlain, Brittany Davis, Stone Gossard and Mason Jennings. Credit: Courtesy of the Artist.
Opening with the chiming guitar and haunted-keyboard spell of “Orphan Ghost,” Painted Shield
is a constantly shifting experience: the thick, grunting guitars and
gospel-chorale icing of “Time Machine”; the dense glam tensions coursing
through “Knife Fight”; the title song’s hallucinatory layers of
psychedelic guitars and singing — all bound by a “rough-hewn aesthetic,”
as Gossard puts it, remarkable for a band that hasn’t yet played
together in the same room. “People talk about making live records where
you hope for the best take,” the guitarist notes. “But they still go
back and tinker — add things, replace the bass.” Making Painted Shield,
he says, was “a conscious act of sharing, incorporating a multitude of
perspectives,” including contributions from Ament and McCready, A-list
rock drummer Josh Freese and Seattle artists Jeff Fielder and Om Johari.
“It’s been a fun experiment, and it’s continuing,” Gossard adds.
“We’ve recorded another half-a-record already. But something different
is going to happen when we do play live. The opportunities and elements
will open up in another way.”
Pearl Jam were one of the first big acts to postpone a major tour because of the pandemic — a striking sign of what was ahead.
We wanted to be responsible. You live and fight another day. Trying
to get in 10 shows before a tour was cancelled didn’t make sense to us.
We were able to see that clearly, rather than pushing it. When you book a
tour and there’s a new record, you have a lot of money on the table.
You’ve got fans and a crew to take care of. There’s nothing that says,
“Don’t go” — unless the band actually says, “We’re not going.” I was
proud that we were able to do that.
Was it frustrating to have a new album and nowhere to play the songs live?
We got the new songs up and running in rehearsal. We’ve had lots of
records that fizzled a bit in the beginning, but later you find some of
your favorite songs are there. We know it’s the long game, and these
songs will get a chance. There will be plenty of opportunities to
celebrate them. When we get the chance, we’ll be ready to get out there
and dance around.
You were working on Painted Shield during the same period that Pearl Jam recorded Gigaton. How did you divide your time and songwriting ideas?
I write a lot, so I have literally hundreds of demos. Ed is who I
write for, first and foremost. But I don’t send him big piles of demos. I
select a few that make sense. It’s better for him and for the band to
bring what’s important, so he’ll do his best to make something happen.
When you listen to Gigaton, you hear his ability to manage four
other songwriters and bring them into a place that is in tune with his
aesthetic, which is very stripped-down and direct.
The writing in Painted Shield is changing dramatically. There is much
more material from Matt and Mason directly; they are starting songs,
with me playing more of a coloring role. But on this record, 80 percent
of it began with a guitar arrangement — a couple of parts, maybe a
bridge — and a click track. The song “Painted Shield” began as a demo
that I recorded with Matt eight years ago, just messing around at Studio
Litho. The drums on “Evil Winds” were played by Josh Freese at least 10
years ago. This came together over long stretches of time.
The album has the driving edge of Pearl Jam but also textures
and dynamics that I don’t usually associate with your day job:
psychedelia, ’70s funk, Queen-like sheets of harmonies.
It began with Mason and I figuring out how to write a song together.
We were sending stuff back and forth, not rushing at all. But at every
stage, Mason and I thought, “What makes a great group? What makes a
great record?” You have the right blend of perspectives and you make
them count. The big elements that made this record stand on its own were
Matt Chamberlain’s role — including the songs he brought in at the end
[“Orphan Ghost,” “I Am Your Country”] — and Brittany Davis, whose voice
blends so well with Mason’s. We want to get into more of that, almost
like the singing in X — that neat harmonic interval where the voices become one thing.
How did you connect with Jennings?
Mason’s manager at the time, Dan Fields, is a dear friend of mine.
Dan was the tour manager for Ministry on Lollapalooza in 1992 [Pearl Jam
were also on the bill]. Mason talked about wanting to collaborate; Dan
said, “Maybe Stone will write with you.” That was six years ago. We
started with “Knife Fight.” We put that out as a vinyl single, 500
copies. We thought, “If we can do that, we can do anything.”
Was there a point, as the album took shape, where you could hear a band — that kind of unified personality — coming through?
I heard the elements coming together in a way that excited me. I’ve
always been a band person. I can’t go out into a room and entertain by
myself. My skill set is as a rhythmic pulse, a cheerleader and an
arranger. And when you’re lucky to establish a collaborative
relationship, you can add to that. Instead of calling this thing Stone
Mason and hiring a band, we thought the upside of sharing this was huge.
Everybody can participate, and we all grow together. I know that when
we get a chance to play together, it’s gonna be a freakout. Brittany and
Matt are ridiculously great players. I’ll just be trying to stay out of
their way.
What was the impetus for restarting Loosegroove? You had an intense level of activity in the ’90s — including the first album by Queens of the Stone Age and a compilation of Seattle hip-hop — then went quiet in 2000.
It
was a big part of my life, but I was overwhelmed by it. I was ready to
not have that responsibility anymore. It took Painted Shield and having
some Brad music that we want to finish and release to get it started
again. Brittany Davis is making a record that I think is amazing. But
the one I’m most excited about is the Living — their unreleased album
from 1982.
That band is truly a missing link in the Seattle story.
In 1982, the Living were Duff McKagan on guitar and Greg Gilmore, who was later the drummer in Mother Love Bone
[with Ament and Gossard]. Todd Fleischman was on bass and the singer
was John Conte. I arrived on the scene, going to clubs, two years after
they had broken up. But I got to see the bands that Greg and Duff were
in after that, the Fartz and 10 Minute Warning, before Duff went to L.A. and started Guns N’ Roses.
But the Living made this record, and it’s incredible to hear how
influential Duff and Greg were in Seattle music back in ’82. You hear
the riffs on this record, and you go, “My God, that’s where Green River
[Ament and Gossard’s mid-to-late-’80s band] come from. And that’s like
Guns N’ Roses.” We’re going to have so much fun getting this record out.
It’s truly great songs and well recorded. It’s a shock that it hasn’t
come out yet.
This has been a challenging year for the music business,
especially the touring side. What are your expectations for Painted
Shield in 2021?
Lucky for us, Painted Shield doesn’t have any experience with touring
or even really being together. Our experience so far is recording songs
and having people stream them. That’s going well, and I’m optimistic
we’ll have another record to solidify our universe next year. That will
allow us to do some live shows, figure out where to make an impact. I’m
certainly thinking about filming our first rehearsals, to make a live
record out of that. It will be a moment of discovery and exploration,
and it will be fun to have that on film.
Mike McCready, Matt Cameron, Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard (from left) are Pearl Jam. Credit: Danny Clinch.
Pearl Jam are set to tour Europe next summer, including two
big concerts in London’s Hyde Park. How confident are you that those
gigs will happen?
We’re not being unduly optimistic. We’re looking at dates and, as we
get closer, we’ll make decisions based on the best information we have
at the time. We’re in the worst part of the pandemic now, but we’ve seen
the numbers go up and down before. We know there’s a vaccine; there’s a
light at the end of the tunnel. But what does that mean to shows for
40,000-plus people?
We’re definitely itching, ready to go, and the gratitude and joy that
will come off the stage will be for real. Having not been able to play
for so long, we’re never going to look at a live show the same way
again.
I got the poster too! Does anyone read Braille? I think it’s a secret message!
It's Brittany Davis written in braille.
Mansfield 06.28.2008 | Boston 05.17.2010 | Boston 06.19.2011 EV solo | Wrigley Field 07.19.2013 | Worcester 10.15.2013 | Worcester 10.16.2013 | Hartford 10.25.2013
Vancouver 12.04.2013 | Seattle 12.06.2013 | Memphis 10.14.2014 | Quebec City 05.05.2016 | Ottawa 05.08.2016 | Toronto 05.11.2016 | Boston 08.05.2016 | Boston 08.07.2016 | Amsterdam 06.12.2018 | Boston 09.02.2018 | Boston 09.04.2018
“We All Grow Together”: A Conversation With Stone Gossard. The Pearl Jam guitarist on Painted Shield, his project with Mason Jennings, and what the future of touring holds for rock’s most revelatory live band.
Gossard performs in London in 2018. Credit: Brian Rasic/WireImage.
“We rehearsed right up until we were ready to go,” says guitarist Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam,
recalling the energy and anticipation at the start of this year, as
that band was about to hit the road in support of its 11th studio album,
Gigaton. “We had done 10 days, as much as we ever rehearse, and it was poppin’.”
Then, on March 9, as the coronavirus raged across Europe and began
its assault on America, Gossard, guitarist Mike McCready, bassist Jeff
Ament, drummer Matt Cameron and singer Eddie Vedder announced the
postponement of the first U.S. leg of their tour; a month later, they
rescheduled the European dates for 2021. “The gear was on the East
Coast, ready for us to go out,” Gossard continues, “when it became
evident that this was going to get more serious.”
Instead, Gossard spent his 2020 at home in Seattle — “Doing a lot of
virtual school and cleaning up after the kids,” he says — and working at
Studio Litho, his recording facility in the city. The guitarist, 54,
also completed Painted Shield, his first album with a band of
the same name that began in 2014 as a collaboration with
Minneapolis-based singer-songwriter Mason Jennings. The project was
fleshed out with veteran session drummer Matt Chamberlain and Brittany
Davis, a keyboard player and vocalist from Seattle. Their nine-track
debut, largely recorded in a long-distance exchange of ideas and sound
files, was “about 70 to 80 percent done when the pandemic hit,” Gossard
says. “Then we got it over the finish line,” and it became the first
release in two decades on his revitalized Loosegroove Records label,
founded in 1994 with Regan Hagar, the drummer in Gossard’s long-running
side combo Brad.
Painted Shield (from left): Matt Chamberlain, Brittany Davis, Stone Gossard and Mason Jennings. Credit: Courtesy of the Artist.
Opening with the chiming guitar and haunted-keyboard spell of “Orphan Ghost,” Painted Shield
is a constantly shifting experience: the thick, grunting guitars and
gospel-chorale icing of “Time Machine”; the dense glam tensions coursing
through “Knife Fight”; the title song’s hallucinatory layers of
psychedelic guitars and singing — all bound by a “rough-hewn aesthetic,”
as Gossard puts it, remarkable for a band that hasn’t yet played
together in the same room. “People talk about making live records where
you hope for the best take,” the guitarist notes. “But they still go
back and tinker — add things, replace the bass.” Making Painted Shield,
he says, was “a conscious act of sharing, incorporating a multitude of
perspectives,” including contributions from Ament and McCready, A-list
rock drummer Josh Freese and Seattle artists Jeff Fielder and Om Johari.
“It’s been a fun experiment, and it’s continuing,” Gossard adds.
“We’ve recorded another half-a-record already. But something different
is going to happen when we do play live. The opportunities and elements
will open up in another way.”
Pearl Jam were one of the first big acts to postpone a major tour because of the pandemic — a striking sign of what was ahead.
We wanted to be responsible. You live and fight another day. Trying
to get in 10 shows before a tour was cancelled didn’t make sense to us.
We were able to see that clearly, rather than pushing it. When you book a
tour and there’s a new record, you have a lot of money on the table.
You’ve got fans and a crew to take care of. There’s nothing that says,
“Don’t go” — unless the band actually says, “We’re not going.” I was
proud that we were able to do that.
Was it frustrating to have a new album and nowhere to play the songs live?
We got the new songs up and running in rehearsal. We’ve had lots of
records that fizzled a bit in the beginning, but later you find some of
your favorite songs are there. We know it’s the long game, and these
songs will get a chance. There will be plenty of opportunities to
celebrate them. When we get the chance, we’ll be ready to get out there
and dance around.
You were working on Painted Shield during the same period that Pearl Jam recorded Gigaton. How did you divide your time and songwriting ideas?
I write a lot, so I have literally hundreds of demos. Ed is who I
write for, first and foremost. But I don’t send him big piles of demos. I
select a few that make sense. It’s better for him and for the band to
bring what’s important, so he’ll do his best to make something happen.
When you listen to Gigaton, you hear his ability to manage four
other songwriters and bring them into a place that is in tune with his
aesthetic, which is very stripped-down and direct.
The writing in Painted Shield is changing dramatically. There is much
more material from Matt and Mason directly; they are starting songs,
with me playing more of a coloring role. But on this record, 80 percent
of it began with a guitar arrangement — a couple of parts, maybe a
bridge — and a click track. The song “Painted Shield” began as a demo
that I recorded with Matt eight years ago, just messing around at Studio
Litho. The drums on “Evil Winds” were played by Josh Freese at least 10
years ago. This came together over long stretches of time.
The album has the driving edge of Pearl Jam but also textures
and dynamics that I don’t usually associate with your day job:
psychedelia, ’70s funk, Queen-like sheets of harmonies.
It began with Mason and I figuring out how to write a song together.
We were sending stuff back and forth, not rushing at all. But at every
stage, Mason and I thought, “What makes a great group? What makes a
great record?” You have the right blend of perspectives and you make
them count. The big elements that made this record stand on its own were
Matt Chamberlain’s role — including the songs he brought in at the end
[“Orphan Ghost,” “I Am Your Country”] — and Brittany Davis, whose voice
blends so well with Mason’s. We want to get into more of that, almost
like the singing in X — that neat harmonic interval where the voices become one thing.
How did you connect with Jennings?
Mason’s manager at the time, Dan Fields, is a dear friend of mine.
Dan was the tour manager for Ministry on Lollapalooza in 1992 [Pearl Jam
were also on the bill]. Mason talked about wanting to collaborate; Dan
said, “Maybe Stone will write with you.” That was six years ago. We
started with “Knife Fight.” We put that out as a vinyl single, 500
copies. We thought, “If we can do that, we can do anything.”
Was there a point, as the album took shape, where you could hear a band — that kind of unified personality — coming through?
I heard the elements coming together in a way that excited me. I’ve
always been a band person. I can’t go out into a room and entertain by
myself. My skill set is as a rhythmic pulse, a cheerleader and an
arranger. And when you’re lucky to establish a collaborative
relationship, you can add to that. Instead of calling this thing Stone
Mason and hiring a band, we thought the upside of sharing this was huge.
Everybody can participate, and we all grow together. I know that when
we get a chance to play together, it’s gonna be a freakout. Brittany and
Matt are ridiculously great players. I’ll just be trying to stay out of
their way.
What was the impetus for restarting Loosegroove? You had an intense level of activity in the ’90s — including the first album by Queens of the Stone Age and a compilation of Seattle hip-hop — then went quiet in 2000.
It
was a big part of my life, but I was overwhelmed by it. I was ready to
not have that responsibility anymore. It took Painted Shield and having
some Brad music that we want to finish and release to get it started
again. Brittany Davis is making a record that I think is amazing. But
the one I’m most excited about is the Living — their unreleased album
from 1982.
That band is truly a missing link in the Seattle story.
In 1982, the Living were Duff McKagan on guitar and Greg Gilmore, who was later the drummer in Mother Love Bone
[with Ament and Gossard]. Todd Fleischman was on bass and the singer
was John Conte. I arrived on the scene, going to clubs, two years after
they had broken up. But I got to see the bands that Greg and Duff were
in after that, the Fartz and 10 Minute Warning, before Duff went to L.A. and started Guns N’ Roses.
But the Living made this record, and it’s incredible to hear how
influential Duff and Greg were in Seattle music back in ’82. You hear
the riffs on this record, and you go, “My God, that’s where Green River
[Ament and Gossard’s mid-to-late-’80s band] come from. And that’s like
Guns N’ Roses.” We’re going to have so much fun getting this record out.
It’s truly great songs and well recorded. It’s a shock that it hasn’t
come out yet.
This has been a challenging year for the music business,
especially the touring side. What are your expectations for Painted
Shield in 2021?
Lucky for us, Painted Shield doesn’t have any experience with touring
or even really being together. Our experience so far is recording songs
and having people stream them. That’s going well, and I’m optimistic
we’ll have another record to solidify our universe next year. That will
allow us to do some live shows, figure out where to make an impact. I’m
certainly thinking about filming our first rehearsals, to make a live
record out of that. It will be a moment of discovery and exploration,
and it will be fun to have that on film.
Mike McCready, Matt Cameron, Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard (from left) are Pearl Jam. Credit: Danny Clinch.
Pearl Jam are set to tour Europe next summer, including two
big concerts in London’s Hyde Park. How confident are you that those
gigs will happen?
We’re not being unduly optimistic. We’re looking at dates and, as we
get closer, we’ll make decisions based on the best information we have
at the time. We’re in the worst part of the pandemic now, but we’ve seen
the numbers go up and down before. We know there’s a vaccine; there’s a
light at the end of the tunnel. But what does that mean to shows for
40,000-plus people?
We’re definitely itching, ready to go, and the gratitude and joy that
will come off the stage will be for real. Having not been able to play
for so long, we’re never going to look at a live show the same way
again.
Really great article! Thanks for posting, D!
www.RLMcDaniel.com
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1998: Birmingham
2000: Charlotte, Tampa
2003: Tampa, Atlanta, Phoenix
2004: Kissimmee
2008: West Palm Beach, Bonnaroo, Columbia
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2014: Memphis
2016: Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Jacksonville, JazzFest 2018: Wrigley 1, Fenway 1 2022: Nashville 2023: Ft. Worth II
Comments
www.headstonesband.com
Whoa! That is awesome!!
Thank you!!!
Vancouver 12.04.2013 | Seattle 12.06.2013 | Memphis 10.14.2014 | Quebec City 05.05.2016 | Ottawa 05.08.2016 | Toronto 05.11.2016 | Boston 08.05.2016 | Boston 08.07.2016 | Amsterdam 06.12.2018 | Boston 09.02.2018 | Boston 09.04.2018
www.headstonesband.com
I also ordered from Easy Street so I'm hopeful it arrives with a flyer!
Ten Club "Ambassador" (recap-writer) - DEEP.pearljam.com
2018: Chicago 2 (Wrigley Field) 8/20 | 20(20)22: St Louis 9/18 | 2023: Chicago 2 (United Center) 9/7, Indianapolis (Deer Creek) 9/10
EV:
2018: CURE Benefit Show (Chicago - Navy Pier) 10/15
RIP: Andy, Kurt, Chris
December 16, 2020 by David Fricke
“We rehearsed right up until we were ready to go,” says guitarist Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam, recalling the energy and anticipation at the start of this year, as that band was about to hit the road in support of its 11th studio album, Gigaton. “We had done 10 days, as much as we ever rehearse, and it was poppin’.”
Then, on March 9, as the coronavirus raged across Europe and began its assault on America, Gossard, guitarist Mike McCready, bassist Jeff Ament, drummer Matt Cameron and singer Eddie Vedder announced the postponement of the first U.S. leg of their tour; a month later, they rescheduled the European dates for 2021. “The gear was on the East Coast, ready for us to go out,” Gossard continues, “when it became evident that this was going to get more serious.”
Instead, Gossard spent his 2020 at home in Seattle — “Doing a lot of virtual school and cleaning up after the kids,” he says — and working at Studio Litho, his recording facility in the city. The guitarist, 54, also completed Painted Shield, his first album with a band of the same name that began in 2014 as a collaboration with Minneapolis-based singer-songwriter Mason Jennings. The project was fleshed out with veteran session drummer Matt Chamberlain and Brittany Davis, a keyboard player and vocalist from Seattle. Their nine-track debut, largely recorded in a long-distance exchange of ideas and sound files, was “about 70 to 80 percent done when the pandemic hit,” Gossard says. “Then we got it over the finish line,” and it became the first release in two decades on his revitalized Loosegroove Records label, founded in 1994 with Regan Hagar, the drummer in Gossard’s long-running side combo Brad.
Opening with the chiming guitar and haunted-keyboard spell of “Orphan Ghost,” Painted Shield is a constantly shifting experience: the thick, grunting guitars and gospel-chorale icing of “Time Machine”; the dense glam tensions coursing through “Knife Fight”; the title song’s hallucinatory layers of psychedelic guitars and singing — all bound by a “rough-hewn aesthetic,” as Gossard puts it, remarkable for a band that hasn’t yet played together in the same room. “People talk about making live records where you hope for the best take,” the guitarist notes. “But they still go back and tinker — add things, replace the bass.” Making Painted Shield, he says, was “a conscious act of sharing, incorporating a multitude of perspectives,” including contributions from Ament and McCready, A-list rock drummer Josh Freese and Seattle artists Jeff Fielder and Om Johari.
“It’s been a fun experiment, and it’s continuing,” Gossard adds. “We’ve recorded another half-a-record already. But something different is going to happen when we do play live. The opportunities and elements will open up in another way.”
Pearl Jam were one of the first big acts to postpone a major tour because of the pandemic — a striking sign of what was ahead.
We wanted to be responsible. You live and fight another day. Trying to get in 10 shows before a tour was cancelled didn’t make sense to us. We were able to see that clearly, rather than pushing it. When you book a tour and there’s a new record, you have a lot of money on the table. You’ve got fans and a crew to take care of. There’s nothing that says, “Don’t go” — unless the band actually says, “We’re not going.” I was proud that we were able to do that.
Was it frustrating to have a new album and nowhere to play the songs live?
We got the new songs up and running in rehearsal. We’ve had lots of records that fizzled a bit in the beginning, but later you find some of your favorite songs are there. We know it’s the long game, and these songs will get a chance. There will be plenty of opportunities to celebrate them. When we get the chance, we’ll be ready to get out there and dance around.
You were working on Painted Shield during the same period that Pearl Jam recorded Gigaton. How did you divide your time and songwriting ideas?
I write a lot, so I have literally hundreds of demos. Ed is who I write for, first and foremost. But I don’t send him big piles of demos. I select a few that make sense. It’s better for him and for the band to bring what’s important, so he’ll do his best to make something happen. When you listen to Gigaton, you hear his ability to manage four other songwriters and bring them into a place that is in tune with his aesthetic, which is very stripped-down and direct.
The writing in Painted Shield is changing dramatically. There is much more material from Matt and Mason directly; they are starting songs, with me playing more of a coloring role. But on this record, 80 percent of it began with a guitar arrangement — a couple of parts, maybe a bridge — and a click track. The song “Painted Shield” began as a demo that I recorded with Matt eight years ago, just messing around at Studio Litho. The drums on “Evil Winds” were played by Josh Freese at least 10 years ago. This came together over long stretches of time.
The album has the driving edge of Pearl Jam but also textures and dynamics that I don’t usually associate with your day job: psychedelia, ’70s funk, Queen-like sheets of harmonies.
It began with Mason and I figuring out how to write a song together. We were sending stuff back and forth, not rushing at all. But at every stage, Mason and I thought, “What makes a great group? What makes a great record?” You have the right blend of perspectives and you make them count. The big elements that made this record stand on its own were Matt Chamberlain’s role — including the songs he brought in at the end [“Orphan Ghost,” “I Am Your Country”] — and Brittany Davis, whose voice blends so well with Mason’s. We want to get into more of that, almost like the singing in X — that neat harmonic interval where the voices become one thing.
How did you connect with Jennings?
Mason’s manager at the time, Dan Fields, is a dear friend of mine. Dan was the tour manager for Ministry on Lollapalooza in 1992 [Pearl Jam were also on the bill]. Mason talked about wanting to collaborate; Dan said, “Maybe Stone will write with you.” That was six years ago. We started with “Knife Fight.” We put that out as a vinyl single, 500 copies. We thought, “If we can do that, we can do anything.”
Was there a point, as the album took shape, where you could hear a band — that kind of unified personality — coming through?
I heard the elements coming together in a way that excited me. I’ve always been a band person. I can’t go out into a room and entertain by myself. My skill set is as a rhythmic pulse, a cheerleader and an arranger. And when you’re lucky to establish a collaborative relationship, you can add to that. Instead of calling this thing Stone Mason and hiring a band, we thought the upside of sharing this was huge. Everybody can participate, and we all grow together. I know that when we get a chance to play together, it’s gonna be a freakout. Brittany and Matt are ridiculously great players. I’ll just be trying to stay out of their way.
What was the impetus for restarting Loosegroove? You had an intense level of activity in the ’90s — including the first album by Queens of the Stone Age and a compilation of Seattle hip-hop — then went quiet in 2000.
It was a big part of my life, but I was overwhelmed by it. I was ready to not have that responsibility anymore. It took Painted Shield and having some Brad music that we want to finish and release to get it started again. Brittany Davis is making a record that I think is amazing. But the one I’m most excited about is the Living — their unreleased album from 1982.
That band is truly a missing link in the Seattle story.
In 1982, the Living were Duff McKagan on guitar and Greg Gilmore, who was later the drummer in Mother Love Bone [with Ament and Gossard]. Todd Fleischman was on bass and the singer was John Conte. I arrived on the scene, going to clubs, two years after they had broken up. But I got to see the bands that Greg and Duff were in after that, the Fartz and 10 Minute Warning, before Duff went to L.A. and started Guns N’ Roses. But the Living made this record, and it’s incredible to hear how influential Duff and Greg were in Seattle music back in ’82. You hear the riffs on this record, and you go, “My God, that’s where Green River [Ament and Gossard’s mid-to-late-’80s band] come from. And that’s like Guns N’ Roses.” We’re going to have so much fun getting this record out. It’s truly great songs and well recorded. It’s a shock that it hasn’t come out yet.
This has been a challenging year for the music business, especially the touring side. What are your expectations for Painted Shield in 2021?
Lucky for us, Painted Shield doesn’t have any experience with touring or even really being together. Our experience so far is recording songs and having people stream them. That’s going well, and I’m optimistic we’ll have another record to solidify our universe next year. That will allow us to do some live shows, figure out where to make an impact. I’m certainly thinking about filming our first rehearsals, to make a live record out of that. It will be a moment of discovery and exploration, and it will be fun to have that on film.
Pearl Jam are set to tour Europe next summer, including two big concerts in London’s Hyde Park. How confident are you that those gigs will happen?
We’re not being unduly optimistic. We’re looking at dates and, as we get closer, we’ll make decisions based on the best information we have at the time. We’re in the worst part of the pandemic now, but we’ve seen the numbers go up and down before. We know there’s a vaccine; there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. But what does that mean to shows for 40,000-plus people?
We’re definitely itching, ready to go, and the gratitude and joy that will come off the stage will be for real. Having not been able to play for so long, we’re never going to look at a live show the same way again.
Vancouver 12.04.2013 | Seattle 12.06.2013 | Memphis 10.14.2014 | Quebec City 05.05.2016 | Ottawa 05.08.2016 | Toronto 05.11.2016 | Boston 08.05.2016 | Boston 08.07.2016 | Amsterdam 06.12.2018 | Boston 09.02.2018 | Boston 09.04.2018
1996: Ft Lauderdale
1998: Birmingham
2000: Charlotte, Tampa
2003: Tampa, Atlanta, Phoenix
2004: Kissimmee
2008: West Palm Beach, Bonnaroo, Columbia
2010: MSG2
2012: Music Midtown
2014: Memphis
2018: Wrigley 1, Fenway 1
2022: Nashville
2023: Ft. Worth II
I received my copy from Heads Up Music. Thanks for the help LostRebel!!!