Stone Gossard joined Jonathan Evison’s podcast A Fresh Face in Hell and shared a mix of laughter, memories, and reflections that shed light on his formative years as a musician.
The conversation traces his journey from the early ’80s in Seattle all the way to Mother Love Bone, offering glimpses into how a different kind of Seattle sound was born: less hardcore, more glam and classic rock.
Early days in Seattle
Evison recalls meeting Stone for the first time back in 1983 through their mutual friend Steve Turner. Another recurring figure in the stories is Chris Peppard, the “red-headed Irish kid” from Laurelhurst. Those were the days of first bands, smoking weed, plastic-tip darts, and blasting Alice Cooper and Johnny Thunders records. More friendship than any grand musical plan.
Evison jokes about how Wikipedia and Rolling Stone credit him with kicking Stone out of March of Crimes. Stone laughs, doesn’t really remember it, and takes it in stride — that’s just part of Seattle’s folklore.
“Stony” among friends
Another personal detail comes up: the nickname “Stony.” Until his early twenties, that was essentially his name. To this day, only a handful of close friends still call him that — including Jonathan’s mom and even a guy from Minnesota.
Different influences
Unlike many kids rooted in the local hardcore scene, Gossard brought in less conventional influences: T. Rex, Alice Cooper, the Saints, but also the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, from Iron Maiden to Def Leppard. That mix of glam and hard rock shaped his guitar style and set him apart from his peers.
Visual art, too, played its role. At the Northwest School of Art, Stone absorbed the idea of sonic “collage,” embracing chaos and imperfection as part of the creative process.
Green River as a laboratory
When talking about Green River, Evison calls them a “rock & roll petri dish” — a band where contrasting influences collided and mutated. Early rehearsals could shift from Kiss covers to noisy experiments, multi-part songs, and long jams.
For Gossard, being in a band was more than making music: it was social currency, a way of belonging. Hanging out together was as important as the songs themselves.
Order and chaos
From his father, Stone says he inherited a knack for structure — the ability to put ideas together and shape them into something coherent. In bands, that often becomes the glue that holds everything together. Yet he was equally drawn to the chaos brought in by Jeff Ament and Mark Arm. Some sessions went on for hours without a usable result, but one good riff could make it all worthwhile.
Mother Love Bone and Andy Wood’s arrival
With Mother Love Bone, the direction was much clearer. If Green River was an experiment, MLB was a project with a defined vision. The arrival of Andrew Wood was decisive: his charisma and glam-inspired imagery turned even rehearsals into little performances. “He was already a rock star, even if nobody knew it yet,” Stone recalls.
The human side of the scene
Some of the most vivid memories aren’t about music at all but about high school pranks: baking brownies in class, throwing darts, hanging out. They weren’t aware they were “making history” — they were just friends building their own little world.
As Gossard sums it up: “We didn’t have a plan. We just wanted to play together. The rest took care of itself.”
Watch the full interview below.
Born in Reggio Emilia in 1980. He created pearljamonline.it in 2001 and wrote the first edition of “Pearl Jam Evolution” in 2009 along with his wife Daria. Since 2022, he is behind 2 podcasts: “Pearl Jam dalla A alla Z” and “Fuori Orario Not Another Podcast”. He has collaborated with Barracuda Style, HvsR, Rolling Stone, Rockol and Il Fatto Quotidiano. He continues relentlessly to try to find “beautiful melodies that say terrible things”.
Favorite song: Present Tense
Favorite album: No Code
Favorite bands/artists other than PJ: Tom Waits, Soundgarden, Ramones, Bruce Springsteen, IDLES, Fontaines D.C., Mark Lanegan, R.E.M., Radiohead, Cat Power, Dead Kennedys