Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament sit down with Bill Simmons | The Bill Simmons Podcast

all right I'm in Seattle with Eddie and Jeff we were supposed to do this in 202020 Co intervened we did a pod on the phone Wi-Fi was bad all the way around I wasn't totally happy with it it was great to talk to you guys but we're doing this correctly throwing away the other podcast we're just starting from scratch but the same thing 2020 that we have now new album some new energy you guys go to Malibu to uh to record this it's like Jeff was saying it was like the old days you guys were trapped together and just just had to come up with riffs and music so what happened well I mean Ed Ed was making a record with Andrew and kind of mid recording thought that we should be there and to experience what he was experiencing and I mean it kind of was out of the blue I remember I was like it was like middle of the summer I was like Montana having a great time you're like what I gotta go to La for a week and but you know anytime you get a call to record you got it's like you gotta do it and and uh there was really no plan there was no plan so we didn't know what we didn't know what we were headed into like I remember Googling Andrew wat going like who like who is this guy and so um so it's almost like a relationship you guys needed need to just Spruce it up just get get some new another band just new location New energy well well you know it was a different way of recording with this guy Andrew Watt and and he'd always kind of you know come to visit the group on tour we just know him as this kind of Young musician cat seemed nice enough and then um and then he did some records with like Azie and then he did this record with morisy and then he was a friend of the Chili Peppers to be honest I think you know I made a uh the first time I ever really recorded on my own was uh I guess into the wild so that was a soundtrack and I just kind of played the instruments myself and and then the next was ukulele and so those things are very nonthreatening to the group but you know being down there and all of a sudden writing finding myself writing songs and now I'm playing with Chad Smith like actual other musicians I like Chad Smith sports fan yeah he's good guy I mean he likes Detroit but outside of that he's great guy I like Detroit too yeah they're fine um Underdog as long as they're an underdog but I I felt like this this could get a little sensitive and and I don't need problems with me and the guys that's the last thing I would ever want so I was like come check this out because we it might be an acquired taste but see if you like it uh the results that we were getting and and the speed at which we recording even the the solo stuff yeah it felt like it could be a a positive path that if the band was willing they might want to jump on that train right from the first day we were getting you know songs with with power and songs that sounded great at loud volume and we were all playing together I mean we were playing together in a room just about this big with a mix board and a drum kit and you know keyboards over there I mean we were about as as we are now literally bumping elbows with stone and the kick drum like two feet in front of me fun well what was 1990 when you when you came from from San Diego to come after they were like hey we like this guy's demo let's go and then you guys just made a bunch of songs together but it was pretty similar right you're probably in some crappy house in Seattle no it was a basement about the same size not that different not that different right where was that though um Belltown second in Bell how many B of a old art gallery called gallery of potato head and then there was a what was the name of the pool hall uh old po Hall 211 it was it was right out of um Jackie gleon and yeah it was right out of that so you guys you barely know each other you get thrown in together and you have a couple demos they have some riffs you probably wrote some stuff with with your side and then you just kind of see if it works is it like is it like the longest date ever what is it like like what do you remember this is we're talking this is 34 years ago do you remember from that you know the interesting thing is is that there was an interview recently that I read that where you were talking about how like Stone and I were talking to Dave Cruisin a lot about about the gro and like this part should be faster or whatever but how we weren't I mean I don't think we're communicating super well and I think I think and I think partly because I do remember partly like partly because we didn't know Ed I think we were being probably extra sensitive to like just letting him do his thing and you know not wanting to get in the way but I mean you know the story is that he came up for a week we had this crazy week like four or five days rehearsal went in the studio for a whole day recorded the six or seven tunes that we had played a show that's I can't believe if you played a show play a show like five days after we were first together and then went and saw the Bulls and the sonics at the Kingdom exhibition on the seventh day with the guy from ksw and then he got on a plane and left and it was kind of there was kind of no went back in time for my midnight shift well then you went back I had work but there was so how did you leave it where you're like hey man that was great kinda I had a tape if I didn't have the cassette tape from the day in the studio yeah I I probably wouldn't have it wouldn't have been real cuz you after Andy died I mean you were probably wondering like am I even gonna be in a band again yeah man I I I I didn't know I felt like the CH my chance our chance was was done you know like I was actively looking to go back to school like I went up to Bellingham and visited the art Department thinking like I think maybe that's what I'm going to end up doing because I you know I mean I just quit my job like a month before that and like didn't have any money in the bank like you know didn't have a car didn't have insurance didn't have a safety net really so I was like and it was only over the course of the summer like promoting the Mother Love Bone record with stone kind of not really talking I was I heard he was like playing a little bit with Mike and then then Mike's kind of started saying like you should come over and I said ah I don't if I want to play with stone anymore and stone was probably thinking like I don't know if I want to play a chef anymore but Stone hit the ground running and you know wrote some songs and and then eventually I I you know we went in with Matt Cameron and recorded those six or seven songs and that's the tape that Ed got that you know he wrote three songs to sent back did you know Andy do you aware of his music oh Andy or yeah the band yeah um you know to be hon honest i' I'd come across Green River Sound Garden uh mud honey I had a little group in San Diego that we we got to open for them in a tiny club called the spirit and I think that was just because I made the Flyers and passed them out but Mother Leon kind of it it wasn't something that it didn't wasn't on my radar for whatever reason so um and I hadn't listened to it before you know I I took a I I was with Jack irons because um I met him he was playing drums with Joe Strummer um earthquake weather tour yeah and he was the only one who came to soundcheck that day I soundcheck I I worked for free at these clubs this one and um and then had a real job midnight shift um so you'd work for free but then you'd get to go to like a sound check or you you know you'd hump gear and then get to be around and see people it wasn't a great Club but you know however it it it was either kind of people on their way up or people on their way I it was you know it could be some schlocky band or MTV band or it could be an okay MTV band like the Godfathers or something like that that had kind of one hit or it might be uh Ray Charles or Chuck Barry or um so sound checks I kind of lived for the sound checks a lot of times I'd have to leave before the the real show anyways but um but I was pretty excited for the Strummer sound check but Jack was the only guy to show up and um we just had a conversation and talked about chili peppers and the whole thing and then we ended up wasn't there pickup basketball components of this yeah we I I then I ended up practicing in a group that were kind of more based in Los Angeles so I'd go up on the weekends Jack and I would play basketball on Fridays when I'd come up and then I'd rehearse with the group Friday Saturday and then drive back down to work it's an ugly shot but it goes in he's athletic competitive what NBA player is he I'm not competitive what 1990 Eddie who's this comparison now maybe Pat Bev Pat Bev like agitator I don't know who that is he doesn't know that's that was why I picked that what was your game you bastard oh man I don't know like what's the question his basketball game you basketball Doppel gangers Pat Conan maybe Pat oh shooter okay he can hit yeah he can hit threes like nobody's business but Eddie was super shy when you were first hanging out with them right and then eventually it came out eventually what I don't know eventually you started playing basketball blossomed out no I got this one-handed shot because I used to practice after I think we told this story on the the last oh let's we'll tell it again podcast so um I used to carry this this Walkman right yeah and and then and i' after the midnight shift I'd go to this little Park up from my little apartment and so I would just I'd play and I remember mother's milk being one of the main tapes I was listening to at the time Chili Peppers so I I couldn't use my left hand cuz I'm holding the Cass set deck right so it's just all one hand but I needed music you know I just everything needed music surfing I wanted music everything I wanted music but anyways the reason I told you that story cuz then we ended up probably three years from that time when I was doing that three years later I remember I think we were in Cleveland it's kind of a it was a ballroom but on the other and we were opening for the peppers yeah and on the other end of the ballroom there was like this basketball hoop so we got a we got a couple balls and we were shooting and the Chili Peppers were soundchecking the same songs that I had been listening to and now it was I mean what a dream to go from holding on to that thing with the headphones now it's them actually playing live we're playing basketball and I could use both hands see this is why we're basically redoing the 2020 part because now we have this story on video this is way better um there was a thing one of the documentaries was about I don't know was one of your early shows I'm GNA say it was maybe Vancouver when uh somebody somebody's getting pulled out from the audience and Eddie got mad and and your stage presence was basically born and the other guys in B were like oh what's going on here and you just kind of figured something out do you remember that you know I you know back in the day um you know some places you weren't you know you'd have security that didn't know what Behavior to expect and what the protocol was for a either a punk show or our shows were pretty active yeah and crowd surfing and Stage diving and all these things and and they might not have ever seen it before they might not have and their initial reaction was to fear beat these people up or you know that's not happening on our club or something like that and so you'd have to there was a little bit of lifeguarding you know so you know I don't feel like I was super angry or aggro it was more a protecting and we all and we all had experiences like as fans in those at those big bigger punk rock shows where you know the promoter would hire like the college football guys or whatever and they would just beat the out of kids that you know got on stage or were coming over the barricade or whatever and so we you know with malice yeah and so to to be to be in the position to be to have a little bit of say and um you know I'm I'm pretty I'm really proud of the way that you handled that and the way that we handled it as a band like I think we sort of changed you know how how how how that you know how that was handled I think security is really different now than it was then when did you feel like you had channeled your energy in the right way as the lead of the band as the performer I mean we don't have to go a couple years later when you're you're hanging off things it'll happen wait are you gonna be hanging out things this year oh that part of it um well that I mean that was later that was probably like 92 Range I don't know I'm hanging on your every word right now cuz initially you know you're playing first six months you're feeling out the songs you're feeling out the audience you're feeling out what it's like to be on stage but at some point you guys became one of the best live bands that's ever ever been like when when was the moment when that happened was it in the first couple years was it later after you knew the material like what was there a moment where you're like oh I I don't remember it was this part of the tour when boom I think even at our most energetic and frenetic and kind of I I don't I wouldn't say that was our best performances as musicians or you know I I think we were you know in some ways kind of so you know shot out of a cannon and and and felt like you know I mean there was a bit of evil coneval with all that climb and stuff but I I think you really wanted people to remember it's part of the era too some of those 90s concerts were a little crazy were you were you how many times were you actually worried for his safety oh man longterm future I I mean there's pictures there's pictures of me where he's up and I'm looking the other way no watch and I I think um the thing I was thinking about was I'm not going to watch him die because that that that happened once before and so I there there there was a part of me that sort of felt like um I mean I trusted him because I saw him do some insane stuff you know like iguanas and I mean there's some you know Delmar Fairgrounds and I mean there are some records were made to be broken no it's like no like that's never that never happen that no that nobody's ever done I mean like TR really evil con evil stuff um but yeah there was a there's a part of me that was sort of like like afraid you know um we were talking about Jeff about uh as you get older when in the old days he would want to talk to the athletes but now he wants to talk to the trainers and the doctors with musicians as you get older it's like what kind of injuries are you nursing these days what kind of shape is your body in me yeah uh yeah I mean you did a lot of live shows a lot of running around a lot of swinging lot of diving into crowds you know what it is it's it's the the picking and strowman and it's ton night that's oh like tennis elbow kind of stuff uh uh it's not from tennis well yeah is that what they yeah yeah I don't know but it's it's it's more painful than what I thought Tennessee good stuff now they have like the normat tech and all these different things where you can put the the stuff on there you were saying you did the you did the Germany stuff yeah i' I went to the Coe doctor I mean I I don't have any really any cartilage in my lateral side of my left the jumping leg so I think 15 years ago the doctor was like yeah you need a knee replacement but you're too young so you got to figure out how to you know so I've immediately was like reaching out to anybody that I knew I mean Wally who worked for the Bulls who was one of the first guys and then he connected me with a guy in Indiana because we were in Indianapolis when it was really bugging me and they and they were all really high on you know that technology the regeno kind technology so like a few months later I was getting ready to go to Germany to do it and they said hey we're opening a clinic in Santa Monica in six months and I was like well that sounds easy yeah yeah so yeah one of the reasons I wanted to talk about that was because I mean we're in this you've never showed this place before I don't think have you this is your batting cage uh this is yeah it's this is in we're in our warehouse and when we first got this place we our whole operation is kind of Under One Roof you know we practice next door and we keep the gear and then there's sell t-shirts out of that Back warehouse and we have offices upstairs for things like um management yeah political activism that kind of thing a couple years into the building we we got this part of it and became the playground Seattle I was always trying to figure out how to get a batting cage either in the backyard or it's just too wet and and then Jeff he he was it was his shot at getting a skate ramp so he built a skate ramp and then back in the corner and we built this it it started off just real like um white concrete walls it was all Scrappy and uh pallets with some helmets and a few batting gloves and a few bats and and but Johnny Ramone had left me about three pallets of um lawyer legal boxes full of sign first edition baseball books he basically had a library and um I mean that's it's like who who would have ever guessed that in a million years well if you knew Johnny it was that was part of him you know baseball Yankees yeah um you know I mean really it was almost like the Ramones were a side project compared to his love for baseball Crazy 8 by10 collection too right like w the third biggest collection of signed 8x10s and this is going back to guys in the 20s and 30s amazing the other two were um foreign colle c s and they simply bought them Johnny sent them to the guys he had his baseball encyclopedia and he had about onethird so he had about over 5,000 6,000 so he figured he had 330% of any everybody had ever played so he felt he was what the batting 350 or something yeah which would be a Hall of Fame number so um I don't understand how you do that in like the early pre- internet era right no this was Mana envelop yeah this is like you're just cold living office writing letters to people moose my name is Johnny Ramone I'm your biggest fan and self address stamp envelope um you're more of an eBay guy he kept the you do you go on eBay right don't you get some stuff on eBay no a lot of this is gifts you know all right but um I think I think he's secretly on eBay he's good uh it's named after me Eddie 75 buying stuff um but yeah all those books and then those three big binders those are all Cubs so he had mostly Yankees his next biggest was Cubs that that was his favorite National League team and then after that you had the 6,000 but um because you guys so it became the Johnny Ramone Memorial batting cage and library and and everybody who works here works in the warehouse whever they could come in at lunch yeah take a few swings have a sandwich and uh pick out a book and I didn't know what to expect when I came I didn't know if like Dennis Rodman would just be serving lattes here or like how how deep it went but uh the connection you guys have with sports I think this is not a lot like what is this a Triple Espresso the connection you guys have with sports though is is I would say you're like the number one sports crossover band like all in all these different ways right even dating back to when you wanted to be mookie block and legally couldn't pull it off you almost named your band after a random starting point guard from the early 90s and then it just kind of goes from there is that his real name yeah Don Shay block mook's your real name I yeah I don't just don't know if the band I don't know if it hits exactly the same as mookie block I think Pearl J I think it worked out I think Pearl Jam was a better outcome but you have here during I wrote down a bunch of sports stuff actually this is why I had my iPad um because we're taping this it's the same day as Oklahoma City game two right which should be Seattle you guys were here for basically the Heyday of the sonics he did Star Spangled Banner what was that game three 96 finals um oh Bulls yeah you had that yeah you did a poster with Sean Kemp you I mean even when you put the album out this year you did the M Mo and NHL had the tians with that he had the sweet loose song you had the Rodman hang which was I you know that could have been like a spin-off of the last dance thing and then you have present tense in Last Dance which I think is the most viewed Sports documenter of all time and you guys were the closer and then keep going 2016 World Series um but it's just like sports always seems like it's around the band and then on top of that you guys have been together 33 years which is you know like a version of the sports team in a way the sports team like like what the Warriors have now the team that actually stays together so I don't know it's just it's it's something that's there but I I never heard you really talk about it that much do you feel it I I I've just always um I mean of course you know you grow up and you have Heroes and and growing up and we had WGN and the Chicago Cubs and black and white TV and um they just became kind of part of your household because they were always on and mostly Day games you know home games are always take games but then as you grow up you know you realize that Sports I think it's the drama you know it's it's like seeing a play but you don't know how it's going to end right and that's where the the art and the thrill but also the focus and and I think it's the focus I think it's when you get to let's say a game seven you know um or this could be Wimbleton this could be anything maybe not golf but um the focus it's it's the seeing a human being with that intense focus and a lot of weight but then you know not letting that weight affect them and just just kind of go and then that's where you figure out that's where the the practices or the practice you know being such a big part part of or or the the mental stability because you've tried to go through so you don't there's no no don't panic I think that's the stuff that you you can use that you you get inspired by and and you can use it you know in the studio or in a live performance or you know I I that's what's always appealed to me you know you know first there's the heroes um you know I've still you know we have modern day heroes in sport but um but also they're probably Our Heroes because of what we've seen them do Under Pressure you know attention to detail then coming through when it matters and it's a little similar to music well and I think you know Joe Madden was was really good or you know talking to him about it at length just about you know having just been through it been through it I I guess you know lineups compared to set list we used to have this conversation you know and his he had kind of colorcoded on his thing like that yeah and then I had colorcoded on my pieces of paper and we were just talking about the but you've kind of thought out you've kind of thought it all the way through and and visualize it to a certain extent so then when the moment comes you don't have to like think about it it's not a brand new equation yeah you agree with that yeah you know for me it was like like I I grew up in this little town and had the same friends from when I was born until I was 18 and there was a crew of about 10 or 15 of us that we grew up playing Sandlot everything we played hockey football whatever season it was we were we were sort of playing it and and then through junior high high school we played all those Sports together and played little league and Babe Ruth and and so the one thing that I knew when I was 18 was that there was this every once in a while you tap into this thing with your group and like there was I knew at an early age that the that the the group was was more powerful than the single person could ever be like there was something when it when it really happened even if you weren't a part of like the big shot or whatever you were still part of the unit and I think when it when when things rolled over into music for me I wanted to feel that thing that I felt when I was a kid with my with my crew you know like I wanted to I wanted to feel the P that power that was exponential wasn't five times it was like a hundred times because the five of you were doing this thing together and I mean to be honest the first couple days that we played in the basement together I felt a hint of that you felt like whoa there's something exponential happening here um and so you you know you know once you once you once you sort of taste that energy you you want to you know it's a drug it's like you want you you know and it's not the crowd and it's not I mean the crowd amplifies it even more but it's the tornado that you when when the winds are all moving the same direction power that comes out of that is like it's just the great it's just the greatest it's like there you know it's it's still what I want to do it's you know when he calls and says let's get together you're like okay we could let's go this could H you know we could we could hit on something and so you know it's it's interesting hear you talk about that because the Warriors are at this point now right Klay Thompson's gonna be a free agent and Steph and clay and Draymond have been playing together basically since the early 2010s they've had the same coach they won four titles they didn't make the playoffs this year team's getting old and you hit this point where it's like maybe clay leaves maybe he just signs with Orlando but it really seems like those guys just want to stay together and I don't even know if it matters to them in the same way if they win another title it's it seems like the nucleus of it is more important than the titles because they already have four but it you talk about that reminded me of that where sometimes like all right Klay goes to Orlando maybe he makes the finals with these dudes that he just met five minutes ago but is that going to be as special as playing his entire career in San Francisco and Oakland there's no way right to go to the finals every year or something that that's a that's there 30 teams yeah and they had one of the craziest runs ever you know yeah I mean that's a that organization's in a tough spot you know like and they resigned Raymond right well they yeah that he's kind of the modern Dennis Rodman you guys had by the way I just realized I know a couple people who actually golf yeah so I so you feel you want to apologize to the Golf Community yeah I we'll work that in we'll edit that little cleat graphic Eddie apologizes in advance for his golf comments you guys I mean how many times was the band actually close to maybe going this way because you had it like in the mid90s there was a moment maybe like 2000 there was a moment but was there ever really a moment where you felt like this is going sideways because there's a couple times you took breaks Eddie's looking at me like I'm crazy well I mean I mean I think there were probably moments where all of us were ready to bail you know like you know just some misunderstanding or some lack of communication or you know there's probably some moments but I don't know if I I think there's a semi doent moment like when we were making no code that I said I was ready to quit the band that was probably lasted for two days you know I felt that way and then and then you're playing with everybody and you're because bands for the most part aren't meant to stay together I mean it gets pretty rare when you go after eight nine ten years and then you see like some of the bands that stay that it feels like they pass this invisible point where it's like you know what we're together and this is just how it's going to go and I don't know whether it's like six years eight years 10 years well I tell you though we're not we're not a band together because we were're like well okay well but you know what I mean you know this is how it turned out so if you're okay with it I'll it's it's not that way at all it's it's it's you know between look I think we have to give credit to the audience for showing up supporting us kind of returning energy back to us feeding off their energy yeah and and being a custodian of the music and and for them and um feeling responsibility to that crowd and then that's not something that just one of us takes on that's something that we all take on and and and when we discuss set lists or a tour plan or whatever it's all agreed upon and but they you know this is a this is a Brotherhood I I don't know you know outside of our even our band lives it was you know we've all been through a thing or two here and there or whatever maybe not all of us but I but we've looked after each other and and and you know that that Brotherhood is is strong and again I don't know if it would exist without the uh you know an audience that kind of gave us a reason to stay together that was kind of bigger than us or anything that we all any one of us felt as an individual right you know it was more it was they they kind of forged our you know or or kept us tight in our relationships but I really don't feel like there's ever been a you know we we were able to maintain and manicure and and protect the songs and and the music and our future of playing music yeah in those early years and and that was probably you know that wasn't easy or we it was kind of taking a day of will that audience we were just speaking about would they follow us because we we didn't we didn't we thought the the light was a bit too bright and and and then Bright Lights cast Dark Shadows you know so we just wanted to take it down a bit it feels it feels like n by the 97 998 rage you were good with what happened with the band because it was meteoric right I mean you I remember you had some quote like you were just playing guitar in your bedroom you never expected any of this right and then overnight all the happens well it sounds pretty whiny but yeah no but it's true I mean most people don't expect you know if you if you love doing something and you're messing around with it you don't you know the great idea it's not like you're a basketball player you're like I'm the number two player in my class in sixth grade and yeah I'm going to play in college then get to the NBA I mean I mean two things like one one we had all been all of us had been playing music for five to 10 years before the overnight thing happened true um the other thing on the other side of that is that because we we sort of that first record we sort of had a a plan like we wanted to play a lot of shows because we felt like we wanted to be a better band and so we and we did these things our own way the how we wanted the security to be at the shows and how we made our shirts and the prices we charged and kind of all these things things and because that first record was so huge people left like the record company and the people left us alone they're like oh they must know what they're doing and so it sort of gave us a little bit of a cart blanch to sort of like just follow whatever tributary that you know was the most powerful for us and to say the word no yeah but again luckily that that we we were supported by an audience cuz yeah otherwise yeah we would have had to go back to doing it the way we were being told or asked we were Jeff and I were talking before uh before you got here about how it's 30 years since 94 and just all the stuff that happened that year um and vitology came out maybe like I'm gonna say somewhere near the end of 94 and Kurt died in April and you guys were on Time magazine that year the grunge thing people it became I don't know felt like commodified by 94 95 and in general it was a weird time for music and then it kind of shook itself out over the course of the rest of the 90s right what do you guys remember just that whole mid90s run watching the music industry it was almost like somebody shook a snow globe and then it had to settle again right does that make sense it's blurry yeah it was blurry I mean I was sober and it was blurry MTV the biggest that's ever been Rolling Stone is the I mean there are all these me it's pre- internet um and there's a million good bands it was like uh one of the most fertile times for great music I think we've ever had well I I think us pulling back at that time was like the best thing that we could have done because it you know I mean I think almost all of us spent the 80s like trying to get on that bill for the ban that was coming through town and just kind of kind of hustling you know working your day job and like you know bringing a tape to the promoter and like you know putting up flyers and making t-shirts in your basement and whatever so then when all of a sudden like everybody in the world's you know Neil Young's calling and Keith Richards is calling and like you're getting you know it's like your Heroes well and it's it's hard to say no it's hard to say no so that was a that was a it took us a minute to sort of figure out like no like the only way we're going to survive this is if we say no to like you know you say no to Your Heroes you say like no we're not gonna go play those shows even though it's like well we didn't say no to those guys no no we but eventually um well also the second record I mean I think the second record I think we got home on December 18th and then we were going to play the New Year's Eve and York with Keith Richards and the expensive wios and then so from the 18th to the 29th that would be your 10 days to to write the second record cuz then God and you have a show after New Year's you you go into the studio or something yeah that was it 10 days you know to write you know maybe you could write half the songs but it was you know it was just you know whatever we're not complaining now we we that's how the old groups used to do it as well you know the Kinks and The Who and you know that they were constantly just recorded they would play shows while they were in the studio um this album so I don't mean to complain don't be self-conscious about complain you didn't sound complaining I I will always be because of that time yeah yeah you know and those were all the questions back in the day and I'd say well you know and this was true um but it was like I don't feel like I changed but I feel like everybody around me has changed yeah and that that was the strange and isolating part of it all you know and and I just didn't we weren't really built for it I wasn't well that was I'm a little younger than you guys but that was that generation where you weren't supposed to want to be too successful you were supposed to do stuff based on you know what was cool and What mattered to you versus like selling out selling out was like the biggest theme like even I think we talked about in the last podcast about the movie Reality Bites where the villain in that movie is just the guy who wants to make a TV show and makes make some money for everybody it's like oh look at this guy is's trying to make money what's he doing this this evil dude Ben Ben Affleck character this evil guy and a lot of it was about you know hanging out and being authentic and authenticity was so crucial to basically all the art back then and I don't know when that shifted but it's hard it's a hard thing to explain now well I'm huge fan of authenticity well now authenticity is used as this kind of code word it's like when documentaries when people always say storytelling it's about storytelling and it's like artists they always talk about authentic well you know it's I'm just trying to be authentic to my brand and my fans this album that you just put out though that sounded kind of like an oxymoron trying to be authentic to my brand authentic to my brand um the Z that he put out it honestly feels like a 90s Pro gam album and I don't know if that was the intent there's a different vibe to it there's a start to finish kind of feel to it and the and I thought uh some of the lyrics and some of the songs I thought were pretty poignant and things that I don't know if you would have necessarily said 30 years ago which I thought was really interesting um what was if you're thinking like what's the conceit when you're going into an album what what was the conceit that you wanted from this album I don't know the term that your conceit the conceit conceit like the if you're going to describe the album in one sentence that I was being conceited no not conceeded not like the theme of the album like what are you trying to say every album's like trying to say something it's not just a collection of songs but I mean I mean this is more a question for you but I I can't I never felt like we've ever gone into a record going like okay we're going to make a record about this or that or whatever a couple different Rifts or songs that you like or or I think yeah just like you're saying is like even even having a focus or or let's just maybe we should just I'm thinking about this direction or I'm thinking about a bit more of a modern sound laced with you know some old or a lyrical Focus or anything I think you're you know I that's why when you come out of the other end of it I think other groups can do that or obviously people write uh you know concept conceited records but they conceed they I'll never live over that they have a um they're able to we've just never been able to do that and I guess what I was going to say is that that's what makes it kind of even more kind of exciting and thrilling and there was a mystery and and uh a bit of magic that came out of simple musical problem problem solving and working together and then all of a sudden it becomes this cohesive work and um that feels like a completed thing that had some aim and direction to it but that doesn't always happen I don't think it ever happens with us I I just don't well say I I think like this album was more wistful than any album I can remember from you guys like like I listened to it and it sounded like an album of guys who have been doing this for a while and we're a little older now and we're thinking about stuff in a different way is that was that the wrong takeaway or I I guess every album hits people differently well maybe if you're talking about authenticity you're writing what you know right you know and then and then you know I'd be curious to see what somebody under 20 thinks about it or what how they relate to it is in in ju's position to someone who has grown up with us yeah or is this similar age and maybe can relate more or have a little more insight is is maybe as neutral as some of the lyrics could be on an interpretive level um I think you would understand they might they might connect quicker if you're um our age but you know it's crazy because I always go back to who by numbers which was the The Who record and there was some very autobi autobiographical songs by Pete Townson and you know however much I booze how many friends have I really got you know these kind of and I was 15 and I totally related to all that stuff right and they're really the songs directly transmitted from a you know guy in his mid-30s but and when I got to my mid-30s I understood them even more but they were still anthems to me a as a kid one of the songs waiting for Stevie which is really good you had the lyric you can be loved by everyone and still not feel that you were loved which I thought was really interesting I don't know if you would have dropped that one in the mid 90s right is it I know if I should drop it now it just kind of came out you know I like it I does this mean like the process now you guys have to go to a weird location just lock yourself in a room I just think anytime that you know that the five of us can get can get into a room and be focused and just be all hands on deck for 10 days there's a chance that some really good stuff's going to come out of it and that's it's the it's the best thing it's the it's just give it to them just give them 10 days a year and three others but it's the it's the real reason to keep the band together is that we get to do that and like some and some and we sometimes we get together and it doesn't you know it's not happening it might be because maybe not everybody's on board or on the same page whatever but um that was the great thing about this record was you know I think the way that Andrew had it set up it was there weren't TVs there wasn't very good sales service freom for basketball I wasn't watching it like I we had one we had one day off in the middle of it and I watched uh it was I watched the Gonzaga game in the NCAA that was the that was the only only TV I looked at I want to go but but you don't need it you didn't you don't need the basketball yeah I was busy I want to go through all 12 albums really quick and what your when I say the name of the album what's the thing you think of yeah 10 what do you think of I'm stumped already come on just do it 10 Even Flow h i I'll come back to that one I got I got a better one rope rope swing that's what that's that's that's good rope swing okay versus what's the first thing you think of softball softball I'm terrible this you're Terri should I just abandon this V vitology accordion accordion accordion uh that we were making that record kind of along a tour in different cities see now Jeff's getting the game now he's doing like real memories okay so you're doing that record as you're in tour and you have some regrets on no just no we I mean maybe I mean we we' recorded a couple songs in New Orleans a couple songs in Atlanta a couple songs in Seattle half pass that yeah okay no code did we do uh as well no code oh we started to and then and then did and then yeah okay did a couple days no code uh Polaroids Polaroids okay y the cover yield man I maybe one of my along with the new record um one of my favorite records that we made really yeah it felt like like like the way Jack was playing with this and like it and it felt like there's maybe like a I don't know like we came through a fire some kind of fire a little bit maybe I don't know and that I felt really creative and yeah 1998 was my favorite pro jam year for this reason well first of all I like when a band's been together for a few years and then when you're in concert you know you're going wherever you actually have this library of songs right at at some point you're together eight years you're gonna have 5060 70 songs you can play in a concert but you also have fans that they're not just like the lyrics to but they they're like they this music means something to them it's been with them it's been in their lives for a while and then you guys have all been playing together for a while so you have like a certain chemistry and I just feel like that year six year seven year eight is just a good time for really good bands I think if you go through like that's easy around there Eddie's looking at me like I'm crazy well I think that's when the set lless problems started what was the it's probably where it started to you know with the set list well I don't know well I was just thinking like that might have been like kind of the sweet spot where like there's only 50 60 songs and the puzzle is probably like manageable you know like yeah and as it gets further down the road there's 200 100 songs and and then the puzzle gets it's a it's a big puzzle of like a lake of just like water of a lake it's all blue I think how many nights have we play in Philadelphia to close the Spectrum was that three or four four so I think we did four shows are these these chairs was there a day off yeah the special chairs uhuh spectrum and um and that was it wasn't just the last concert I think Chicago Stadium were the last concert concert but this was the last event I mean it was wrecking ball after the um but I think we played 110 yeah different songs in the four nights something like that seriously I think there was only a few repeats over the whole like maybe maybe three songs were repeated somehow in those four days I mean it was it was a remember those pens with the blue and green and yellow the the bit yeah it was all colorcoded well it seems like that didn't take very long but well the you guys used the internet eventually really well with the had a build anticipation for oh oh they played they played that song I can't believe they did that and I don't know it's it's something that feels like it came maybe in somewhere in the 2000s and then now you have Instagram and all a lot of the bands or whoever works for the band or whatever and they'll post like the you know whatever the set list is for that thing that sounds oh man they played that oh and it just feels like part of I don't know when a when a band has the library plus the performances plus they come coming back to the cities like oh they were in Boston they did this it gets cool after a while and our fans are really forgiving like we will occasionally last minute add a song we haven't played in five years and we might not play it great and they they're they're they're all in which is you know I I mean I remember us seeing that grateful there was a we went and saw three Grateful Dead shows in Las Vegas did we yeah yeah um I thought it was just one really long one but I remember but I remember the second show the crowd it was the loudest I heard the crowd all weekend yeah and I turned to this guy who he was our truck he was our Trucking guy who had driven with me down from I said what's going on what's going on he goes oh they're playing he named some song they haven't played this since 1972 And I was like whoa like it was like the loudest the crowd got was when they were playing a song they hadn't played in wow 20 years and I thought that's something like that crowd yeah that'll that's something that's when we decided we're going to stick around for at least 30 years there are benefits that will be wreaked did you follow the Taylor Swift tour tour it all is your daughter in tour oh yeah yeah yeah what did you think of the mechanics of that tour how long it was some of the gimmicks she used with it one of the interesting things was she was doing what we're talking about she would play each concert she would play some song and they would know was like oh my God she's going to play this or she do a cover and it seemed like it built this strange momentum around what the song was going to be for each City well it illustrates what happens when you know she's she's an artist who's respectful of the her audience and I know from my daughter that she's really kind of incredible at at planting these little this is this like on this hidden codes and you know that they can pick up and then all of a sudden they it it it activates um all those people that are listening and and has them involved in it and it's it's it's I think it's done in a very creative way and um and and she changes it up and and there's talk about you know what she played that night and what she played you know and she's the other thing that she has working so well for her is is she's incredibly prolific so she's able to just kind of she really is I don't fully understand it putting out music and putting out music and um I mean we my daughter's turned me onto this one bside that I just think is incredible it's just an incredible song and I I think it was a bside or something but yeah she did a 31 song album even though she was also doing the tour every night like I think she wrote and came up with all the songs on the tour which to say she's prolific is an understatement and I think her producer choices too I think like a couple records ago choosing to work with the Aaron deser guy from the national like and Bonnie ver like those songs to me are the most interesting songs because I think that pallet I I like um but I I think she's you know I think she's not afraid to change and in a way that maybe is kind of anti-pop in some ways you know right um which is have huge props for that yeah there's like an ability to subtly reinvent yourself over and over again is a really hard thing to do I know it's like one of the biggest the biggest uh dilemmas an artists has as they get older right she's usually pop artists don't last more than six seven eight years and she's at like 16 I read a kind of not great review in New York Times yesterday the day before and I was like well of course like she's she's she's at this oh the backlash is here yeah kind of but it's but it's she's she's in a place that maybe two or three other artists musical people have ever been in like the I mean it's like it's nuts it's like it's like K Michael Jackson and the beagles and Elvis probably that's it yeah I mean so it makes sense that there's a backl I mean there's I mean I don't know how you how does it how do you even level how do you even level that off well she's a she's a really good person and and I also hear that she handles stress really well so that'll come in handy can you get her on stage can you get her on this thing like just yank her on for one of the concerts you guys are going on tour soon her over I might be able to get jayon Kelsey on stage yeah go through the Kelsey see if you can get her what can your band learn from some of the younger artists and how they use all the all the stuff we have now anything I'm not going to I you're you're done you're like you are you are I'm we're I'd rather just so we're not going to see you doing Instagram shorts or none of that stuff I don't know I don't think so what what would yeah I don't I I think you're good I don't think you need it I I feel like a an or like an an animal a human that's evolved and the whole I didn't grow up with that kind of stuff I didn't grow and I and I kind of like you don't get it well I don't want I don't think I want to I don't I don't think it would add more than it would take away what if you just did an Instagram post every day where you just reviewed a bottle of wine that you like that's not Eddie's wine and be an out see there's more there's more takeaways than well what about when you when you're when you're performing and you always have a bot WI six bottles of wine maybe when you're performing you're just you're telling the audience what the wine was that night I give this rating a 93 it was delicious great bouquet of this [Music] Baro I think about it ask your daughter maybe your daughter can help out yeah it sounds like a slippery slope it might be yeah you might be in a good spot what have you guys learned about doing interviews over the last 30 plus years because you you went through phases where you just didn't do anything and now you kind of pick your spots so what yeah I mean the best part about doing just a handful of them after you've made a record is I said I think it I think it sort of helps you understand the record you know you're sort of talking about the record for the first time and you're and I think sometimes even in that process you start talking about each other in ways that maybe you hadn't so that you I get excited about it because I feel like it you learn something you know you learned something about yourself and the band and but you guys rimmed together you didn't learn any you didn't need to learn anything else about Eddie didn't you R together for like two years yeah yeah we were that was that was the kind of the book club room weren't you guys a giant band why did why didn't you guys have your own rooms well I don't understand that part we we did as soon as yeah as soon as it was possible soon as we I mean it was it was like 150 shows that first so it was a it was a year and a half straight of touring so just two double beds did one did one of you like the window more than the other or like how' you I I think we got along pretty good yeah I don't I don't remember I don't remember like running in to get the window bed or whatever the versor he's like I want my own room can't I can't live with Jeff anymore put on basketball at two in the morning no we we we were pretty aligned and and as Stone brought up the other day him and Mike were pretty aligned as well yeah so I think we naturally split off into the um you know and we were probably kind of have like some John Martin playing there uh Port his head or something and maybe some little drapey things over the lights and some incense and it was kind of like you know and then we'd read our books and and then you could hear those those guys yucking it up next door really loud and laughing sounded fun too we just it's different how many people from like those first two tours are still involved with you guys in some way bu yeah I like 30% 40% it's oh no no more more yeah I mean I mean Smitty I mean we've grown so we've had a few extra people in the kind of tour crew yeah and the warehouse crew but I'd say most most everybody's been with us 20 years and then a big part from day one still here yeah probably half of the the first 10 people probably half of those people are still with us going speed round will you ever play the Super Bowl I it's not at the top of my wish list any reason it's a lot of work Super Bowl yeah I mean never say never Yeah Eddie seems a little more excited about it oh no this is like no that that you thought that was exciting yeah I thought I thought I found a thought there was a hop in your step for a second no there's no super bow all right um where are you staying on the ticket industry I feel bad for the players you know the players that I mean there that's their whole that's like everything in this is this sport that's so incredibly popular and and then it's then there's a 35 minute break the biggest game of the year with all the yeah I think it's disrespectful to the players that's my take on where do you stand on the ticket industry these days it's been a rocky road the last 30 years where are we now man with the ticket industry yeah well you've got a a you you've got a big issue with the the what they call it the secondhand Market it's horrible yeah you know still bad that's where you're having you know a lot of the difficulties stem from there and it would be great to have some legislation to protect people from having that be the situation where you have to go through you know between the B you know what we go through just to vet somebody trying to get a ticket and and clean out like the bot thing yeah you know I mean I think the the day have an on sale I think there's you know tens and tens and thousands of artificial right uh entities trying to and somehow that's better they it just feels like I would have thought by 2024 we would have been able to clean up some piece of this it's just it's battling like out of control capitalism you know it's just like everybody's trying to make money off of something all the time so um I think we do as good of a job as anybody in terms of like we have a really loyal fan club and people that run it that are that really care about it and um we try really hard to get tickets you know in the hands of our fans did you see the vinyl comeb back coming back did you ever imagine a million years vinyl would return we're hopeful it was more than CDs this year like literally sold more vinyl than CDs this year yeah you see that coming no any explanation when kids think you know when the youth thinks it's cool um and I'm not sure exactly how that happened but um yeah it seems more decorative in some cases than anything it's almost like they like having them put them on like their desk or whatever but not actually open them well I maybe that's good that finally something physical you know it had gone so far the other way you know the pendulum know that was simply Spotify there was no lyrics there was no artwork there was no you know it was a it was a thumbnail of what you would buy right and you know to to have it kind of swing back where you know something tangible um and and and you know vinyl does sound better uh and it's it's kind of interactive and I I I'm really proud that you know when I look around and see the people um especially younger folks appreciating vinyl me and Jack White are thrilled it's a little like baseball cards where a lot of people threw out their vinyl not realizing the vinyl was making a come back it's like oh my mom those out three years ago had a Willie May rookie card you know what's amazing is I found some I I got an old ghetto blaster and just listening to tapes on it like tapes that I had used they were already you like kind of beat in they just sound incredible yeah once your ear gets tuned into it it's pretty great like once you get used to the warmth and whatever you know compared to not being there digital yeah you guys happy with Spotify these days I yeah okay just had to ask they on the ringer you know our our first record didn't come out on vinyl like yeah like probably the months right before that true they yeah they yeah 10 did not come out in vinyl in the states and I remember we got we were getting copies of the record and I I didn't have a CD player yet yeah and I I remember like listening to our first record on cassette that was what I listened to wow yeah Jesus have you followed a Tempo the dog came out on vinyl yeah no but tend didn't because we were I think I think we were like a small band and so they didn't have to and they were I think they were SC by that by that time CDs had kind of cassette tapes and CDs felt like they' taken over have you followed the AI stuff at all either of you like just where this is potentially going with artist not really but a little bit I I guess like we're moving toward an era where somebody can just do an AI Pearl Jam song and then you get I guess you would get half the royalties or 80% I don't know how the royalties work but it feels like similar to sampling and hip hop in the late 80s and I don't know how it plays out you know you know I had a conversation with a young artist the other day and they were talking about using AI as a tool to write yeah and how you know just really excited about all this stuff and I I listened for 15 20 minutes and then I said man you know you're you're really missing out on like the best part the points of music yeah well no just the best part of writing music like when it when you're writing music and it's coming out of like you know the you know you're basically it's osmosis like you're listening to music and you're thinking all the time about ways that you'd want to make music and it just gets scrambled up in there and then when you sit down with your guitar and you start to play it feels feel like magic it feels like magic went so that I think if you're if you sit down and you're like I'm getting on my computers and I'm going to look and see what AI would is gonna come up with when I want to make a cross between a PJ Harvey song and a Nick Cave song and see what that you know as a tool I think you're missing out on like that magical moment when like you play something you go like whoa that's cool where did that come from like that The Wonder of that moment I think I don't know I so that was my argument back was I was like man don't that can be maybe one little part of your thing but don't lose the other part where you're just you're just sitting down and creating something yeah and opening yourself up to the your environment and your you agree with that isn't I mean isn't there a isn't there a power in listening to like a new Springsteen song or or a new Olivia rodri and anybody's new song and know that that came from Olivia Rodrigo and what she's been going through and Bruce and what he's been going through or what he's learned or you know he's singing about his you know growing up playing music with these young guys and they were all kids and now he's the last man standing and it's re like isn't isn't there um you know that that's part of what you appreciate it just seems it would be feel rather strange you know and to be listening to someone going yeah I don't know did he write it did he not write it is that real is it did he you it doesn't you know I I I think it's a real slippery slope I I don't know where the positives are I mean I I think this whole you know to sound like you know totally Antiquated somebody who still uses a typewriter in fact I've regressed into calligraphy I'll be carving Stones soon um carving Stones would be interesting which hey are you done with that lyric yet well I know EDD Eddie carved Three Stones today you gotta think a lot you know you're even with calligraphy you you edit a little bit more before you you're not just scribbling but so to think about um you know where it could go with you know and what are they doing they're they're kind of it's an algorithm that's supposed to know what you would say based on what I've read is that it's moving very very quickly and no one's like stepping in to kind of have some control over it I think you're right so that I would think would be the problem and you know when they talk talk about how you know um what's the word when it when it uh that that word when they computers talk to each other's uh conceit not conceit not symmetry not symbolism it's that um I know what you mean I can't think of the word either but yeah like what happens if somebody I I guess it hasn't happened yet but at some point there's going to be an incredibly popular song that's just created out of a computer based on somebody's work and it'll be like that whop them Gangam Style type of song where it would be it'll just be this catchy song that becomes a phenomenon and people will be like whoa nobody made this and now what do we do and then it'll be this other thing where people don't trust something else and it's like right then you're in a Mil situation I it did did remind did you ever hear the rumor back in like 1980 that Tom Schultz from Boston fed all the greatest songs in the world into a computer and came up with the 10 boss songs on the first Boston record like you know Beethoven and the Beatles and it's no he was just a good songwriter that would be an amazing documentary if that was actually true he was way ahead of his time with computers be the best uh hey if Seattle gets a basketball team back which is gonna happen as soon as they finish this media deal um oh yeah two years oh it's happening yeah yeah all right um why can't you guys be like minority investors can't you get in on that it's too late no you can sneak in there I mean if Howard Schultz would have offered that to us oh my God can you imagine 15 years ago I would have been all in I I'm still so mad I'm still so mad about that like I'm still mad at I know it's like half of our conversation I'm mad at Howard Schultz and I'm a little bit mad at David Stern you should be a lot mad at David Stern yeah we were talking about I invested all my money in AI so I'm we're were talking about Kevin Durant who has bounced around in different teams right he's he was in Oklahoma City Seattle they move to Oklahoma City goes to Golden State decides to leave he goes to Brooklyn now he goes to Phoenix and it's like if the sonics just stay he never leaves Seattle he his career is probably even greater than it's been I think he's like easily one of the 20 best players but now he's like the king of Seattle right he's like what Russell Wilson was for four years but for 20 and it's just like this amazing sliding doors moment like I actually feel bad for him because it seems like he's been searching for the right situation ever since he's never to he talk about Seattle a lot like once a year like he's rocking the jersey and saying something about it oh I think he when they get the team I bet he finishes I bet he comes back I could see it happening that' be great yeah see you're getting excited for this now yeah Courtside I'm still je Courtside I don't know I I just got I I don't know if I told this but I just got courtside tickets to the San Diego Clippers next winter so so you heard about that right the LA Clippers their farm team oh the g- league team yeah they're going to San Diego oh wow yeah so wow that's cool I like that good good uniforms yeah it has to be great we be free we'll be free yeah Don unfortunately Donald Sterling um yeah that was where magic played his first game he threw the uh threw the creem had the Skyhook and won the game and Magic ran over and hugged him and cre was like what the hell's going on this guy hugging me don't touch me wow all right so you're going on tour six months you ready for this seven months yeah sure yeah what what wines what are we is it a different wine each City like what's the wine plan uh it's usually like a brolo or you know nothing too fancy you don't go like I'm in Philly I'm in a Pino Noir up tonight like that no see this is why we need the Instagram right you want [Music] the um yeah so baros yeah that would be a nice or nice cab or you know whatever they got it's really just I I like the way it makes the throat feel and and it just you know I used to worry about my throat all the time and and then um and it used to go out all the time like the first couple years and uh cuz you weren't taking care of it what what was no because I was oh you know no carbonation no carbonated drinks no beer no alcohol no smoke didn't want to be around smoke you know I mean oh so you it's like tough in your throat up well I just had to like get over it and have some fun you know um I was you know just constantly thinking about it and and you know and we were only playing 45 to 60 Minute shows you know and then I remember watching there's a little club called Oddfellows up here and and mud honey was playing and and and there was this crowded room you know about this big but just you know 60 people in a 25 capacity room and yeah smoking and drinking and loud and cloud and Mark arm being in there and then and then going out and singing his tail off and just screaming in perfect pitch and and and he was having a blast and I said you know I'm G to try that so and the rest was history how many how many how many s do you smoke a day usually oh no I quit a long time ago you quit a long time ago all right what are your bad vies anything my bad viic oh jeez we're gonna be here uh one of my bad viic is probably just for him to come up with one is going take a while probably chocolate probably probably sugar chocolate but I I I've I've it's not I don't have bad chocolate I don't eat you know but yeah chocolate I I I really don't hardly drink anymore um I eat pretty good see he's ready he's ready for the tour mostly it's about feeling good Mo mostly it's like just like how do I wake up tomorrow and not feel like and so I sort of whatever what I whatever I have to do to do that you don't agree with this no I just I forget it until the morning and remember that thing that Jeff said what is your daughter nag you about nag me about yeah Dad why' you do this um nothing because I don't believe that because I have a daughter who's like I think a year younger than you dad you got to take care of yourself dad you got to do this oh nag me about oh uh no no they no nothing pretty they just let you fly uh I no I'm I'm more nagging them a bit what are you nagging them about you know just you know if you're going to use the studio you got to put everything back the way it was you know I don't mind I appreciate your wanting to sing or play guitar but you you got to put the stuff back or you know support clean up the art supplies you can't you can't just leave I mean if you imagine you know all these nice paint brushes you know paint brushes are expensive or your stones that you carve into just painting all of them dried paint oh yeah if they dull mying that's how you communicate yeah do you really use a typewriter I I always have like even now in f the typewriter I can't fix a computer absolutely I I like the uh there's a West not even like a word processor an actual typewriter typewriter you can change a ribbon like yeah yeah you do well and then you have to rewind it every probably twice a session if you're is it an expensive typewriter no well my was it like an old school like 80s typewriter my first type well not my first typewriter but one that I really liked it came from a little um Goodwill kind of thing in West Seattle and that's still has the masking I think I wrote probably use that for the first four records or uh record 2 three 4 probably five but that has a Mas piece of masking tape says $8 that was a good return on the investment I was so happy when word processor showed up because I was such a bad typer I'm a two-finger typer word process my sports columns for 20 years I was like doing this but I could type really fast it was like people would watch me on an airplane or Starbucks or something they'd be like how do you type so fast with two fingers I like that's cool I don't know like a Mickey Spain yeah I don't know I I never learned how to I never took a class so I always kind of just figured out how to type so and then when I got the black bear I was like that was probably the peak of my productivity because I could just do this but iPhone I can't type on iPhone is just beating me I'm just like my favorite typewriter now it has a calligraphy font and um it's it's called the torpedo it's from East Germany 19 62 I think it's cool and you use the torpedo from Eastern Germany mostly every day it's amazing information had no idea I'll send you a picture that's cool I'll send you the I'll send you I'll find one for you we're wrapping this up cuz you're going to show us all your uh well not baseball stuff well some of it I'm going to ask a lot of questions I'm going to be super curious but uh hey sorry I failed the I thought I'd be good at that kind of password thing oh we never finished we had six albums left all right come on go all right you got to find it hold on uh I just free byuro stereo uh Chad Black's dog Riot Act chess pieces uh Studio X I don't know wow not a lot of memories a riot act huh oh there's a lot yeah Pearl Jam I guess that was the 2006 album called Pearl Jam it had no title uh I mean um well Adam Casper but also um I remember Ray Cameron playing drums and telling us what to play oh he was like Hey play less he was like eight or maybe younger yeah he'd sat behind his dad's drum kit he and he was tell us okay you stop playing I remember he like it was awesome backspacer oh can I just share one this uh we had this idea we had song title uh album titles just kind of written on like posted notes and we're sticking them on the back there a piece of foam in the back of the studio and we're and then one day I think there was a I don't know the word avocado got put down so then I started kind of thinking about this kind of very neutral color with a blue so we're going to do like a a a a test shot of an avocado we kind of had an idea is that with Brad Brad was going to come down with his camera and we kind of painted a blue backdrop and and then and then so on the way to the studio I went in to get like a couple good off vados right yeah you know like like that's that looked kind of perfect and and what I didn't realize was Super Bowl Sunday and I think it was Seattle against the Steelers wow B Super Bowl yeah and so I get it and I'm just going to just quick go into the store race to the studio and there's just like it's like some the store is packed it's just like you can't even like I can't even believe why there's so many people in the store and then I realized and and then I and then but I anyways I made it to the avocados and I was kind of like really like inspecting no that one's not gonna I was like auditioning avocados and uh and I saw like three people that kind of recognized me and they were just staring at me just going what the is he doing so meticulous about his avoc really big fan of the avocados and typewriters and well that's my thought on itoc I remember George was George brought in the remember he put the Steelers helmet on the TV right afterwards I was about to kill him well I I actually brought that helmet in oh you did yeah oh my God I Never Told You Jesus well he put the Jersey on his dog or something I just remember like that was a pain that was a painful one there's some kind of questionable calls in that second half of that Super Bowl was that in Detroit oh that that was like a borderline that Super Bowl might have been rigged yeah yeah it's a controversial one uh lightning bolt Jerry Lopez what do you got Jeff uh listening to sirens in Ed's room oh hotel room yeah right after he finish the vocal it was just a demo and the 220 album is that's gotta be CO's the thing you think of gigaton oh K made right over there right next door at whole record then dark matter you'll just think of Malibu just Sunshine that's a good sh sunsh was just like white rooms it you know it actually like basically snowed while we were there it was cold and rainy yeah pretty much the whole time Southern California so I don't know what's going on yeah it's it's supposedly I don't know if this is true but I saw it on the internet so it might be true supposedly La has had more rain in 2024 than Seattle so far heard dry yeah dry here no you know it's it's a really it was a great great place to record but it wasn't I wouldn't say it was you know it's not fancy it's kind of utilitarian but with a lot of vibe you know Jeff and I were we're talking before about there's there's some songs in that album that are going to like kick ass in concert you know like sometimes you hear and you're like oh that's that's gonna be a good one you know if on a scale of one to porch as you know my favorite concert one to porch there's some there's some ones that are creeping toward porch yeah like and I don't know like there's no way that's intentional as you're making a song but then sometimes they just translate there's no Rhyme or Reason to it well I think what's cool about the record is you can listen to the Rhythm Section and the drums and and you know it was recorded quick enough to where you know he's kind of playing on Instinct yeah and and just kind of you know kind of free flowing you know in that you know it's almost like a a dog you rined it off just shaking it's like you know just what he can do you you know it's it's like somebody at the peak of their pow is playing their instrument I mean it's it's really kind of shockingly incredible but you know and and we are living in a time of of great great drummers you know there's a lot of great drummers and great young drummers and but he's I I it's it's an exciting just his performance and and the way they lock it together um on this record especially it's it's um yeah it I think that's that's a reason I I'll always appreciate listening to this one and and if you listen to the is it got to give is that the one I like the Baseline so much I mean they're all good but it's it's incredible you guys have had a couple drummers but not we haven't had we haven't had a new drummer in 26 years 27 years she say just that early part of the early history centrifugal force of those early years they just fly everyone to fly off all right we're going to look at some baseball stuff this was fun [Music]

Channel: Bill Simmons

Views: 100,788

Keywords: The Ringer, Ringer Podcast, Ringer Interview, The Bill Simmons Podcast, Bill Simmons, Bill Simmons Podcast, Spotify Podcast, BS Podcast, Bill Simmons Pearl Jam, Pearl Jam Interview

Id: 84bhhu32PII

Length: 89min 46sec (5386 seconds)

Published: Fri May 03 2024