Pearl Jam guitarist interviewed by Cleveland.com about Gigaton, MTV Unplugged and PJ Zoom meetings.
On MTV Unplugged 1992 – “I don’t think anybody else was of this mindset, but I didn’t really want to do it, I didn’t think we were as good acoustically as we were electric. It just didn’t feel like the right thing to do, at that time. But, y’know, Eddie rose to the challenge and we all did again. Everybody else I talk to seems to like it a lot. So, I guess I was wrong”.
On Gigaton and related postponed tour – “I’m very proud of that record but I feel like we put it out and not being able to play it live or work on those songs in a live setting really made me sad. Safety is No. 1, of course, but I really wish we had a chance to play those songs live so they could expand. We were getting them ready and the rug was just pulled from underneath us”.
On Pearl Jam Zoom meeting – “None of us have hung out. I saw Stone Gossard from across the street once, and that’s about it. We do a lot of Zoom calls and we see each other that way, and I’m glad that exists. But I’m also missing giving somebody a high five. I’m missing that kind of contact. I miss those guys I’m working on my own thing right now; I’m not sure what it is, but I have a bunch of ideas and I have the time to do it, and we’ll see what comes of it”.
You can read the whole interview at cleveland.com.
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.