The band will kick the tour off June 11 in West Palm Beach, FL and wrap things up on June 30 in Mansfield, MA. The tour also includes the previously announced headlining spot at this year’s Bonnaroo Festival, as well as two nights at the legendary Madison Square Garden.

Some of the band members also spoke to Billboard, where bassist Jeff Ament stated that they have been tossing around ideas for a new album.

What a great day this turned out to be. I can’t wait to get my Pearl Jam fix this summer!

Here are the dates for the tour:

June 11: West Palm Beach, Fla. (Cruzan Amphitheatre)
June 12: Tampa, Fla. (St. Pete Times Forum)
June 13-15: Manchester, Tenn. (Bonnaroo Festival)
June 16: Columbia, S.C. (Colonial Center)
June 17: Virginia Beach, Va. (Verizon Wireless Center)
June 19: Camden, N.J. (Susquehanna Bank Center)
June 22: Washington, D.C. (Verizon Center)
June 24-25: New York (Madison Square Garden)
June 27: Hartford, Conn. (Dodge Music Center)
June 30: Mansfield, Mass. (Tweeter Center)

Post from: The Production Side

For the last couple of weeks I’ve had “I Am Mine” in a constant rotation, both on my iPod and just in my head.

“I Am Mine” was the first single from the band’s seventh studio, which was 2002’s Riot Act. Vedder wrote the track in a hotel room right before Pearl Jam’s first show following the unfortunate events at their 2000 performance at the Roskilde Festival. The song then made it’s live debut at the 2001 Bridge School Benefit.

This is what Matt Cameron told Billboard in 2002 about “I Am Mine”, “It seems like it has all the elements this band is known for: strong lyrics, strong hook, and a good sense of melody. It wasn’t a really tough decision to have that be the starting point for the record”.

I couldn’t agree more. It’s a great track, and I’m thinking that it’s becoming one of the band’s strongest tracks.

You can listen to the wonderful live debut of “I Am Mine” right here.

Here’s the video, which was filmed at Seattle’s Chop Suey as a promo for Riot Act.

Post from: The Production Side

I won’t cover the band known as Green River, the first band Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament were a part of back when they were we young lads in the early formations of what became the alternative Seattle grunge movement.

Rather, we’ll mention the band that really started putting the guys on the map: Mother Love Bone.

Starting in 1988 with guitarist Bruce Fairwhether, drummer Greg Glimore, and glam-rocker Andrew Wood, Mother Love Bone arrived on the scene and quickly became the darling of Seattle. Wood, known for his exuberant personality and stage presence, had already achieved some notoriety with his earlier band Malfunkshun. Mother Love Bone would secure a major label deal and soon release the EP Shine

However, as hype for the band’s full length debut began to develop, so did singer Wood’s heroin addiction (must be what all the cool kids in Seattle were doing at the time). Days before the release of Apple, Wood died of a heroin overdose, and the band-that-could-have-been were no more.

Mother Love Bone really had an original, awesome thing going for them. The bands only two records would eventually be released a compilation a few years later, after the band split and our two fathers of grunge formed a new band, Pearl Jam.

An interesting note: Andrew Wood was roommates of none other than Soundgarden commander-in-chief Chris Cornell, who started the Temple of the Dog project which would introduce Mike McCready to brothers grunge, who would then recruit Mr. Into The Wild and the rest they say is history.

Post from: The Production Side

The band promises a big announcement late tonight, and many are speculating that it will be Pearl Jam headlining this year’s Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. Rumours about PJ and Bonnaroo have being floating around for years, but it picked up some momentum for Pearl Jam fans last fall when bassist Jeff Ament gave a speech at the University of Montana where he mentioned that the band will be playing the annual festival this year.

The full line-up should be announced at midnight, so come back around for that info.

Hopefully, the band will do some sort of tour, because I’m in need of a Pearl Jam show, it’s been almost two years since the last time I saw them! And, I just don’t see myself participating in the madness of Bonnaroo.

In other Pearl Jam news, the band (minus Eddie) just recorded a cover of Bill Haley’s “Rock Around The Clock”, but have modified it to “Rock Around Barack”.

It should be no secret that the band have always thrown themselves into supporting political candidates, like the Vote For Change Tour in 2004, or supporting Ralph Nader in 2000. And, it’s not a shock to me that they are supporting Barack, it just seems right; not to mention that drummer Matt Cameron had already lent his talents on the track “Fired Up And Ready To Go!”. Although, I wonder where one Mr. Vedder was…

You can check out “Rock Around Barack” right here and prepared for it’s cheesiness, but that’s what makes it cool.

Post from: The Production Side

It marked the 10th Anniversary of my favorite Pearl Jam album, Yield.

Released on February 3, 1998, Yield was the band’s fifth album and marked somewhat a return to the band’s more straight forward roots, following the huge success of Vitalogy and the underestimated No Code.

Most of the album was influenced by Daniel Quinn’s novel Ishamael, most notably “Do The Evolution” and the recording was captured on the documentary Single Video Theory.

Yield kicks off with a bang during “Brain of J”, which is apparently about conspiracy theories, as if the title didn’t give it away. It segues perfectly into “Faithfull”, which seems to be about religion until it morphs into a song about relationships. From there the seldom live played “No Way” proves how great this band is.

Then the back to back hits enter with the beautiful “Given To Fly” and the simple, yet complex “Wishlist”. “Pilate” follows, which is one of the two tracks written by bassist Jeff Ament; which were also his first lyrical contributions on a Pearl Jam album.

“Do The Evolution” roars by next, which besides being a powerhouse of a song, is also remembered for the Todd McFarlane animated video. The band then gets a little silly with the untitled track, which seems to follow the more experimental tracks like “Hey Foxymophandlemama, That’s Me” from Vitalogy and “I’m Open” off of No Code.

“MFC” sneaks in next and proves to be a perfect driving tune, which is then proceeded by the other Ament song “Low Light”, which is one of my all time Pearl Jam favorites. “In Hiding” follows Ament’s gem of a song, and was influenced by the work of reclusive author Charles Bukowski.

The album comes to it’s conclusion with yet another experimental type track, “Push Me, Pull Me”, before ending with the splendid “All Those Yesterdays”.

Although Yield was the first Pearl Jam album since Ten not to debut at number one on the Billboard charts, it’s still become arguably a classic to fans. For those who have never picked the album up, you should be ashamed of yourselves, it’s damn good and should be in most people’s music collections.

Here’s “Faithfull” from Single Video Theory

Here’s the video for “Do The Evolution”

Post from: The Production Side

Stone openly discusses how Green River ended, the friendship and death of Mother Love Bone frontman Andy Wood, the formation of Pearl Jam, the music behind their debut album Ten, the infamous Ticketmaster issue and lots more.

It’s not the most head banging interview, but it’s defiantly worth checking out if you’re an fan of the 90’s. Stone gives a ton of info about Pearl Jam’s history, music and ideals.

You can check out Part 1 of the interview right here for free!

Post from: The Production Side

“Thumbing My Way” is off of 2002’s Riot Act, and in my opinion one of the greatest songs that the band have created.

The lyrics are what make this song so great. My interpretation is that its about a person who lost a lost loved one, whether by something like a break up or death. This person then tries to run from the past in an attempt to forget about the person they lost, but in the end they realize that the more they try to forget, the more it comes back to haunt them.

I could be wrong, but Vedder is a master at giving us puzzle pieces, that we must then put together; that’s why he writes such great lyrics.

Here are the amazing lyrics:

I have not been home since you left long ago
Im thumbing my way back to heaven
Counting steps, walking backwards on the road
Im counting my way back to heaven
I cant be free with whats locked inside of me
If there was a key, you took it in your hand
Theres no wrong or right, but Im sure theres good and bad
The questions linger overhead
No matter how cold the winter, theres a springtime ahead
Im thumbing my way back to heaven
I wish that I could hold you
I wish that I had
Thinking bout heaven
I let go of a rope, thinking thats what held me back
And in time Ive realized, its now wrapped around my neck
I cant see whats next, from this lonely overpass
Hang my head and count my steps, as another car goes past
All the rusted signs we ignore throughout our lives
Choosing the shiny ones instead
I turned my back, now theres no turning back
No matter how cold the winter, theres a springtime ahead
I smile, but who am I kidding?
Im just walking the miles, every once in a while Ill get a ride
Im thumbing my way back to heaven
Thumbing my way back to heaven
Im thumbing my way back to heaven…

I should also add, that I think “Thumbing My Way” is also an optimistic tune, despite some of the lyrics. I mean we all have bad times in our lives, but it’s bound to get better at some point, right?

Check out video for “Thumbing My Way” (this was one of five songs, “I Am Mine”, “Save You”, “Love Boat Captain” and “Half Full”, that the band recorded live at Seattle’s Chop Suey as a promo for Riot Act).

Post from: The Production Side

Although the show wasn’t aired, like most of us seriously care about watching it, the winners were announced via press conference style; and no I did not watch that either, but did check out the winners late last night to check in on Vedder.

“Guaranteed” was previously up for a Critic’s Choice Award, but lost out to “Falling Slowly” from the film Once.

Next up for Eddie and “Guaranteed” are the Grammy Awards next month, and hopefully the Academy Awards.

I’ve said before that I’m not one for award shows, it really doesn’t matter because an award won’t change my opinion of an artists; but what I enjoy about Vedder winning a Golden Globe is that he got the recognition for his great work. I’m sure that a majority of journalists voting for the winners either know little or nothing about Vedder, so they judged him by his work.

Way to Eddie on a job well done.

Check out the video for the award winning song “Guaranteed”.

Post from: The Production Side

It’s a pretty simple video, not much really happening, but it defiantly fits the song. It was shot by writer/director Marc Rocco (Murder in the First, Where The Day Takes You)in only a few days. And, the more I hear I this song, the more I fall in love with it. I’m almost at the point of stating that this is perhaps one of Vedder’s finest songs, which includes his Pearl Jam catalog.

“Guaranteed” can currently be seen on VH1 or you can check it out here.

I should add that the song is also up for a Critics Choice Award in the Best Song category, which airs live tonight at 9 p.m. on VH1. So, if Eddie wins you can bet that there will be another post about him tomorrow.

Post from: The Production Side

The video is for the track “Guaranteed” from the Into The Wild soundtrack, which has earned Grammy, Golden Globe and Critics Choice nominations. The whole soundtrack is great, but “Guaranteed” is probably the stand out track on it, so I’m glad to see that it’s getting some recognition.

Anyways, I read a long time ago that Vedder had shot a video for “Guaranteed”, but then there was silence. Needless to say I can’t wait to see the video, especially when Vedder really hasn’t been in a music video since 1992’s “Jeremy” (although some could argue about Pearl Jam’s “Life Wasted” video from their 2006 self-titled release, but I think it was just pics of the band members).

The video will debut at 6:00 a.m. EST on VH1 and VH1.com and will repeat during the morning if you can’t get up that early.

Read more about the video from Pearl Jam’s site.

Post from: The Production Side