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Pearl Jam

		Thu. November 07.2002 12:53 PM EST
		Pearl Jam: Readin' The Riot Act   Seattle masters get emotional on their powerhouse new disc.   by Gil Kaufman
			Pearl Jam (VH1.com)

Pearl Jam are the Ralph Naders of rock: hard working, no frills agitators who've carved a singular, respected niche for themselves. They’re also the Greta Garbo's of rock: camera-shy stars who love the artistry, but not the Sign up to receive FREE UPDATES for Pearl Jam! E-Mail this story to a friend Add RSS Headlines Add VH1 News to My Yahoo job’s attendant media duties. The band - singer Eddie Vedder, guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready, drummer Matt Cameron and bassist Jeff Ament - don't pull Linkin Park-style sales figures anymore. But they’ve never stopped turning heads or taking chances. From the experiments with world music on 1996's No Code to their unprecedented release of 72 live double albums from their 2000 world tour, Pearl Jam have bucked trends and broken ground. Throughout, they've remained one of the few bands you look to for answers - or at least opinions. Their seventh studio album, Riot Act, is a serious disc that has lots of real life drama floating through it. While it doesn't directly address the events of 9/11 in the way recent albums from Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi have, it certainly has an undeniable gravity that’s based on human drama. Vedder's lyrics simmer with anxiety. In "Can't Keep" he illustrates the itch of those who want to break free but remain shackled. "Save You" is a garage rocker that explodes in anger at the frustration of feeling a close friend slip away. Like David Bowie's Heathen, the album investigates mortality and regret, and it goes even further, cracking the door on Vedder's longstanding and closely guarded emotional privacy. The mournful "Love Boat Captain" rises from a churchy dirge to a joyful proclamation of "all you need is love." Along the way, it encapsulates the pain, loss and redemption the singer felt after the deaths of nine fans during the band's set at the 2000 Roskilde Festival. The simple acoustic ballad "Thumbing My Way" might just be the rawest catalog of turmoil Vedder's ever recorded. "I let go of the rope/Thinking that's what held me back," he sings, "And in time I've realized/It's now wrapped around my neck." Vedder says the song isn’t directly about him, but the conviction in the performance suggests that he's well aware of what his character is going through. Riot Act breaks through the clutter of current radio rock with a tactic that’s deceptively simple. Regardless of how many overdubs actually took place, the alternately warm and fuzz-drenched guitar tones push and pull against Cameron’s steady, jazzy drumming to create the feeling of an intimate, live recording that matches the passion of the album’s lyrics. Eschewing processed drums and studio mechanics, songs like "Can’t Keep" hum with the sound of five musicians connecting on a visceral level. As Cameron’s drums keep a military beat and Gossard and McCready wind their acoustic and electric guitars around each other, their notes pinging off one another like distant morse code. With Riot Act Pearl Jam prove that they still mean business. In a rare interview about the album. Ed, Mike, Stone and Matt lowered their defenses to tell VH1 why they avoided writing anything as explicit as a “message song,” what rock stars spend their money on, and why you should always keep a lock on your diary. VH1: As songwriters, did you feel any need to comment on Sept. 11? Is it your job as an artist to do that? Eddie Vedder: I've got a definitive answer and it's, "No." Some of the [new] songs might be interpreted that way, but that's just because I was writing from a human perspective. I certainly didn't feel a need to say, “Well, this is what I think, I gotta make sure to put down how it affected me.” That was one of the strange things about some of the tributes that happened within the first month. A lot of them were well done, [making] heroes out of those who worked at Ground Zero and lost their lives at the Trade Center. But I was also feeling a lot of, “This is how it affected me as a celebrity.” I was sensitive to that and wouldn't want to be a part of it. Mike McCready: I think it indirectly affected the recording sessions and all of us as musicians and people. I think we all changed that day. I wrote a song called "Last Soldier" that we played a bit around that time. We never talked about doing it. We may bring it up again. Stone Gossard: As a band, we've tried to stay away from too much self-conscious writing in terms of, "This is where we want it to go," as opposed to, "Hey, look where it went!" I think that event made everyone have a heightened sense of awareness of how fragile things are ... and we were all very present with each other during the record. The only job a songwriter has is to honestly express what is going on with him or herself. There are people that can consciously decide they're going to write a song about something ... VH1: Like Neil Young's "Let's Roll?" Gossard: But was he consciously thinking, “I've got to go write a song about this?” Or was he sitting there so overwhelmed by a vision of what was happening on that plane? If you write a song that's one thing, but if you sit down and say, “I'm going to write a song and this is what the sentiment will be,” that's a different thing. VH1: Like the song you wrote for Layne Staley after he died of a drug overdose? Vedder: Yeah. It almost seemed like something we could have put out on the radio that week. It was called "4/20/02," which was the day I heard about it. We didn't release it because we had too many songs. We pared it down from 19 or 20 to create a piece ... if it's a boat you want it to float and not have too much weight. VH1: Speaking of boats, they seem to be your theme lately. There's "Love Boat Captain," then another boat in "Green Disease" ... Vedder: Really? I've been hanging out on the seashore [lately], trying to get out into nature as much as I can. It probably has a lot to do with the way I see the world. Surfing big waves is humbling, the power of nature and these forces you commune with, but don't communicate with. You can't talk your way out of a bad wipeout. A 20-foot wave does not respect rock stardom. If anything, it would be seen with distrust. See Jeff and Matt talk about why Pearl Jam don’t do videos. VH1: You've been – for lack of a better term – rock stars for a long time. But you don't act that way: no car crashes, dating strippers, etc. In fact, most people barely know about your private lives. Do you ever regret not grabbing a bigger piece of the brass ring? Gossard: [Going] Hollywood? If anything, I think we're looking back now and thinking, "Thank God we didn't!" Being indulgent at certain times is fun, especially if, as a band, you experience it together. Like staying at a really nice hotel and saying, "We're not going to make any money on this leg of this tour, but look at the view and the swimming pool!" The impulse in the opposite direction tends to be pretty self-interested and indulgent in a way that can hurt people. McCready: I've had my years of whooping it up ... doing a lot of drugs and drinking. It was fun for a while, but then it turned into a nightmare. As far as going out with famous people and being seen at parties, we've never operated that way. Out of anybody, I probably bought the most into that rock and roll lifestyle. Vedder: We aren't rock stars. The closest we get to it is playing in front of a bunch of people. Even then, it feels like we're musicians. I think it's probably healthier that way. I think even avoiding two-year long tours helps us. It keeps us in touch with our laundry. I feel like being a dog runner has more to do with my life than being a rock star ... or as anything other than a human being. It's a good place to write from, too. I don't know what a rock star writes about. VH1: The perils of being a rock star. Vedder: Hmmm. Then you've lost me as a listener if that's what the meat of the material is. I remember Axl Rose singing about his frustrations with his accountants and lawyers and thinking, "I don't relate to that." I still don't relate to that. Gossard: Well, um, I've dated strippers [laughs] ... but not recently. It's about our bond with each other more than anything and what our ideals were going into it. We came out of an era where that was the thing to be embraced in rock - the decadence - whether it was the Johnny Thunders/Keith Richards lifestyle or David Lee Roth lifestyle. As much as we enjoyed those bands and the characters they played on TV, I think our ideals were that we were going to try and do it as a band and do everything we could to remain a band. Because all of our favorite bands that broke up, we were always like, "F*ck, why did they break up? Why couldn't they figure it out?" That foundation helped us through a lot of stuff, it set the tone for how we were going to do things. You keep your head down and you can have those moments of indulgence and laugh about them without buying into that as a lifestyle. Matt Cameron: I came into Pearl Jam as a grown up. I think it's pretty cool that they called the shots early on and made up their own rules. I think if a band can do that and still survive in record biz, more power to 'em. See Mike and Stone talk about how not doing interviews has kept the band sane. VH1: Without the strippers and flashy entourages, what do you spend your money on? McCready: I like to buy books and do sports. I work out with a trainer and play tennis. I'm pretty frugal. VH1: You have a good 401(k)? McCready: All that. I'm very conservative. VH1: You're setting a bad example for the rock stars of tomorrow. 401(k)'s and tennis ... McCready: We don't generally go to the country clubs. We play on the street courts. We played this morning, actually and Stone hit me in the balls. VH1: You've done another rare thing, which is set yourselves up to be career artists. Can you imagine yourself looking over at Eddie 20 years from now and giving him the nod to play "Jeremy?" Gossard: I try not to think about that kind of stuff too much because if you're thinking that far ahead you can shoot yourself in the foot. We don't know what the challenges will be for this band in the coming years. We're just happy to be part of it now. The idea of being a band 20 years from now sounds exciting to me, if it's real and based on a continued growth and not plugging away. You hear about the Stones and how they're really mixing up the set list now and ask, “Why didn't they do that the last 20 years?” It's exciting that they're doing it now and taking chances and being aggressive. You've gotta stay aggressive. If anything that's what excites me about this record. It feels like we're playing aggressively. Vedder: Everyone in the band writes, so it's more of just a place for us to put the songs. I don't think anyone is defined by this band, or even being in a band. It becomes our focus for the next six months, playing shows and being out there with it, but it doesn't define who we are. We have lives in our communities that have more to do with who we are. See Mike and Stone remember the concerts that influenced them as a live band. VH1: R.E.M. used to say they'd never go on if one of the core guys quit. Aside from the kind of Spinal Tap thing you have going on in the drummer position, do you have a similar pact? Gossard: Longest drummer we've ever had in the band right now! We haven't talked about it at all. You never know what's going to happen. Whatever the circumstances of one of us leaving, it's up to the four or five guys left to figure that out. McCready: The fact that Matt's got three songs on the record and is excited about playing makes it seem pretty permanent and I hope it stays that way. VH1: Matt, were you surprised that they were so open to using your songs? Cameron: I was just really happy with the way some of my material was elevated once the band got a hold of it. A lot of times there's certain elements in your songs you think will be stronger once you bring it to the band, and sometimes it doesn't work out that way. Everyone in this band is really open-minded. I actually played guitar on one song ["You Are"] and they really wanted that sound, they liked it. See Jeff talk about being Pearl Jam’s art director. VH1: Could you ever consider experimenting and deconstructing your sound along the lines of what Radiohead have done? McCready: It would have to be more natural than conscious. If it was a thought-out thing and we said "We're going to try to be more experimental," it wouldn't work. Matt's song "You Are" is in that vein. Gossard: The idea of that is very exciting. To get five people all moving in that direction is a different thing. On some level ... it could be counterintuitive. It might be like a team used to slowing the ball down and playing defense and posting up trying to run the ball up the court just to experiment when it doesn't come natural. When you deconstruct stuff you spend a lot of time with one or two people at the studio helm, making a lot of decisions as opposed to all of you in a room playing music together. VH1: In "Love Boat Captain" you talk about losing nine friends you'll never know. Who are those people? Vedder: I don't think I'm pulling the curtain away too much to say that it's in regards to Roskilde. The thing is, we did get to know some of them through it. One guy, Anthony Hurley, from Australia. I know a lot about him now that I've met his sister. He was the oldest of four siblings, which I related to. We invited them to the shows in Seattle at the end of our last tour and then they came up to the house. It's really nice to have gotten to know who they were. It's part of the process, it made it easier, more human. It was a really difficult thing to process and to continue. Not just playing, but in all aspects. It's been a really healthy thing to have contact with the families. VH1: Do you think that tragedy changed you? Vedder: Absolutely. It changed everyone: our crew, most of the people who were there. It changed the way festivals are being done ... I hope. What it comes down to is that you have to create a safe place for people to be able to let go and lose themselves, whether they want to drink too much or whatever. It shouldn't be the crowd's responsibility to keep itself safe. If there are that many people, you have to provide that safety for them and nothing should be spared in order to do that. VH1: That song seems to say that when you're young sometimes you don't live long enough to regret what you might have done differently. Do you really believe, as you sing, that "love is all we need?" Is that enough? Vedder: I think that it's a healthy place to start. The first step is love; understanding and communication come after that. Like, we almost have to understand Muslims to understand why we felt hatred affect us on our soil. After Columbine, I went to this symposium about the shooting; both teachers and students were there. The best idea I heard on how to prevent this kind of thing went way beyond searches and metal detectors at the front door. This one young woman stood up and said, “I feel like if we just reached out and said, ‘Hi’ to one another in the hallways that would help.” It was really profound. After September 11th, everyone felt that way and we were talking to each other in the street and looking at each other as Americans. We all came together and next thing you know we're all parading around in our cars and SUVs with 89-cent flags made in China. I feel like it was lost pretty quickly. It became about revenge. It's understandable, but won't make us feel any better. VH1: Is it justified to be aggressors against Iraq in this case? Vedder: Absolutely not - not if it means dropping bombs indiscriminately. The repercussions of this are innocent people dying and you're going to create new generations of hatred towards us. We've had sanctions that haven't worked and at the same time we have [Vice President Dick] Cheney making oil deals with Saddam Hussein up until months before he accepted the nomination. They're obviously not telling us the whole story. Bush spoke to the UN a few days ago - I don't think he mentioned oil once. You're going to tell me we're going to go into Iraq, and interest in oil had nothing to do with it? VH1: "Save You" sounds like a song that could have been on your debut, it's so raw and hard. But what’s with all the casual cursing? Why call someone who is so important to you a f*cker? Vedder: It is a term of endearment. Really, it is, especially when you're a little bit frustrated. VH1: Did that come out of a real situation? Vedder: It's just something I've experienced a number of times and ... It came out quick. I couldn't figure out any other word besides f*cker that had the same impact. Another potential radio hit [laughs]. I did have it up pretty loud a few times in traffic and even I felt a little bashful. That and I had a f*cking mohawk. VH1: Was that a fashion choice or temporary insanity? Vedder: It might have a statement against vanity, but then I realized how to keep it up and make it look good, it took 15 minutes longer than usual [each day]. Now I just look like a conservative. I'm a wolf in sheep's clothing at this point. VH1: This time around it seems like you shared writing duties a bit less than usual. Gossard: Matt wrote two lyrics and Jeff and I wrote one. Ed's an amazing lyricist and the strongest stuff is going to have his lyrical stamp on it. From a partnership feeling, his desire to incorporate everybody's ideas in this band and embrace other people's lyrics and songs is really exciting. It's not necessarily the norm for someone with that kind of artistic pull and respect. He has maintained a sense that he's a team player and I think we've gotten better because of his openness. But at the same time, he should be writing most of the lyrics on the records. McCready: Last time more people experimented with writing lyrics, but it's really working when [Ed's] really excited about it. I'd see him running up and down the stairs of the studio and type out lyrics and then run up and type out more lyrics 20 minutes later. I'd never really seen him in that mode before. He's got this beat-up old typewriter he's used for years. You hear him upstairs and he's got all this paper lying on the ground around him. VH1: Matt, you came into the band after their peak. Is it nice to be in a band where you're not getting mobbed and torn apart, but you are big enough that you can play anywhere and have a lot of people show up? Cameron: That's what you shoot for. If you can have success on your own terms in this business, which is rare, then you're doing something right. That's the situation I came into here and it's great. I was dealing with my own dramas with Soundgarden when we were trying to figure that shit out and, unfortunately, we couldn't work it out. VH1: Can you see where Soundgarden went wrong and Pearl Jam went right? Cameron: It was a different career path, a different wave of success. Ours came after a long time, so we had to do more of the traditional promotional crapola that you have to do: videos, being a glad-handing dandy to everyone you meet. I don't think we were that way as people, but we tried to do that and it eventually ate us up. We didn't have time to do what we did best. VH1: When you guys listen to a song like "Thumbing My Way," which seems really personal, do you ever ask Ed what it's about? McCready: I sort of know. I think I know. I'll ask him occasionally what a certain lyric is, but I generally feel kind of stupid doing that. I want to get what my interpretation is and what it means to me, which might be completely different than what it means to him. VH1: Do you feel like you know him pretty well? McCready: Yes and no. I know him as well ... I've known him for 12 years. I feel I do in the band setting, but as far as personal lives go, we stay away from each other when we're off the road. I went out surfing with him a couple of times. I know him pretty well, but not as much as maybe I'd like to. Getting too involved in other aspects of other people's lives is not healthy, not conducive to make good music. VH1: "Thumbing My Way" is about as personal and naked a song as you've written. Is it about some real regrets you have about mistakes you've made? Vedder: I'm pretty good at removing myself from most of the songs. One thing about writing songs is, they don't always have to be about you. When they are always about someone, I lose interest after a while. I was with Tim Robbins once and we heard a song on the radio and the lyrics were awful. And I said, "This is what diaries are for." And he said, "No, this is what locks on diaries are for."