Jeff Ament spoke on Rolling Stone about Pearl Jam massive voting initiative, zoom meetings and possibile virtual concerts.
According to Rolling Stone, Pearl Jam are stepping up their efforts to engage fans in the process with the announcement of PJ Votes 2020. A big part of the initiative involves asking their audience to accept the Take-Three Pledge of “Vote by Mail,” “Recruit Three Friends” and “Don’t Wait.”
“It’s about reminding people that their voice matters and their voice can make a big difference,” says Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament. “Like a lot of things, if you find out that your good friends are doing something, you become more curious about it and more invested in it. What we found with voting is that when people you’re living with or your family or your best friends are voting, then you tend to vote as well”.
You can find more info here: pearljam.com/vote.
Jeff also added he hasn’t been in the same room as his Pearl Jam bandmates in several months, but they are still communicating with great frequency. “Once or twice a week, the band is having Zoom meetings to talk about different things we can do that we’re exited about,” he says, “like artwork and collaborating with artists.” They have yet to play any socially-distanced or virtual concert, but that idea isn’t totally off the table. “We’ve talked through so many different ways,” says Ament. “I have friends that have done the drive-in shows. I think it’s been weird, but also some of those people have said it was so good just to be with the band again. We need to figure out how to do some of that stuff because this might last for another year or two.”
Next month will mark Pearl Jam 30th anniversary as of now, there are no plans to commemorate it. “I think these last six months doesn’t count,” says Ament. “Whenever we get to play a show again, that’s when we’ll continue. Right now, we’re stuck at 29 years and six months.”
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., The Murder Capital, Dead Kennedys, Mark Lanegan, Cat Power, R.E.M.