April 12, 2024 • 24 mins
"Chris and Ted" have a great converstation with the abosolute Legend Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam. He talks about his new music and new album "Dark Matter". Practicing with the band mates and how the setlist will work with so much music. Eddie also pulls out his guitar mid-interview and plays a few rifts. We play a round of "Once Must Go" with Eddie... A Cubs Champions or all of their Grammy wins. And Stryker also asks a great question about Netflix's "The Last Dance". We enjoyed haing some time with the Legend Eddie. Hope you give us a listen.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hello, Eddie. I'm Booker.That would be my friend Striker. We
know we sound like a bad copshow, but thank you for being on
our show. This is such atreat for both of us. Thank you
so much. You know I Ithese names were they given to you by
your parents? Credible names. Bookerand there are last names, and we
both found them to be cooler thanour first names. Or the show would
(00:23):
be called Chris and Ted. Nowdoes that sound like a good show you
would want to listen to? Ithink not well if you had Chris and
Ted's excellent adventure. But Booker andStrikers, I understand you've made the right
choice. Thank you, Thank you. Let's get into this, Addie.
A few weeks back, you didthis really great special event at the Troubadour
in Los Angeles. We didn't getto go to this thing, but I
(00:44):
had a lot of friends that went, and you know, you went up
and you seem to be really chargedup about this new album. You played
it for everybody and then you talkedabout it. And in all my years
of Pearl Jam fandom, I've neverheard of you doing anything quite like this.
So what is it about this albumthat's got you out there so charged
up talking about it so much.Yeah, you know, to be honest,
(01:07):
I think we feel that way aboutevery record or or you know,
you you you do your best workat all times, and that's the goal.
But you know, this time,with the same amount of you know,
just a few things came together wherethe final batch of songs, I
(01:29):
I feel like, you know,it's a phenomenally to to do some of
your you know, to make agreat record after you've been a band.
You know, usually the best recordsare in the first three records of the
group. I used to talk toJohnny Ramone about this all the time,
and he was just you know,he studied bands, he studied he'd make
(01:49):
lists, you know, best records, greatest live bands. But the list
was, you know, name agreat record of a band that was made,
you know, after they had beena group for you know, more
than twenty years in our case,thirty. So it's it's rare, but
(02:12):
it feels like that, and we'rekind of getting that response from people as
well. So you know, Ithink we wowed every time to make the
best record possible, and then thisone just happened to be better. Dark
Matter twelve full length studio Albums dropson April nineteenth. Making this record,
(02:34):
Eddie, were a lot of youguys in the same room at the same
time, Were you in separate places? And where did you get it done?
You know, this one we recorded. We've been working with a guy
named Andrew Watt, who also youknow, as an example of what I
just covered, you know, hejust made the last Rolling Stones record and
that again is one of their bestrecords and a record you know when it
(02:59):
certainly when their best in the lasttwenty years. But he has but he
works out of Los Angeles, Sowe went down there and it really didn't
take too long. We were andand probably the fact that we were in
the room together at all times,right probably helped push that through. You
know, Andrew can get results quick, and then the process becomes quicker and
(03:22):
there's less second guessing, and thenwhen the results are good bit the end
of the night, then you itkind of parlays into the next day and
you know, I don't know ifthis is boring for people to hear about
the supporting process. I mean,all they really should be concerned about is
the end results. But it's it'scool to think that it happened pretty quick,
and I think what you'll hear andwhat I hear but is the performances.
(03:50):
Because stuff wasn't overworked or it didn'tbecome homework. You're you're actually hearing
like a you know they're there,they're well appointed, you know, jams
in a way. You know,it was really happening so quick that everyone
had to play fluid. And ifyou listen to the drumming by Matt Cameron,
(04:11):
that would be a prime example onthis record. He's really you know,
there's a lot of great drummers outthere these days, and it just
proves that he's amongst the greatest.Sure, Dark Matter is our gateway drug
to the album. It's the firstthing that we got to hear here.
And you know, on first listen, you're like, whoa, this has
got a punk joan jet sort ofcohesive rock punk thing to it. Was
(04:38):
this something you guys sat down asa band and decided, hey, let's
lean more into that direction or doesthis just fall out of you? Yeah,
we've never for better or worse,We've just never been that good at
you know, planning or coming upwith a vision or direction. It just
(04:59):
kind of happens and then you followit. So you know, every one
of these tunes on the record reallyjust kind of sprouted quickly, you know,
almost like those time lapse photography ofplants come the bursting out of the
soil, a lot like that.And again, artistically it was it was
(05:23):
gratifying because you could see the plantand the flower, so to speak,
by the end of the day.And then you know, you could say,
well that if you had a certainamount of songs that were this tempo
or this approach, maybe you couldyou could then make a plan to fill
(05:43):
in the blanks. But we didn'teven do that. It just was kind
of one song after another and endedup making a kind of a cohesive set
list of songs to go on arecord. Eddie Vedder is joining Chris and
Ted's excellent radio venture right now,Eddie, it's Striker here. Ted Striker,
thank you for sending over all thesongs. There's one in particular,
(06:05):
and I don't need to know themeaning or anything, but it's called running.
And I felt like, when I'mlistening to this, I'm heading to
like a bad religion concert and I'mabout to just go completely bananas. Did
did bad Religion ever cross your mind? What do you feel? How do
you feel about the song running?Can you please give me a tidbit about
(06:26):
it? Because I love it somuch. So that band certainly in our
DNA and man I used to seehim early back in the day. They
were in San Diego, when Iwas down there working there. There was
a club called Tijuana's It I'm sorry, not Tijuana in Tijuana called uh,
(06:47):
what's the name that tonight when you'resleeping? Well serier than that, but
Infected open on May fifth, allthose many many years ago, and Jane's
Addiction opened up the venue before itwas finished, so there was three,
three levels and none of them hadguardrails yet it was It was terrifying.
(07:09):
But and I and Bad Religion wouldwould play a lot in southern California,
so we were I was blessed toget to see them almost on a bi
monthly basis, and then we touredwith them later on and became close with
all the fellows, so they've they'vealways been in there, I think as
(07:30):
the Jeff Ayment brought in the riff, and then I think I wrote two
songs that day and this was thesecond, and I just wanted to.
I just wanted to finish it beforeday's end. I didn't want to.
You know, if that would havebeen playing through my head at night,
obviously I wouldn't be sleeping, SoI wanted to sleep. Spent the time
(07:53):
in a little bus. The placethe studio we recorded was called Shangri La
and there's a little old old timeamy buss in the back that that rumor
has it belonged to Bob Dylan.And that was kind of my writing room
with a little typewriter and a smalllamp. And so yeah, while they
were mixing whatever song we did earlierthat day, I kind of bang that
(08:16):
one out and yeah, just Iwanted to sweep You said that magic word
set list. Do you know thesesongs? Does the band know this new
album? Do you have to rehearsethis for a while? Because you are
known for Jerry Cantrell told a wonderfulstory about you that your poor band.
Every day you just present them withthe playlist and you're like, this is
(08:37):
what we're playing tonight. They're like, we haven't played nothing, man in
twenty five years or whatever it wouldbe. Hey, do you know these
songs? Let's start there. Weare assumed to know these songs. Yes,
we are practicing it. WHOA,yeah, that kind of thing.
(08:58):
Okay, we are practiced thing.I'm doing my vocal exercises. I'm actually
I'm not. Okay, yeah Ishould be, but no, we're Yeah,
we are. Our first real bigday is tomorrow, so we're all
excited. And to the second partof that question, do you torture the
band with the setlist? Is thata hard thing for some of the guys
(09:20):
to remember, you know, thisis album twelve, that's a lot of
music. Addie, Well, Ithink that's a question to have to ask
them because if I do, whichI could see how that would happen.
They haven't completely mentioned it to meyet. But you know, for example,
(09:45):
I think the last it was kindof a mini tour, a leg
that we did. Last leg wedid it went through Texas and a few
places Chicago, and I think weonly I think it was only ten shows,
but I think we played about onehundred and new songs within those,
you know, different songs in thattime. And you know, I it's
it's good. It keeps us youknow, not every song probably came out
(10:09):
perfect, but I think people,some people you know, it's there's a
lot of people that go to alot of shows, and so even though
they're in the minority, we westill play with their their interests. And
(10:30):
in mind, you know, theyhad to have lists they can they have
lists of songs are catalog that theythey wait to hear so they can check
off the list, you know.And and it's you know, it's it's
it's uh, you know, gettingthat that card that you were missing in
the collection or something. So we'rewe're aware of it, and and it's
(10:50):
it's it's not an easy equation.So as much as I might be torturing
them, I I tortured myself aswell. Let's put it that way.
I heard the guitar next to you. Can I request two songs please during
this? Okay, that's awesome.Eddie Vedder is joining us. I have
(11:20):
a question about the past, butit's about the president in the future.
From ninety one to ninety four,you guys were incredibly prolific with three albums
in like three years, and thesongs were incredible. Is that something because
you, I mean, you havethe fire in your belly, you still
do that you would consider doing again. We know we're also playing. Yeah,
did we really do that? Yes, I mean ninety one, ten
(11:45):
ninety three verses and then ninety fourwas the next one right off. I
mean that's a lot of music ina short amount of time. Well,
yeah, maybe that's and then Iguess we just the shows were shorter,
you know that first our shows werefifty minutes long, right, you know,
but we were on the road alot, and there was just basically
(12:07):
no days off. But that's howmost of the older groups used to do
it, even going back into thesixties, whether it was the Who,
the Kinks, or the Beatles,I mean, you know who they were
recording Quadenia. They record all dayand then then get in a band and
go up to play leads or youknow, play in the you know,
(12:30):
surrounding towns. I would we doit again, you know, I think
I said recently, I've only maybetalked to a couple of people, but
one of the things that came outwas like notable band says that they have
maybe two good records left in them. You know, the reality is we
could record you know, this recordtook all of four or five weeks in
(12:56):
the studio, no more than probablyabout four altogether. So we could do
that a lot, and we couldmake ten records, but it's it's more
the the you know, the it'spositive, but the good things you do
around a record, whether it's artworkor interviews or uh you know, touring.
(13:16):
So outside of that, I thinkis as a creative vessel, I
think the band could just keep goingand going. But but the other stuff
about, you know, the recordbecomes a fire for the live shows,
you know, so going out thereand playing the songs live and seeing how
they live in its natural habitat,and and and displaying the performances and getting
(13:43):
to share it with a live audiencein a large group. But it's kind
of one of the reasons why youdo it. So yeah, I think,
uh, you know. And theother thing is is, uh,
we have we all have kids,and I think it's important to be present
as parents and that probably someone sayit gets in the way, but we
(14:11):
don't want to up kids. Sorry, Booker and Striker with the great Eddie
Vedder, Let's talk about the rolloutof Dark Matter. You have this movie,
the Pearl Jam dark Matter global theatricalexperience. We really need to workshop.
This title doesn't really come off theDJ tongue that quickly whose idea was
(14:31):
this? Why are you in lovewith it? Why are you doing it?
Go the bitle was not my idea. Clearly, elderly woman behind the
counter and a small town was thatwas all me. Take blame and credit
Toche. And then this one,you know, just to just to clarify
(14:54):
it, it's not a film ora movie. It's really just a using
a you like, a movie theaterwith hopefully really good sound systems to be
able to play the record and playit loud. And I think, you
know, it's in a whole.It was just going to be in a
(15:15):
few theaters, and then the ideakind of it got some momentum and now
it's going to be in like ninehundred theaters and forty five different countries.
And they just I think they playedthe record twice, once in the dark
and then once with lyrics or somethingvisuals. Oh, but so it could
be a cool communal experience. AndI think probably the way it got approved
(15:41):
by the group is just that we'reexcited to get the music out there and
that they could, you know,folks could hear it before they could even
buy it. Was was kind ofinteresting and and kind of experience it,
and you know, it's nice toexperience things in a group. Here's one
for you that I boy, Ithink I know the answer to, but
(16:02):
I think a lot of fans wouldlike to hear this. You know,
you have gotten a lot of accoladesover the years, whether it be a
Grammy and oh no, a Kid'sChoice, a bowling trophy, whatever.
If you were to take all ofthese accolades, and you know, maybe
one of these two things gets takenaway, all the accolades or the Cubs
winning the World Series, what wouldyou get rid of? One must go,
(16:26):
one must go. Well, forsure, if the Cubs hadn't won
the World Series, the answer wouldbe Cubs win the World Series. But
even though they won in sixteen twentysixteen, I would still say Cubs winning
the World Series. That's that's more, you know, And that's that's what
they do. You know that thatis their goal. Our goal is certainly
(16:49):
not to win a trophy and pourchampagne over each other's heads. But you
may have a couple of red redwine more likely. Yeah, yeah,
it's it's it's nice, but Iyou know, it was funny thing about
(17:10):
Wards like, I don't think anyof this, it's not really tangible or
that meaningful. However, when whenI'm watching something like that and then they
do the nominees, I definitely wantcertain people to win. I'm like,
come on, come on, comeon. Yeah, so I really,
but I don't. I don't really. I don't think we'd picked much stock
(17:33):
into ourselves. But Eddie Vedder fromPearl Jim Hall of Famer Class of twenty
seventeen. Booker brought up sports.So I'm going to go to this and
it's Chicago. When I watched theLast Dance the Bull Story Slash Michael Jordan,
and then after the last episode,Present Tense played in full, I
got the goose bumps and I thought, this pulls it all together. Did
(17:55):
you like how it was used in? Like how much did you know about
that it was going to be inthe Last Stands? You know, I'll
tell you I was watching you know, we were watching those live because remember
it was COVID and we were allon these kind of text chains, you
know, as you watch them.And then it became such a powerful vehicle
(18:15):
for drama, and you know,remembering all that happened with those those years
of basketball and Chicago Bulls and theywere you know, like the Beatles,
you know, Jordan Rodman, Pipand Phil Jackson, Steve Kerr. It
was Luke Long. You know.It was a powerful time and Jeff and
I hadn't experienced a lot of it, and being very close to Dennis and
(18:37):
kind of traveling close to the teamand going to you know, playoffs and
finals and champagne being poured over yourhead that whole thing, cigars that I
don't know, and and and soto watch it, I'll there was a
text chain of a few people andwatching it live and it would be you
(18:57):
know maybe or you know a lotof people in the know, a lot
all the people that were there.And so anyways we're watching it live.
And now it was the last episode. I was watching with my daughter and
towards the end, and I hadno idea. I heard maybe they were
(19:17):
going to use given to fly aslike a commercial break or something, which
I never saw. So now it'sending, and you heard this little kind
of melodic notes in the back andthey're Shawn Michael kind of sitting down.
And then daughters said, you know, Dad, is that you? I
said, yeah, And then Ithought they would, you know, just
(19:41):
choose a little bit and then gointo the next So I was unprepared for
that, that whole you know,it was the whole song. It was
an extended version because then they putin all the highlights of of you know,
of the whole ten episodes. Reallythey compact them into that piece of
music and that ending crescendo. AndI tell you so, I hope I
(20:06):
wasn't long winded on that, butI guess what I'm saying here. It
was one of the most moving experiencesof my whole life. I was so
proud to be part of that andthen to be kind of part of the
culmination. And I had never spokento the directors. I still have and
I need to tell them. Butthat was that was really powerful and totally
(20:29):
unexpected. I hope you don't regretasking that question. It was a long
winded answer. Every syllable that fliesout of your bouth is the coolest thing
for Booker and I were just radionerds that have been doing this a while
and we're fans, and yeah,so thank you for sharing all this stuff.
This is great stuff. And youknow, when I think of I'm
a crazy fan and you have.You know, I don't even want to
go into the Yeah, I don'twant to go into the amount of shows
(20:52):
he may have me arrested for stalkingor something. I've been to a lot
of Pearl Jab shows stalker and straggeryep, exactly. But I'll leave you
with this. Your band is morethan just a band to a lot of
people. For me, it's athing, a friendship of lifelong friendships.
I still remember my friend Jen whogave me your cassette with the funky writing
on it, like you have tohear this. And my friend Matt who
(21:15):
got every live show that he couldcome up with and printed them all onto
CDs for me. And I mean, there's just countless stories of us Pearl
Jam fans that we just have thisthing because of the music that you write.
So thank you. It's great asa fan to be able to say
thank you for that great music.Well that man, if you think about
the community, which you know weare aware of, but you know the
(21:36):
fact that people have met or cultivatedfriendships through the group you know, or
met and got married and had kids, and you know, based on meeting
up at a show or sharing themusic. Those are the kind of accolades
that means something, you know,and it's really very little to do with
(21:57):
us, just kind of us doingour thing. And but that's that's a
very powerful thing. It doesn't happenall the time for groups, and and
I think it's one of the thingsthat, you know, the support of
the audience has kept us together reallyand and we are friends as a band,
and we are close and brothers,and but I think that brotherhood was
(22:21):
not just forged on the stage andbeing a band, but also supported by
the audience. And without that,I'm not I'm sure we might have gone
the way of most other groups,which is, you know, just a
polled a much earlier. You know, while you talk about friends, let
(22:44):
me let me thank Jen and thankMatt for creating you booker or your appreciation
for the group. And then there'ssomebody I was just gonna shout out a
woman that we've worked with since dayone, and actually earlier than day one
because she worked with Mother Love Boneas well. But it's her birthday today
and her name's Michelle Anthony, andI just wanted to on behalf of the
(23:07):
group. And again, people whoin regards to people who have supported us
over the years, kept us together. Couldn't have done it without her.
So happy birthday, Michelle. Shegot me tickets to the Borgata showed Atlantic
City. Thank you, Michelle,I love you too. Out Michelle's done
nothing for me. Blocked, She'sblocked. So it's Eddie and Jefferstone and
(23:30):
Mike and Matt. They're Hall offamers. And I say this all the
time in the radio, on stageand off. Eddie, congratulations on the
new record, Dark Matter, comesout April nineteenth. Thank you so much
for taking the time to jump onwith us. We really appreciate radio bozos.
Yes, thank you. Well,I think this is the first time
we've met. Yeah it is,yes, it is. Well. I
(23:52):
will always remember it. And thankyou so much for your time and playing
the songs and all the songs.Thanks for keeping all music, you know,
putting it into people's ears. It'sit's really really our whole music community.
We're grateful to you guys. Eddie, vedder On, Chris and Tad
have a great day rehearsing tomorrow.We'll see you soon, man, We'll
(24:15):
see you at the forum. Wewill see you all right, much love
fell Okay, thank you whoop
Hello, Eddie. I'm Booker.That would be my friend Striker. We
know we sound like a bad copshow, but thank you for being on
our show. This is such atreat for both of us. Thank you
so much. You know I Ithese names were they given to you by
your parents? Credible names. Bookerand there are last names, and we
both found them to be cooler thanour first names. Or the show would
(00:23):
be called Chris and Ted. Nowdoes that sound like a good show you
would want to listen to? Ithink not well if you had Chris and
Ted's excellent adventure. But Booker andStrikers, I understand you've made the right
choice. Thank you, Thank you. Let's get into this, Addie.
A few weeks back, you didthis really great special event at the Troubadour
in Los Angeles. We didn't getto go to this thing, but I
(00:44):
had a lot of friends that went, and you know, you went up
and you seem to be really chargedup about this new album. You played
it for everybody and then you talkedabout it. And in all my years
of Pearl Jam fandom, I've neverheard of you doing anything quite like this.
So what is it about this albumthat's got you out there so charged
up talking about it so much.Yeah, you know, to be honest,
(01:07):
I think we feel that way aboutevery record or or you know,
you you you do your best workat all times, and that's the goal.
But you know, this time,with the same amount of you know,
just a few things came together wherethe final batch of songs, I
(01:29):
I feel like, you know,it's a phenomenally to to do some of
your you know, to make agreat record after you've been a band.
You know, usually the best recordsare in the first three records of the
group. I used to talk toJohnny Ramone about this all the time,
and he was just you know,he studied bands, he studied he'd make
(01:49):
lists, you know, best records, greatest live bands. But the list
was, you know, name agreat record of a band that was made,
you know, after they had beena group for you know, more
than twenty years in our case,thirty. So it's it's rare, but
(02:12):
it feels like that, and we'rekind of getting that response from people as
well. So you know, Ithink we wowed every time to make the
best record possible, and then thisone just happened to be better. Dark
Matter twelve full length studio Albums dropson April nineteenth. Making this record,
(02:34):
Eddie, were a lot of youguys in the same room at the same
time, Were you in separate places? And where did you get it done?
You know, this one we recorded. We've been working with a guy
named Andrew Watt, who also youknow, as an example of what I
just covered, you know, hejust made the last Rolling Stones record and
that again is one of their bestrecords and a record you know when it
(02:59):
certainly when their best in the lasttwenty years. But he has but he
works out of Los Angeles, Sowe went down there and it really didn't
take too long. We were andand probably the fact that we were in
the room together at all times,right probably helped push that through. You
know, Andrew can get results quick, and then the process becomes quicker and
(03:22):
there's less second guessing, and thenwhen the results are good bit the end
of the night, then you itkind of parlays into the next day and
you know, I don't know ifthis is boring for people to hear about
the supporting process. I mean,all they really should be concerned about is
the end results. But it's it'scool to think that it happened pretty quick,
and I think what you'll hear andwhat I hear but is the performances.
(03:50):
Because stuff wasn't overworked or it didn'tbecome homework. You're you're actually hearing
like a you know they're there,they're well appointed, you know, jams
in a way. You know,it was really happening so quick that everyone
had to play fluid. And ifyou listen to the drumming by Matt Cameron,
(04:11):
that would be a prime example onthis record. He's really you know,
there's a lot of great drummers outthere these days, and it just
proves that he's amongst the greatest.Sure, Dark Matter is our gateway drug
to the album. It's the firstthing that we got to hear here.
And you know, on first listen, you're like, whoa, this has
got a punk joan jet sort ofcohesive rock punk thing to it. Was
(04:38):
this something you guys sat down asa band and decided, hey, let's
lean more into that direction or doesthis just fall out of you? Yeah,
we've never for better or worse,We've just never been that good at
you know, planning or coming upwith a vision or direction. It just
(04:59):
kind of happens and then you followit. So you know, every one
of these tunes on the record reallyjust kind of sprouted quickly, you know,
almost like those time lapse photography ofplants come the bursting out of the
soil, a lot like that.And again, artistically it was it was
(05:23):
gratifying because you could see the plantand the flower, so to speak,
by the end of the day.And then you know, you could say,
well that if you had a certainamount of songs that were this tempo
or this approach, maybe you couldyou could then make a plan to fill
(05:43):
in the blanks. But we didn'teven do that. It just was kind
of one song after another and endedup making a kind of a cohesive set
list of songs to go on arecord. Eddie Vedder is joining Chris and
Ted's excellent radio venture right now,Eddie, it's Striker here. Ted Striker,
thank you for sending over all thesongs. There's one in particular,
(06:05):
and I don't need to know themeaning or anything, but it's called running.
And I felt like, when I'mlistening to this, I'm heading to
like a bad religion concert and I'mabout to just go completely bananas. Did
did bad Religion ever cross your mind? What do you feel? How do
you feel about the song running?Can you please give me a tidbit about
(06:26):
it? Because I love it somuch. So that band certainly in our
DNA and man I used to seehim early back in the day. They
were in San Diego, when Iwas down there working there. There was
a club called Tijuana's It I'm sorry, not Tijuana in Tijuana called uh,
(06:47):
what's the name that tonight when you'resleeping? Well serier than that, but
Infected open on May fifth, allthose many many years ago, and Jane's
Addiction opened up the venue before itwas finished, so there was three,
three levels and none of them hadguardrails yet it was It was terrifying.
(07:09):
But and I and Bad Religion wouldwould play a lot in southern California,
so we were I was blessed toget to see them almost on a bi
monthly basis, and then we touredwith them later on and became close with
all the fellows, so they've they'vealways been in there, I think as
(07:30):
the Jeff Ayment brought in the riff, and then I think I wrote two
songs that day and this was thesecond, and I just wanted to.
I just wanted to finish it beforeday's end. I didn't want to.
You know, if that would havebeen playing through my head at night,
obviously I wouldn't be sleeping, SoI wanted to sleep. Spent the time
(07:53):
in a little bus. The placethe studio we recorded was called Shangri La
and there's a little old old timeamy buss in the back that that rumor
has it belonged to Bob Dylan.And that was kind of my writing room
with a little typewriter and a smalllamp. And so yeah, while they
were mixing whatever song we did earlierthat day, I kind of bang that
(08:16):
one out and yeah, just Iwanted to sweep You said that magic word
set list. Do you know thesesongs? Does the band know this new
album? Do you have to rehearsethis for a while? Because you are
known for Jerry Cantrell told a wonderfulstory about you that your poor band.
Every day you just present them withthe playlist and you're like, this is
(08:37):
what we're playing tonight. They're like, we haven't played nothing, man in
twenty five years or whatever it wouldbe. Hey, do you know these
songs? Let's start there. Weare assumed to know these songs. Yes,
we are practicing it. WHOA,yeah, that kind of thing.
(08:58):
Okay, we are practiced thing.I'm doing my vocal exercises. I'm actually
I'm not. Okay, yeah Ishould be, but no, we're Yeah,
we are. Our first real bigday is tomorrow, so we're all
excited. And to the second partof that question, do you torture the
band with the setlist? Is thata hard thing for some of the guys
(09:20):
to remember, you know, thisis album twelve, that's a lot of
music. Addie, Well, Ithink that's a question to have to ask
them because if I do, whichI could see how that would happen.
They haven't completely mentioned it to meyet. But you know, for example,
(09:45):
I think the last it was kindof a mini tour, a leg
that we did. Last leg wedid it went through Texas and a few
places Chicago, and I think weonly I think it was only ten shows,
but I think we played about onehundred and new songs within those,
you know, different songs in thattime. And you know, I it's
it's good. It keeps us youknow, not every song probably came out
(10:09):
perfect, but I think people,some people you know, it's there's a
lot of people that go to alot of shows, and so even though
they're in the minority, we westill play with their their interests. And
(10:30):
in mind, you know, theyhad to have lists they can they have
lists of songs are catalog that theythey wait to hear so they can check
off the list, you know.And and it's you know, it's it's
it's uh, you know, gettingthat that card that you were missing in
the collection or something. So we'rewe're aware of it, and and it's
(10:50):
it's it's not an easy equation.So as much as I might be torturing
them, I I tortured myself aswell. Let's put it that way.
I heard the guitar next to you. Can I request two songs please during
this? Okay, that's awesome.Eddie Vedder is joining us. I have
(11:20):
a question about the past, butit's about the president in the future.
From ninety one to ninety four,you guys were incredibly prolific with three albums
in like three years, and thesongs were incredible. Is that something because
you, I mean, you havethe fire in your belly, you still
do that you would consider doing again. We know we're also playing. Yeah,
did we really do that? Yes, I mean ninety one, ten
(11:45):
ninety three verses and then ninety fourwas the next one right off. I
mean that's a lot of music ina short amount of time. Well,
yeah, maybe that's and then Iguess we just the shows were shorter,
you know that first our shows werefifty minutes long, right, you know,
but we were on the road alot, and there was just basically
(12:07):
no days off. But that's howmost of the older groups used to do
it, even going back into thesixties, whether it was the Who,
the Kinks, or the Beatles,I mean, you know who they were
recording Quadenia. They record all dayand then then get in a band and
go up to play leads or youknow, play in the you know,
(12:30):
surrounding towns. I would we doit again, you know, I think
I said recently, I've only maybetalked to a couple of people, but
one of the things that came outwas like notable band says that they have
maybe two good records left in them. You know, the reality is we
could record you know, this recordtook all of four or five weeks in
(12:56):
the studio, no more than probablyabout four altogether. So we could do
that a lot, and we couldmake ten records, but it's it's more
the the you know, the it'spositive, but the good things you do
around a record, whether it's artworkor interviews or uh you know, touring.
(13:16):
So outside of that, I thinkis as a creative vessel, I
think the band could just keep goingand going. But but the other stuff
about, you know, the recordbecomes a fire for the live shows,
you know, so going out thereand playing the songs live and seeing how
they live in its natural habitat,and and and displaying the performances and getting
(13:43):
to share it with a live audiencein a large group. But it's kind
of one of the reasons why youdo it. So yeah, I think,
uh, you know. And theother thing is is, uh,
we have we all have kids,and I think it's important to be present
as parents and that probably someone sayit gets in the way, but we
(14:11):
don't want to up kids. Sorry, Booker and Striker with the great Eddie
Vedder, Let's talk about the rolloutof Dark Matter. You have this movie,
the Pearl Jam dark Matter global theatricalexperience. We really need to workshop.
This title doesn't really come off theDJ tongue that quickly whose idea was
(14:31):
this? Why are you in lovewith it? Why are you doing it?
Go the bitle was not my idea. Clearly, elderly woman behind the
counter and a small town was thatwas all me. Take blame and credit
Toche. And then this one,you know, just to just to clarify
(14:54):
it, it's not a film ora movie. It's really just a using
a you like, a movie theaterwith hopefully really good sound systems to be
able to play the record and playit loud. And I think, you
know, it's in a whole.It was just going to be in a
(15:15):
few theaters, and then the ideakind of it got some momentum and now
it's going to be in like ninehundred theaters and forty five different countries.
And they just I think they playedthe record twice, once in the dark
and then once with lyrics or somethingvisuals. Oh, but so it could
be a cool communal experience. AndI think probably the way it got approved
(15:41):
by the group is just that we'reexcited to get the music out there and
that they could, you know,folks could hear it before they could even
buy it. Was was kind ofinteresting and and kind of experience it,
and you know, it's nice toexperience things in a group. Here's one
for you that I boy, Ithink I know the answer to, but
(16:02):
I think a lot of fans wouldlike to hear this. You know,
you have gotten a lot of accoladesover the years, whether it be a
Grammy and oh no, a Kid'sChoice, a bowling trophy, whatever.
If you were to take all ofthese accolades, and you know, maybe
one of these two things gets takenaway, all the accolades or the Cubs
winning the World Series, what wouldyou get rid of? One must go,
(16:26):
one must go. Well, forsure, if the Cubs hadn't won
the World Series, the answer wouldbe Cubs win the World Series. But
even though they won in sixteen twentysixteen, I would still say Cubs winning
the World Series. That's that's more, you know, And that's that's what
they do. You know that thatis their goal. Our goal is certainly
(16:49):
not to win a trophy and pourchampagne over each other's heads. But you
may have a couple of red redwine more likely. Yeah, yeah,
it's it's it's nice, but Iyou know, it was funny thing about
(17:10):
Wards like, I don't think anyof this, it's not really tangible or
that meaningful. However, when whenI'm watching something like that and then they
do the nominees, I definitely wantcertain people to win. I'm like,
come on, come on, comeon. Yeah, so I really,
but I don't. I don't really. I don't think we'd picked much stock
(17:33):
into ourselves. But Eddie Vedder fromPearl Jim Hall of Famer Class of twenty
seventeen. Booker brought up sports.So I'm going to go to this and
it's Chicago. When I watched theLast Dance the Bull Story Slash Michael Jordan,
and then after the last episode,Present Tense played in full, I
got the goose bumps and I thought, this pulls it all together. Did
(17:55):
you like how it was used in? Like how much did you know about
that it was going to be inthe Last Stands? You know, I'll
tell you I was watching you know, we were watching those live because remember
it was COVID and we were allon these kind of text chains, you
know, as you watch them.And then it became such a powerful vehicle
(18:15):
for drama, and you know,remembering all that happened with those those years
of basketball and Chicago Bulls and theywere you know, like the Beatles,
you know, Jordan Rodman, Pipand Phil Jackson, Steve Kerr. It
was Luke Long. You know.It was a powerful time and Jeff and
I hadn't experienced a lot of it, and being very close to Dennis and
(18:37):
kind of traveling close to the teamand going to you know, playoffs and
finals and champagne being poured over yourhead that whole thing, cigars that I
don't know, and and and soto watch it, I'll there was a
text chain of a few people andwatching it live and it would be you
(18:57):
know maybe or you know a lotof people in the know, a lot
all the people that were there.And so anyways we're watching it live.
And now it was the last episode. I was watching with my daughter and
towards the end, and I hadno idea. I heard maybe they were
(19:17):
going to use given to fly aslike a commercial break or something, which
I never saw. So now it'sending, and you heard this little kind
of melodic notes in the back andthey're Shawn Michael kind of sitting down.
And then daughters said, you know, Dad, is that you? I
said, yeah, And then Ithought they would, you know, just
(19:41):
choose a little bit and then gointo the next So I was unprepared for
that, that whole you know,it was the whole song. It was
an extended version because then they putin all the highlights of of you know,
of the whole ten episodes. Reallythey compact them into that piece of
music and that ending crescendo. AndI tell you so, I hope I
(20:06):
wasn't long winded on that, butI guess what I'm saying here. It
was one of the most moving experiencesof my whole life. I was so
proud to be part of that andthen to be kind of part of the
culmination. And I had never spokento the directors. I still have and
I need to tell them. Butthat was that was really powerful and totally
(20:29):
unexpected. I hope you don't regretasking that question. It was a long
winded answer. Every syllable that fliesout of your bouth is the coolest thing
for Booker and I were just radionerds that have been doing this a while
and we're fans, and yeah,so thank you for sharing all this stuff.
This is great stuff. And youknow, when I think of I'm
a crazy fan and you have.You know, I don't even want to
go into the Yeah, I don'twant to go into the amount of shows
(20:52):
he may have me arrested for stalkingor something. I've been to a lot
of Pearl Jab shows stalker and straggeryep, exactly. But I'll leave you
with this. Your band is morethan just a band to a lot of
people. For me, it's athing, a friendship of lifelong friendships.
I still remember my friend Jen whogave me your cassette with the funky writing
on it, like you have tohear this. And my friend Matt who
(21:15):
got every live show that he couldcome up with and printed them all onto
CDs for me. And I mean, there's just countless stories of us Pearl
Jam fans that we just have thisthing because of the music that you write.
So thank you. It's great asa fan to be able to say
thank you for that great music.Well that man, if you think about
the community, which you know weare aware of, but you know the
(21:36):
fact that people have met or cultivatedfriendships through the group you know, or
met and got married and had kids, and you know, based on meeting
up at a show or sharing themusic. Those are the kind of accolades
that means something, you know,and it's really very little to do with
(21:57):
us, just kind of us doingour thing. And but that's that's a
very powerful thing. It doesn't happenall the time for groups, and and
I think it's one of the thingsthat, you know, the support of
the audience has kept us together reallyand and we are friends as a band,
and we are close and brothers,and but I think that brotherhood was
(22:21):
not just forged on the stage andbeing a band, but also supported by
the audience. And without that,I'm not I'm sure we might have gone
the way of most other groups,which is, you know, just a
polled a much earlier. You know, while you talk about friends, let
(22:44):
me let me thank Jen and thankMatt for creating you booker or your appreciation
for the group. And then there'ssomebody I was just gonna shout out a
woman that we've worked with since dayone, and actually earlier than day one
because she worked with Mother Love Boneas well. But it's her birthday today
and her name's Michelle Anthony, andI just wanted to on behalf of the
(23:07):
group. And again, people whoin regards to people who have supported us
over the years, kept us together. Couldn't have done it without her.
So happy birthday, Michelle. Shegot me tickets to the Borgata showed Atlantic
City. Thank you, Michelle,I love you too. Out Michelle's done
nothing for me. Blocked, She'sblocked. So it's Eddie and Jefferstone and
(23:30):
Mike and Matt. They're Hall offamers. And I say this all the
time in the radio, on stageand off. Eddie, congratulations on the
new record, Dark Matter, comesout April nineteenth. Thank you so much
for taking the time to jump onwith us. We really appreciate radio bozos.
Yes, thank you. Well,I think this is the first time
we've met. Yeah it is,yes, it is. Well. I
(23:52):
will always remember it. And thankyou so much for your time and playing
the songs and all the songs.Thanks for keeping all music, you know,
putting it into people's ears. It'sit's really really our whole music community.
We're grateful to you guys. Eddie, vedder On, Chris and Tad
have a great day rehearsing tomorrow.We'll see you soon, man, We'll
(24:15):
see you at the forum. Wewill see you all right, much love
fell Okay, thank you whoop
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