News – 2015

Tuesday 12.22.2015
 Pearl Jam & Matt Cameron: benefit single

The Eagles of Death Metal have called upon artists from all genres to cover their song I Love You All the Time as part of their Play It Forward Campaign. For every cover sold, Eagles of Death Metal pledged to donate 100 percent of all its publishing to The Sweet Stuff Foundation, guitarist Josh Homme‘s charitable organization that has been directing funds to the families affected by the terrorist attack that left 89 dead at the band’s November 13 concert at the Paris venue Le Bataclan.
Pearl Jam did something more: on Friday, Dec. 18 they released a single with two Eagles of Death Metal covers, in both physical (7” vinyl available for pre-order at Pearl Jam’s official website) and digital formats (Pearl Jam’s Shopand iTunes).
A-side is a live version of I Want You So Hard (Boy’s Bad News) performed by Pearl Jam and recorded at their Nov. 22 Rio de Janeiro show. B-side features a cover of I Love You All The Time recorded by Matt Cameron immediately after reading Josh Homme’s email encouraging fellow musicians to cover the song from “Zipper Down”, EODM’s latest album.

“I was very inspired to act quickly, so I recorded a version on a night off from tour in Mexico City in my hotel room, 11-27-2015, 8pm-12am. I am honored to be a part of this movement of unity and support. We’ll never stop.”

— Matt Cameron

 2015 Official Bootlegs + Side projects

The first Latin America 2015 bootleg from Santiago, Chile has been added to Pearl Jam’s Shop on Dec. 18. As usual, each of the nine bootleg of the tour will be released on a weekly basis (every Friday) in both digital and physical format (CD). The setlists are all available in our On The Road section.

Ten Commandos
The debut album of Ten Commandos – superband formed by Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd (Soundgarden) with Alain Johannes (Eleven, Queens Of The Stone Age) and Dimitri Coats (OFF!, Burning Brides) – is available through Pearl Jam’s official website. The 10 song album, titled Ten Commandos, features guest appearances by artist such as Mark Lanegan (who sings on the single “Staring Down The Dust”), Peter Frampton (guitar on “Sketch 9”) and Nikka Costa (vocals on “How”).

RNDM
Ghost Riding, RNDM’s second album, will be released on Dine Alone Records in digital, CD, vinyl and cassette formats on March 4, 2016. The first single of the same name is available for streaming on Spotify, and the official video is on YouTube. The album can be pre-ordered atPearlJam.com.
RNDM – featuring Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament, singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur and drummer Richard Stuverud – also announced a seven-date North American tour in support of the band’s forthcoming release (all details @ PearlJam.com).

#PJLiveChat with Jeff Ament & Kelly Curtis

Jeff Ament and Pearl Jam manager Kelly Curtis engaged in a Q&A session during a live Twitter chat on December 11, 2015. Here’s what we learned during their #PJLiveChat:

– Pearl Jam “will announce some tour dates first part of the year,” but it is unclear whether this means American, Canadian or European dates
– There were no direct answers to questions about possible 2016 European dates. Kelly Curtis only made reference to the fact that “nothing has been announced to cancel”. Curtis also said that the recent terrorist attacks in Paris are not influencing the band’s future plans in a negative way
– When asked whether Pearl Jam will play Rock Werchter this year, Curtis answered: “Not this year”. The question was clearly inaccurate; it’s pretty safe to say the band won’t be performing at this year’s Rock Werchter, since the 2015 edition is long gone
– Jeff would love to play in Finland and Scotland again
– Pearl Jam haven’t recorded any new songs yet, although – according to their manager – “they’re always in and out of the studio and constantly writing new material”. Jeff also added that “some time between now and forever, we will start the new record”
– There are currently no plans to release the two Alpine Valley 2011 concerts (PJ20). About the No Code/Yield reissue/boxset, Jeff said: “I have my box from that era out and digging into it… that means 2-5 years out”
– When asked if there is anything in the works around PJ25/25 years of Ten, Curtis answered: “Yes, can’t say anything yet”
– About this year’s 10C Single, Jeff said: “It is in production… you know it takes 12-16 weeks to press a record? Crazy”
– Ament’s favorite lyrics written by Vedder are “Present Tense” and “My Father’s Son”

Happy Holidays!
(PJOnLine Staff)

Wednesday 07.22.2015
 New benefit concerts for Pearl Jam & Eddie Vedder

Pearl Jam will perform on the Great Lawn of New York City’s Central Park on Saturday, September 26th as headliner of the Global Citizen Festival in what will be their only U.S. date for all of 2015. It’s a free event where fans are asked to get involved in activism campaigns on the Festival’s online platform in order to earn a ticket. The aim is to raise awareness of global poverty: the event coincides with the launch of the United Nations’ new Global Goals designed to fight inequality, protect our planet and end extreme poverty by 2030. The line-up will also feature Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran and Coldplay (for more info, click here). The full concert will be streamed at YouTube, iHeartRadio (an audio live-stream will be broadcast on iHeartRadio.com) and Tidal, which will also stream the audio of the concert on Tidal.com as well as the Tidal app.

“We hope Pearl Jam fans will sign up to become Global Citizens — not just to earn tickets to the show — but to be part of a movement that encourages leaders of nations with the greatest wealth to apply aid, trade and governance policies in support of nations and communities in the greatest need. People living on less than $1.50-a-day deserve the opportunity to lift themselves up out of extreme poverty.”

– Stone Gossard, Pearl Jam

A few days earlier, on September 12, Eddie Vedder will join his beloved Who to perform at a private residence in Los Angeles for 500 lucky guests, in an invite-only concert benefiting Teen Cancer America and Foundation To Be Named Later (FTBNL). If you’d like to attend, CrowdRise is raffling off tickets to this private show.

 Latest releases: Vault #5, Mad Season & more

Vault #5
Pearl Jam are continuing their Vault release series – rare shows not previously available as official bootlegs – with their performance from November 30, 1993, at the Aladdin Theatre in Las Vegas (setlist), which features the first ever Green River reunion with Mark Arm and Steve Turner (Mudhoney) since the band split in 1987. The release is currently available for pre-order as a 180 gram double LP set (Ten Club members only) through Pearl Jam’s official website, until September 9, 2015. After orders will begin shipping (December 2015 – January 2016), the show will also be available for purchase in both Digital and CDformats.

Mad Season
On August 28, 2015, Mad Season’s reunion concert at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall from last January will be released on CD and vinyl (available through Pearl Jam’s official website Amazon) via Monkeywrench Records. The show featured Mike McCready and Barrett Martin performing with Chris Cornell, Duff McKagan and other musicians and friends from the Seattle area. The Temple Of The Dog surprise reunion (without Vedder) from the same night is also included in the release. On the same day, the last show of the original Mad Season line-up – dating back to April 1995 – will also be released on vinyl as Mad Season: Live at The Moore. This double LP can be pre-ordered through Pearl Jam’s official website & Amazon as well.

Mike McCready
Mike McCready wrote the score for two independent movies, Tomgirl & The Glamour & the Squalor. The latter – a documentary about legendary Seattle DJ Marco Collins – also features an interview with Eddie Vedder. The guitarist also appears in the debut album by Danny Newcomb & The Sugarmakers, “Masterwish”, where he plays guitar on the single “Sundays”.

Final note: in the end credits of Cameron Crowe’s latest movie Aloha, there’s a song, The Traveler, a new tune written by Eddie Vedder and his seven-year-old daughter Harper and performed by the younger Vedder. The short track is not included in the official soundtrack list but if you keep following our social media, we promise you’ll hear it very soon…
Monday 03.16.2015
 Pearl Jam announce 2015 Latin America tour

Last Friday, Pearl Jam officially announced they’ll be back in Latin America for a string of 9 concerts.
11.04.2015 Estadio Nacional – Santiago, Chile
11.07.2015 Estadio Único Ciudad de La Plata – Buenos Aires, Argentina
11.11.2015 Arena do Grêmio – Porto Alegre, Brazil
11.14.2015 Estádio do Morumbi – São Paulo, Brazil
11.17.2015 Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha – Brasilia, Brazil
11.20.2015 Estádio Mineirão – Belo Horizonte, Brazil
11.22.2015 Estádio Maracanã – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
11.25.2015 Simón Bolívar Park – Bogotá, Colombia
11.28.2015 Foro Sol – Mexico City, Mexico

General pre-sale info can be found at www.pearljam.com/tour
Click here for Ten Club pre-sale details.

 Citizen Dick 7” RSD

A special 7″ of Touch Me I’m Dick by Citizen Dick will be released for this year’s Record Store Day on April 18, 2015. Citizen Dick is the fictional band from the movie Singles by Cameron Crowe, consisting of singer Cliff Poncier (actor Matt Dillon), guitarist Stone Gossard, bassist Jeff Ament and “drummer” Eddie Vedder.
Side B features an etching of a quote about the song from Matt Dillon’s character Cliff Poncier, lead singer of Citizen Dick. This single is made in conjunction with the April 7 U.S. release of the film on Blu-ray (details here).

Oh, lookThere’s a Grammy!” (S.G.)
Congratulations to Jeff Ament, Don Pendleton, Joe Spix & Jerome Turner (aka Ed Vedder) for winning a Grammy in the BEST RECORDING PACKAGE category for the Lightning Bolt artwork!
Wednesday 01.21.2015
 Pearl Jam: what are they doing?


After wrapping up their long Lightning Bolt tour last October (bootlegs are all available in the Shop at Pearljam.com), Pearl Jam are taking a well-deserved break. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Jeff Ament said: “We went pretty hard this last year, so I think everyone is ready to take a break and just wash the dishes and change some diapers. The time off is good. I can’t think of a time in the last 10 years where I wasn’t like ‘I can’t wait to see the guys’ after we’ve been away from it a couple months. We don’t necessarily stay in super-close contact when we’re away from each other. When you get back together you’re genuinely excited to find out ‘Hey, how are things going with your kids?’ or ‘Let’s hear your new songs.’ All that stuff. That’s as much of a part of it as anything. The lifelong friendship part of it is more important to me than the legacy of the band at this point”.

With the band officially on hold, the members are busy working on their side projects.

Mike McCready – In December, Cameron Crowe’s Vinyl Films Records released Music for Film, a limited edition vinyl EP featuring tracks Mike McCready wrote & recorded for the last two films of his friend & director, Pearl Jam Twenty and We Bought A Zoo.

Matt Cameron – The drummer completed a few tracks with Soundgarden that were included in a triple-CD collection of B-sides, rarities & covers of the iconic Seattle band, titled Echo of Miles: Scattered Tracks Across The Path.

Stone Gossard – A very limited edition 7″ single with two new songs (Knife Fight e Caught In A Mess) written and played by Stone Gossard along with songwriter Mason Jennings was available at PearlJam.com (sold out within an hour).

Jeff Ament – He’s currently finishing the second studio record by RNDM with friends Joseph Arthur and Richard Stuverud.

Eddie Vedder – In the last few months he’s been very active supporting EB Research, the nonprofit organization he co-founded with his wife Jill to raise funds and awareness for Epidermolysis Bullosa. He also appeared in a video to shed some light on the disease. To celebrate Ed’s 50th birtdhday on December 23, actor Tim Robbins hosted a private party at his home in Venice (Los Angeles). Among the guests were old friend Sean Penn (with his new girlfriend, Charlize Theron), Tom Petty (who played his classic Free Falling) and Flea (who performed with Ed a cover of Driven To Tears by The Police, one of Vedder’s favorite bands). Eddie then flew to Hawaii, where he usually resides in wintertime. In Honolulu he was spotted at Bill Maher’s New Year’s Eve show and at Elton John’s concert. In addition, earlier this month he was visited by none other than US President Barack Obama, accompanied by his two daughters Sasha and Malia, at his home in Kailua (Oahu). The first family spent less than half an hour with Vedder, and the White House spokespeople later confirmed that the Vedders and the Obamas “are friends”.

 Mad Season reunion

Mad Season will reunite on January 30, 2015 for a unique, historic concert at Benaroya Hall in Seattle as part of Seattle Symphony’s Sonic Evolution event. On this very special occasion, Mike McCready and Barrett Martin will be joined by Chris Cornell (Soundgarden, Audioslave) on vocals and Duff McKagan (Guns N Roses’, Velvet Revolver, Loaded) on bass. In addition, Mike McCready will perform the unreleased track Waking the Horizon along with the Seattle Symphony and Matt Cameron.