News – 2012

Thursday 12.27.2012

Pearl Jam Holiday Single 2012 ~ Pearl Jam gave members of their Ten Club fan club a nice stocking-stuffer this holiday season, releasing two recordings from 2011’s PJ20 music festival, including this live version of blues-y alt-rocker “In the Moonlight,” which finds the band teaming up with Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme. Along with the Binaural outtake, which you can hear below, the band also released a live version of “All Night” featuring Glen Hansard, Liam Finn and Joseph Arthur (listen here). Thanks to Rolling Stone.

Thursday 12.06.2012 22.30 CET “Ed Vedder Radio Show + WM3 + Soundgarden 2013 USA Tour”

The Eddie Vedder Radio Show ~ Last night, SiriusXM’s Pearl Jam Radio (Channel 22) aired the premiere of The Eddie Vedder Radio Show, hosted by Pearl Jam’s lead singer. During the show, the unusual DJ played a few songs by some of his favorite artists (Fugazi, Sleater-Kinney, Queens Of The Stone Age, Soundgarden, The Who, Cat Power, The Evens), live tracks (“Naked Eye” played by Ed with Roger Daltrey and taken from Vedder’s solo show in London, 2012), unreleased material (a beautiful version of “Croon Spoon” with Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon). Towards the end of the broadcast he also played an instrumental track he recorded a few months ago. At the following link you can download the mp3 of the broadcast (thanks to norm!). The schedule is currently unknown, but more episodes of this radio show could be aired in the next future. Here are some Vedder quotes taken from the show (thanks to Grunge Report):

– Ed mentioned early on that the songs he’s playing on his show are the songs he plays loud in his car or in a hotel room. He also said the songs would make a good workout playlist “They’ll keep you moving, you’ll have a smaller waste in no time.”
– Ed said that if Pearl Jam ever covered a Soundgarden song it would be “Ty Cobb.”
– Ed said regarding Jeff, “Some people call him Jeff Ament, I just call him my brother.” He said he thinks Jeff’s new solo album is the best thing he has ever done musically.
– Ed said Kim Gordon is one of his favorite singers, and one of his favorite people of all time before playing a rare song he recorded with her entitled “Croon Spoon.”
– Ed played a clip of some ambient music that he created, “By the way this music in the back this is something I do in between shows or in the hotel room, got a little recording rig that I mess around with. You ever wonder what I was doing between shows? [Laughs] Here’s an idea, I don’t know if it’s pretty but it’s how we keep ourselves entertained.”

West of Memphis: Voices for Justice ~ The soundtrack of the documentary “West of Memphis” (produced by Peter Jackson) will be released on January 15, 2013. It will include the track “Satellite” by Ed Vedder (already featured in “Ukulele Songs”) written by Vedder and inspired by the love story between Damien Echols (one of the WM3) and his future wife. Also on the soundtrack, “Wing” by Patti Smith, taken from the Voices For Justice Benefit Concert in 2010 and performed by Patti together with Vedder and Johnny Depp. Available on iTunes.

Soundgarden: U.S. Tour 2013 ~ Soundgarden have announced a U.S. tour in January and February 2013 supporting their latest studio effort, “King Animal”. Tour dates are available here soundgardenworld.com/tour. Rumor has it that they could be back in Europe in the coming months.

 12.30 CET Pearl Jam announces 2013 South American Tour!

Pearl Jam 2013 South American Tour ~ Last night a big surprise for all PJ fans has come straight from the band’s official site: they’ll be back in South America for a serie of 3 concerts. Ten Club has arranged for a limited amount of discounted tickets through the public ticket seller for Fan Club Members only.  Supplies are limited, ticket availability is not guaranteed.  All eligible members will be sent an email today with detailed information on how to receive a fan club ticket discount. This information can also be viewed by logging into your Ten Club account and then clicking on this link.

These are the official dates of the Pearl Jam 2013 South American Tour:

March 31 – Sao Paulo, Brazil at Lollapalooza Festival
April 3 – Buenos Aires, Argentina at Constanera Sur
April 6 – Santiago, Chile at Lollapalooza Festival

More info about the pre-sale and the complete schedule of the South American Tour can be found here.

Friday 09.14.2012 12.30 CET Brad 2013 European Tour + Jeff Ament’s new side project + Soundgarden detail King Animal + Pearl Jam Twenty: Three Disc Deluxe Edition repackaged!

Brad 2013 European Tour! ~ Finally! February 2013 sees Brad’s debut trip to Europe! Brad will embark on a 14 date European tour, which kicks off February 8th in Manchester, U.K. and ends February 24th in Florence, Italy (full list of tour dates here). Support for all shows comes from the young British band, New Killer Shoes.

RNDM ~ RNDM (pronounced “random”) is a new musical group featuring Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament, singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur and drummer Richard Stuverud. The band will release their debut album, “Acts”, on Tuesday, October 30th in CD, vinyl LP and digital formats via Monkeywrench Records/RED in the U.S. and Canada. In support of “Acts”, RNDM will embark on a 16-date North American tour, which kicks off November 2nd in Brooklyn, NY and ends November 27th in Seattle, WA (full list of tour dates here). “Modern Times” (listen now here, official video here) is the first cut off their upcoming album, which culls 12 tracks from the nearly 20 recorded during the studio sessions. The Acts tracklist is: Modern Times, Darkness, The Diappearing Ones, What You Can’t Control, Hollow Girl, Walking Through New York, Look Out!, New Tracks, Throw You To The Pack, Williamsburg, Letting Go Of Will, Cherries In The Snow.

Soundgarden detail “King Animal” ~ From Billboard: Soundgarden will release “King Animal,” the veteran rock band’s sixth studio album and first in over 16 years, on Nov. 13. First single “Been Away to Long” will hit radio this week, with a digital release set for Sept. 27.

Chris Cornell, Matt Cameron, Ben Shepherd and Kim Thayil co-produced the album with longtime collaborator Adam Kasper and recorded at Studio X in Seattle. “King Animal” will be released on Seven Four Entertainment and Republic Records. Watch Soundgarden’s “King Animal” album trailer here.

Here’s the tracklist of “King Animal”:

Been Away Too Long
Non-State Actor
By Crooked Steps
A Thousand Days Before
Blood On The Valley Floor
Bones of Birds
Taree
Attrition
Black Saturday
Halfway There
Worse Dreams
Eyelid’s Mouth (with Mike McCready)
Rowing

Here are the bonus tracks for the deluxe edition of Soundgarden’s new album King Animal.

Spoonman (Fiera De Milano, June 4, 2012)
Black Hole Sun (Fiera De Milano, June 4, 2012)
Rusty Cage (Fiera De Milano, June 4, 2012)

Pearl Jam Twenty: Three Disc Deluxe Edition repackaged! ~ Due to overwhelming demand, “Pearl Jam Twenty: Deluxe Edition Box Set” has been repackaged and will be released as “Pearl Jam Twenty: Three Disc Deluxe Edition” on Tuesday, November 13th. “Pearl Jam Twenty: Three Disc Deluxe Edition” contains the exact same video content as the previously sold-out limited edition “Pearl Jam Twenty: Deluxe Edition Box Set”. Quantities are limited. Release date is November 13, 2012 & orders will ship on or before release date. Price is $29.99 for the DVD set and $39.99 for the Blu-Ray.

Sunday 08.19.2012 16.30 CET “Bootlegs 2012 + WM3 single + Soundgarden’s forthcoming new album + More”

Bootlegs 2012 ~ The bootlegs documenting Pearl Jam’s 2012 tour are now available in the ‘goods‘ section of pearljam.com. The remaining shows will be added soon.

WM3 single ~ August 19th marks the one-year anniversary of the release of the West Memphis Three, three men who were controversially convicted as teenagers in 1994 for the murder of three young boys. About a year before Jessie Misskelley, Charles Baldwin, and Damien Echols gained their freedom, Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam and Natalie Maines from the Dixie Chicks joined forces onstage at the West Memphis Three Rally in Little Rock, Arkansas. On this new track, Vedder and Maines cover the John Doe track “Golden State,” a Vedder favorite, in the spirit of freedom. This version of “Golden State” will be available for download on August 19th on iTunes and Pearl Jam’s website. Proceeds will benefit the WM3 Freedom Fund.

Soundgarden’s forthcoming new album ~ Soundgarden have confirmed that their long-awaited comeback studio album will be released in November. Speaking to Rolling Stone about their new album, guitarist Kim Thayil promised that the band’s as yet untitled new LP will be “little weird”. He also confirmed a release date of November 12 in the UK and November 13 in the US for the record.

Update (08/21): Soundgarden’s new disc will be called ‘King Animal’ and fans can check out a featured piece of a new song called ‘Worse Dreams’ below (via loudwire).

Next Pearl Jam album is in “holding pattern” ~ Despite reports that Pearl Jam has been in the studio working on the followup to their 2010 album Backspacer, guitarist Mike McCready says the band is currently in a “holding pattern,” according to Spin. The band has paused while singer Eddie Vedder readies a solo tour and drummer Matt Cameron returns to Soundgarden. “We’re just kind of sitting around, writing songs. We have about seven ideas so far that we did last year and we’re just kind of sitting on those right now,” said McCready.

Mike McCready side projects ~ McCready plays guitar in the band Walking Papers which includes former Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan, Screaming Trees/Mad Season drummer Barrett Martin, and singer Jeff Angell. The band plans to release an album in October 2012. Mike McCready will be on new Kristen Ward record, “Last Night On Division”, to be available on October 9th. In the meantime, McCready has recently begun collaborating on “dark,” new material with Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan and Barrett Martin that he likens to Led Zeppelin, with nine songs already written.

 16.30 CET “New PJ website + Vic 2007 + Second solo record by Jeff Ament + More “

New Pearl Jam website & Vic 2007 Official Bootleg ~ A new version of Pearl Jam’s official website, pearljam.com, is now online with many new features and a pleasant surprise for all the jammers: the release of the legendary ‘Ten Club members only’ performance at the Vic Theater in Chicago on August 2, 2007! The bootleg (second official release of the Vault Series after the live at the Moore Theater 1/17/1992, that was exclusively distributed to Ten Club members at PJ20 in East Troy, WI) is available on CD and as digital download at this link.

Second solo record by Jeff Ament ~ The second solo record by Pearl Jam’s bass player, titled “While My Heart Beats”, is available on CD, vinyl and as digital download at pearljam.com. Joseph Arthur, Mike McCready, Matt Cameron and Richard Stuverud were all involved in the making of this album, which was recorded between 2008 and 2012 and contains eleven new songs, including “When The Fire Comes”, gifted as CD single to Ten Club members at PJ20 in East Troy, WI last September. More info about this release can be found here.

Pearl Jam adds US show ~ Pearl Jam will perform in Missoula, MT at the Adams Center on 09/30/2012, the band’s only scheduled U.S. non-festival date for this year. More info here.

Holiday Single 2011 ~ The new PJ holiday single is available for Ten Club members, only in digital format at the moment. Side A is a rendition of the classic “Better Things” by the Kinks, recorded in studio by Pearl Jam, while side B is “Devil Doll” recorded by X along with Ed Vedder and taken from a 2011 soundcheck .

 00.30 CET “Pearl Jam to play Made In America Festival”

Pearl Jam to play Made In America Festival ~ Pearl Jam and Santigold are among top artists who will perform along with Jay-Z at the Budweiser Made in America Music Festival. Made in America takes place Labor Day Weekend (Saturday, September 1st – Sunday, September 2nd) at Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park. Details on the tickets sale for this concert can be found at the following link madeinamericafest.com

 15.00 CET “PJ in USA + News from Mike McCready + Collaborations”

Pearl Jam live in USA in September ~ Pearl Jam have announced a couple of shows in the States in September: the first one will be at the DeLuna festival in Florida on September 21, while the second one will be at the Music Midtown festival in Atlanta on September 22, 2012. These are almost certainly the only shows Pearl Jam will play in their country in 2012.

News from Mike McCready ~ A couple of days ago, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready was interviewed by 91.9 WFPK Radio Louisville and revealed that Pearl Jam have fifteen ideas ready for the new record, two or three of them being “Backspacer” outtakes. According to Mike, the band’s tenth studio album is due out in 2013. Also during the interview McCready spoke of his intention to reissue “Above” by Mad Season, the band he formed with Layne Staley (Alice In Chains), Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees) and John Baker Saunders in 1994. The reissue version should contain several live songs and a few unreleased tracks (currently incomplete) for which Mike is seeking singers. Pearl Jam guitarist has announced that Screaming Trees front man Mark Lanegan will serve as a vocalist for the newly-reformed Mad Season, Bloody Disgusting reports. It is not known if he will be the band’s only singer, or merely contribute on a few songs. This expanded version of the record might see the light of day at the end of 2012.

Collaborations ~ Coinciding with the release of Brad’s new studio album, “United WeStand”, a few new videos have been made available on the band’s Facebook pahe, at this link. Eddie Vedder will be featured in the second album by showman Jimmy Fallon, titled “Blow Your Pants Off”, due out June 1 – with the song “Balls In Your Mouth” (link). In conclusion, the debut album of Kenneth “Boom” Gaspar’s side project, Po + The 4Fathers, will be released in autumn 2012 by Monkeywrench Records.

 16.00 CET “Ed Vedder postpones US solo tour dates”

Eddie Vedder, via pearljam.com, has announced the postponement of his 15-city U.S. solo tour today due to temporary nerve damage in his right arm, the result of a back injury sustained earlier this year. Pearl Jam manager Kelly Curtis explains, “After having worked aggressively with doctors and physical therapists for the last eight weeks to repair the damage, the intensity of the injury and time needed to heal has made it impossible to play the shows as scheduled. There was hope up until the last minute that the treatments would be successful. Sincerest apologies go out to those who have made plans and bought tickets. Eddie is frustrated beyond measure, but remains positive that come this summer all will be back in good form.”

All postponed dates will be rescheduled for November and December 2012. Tickets will be honored for rescheduled dates. Refunds will be available upon request through the point-of-purchase. Fan Club members with Ten Club pre-sale ticket will receive an email regarding proper refund procedures today, Thursday April 5th. Rescheduled dates are listed here.

Ed Vedder 2012 Euro Tour ~ A few days ago www.pearljam.com announced Ed Vedder’s first solo tour in Europe, kicking off July 26 with a double date in Amsterdam (Netherlands) and closing August 3, 2012 in Zambujeira Do Mar (Portugal) at the Southwest Festival TMN. This mini Euro tour will be limited to 4 cities only and unfortunately does not include any stop in Italy. Negotiations to bring the tour in Italy (persistently rumored for months) have in fact officially failed. Hopefully Vedder will return to the old continent with stops in our country, maybe next fall or spring.

25 July Amsterdam, Holland, Carre Theatre
26 July Amsterdam, Holland, Carre Theatre
28 July Manchester, United Kingdom, 02 Apollo Manchester
30 July London, United Kingdom, HMV Apollo Hammersmith
31 July London, United Kingdom, HMV Apollo Hammersmith
3 August Zambujeira Do Mar, Portugal, Sudoeste Festival TMN

Special guest Glen Hansard (The Swell Season, The Frames) will join Eddie on the road for his 2012 Europe/UK solo tour. For more info on tickets for these concerts, please visit this link.

New Pearl Jam record in the works ~ A couple of new interviews with Stone Gossard and Mike McCready revealed that Pearl Jam have officially entered the studio to begin working on a new record, their tenth. Stone Gossard told Rolling Stone: “We’ve recorded some songs, and we’re going to record and write some more. You never know, it might be that we’re a song away or two, or it might be that we’re going to record six or seven more songs. I think the main thing is that were not in a rush and there’s no urgency to it. The most important thing is that we put something out that continues to expand our boundaries rather than trying to follow what we’ve done in the past. I think it’s a good time to hopefully continue to experiment, and continue to shake it up. So that people can go “Wow, that’s kind of weird for Pearl Jam,” and then 10 years later they can go, “Oh, that’s my favorite period.” Which is always kind of what happens. You try something and at first everybody doesn’t necessarily understand it, and then you look back and you go, thank God we tried something new, because it really opened a door up for us to be able to do this and this and this beyond that.” Mike McCready, interviewed by the Weekly just a few days later, said that the band has just started working on demos and also confirmed that they will be working once again with trusty producer Brendan O’Brien. “We’re in the process of everyone bringing their demos and getting their songs out there”. At the moment there is no official release date but it seems very unlikely that the new record will see the light of day in 2012.

Record Store Day + Skipping ~ In conjunction with the upcoming Record Store Day on April 21, 2012, some ultra limited vinyls involving members of Pearl Jam will be placed on the market. First of all, a 7″ featuring “Love Boat Captain” and “Wishlist” taken from Ed Vedder solo show in Minneapolis last year. Mike McCready will release a single with Star Anna titled “Keep On / Call Your Girlfrien.” The single from the side project of Kenneth “Boom” Gaspar (featuring Vedder and Gossard, now available for digital download on pearljam.com) will also be published on vinyl, while Stone Gossard’s Brad will release a new single, “Waters Deep / Pressure Is On”.

Eddie Vedder will also appear on the compilation “Every Mother Counts – Volume II” with an unreleased track titled “Skipping”. The compilation will be sold for a single month, starting May 1, only in U.S. Starbucks and all proceeds will be donated to the association that brings the name ofthe project.

New Brad record ~ Brad, Stone Gossard’s longtime side project with Shawn Smith, Regan Hagar and Keith Lowe, are going to release of a new album – “United We Stand” – on April 24 via Razor & Tie (more info here). The record, preceded by the single “A Reason To Be In My Skin” (free download on bradband.com), will be presented during a short tour in the States that will include Seattle on April 27th, Los Angeles on May 3rd and San Francisco on May 4th. All the previous records of the band will also be reissued on vinyl in 2012.

Mike McCready & Boom side projects ~ Over the past few days, two digital singles involving Pearl Jam members have been made available for download on the iTunes store and www.pearljam.com. The first one is “Keep On”, a single credited to Mike McCready & Star Anna, a young and talented artist from Seattle with whom the guitarist had already worked on her last solo record. On March 5, they will be performing live together on radio XEXP (link). In March Mike McCready is also expected to tour South America with his band Shadow, opening for Loaded, former Guns N’Roses Duff McKagan’s own band. The second digital single, available since late January on iTunes, is “Kingdome Come / Do Ya”, credited to Po and the 4fathers, a side project that Pearl Jam’s organist Keeneth “Boom” Gaspar has recorded with some of his Hawaiian friends. Ed Vedder appears on vocals on the first track, “Kingdome Come”, while Stone Gossard plays guitar on “Do Ya”.

Flight To Mars West Coast Tour ~ Flight to Mars, a tribute to 1970s English heavy rockers UFO featuring Pearl Jam lead guitarist Mike McCready, hits the road this May in celebration of the band’s 10th anniversary. The tour kicks off on May 14th at The Observatory in Santa Ana and wraps up on May 23rd in the band’s hometown of Seattle at the Showbox at the Market. Proceeds from the tour will benefit Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America’s Camp Oasis and Advocacy for Patients with Chronic Illness — two non-profits that McCready has supported for nearly a decade.

More US dates for Eddie Vedder ~ While rumors and speculations have continued to spread in the last few weeks about possible dates of a Vedder solo tour in Italy this summer (with the latest press rumors involving Florence and Verona — none of these rumors has been confirmed or denied by Vedder’s entourage), more dates have been added to Eddie Vedder’s US spring solo tour. An updated list can be found at the following link.

Jimmy Fallon impersonates Eddie Vedder! ~ Last night, during his program “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”, comedian and TV host Jimmy Fallon made a terrific parody of Eddie Vedder and the “Jeremy” video — renamed “Jeremy (Lin)” for the occasion. For those who are not familiar with US basketball, here you can read an article about the curious story of Jeremy Lin, the New York Knicks basketball player who is the subject of the parody.