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Pearl Jam are rock gods, and, as someone who lives in Seattle and has a weird, one-degree of separation from guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard, I’m still one of those ’90s grunge kids who plays their songs as often as possible without totally geeking out in front of those guys. At any moment of the day, my Sonos will definitely have Pearl Jam radio blasting, so hope my neighbors are as big of fans as I am.
As great as the group’s old stuff is, it’s been since 2013’s album, Lightning Bolt, since we actually got a new full album release. Well, talking to Rolling Stone, it sounds as if that’s about to change really soon — but they still need to put things all together.
According to a recent feature on the band, members of the band confirmed to the music magazine that a new album is coming, but that it’s just going slow. Some of that has to do with other priorities, but, a major factor was the May 2017 death of Chris Cornell, who was a legend himself and the former lead singer of groups like Soundgarden and Audioslave, as well as Temple of The Dog — which included every member of Pearl Jam.
Per Rolling Stone:
“It’d be fun to record or even just write a song together,” bassist Jeff Ament says. “I think when Chris [Cornell] passed, that’s really been a tough one to wrap our heads around, and then there’s just life stuff.”
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“We’ve gone in, probably, four or five times in the last couple of years, so we have a whole ton of unfinished stuff,” Ament says. “We’re just sort of in a little bit of limbo. I’m sure everybody’s got a bunch more riffs, and I’m sure Ed’s got a handful of journal lyrics. It’s just going to take us all getting into a room together for six weeks and just knocking something out.”
Stone Gossard also weighed in on the upcoming album, saying that, after the group went on a huge tour last year, he’s ready to put all of his focus back on Pearl Jam.
Gossard says that he, too, is ready to resume focus on recording with Pearl Jam. “We’re going to make a record, and we’re in the middle of it,” the guitarist says. “We’re just going to keep plugging away until we get one done.”
Although there aren’t many details outside of the confirmation that Pearl Jam is, in fact, working to put a new album together, considering they’re even putting ideas together and getting into a studio is pretty awesome news. Can’t wait to hear what they end up recording.