Bridge Benefit 1994, San Francisco 1995, San Diego 1995 1 & 2, Missoula 1998, Los Angeles 2000, San Diego 2000, Eddie Vedder/Beck 2/26/2002, Santa Barbara 2003, Irvine 2003, San Diego 2003, Vancouver 2005, Gorge 2005, San Diego 2006, Los Angeles 2006 1 & 2, Santa Barbara 2006, Eddie Vedder 4/10/08, Eddie Vedder 4/12/08, Eddie Vedder 4/15/08, 7/12/2008, SF 8/28/09, LA 9/30/09, LA 10/1/09, LA 10/06/09, LA 10/07/09, San Diego 10/09/09, Eddie Vedder 7/6/2011, Eddie Vedder 7/8/2011, PJ20 9/3/2011, PJ20 9/4/2011, Vancouver 9/25/2011, San Diego 11/21/13, LA 11/24/13, Ohana 9/25/21, Ohana 9/26/21, Ohana 10/1/21, EV 2/17/22, LA Forum 5/6/22, LA Forum 5/7/22, EV 10/1/22, EV 9/30/23
Andrew: Pearl Jam has more or less outlasted most of its
contemporaries from the initial early 90s era. To what do you owe the
band’s longevity?
Stone: We didn’t break up. [Laughs]. It sounds silly, but it’s
true. The other thing would be that we went into this with an idea about
what we wanted to do, and we had goals. The goal, moreso, the idea was
that we wanted to be in a band that we were going to share with each
other. We knew that we were all going to support each other because all
of us were artists, we all wanted to write, and we all do that at
different levels, and in different ways. So, over the years, we stayed
true to that, and I think that having that ideology built into our DNA
as a band, I think that has carried us through periods of time where
maybe we wouldn’t have lasted because we did give each other a break. Honestly, you can have years where you feel like, “I’m not quite sure anymore. This is not working in the way that I want it to.” And then five years after that, you’re like, “Man, you know what? This is great. I’m so glad I stuck around.”
The thing is, in order to get that perspective, it takes a lot of
perseverance, and it takes a lot of stubborn competitiveness. You have
got to believe in yourself even when you know you’re not playing your
best, or you don’t feel like you’re being supported, or whatever. All of
us have had those moments in this band where it wasn’t quite right, but
like a family, you stick it out with each other, and you work on it a
little bit every day. For us, the ideals of what we set out to do are
still paying off for us now. The only difference is that now, we’re just
a bunch of fucking old guys who feel so fortunate, and so lucky to be
with each other still. We feel lucky to have a bunch of songs that we’re
still learning how to play in new ways. Beyond that, we have a
bunch of songs that we’ve hardly ever played, and those might end up
being the ones we want to play a lot on the next tour. We’ve got
hundreds of songs and covers that we play, and it’s just a really
amazing thing to be able to go out and do that. Still, I think all of us
just feel like, “Wow, how did this happen? This is amazing.”
Stone: I mean, who knows, and who cares? [Laughs]. Honestly, Pearl
Jam is playing shows and we’re having fun, so whatever it is that we’re
doing, we’re having a good time, and our fans seem to be having a good
time too. I love the open-endedness of rock music because there is no
defining quality to rock music. It’s about multiple people playing music
together, with whatever instruments it is that they choose to play.
Whatever it is, if it’s anything that could be rock, I love it. I love
bands. I love collaboration. To me, the frame of “rock music” can hold a
lot of different pictures, and there are a lot of pictures that haven’t
been made up yet in terms of how a band might sound together. With
that, we don’t know what the instrumentation might be, and why it would
be heavy, but it could still be rock, but it might be different
instruments that still that evoke that same heaviness that rock evokes,
which is something that’s primal. I think that with rock, it’s something
that’s honestly relative to the blues, which again, is what we’re all
sort of connecting to on a fundamental level, right? So, the blues has
been around for a long time, and I don’t think it’s going anywhere. It’s
just gonna keep changing shape.
Andrew: Going back to when you first joined Pearl Jam, how
did your time with Mother Love Bone and Green River prepare you for
what was to come?
Stone: Well, you know, I think being in bands just offers you the
experience of working with folks and honing your skill set, whatever
that may be. I think just the general experience of being in bands, and
having recorded a few times, you know, that helped me too. That said, I
still feel like I’m learning and discovering new things all the time.
When it comes to playing music with other people, writing songs, how to
be good within a song, how to be yourself, and how to play a role; I
think I’m still learning. When it comes to collaborative songwriting,
that’s just an ongoing process, and I think I’ve been learning from the
time I started playing guitar, and I’ve never stopped. So, I don’t
really know that I have got any specific sort of things that I
necessarily learned in Green River and Mother Love Bone per se.
Then again, as far as the studio, those bands did give me recording
experience and showed me how to calm myself as I record, and how to
identify riffs that have some meaning. For me, really listening back
after I record is important, because I need to get everything down, and
then give myself some time to go back. When I go back, that’s when I’ll
see what sounds catch my ear from a listener’s perspective, as opposed
to when I’m playing it. When it comes to songwriting and being in a
band, to me, it’s much more about subtraction than it’s ever been in
terms of why and how a part of a song makes sense. It’s also about what
you can do to help elevate a song, and it’s usually the simplest thing,
you know? It really is the simplest thing sometimes, because when you
take something away, that makes room for something else, or something
new to be there. So, it’s trying to find those moments and arrangements
that open up to ideas that you might not have thought of otherwise.
Those are the things that I think about a lot these days, and those are
the things that I’ve been learning since I was in those earlier bands.
Andrew: Pearl Jam has more or less outlasted most of its
contemporaries from the initial early 90s era. To what do you owe the
band’s longevity?
Stone: We didn’t break up. [Laughs]. It sounds silly, but it’s
true. The other thing would be that we went into this with an idea about
what we wanted to do, and we had goals. The goal, moreso, the idea was
that we wanted to be in a band that we were going to share with each
other. We knew that we were all going to support each other because all
of us were artists, we all wanted to write, and we all do that at
different levels, and in different ways. So, over the years, we stayed
true to that, and I think that having that ideology built into our DNA
as a band, I think that has carried us through periods of time where
maybe we wouldn’t have lasted because we did give each other a break. Honestly, you can have years where you feel like, “I’m not quite sure anymore. This is not working in the way that I want it to.” And then five years after that, you’re like, “Man, you know what? This is great. I’m so glad I stuck around.”
The thing is, in order to get that perspective, it takes a lot of
perseverance, and it takes a lot of stubborn competitiveness. You have
got to believe in yourself even when you know you’re not playing your
best, or you don’t feel like you’re being supported, or whatever. All of
us have had those moments in this band where it wasn’t quite right, but
like a family, you stick it out with each other, and you work on it a
little bit every day. For us, the ideals of what we set out to do are
still paying off for us now. The only difference is that now, we’re just
a bunch of fucking old guys who feel so fortunate, and so lucky to be
with each other still. We feel lucky to have a bunch of songs that we’re
still learning how to play in new ways. Beyond that, we have a
bunch of songs that we’ve hardly ever played, and those might end up
being the ones we want to play a lot on the next tour. We’ve got
hundreds of songs and covers that we play, and it’s just a really
amazing thing to be able to go out and do that. Still, I think all of us
just feel like, “Wow, how did this happen? This is amazing.”
If by next tour they mean the fall leg let's F'n go.
Andrew: Pearl Jam has more or less outlasted most of its
contemporaries from the initial early 90s era. To what do you owe the
band’s longevity?
Stone: We didn’t break up. [Laughs]. It sounds silly, but it’s
true. The other thing would be that we went into this with an idea about
what we wanted to do, and we had goals. The goal, moreso, the idea was
that we wanted to be in a band that we were going to share with each
other. We knew that we were all going to support each other because all
of us were artists, we all wanted to write, and we all do that at
different levels, and in different ways. So, over the years, we stayed
true to that, and I think that having that ideology built into our DNA
as a band, I think that has carried us through periods of time where
maybe we wouldn’t have lasted because we did give each other a break. Honestly, you can have years where you feel like, “I’m not quite sure anymore. This is not working in the way that I want it to.” And then five years after that, you’re like, “Man, you know what? This is great. I’m so glad I stuck around.”
The thing is, in order to get that perspective, it takes a lot of
perseverance, and it takes a lot of stubborn competitiveness. You have
got to believe in yourself even when you know you’re not playing your
best, or you don’t feel like you’re being supported, or whatever. All of
us have had those moments in this band where it wasn’t quite right, but
like a family, you stick it out with each other, and you work on it a
little bit every day. For us, the ideals of what we set out to do are
still paying off for us now. The only difference is that now, we’re just
a bunch of fucking old guys who feel so fortunate, and so lucky to be
with each other still. We feel lucky to have a bunch of songs that we’re
still learning how to play in new ways. Beyond that, we have a
bunch of songs that we’ve hardly ever played, and those might end up
being the ones we want to play a lot on the next tour. We’ve got
hundreds of songs and covers that we play, and it’s just a really
amazing thing to be able to go out and do that. Still, I think all of us
just feel like, “Wow, how did this happen? This is amazing.”
If by next tour they mean the fall leg let's F'n go.
Stone: I mean, who knows, and who cares? [Laughs]. Honestly, Pearl Jam is playing shows and we’re having fun, so whatever it is that we’re doing, we’re having a good time, and our fans seem to be having a good time too. I love the open-endedness of rock music because there is no defining quality to rock music. It’s about multiple people playing music together, with whatever instruments it is that they choose to play. Whatever it is, if it’s anything that could be rock, I love it. I love bands. I love collaboration. To me, the frame of “rock music” can hold a lot of different pictures, and there are a lot of pictures that haven’t been made up yet in terms of how a band might sound together. With that, we don’t know what the instrumentation might be, and why it would be heavy, but it could still be rock, but it might be different instruments that still that evoke that same heaviness that rock evokes, which is something that’s primal. I think that with rock, it’s something that’s honestly relative to the blues, which again, is what we’re all sort of connecting to on a fundamental level, right? So, the blues has been around for a long time, and I don’t think it’s going anywhere. It’s just gonna keep changing shape.
ndrew: And you’ve got Josh Klinghoffer touring with the band now as well? What has he brought to the table?
Stone: Josh has such a great voice, and he’s singing so many
harmony parts that have been ignored for a long time. Matt can sing
pretty good, and me, Jeff [Ament], and Mike [McCready] can kind of throw
up a background every once in a while too. But Ed writes pretty
intricate, complex, and extremely challenging background vocal parts, so
if you don’t really sing, you’re not going to be able to just wing it.
So, for us, to have Josh singing all these parts from these old songs,
and the new ones too, while also playing these keyboard parts that we
have been missing, it’s incredible. It’s funny because Josh is a Pearl
Jam fan from way back, so he sort of knows our material better than we
do, which is kind of hilarious. It’s just a joy to be around him, and
he’s an amazing, and personable guy too. Really, he’s a musical genius,
who has a lot of deep harmonic knowledge, and a tremendous understanding
of music. And so, Josh is really informing the band and making us so
much better, but he’s also a brother, and really somebody who is fun to
tour with. So, being out with him, it’s just been nothing but a joy, and
I think we probably sound better than ever, and a lot of that is Josh
adding back in some parts that have been ignored for a while.
Comments
Mansfield '08
Hartford '10
Worcester, Hartford '13
Global Citizen, NY '15
Melbourne #2 '03
Melbourne #3 '03
Melbourne #1 '06
Melbourne #3 '06
Melbourne '09
Melbourne '14
Andrew:
Pearl Jam has more or less outlasted most of its contemporaries from the initial early 90s era. To what do you owe the band’s longevity?
Stone:
We didn’t break up. [Laughs]. It sounds silly, but it’s true. The other thing would be that we went into this with an idea about what we wanted to do, and we had goals. The goal, moreso, the idea was that we wanted to be in a band that we were going to share with each other. We knew that we were all going to support each other because all of us were artists, we all wanted to write, and we all do that at different levels, and in different ways. So, over the years, we stayed true to that, and I think that having that ideology built into our DNA as a band, I think that has carried us through periods of time where maybe we wouldn’t have lasted because we did give each other a break. Honestly, you can have years where you feel like, “I’m not quite sure anymore. This is not working in the way that I want it to.” And then five years after that, you’re like, “Man, you know what? This is great. I’m so glad I stuck around.”
The thing is, in order to get that perspective, it takes a lot of perseverance, and it takes a lot of stubborn competitiveness. You have got to believe in yourself even when you know you’re not playing your best, or you don’t feel like you’re being supported, or whatever. All of us have had those moments in this band where it wasn’t quite right, but like a family, you stick it out with each other, and you work on it a little bit every day. For us, the ideals of what we set out to do are still paying off for us now. The only difference is that now, we’re just a bunch of fucking old guys who feel so fortunate, and so lucky to be with each other still. We feel lucky to have a bunch of songs that we’re still learning how to play in new ways. Beyond that, we have a bunch of songs that we’ve hardly ever played, and those might end up being the ones we want to play a lot on the next tour. We’ve got hundreds of songs and covers that we play, and it’s just a really amazing thing to be able to go out and do that. Still, I think all of us just feel like, “Wow, how did this happen? This is amazing.”
Andrew:
In your opinion, is rock dead?
Stone:
I mean, who knows, and who cares? [Laughs]. Honestly, Pearl Jam is playing shows and we’re having fun, so whatever it is that we’re doing, we’re having a good time, and our fans seem to be having a good time too. I love the open-endedness of rock music because there is no defining quality to rock music. It’s about multiple people playing music together, with whatever instruments it is that they choose to play. Whatever it is, if it’s anything that could be rock, I love it. I love bands. I love collaboration. To me, the frame of “rock music” can hold a lot of different pictures, and there are a lot of pictures that haven’t been made up yet in terms of how a band might sound together. With that, we don’t know what the instrumentation might be, and why it would be heavy, but it could still be rock, but it might be different instruments that still that evoke that same heaviness that rock evokes, which is something that’s primal. I think that with rock, it’s something that’s honestly relative to the blues, which again, is what we’re all sort of connecting to on a fundamental level, right? So, the blues has been around for a long time, and I don’t think it’s going anywhere. It’s just gonna keep changing shape.
Andrew:
Going back to when you first joined Pearl Jam, how did your time with Mother Love Bone and Green River prepare you for what was to come?
Stone:
Well, you know, I think being in bands just offers you the experience of working with folks and honing your skill set, whatever that may be. I think just the general experience of being in bands, and having recorded a few times, you know, that helped me too. That said, I still feel like I’m learning and discovering new things all the time. When it comes to playing music with other people, writing songs, how to be good within a song, how to be yourself, and how to play a role; I think I’m still learning. When it comes to collaborative songwriting, that’s just an ongoing process, and I think I’ve been learning from the time I started playing guitar, and I’ve never stopped. So, I don’t really know that I have got any specific sort of things that I necessarily learned in Green River and Mother Love Bone per se.
Then again, as far as the studio, those bands did give me recording experience and showed me how to calm myself as I record, and how to identify riffs that have some meaning. For me, really listening back after I record is important, because I need to get everything down, and then give myself some time to go back. When I go back, that’s when I’ll see what sounds catch my ear from a listener’s perspective, as opposed to when I’m playing it. When it comes to songwriting and being in a band, to me, it’s much more about subtraction than it’s ever been in terms of why and how a part of a song makes sense. It’s also about what you can do to help elevate a song, and it’s usually the simplest thing, you know? It really is the simplest thing sometimes, because when you take something away, that makes room for something else, or something new to be there. So, it’s trying to find those moments and arrangements that open up to ideas that you might not have thought of otherwise. Those are the things that I think about a lot these days, and those are the things that I’ve been learning since I was in those earlier bands.
Andrew:
In your opinion, is rock dead?
Stone:
I mean, who knows, and who cares? [Laughs]. Honestly, Pearl Jam is playing shows and we’re having fun, so whatever it is that we’re doing, we’re having a good time, and our fans seem to be having a good time too. I love the open-endedness of rock music because there is no defining quality to rock music. It’s about multiple people playing music together, with whatever instruments it is that they choose to play. Whatever it is, if it’s anything that could be rock, I love it. I love bands. I love collaboration. To me, the frame of “rock music” can hold a lot of different pictures, and there are a lot of pictures that haven’t been made up yet in terms of how a band might sound together. With that, we don’t know what the instrumentation might be, and why it would be heavy, but it could still be rock, but it might be different instruments that still that evoke that same heaviness that rock evokes, which is something that’s primal. I think that with rock, it’s something that’s honestly relative to the blues, which again, is what we’re all sort of connecting to on a fundamental level, right? So, the blues has been around for a long time, and I don’t think it’s going anywhere. It’s just gonna keep changing shape.
And you’ve got Josh Klinghoffer touring with the band now as well? What has he brought to the table?
Stone:
Josh has such a great voice, and he’s singing so many harmony parts that have been ignored for a long time. Matt can sing pretty good, and me, Jeff [Ament], and Mike [McCready] can kind of throw up a background every once in a while too. But Ed writes pretty intricate, complex, and extremely challenging background vocal parts, so if you don’t really sing, you’re not going to be able to just wing it. So, for us, to have Josh singing all these parts from these old songs, and the new ones too, while also playing these keyboard parts that we have been missing, it’s incredible. It’s funny because Josh is a Pearl Jam fan from way back, so he sort of knows our material better than we do, which is kind of hilarious. It’s just a joy to be around him, and he’s an amazing, and personable guy too. Really, he’s a musical genius, who has a lot of deep harmonic knowledge, and a tremendous understanding of music. And so, Josh is really informing the band and making us so much better, but he’s also a brother, and really somebody who is fun to tour with. So, being out with him, it’s just been nothing but a joy, and I think we probably sound better than ever, and a lot of that is Josh adding back in some parts that have been ignored for a while.