Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament was recently interviewed on The Powell Movement, and he revealed that Pearl Jam are indeed hard at work on a new album, their first since 2013’s Lightning Bolt. Alternative Nation transcribed his comments.

“We’ve sort of been in writing mode here in Seattle the last couple of months. A typical day is getting together with anywhere from one to four of the guys and making music.”

He also discussed dealing with newfound fame with Pearl Jam in the early 90’s.

“The challenge for me was, I grew up in a small town, everybody knew each other, but everybody sort of left everybody alone. There wasn’t a ton of energy around how people interact in a small town. Immediately you go to a big city, and I wanted that energy, but then when the energy comes with non anonymity, it’s a weird thing.

It’s far worse now, now the average kid doesn’t have anonymity, because if he screws up, somebody’s got an iPhone on it, and all of a sudden it’s up on somebody’s Instagram account, and it’s forever. So in some ways, what I was going through in 1992 with the band and all of that is not that different than what a kid is dealing with.

It’s just the way technology has changed. I had a hard time with it, I think I always felt like I could sort of ride my bike around town and I could lurk around and do my thing, and nobodoy would bug me. I ended up going out to Montana to visit some friends, and there was something about that whole world where it seemed like there was less expectation on me.”

He mentioned that he fell in love with Montana, and he now lives there 3-6 months per year. He said if he didn’t have Pearl Jam obligations, he would live there permanently.

“I would probably be there full time if the band wasn’t going.”