Tuesday 25 December 2007
Friday 21 December 2007
Santa God Lyrics
Now and then I remember when,
Us Adults were little Kids,
And our only worry was,
What we get from Santa Claus,
When Santa Claus was God,
When Santa Claus was God,
When Santa was... Santa Claus was...
When Santa Claus was God
Now we're grown and so complex,
In a world that can't relax,
Even though he was a lie,
We all were satisfied,
When Santa Claus was God,
When Santa Claus was God,
When Santa was... When Santa Claus was...
When Santa Claus was God
How I learned from right and wrong,
Had to be good for Santa Claus,
He made me, stop misbehaving,
And once a year if I did my job,
I'd be given my favorite toys,
So simple, the principles,
When Santa was... When Santa Claus was...
Santa Claus was God
Sleep tight all/oh little ones (x4)
Written by Eddie Vedder, 2007.
Us Adults were little Kids,
And our only worry was,
What we get from Santa Claus,
When Santa Claus was God,
When Santa Claus was God,
When Santa was... Santa Claus was...
When Santa Claus was God
Now we're grown and so complex,
In a world that can't relax,
Even though he was a lie,
We all were satisfied,
When Santa Claus was God,
When Santa Claus was God,
When Santa was... When Santa Claus was...
When Santa Claus was God
How I learned from right and wrong,
Had to be good for Santa Claus,
He made me, stop misbehaving,
And once a year if I did my job,
I'd be given my favorite toys,
So simple, the principles,
When Santa was... When Santa Claus was...
Santa Claus was God
Sleep tight all/oh little ones (x4)
Written by Eddie Vedder, 2007.
(Merry) Christmas Single 2007
SIDE A
Credits:
Lyrics by Vedder
Jeff Ament - Bass, Wurlitzer, Bells
Matt Cameron - Drums
Eddie Vedder - Uketar, Vocals
Recorded at Studio X, Seattle
SIDE B
Credits:
Mike McCready - Guitars, Bass, Drum Machines etc.
Recorded & Mixed @ Home by Mike McCready.
On its way to you now!
To download, 'right-click' and 'save as' the song titles. Courtesy of DropTheLeash.com
Tuesday 18 December 2007
Legendary Seattle Venue Closes Doors
Seattle's renowned music venue the Crocodile Café has suddenly closed its doors after 17 years.
The intimate downtown club, which played a big role in the early 1990s grunge scene and has hosted shows from the likes of Beck, REM, Yoko Ono and Sleater-Kinney, was reportedly facing financial troubles that forced the owner to close its doors. It most notably hosted a gig in 1992 featuring Nirvana and Mudhoney for a $3 ticket price.
According to the Seattle Post-Intellligencer, owner Stephanie Dorgan unexpectedly told club employees this past weekend that there was no need for them to return to work because she was shutting the club down.
"We all knew the club has problems with money, but we certainly didn't think it would be closing right now," said club booker Eli Anderson. "I was booking new shows on Saturday, so I was freaking out when I received Stephanie's voice mail."
PJ played a secret show there late in 1998, after the end of their Yield tour, in a short opening set packed with rarities.
The intimate downtown club, which played a big role in the early 1990s grunge scene and has hosted shows from the likes of Beck, REM, Yoko Ono and Sleater-Kinney, was reportedly facing financial troubles that forced the owner to close its doors. It most notably hosted a gig in 1992 featuring Nirvana and Mudhoney for a $3 ticket price.
According to the Seattle Post-Intellligencer, owner Stephanie Dorgan unexpectedly told club employees this past weekend that there was no need for them to return to work because she was shutting the club down.
"We all knew the club has problems with money, but we certainly didn't think it would be closing right now," said club booker Eli Anderson. "I was booking new shows on Saturday, so I was freaking out when I received Stephanie's voice mail."
PJ played a secret show there late in 1998, after the end of their Yield tour, in a short opening set packed with rarities.
Ed Auctions Guitar For Kim Warnock
From www.tenclub.net
"A few friends of Kim Warnick have put together this online auction to help raise money for the medically challenged rockstar. Kim's rock and roll resume includes playing in the legendary Fastbacks as well as Visqueen.
Eddie Vedder, of Pearl Jam was kind enough to donate one of his guitars to auction off for Kim.
Included in the guitar case is a handwritten two page letter from Eddie that explains the history of the guitar as well as his memories of touring with Kim.
Also in this package are two signed Pearl Jam posters and an original black & white print of Eddie and Kim from their '98 tour, signed by photographer Charles Peterson.
Bid now to benefit Kim Warnick and take home a piece of Rock history today.
Bid on this ultimate Pearl Jam package at charitybuzz.com."
"A few friends of Kim Warnick have put together this online auction to help raise money for the medically challenged rockstar. Kim's rock and roll resume includes playing in the legendary Fastbacks as well as Visqueen.
Eddie Vedder, of Pearl Jam was kind enough to donate one of his guitars to auction off for Kim.
Included in the guitar case is a handwritten two page letter from Eddie that explains the history of the guitar as well as his memories of touring with Kim.
Also in this package are two signed Pearl Jam posters and an original black & white print of Eddie and Kim from their '98 tour, signed by photographer Charles Peterson.
Bid now to benefit Kim Warnick and take home a piece of Rock history today.
Bid on this ultimate Pearl Jam package at charitybuzz.com."
Sunday 16 December 2007
Don't Believe In Christmas...
Cuz 10C ain't given us no Christmas single this year... yet.
While we wait for news to trickle through as to the contents of this year's X-mas vinyl, it's good to know it will be a happy Christmas in the Vedder household, as Eddie has picked up two Golden Globe nominations:
Into The Wild for Best Original Score
Guaranteed for Best Original Song
Anyway, while we all wait around for something PJ related to happen, it's time to open Santa's Sack (this may be familiar to those of you that visited The Army Reserve) and dig deep for some festive cheer!
This comes in the form of a new soundboard bootleg from PJ's performance at this year's Hurricane Festival, the last of 4 shows the band played in Germany this summer. Being a festival, it has a nice sprinkling of hits (Corduroy, Betterman, Even Flow), as well as a few fan favourites (Why Go?, Faithfull), giving a nicely rounded show, with the band very much on form (by their own confession, they had some shitty festival gigs this summer).
Download and Enjoy!
2007-06-24 Hurricane Festival, Scheessel, DEU
Main Set:
Why Go?, Save You, Severed Hand, Grievance, Dissident, Interstellar Overdrive, Corduroy, Faithfull, Green Disease, Given To Fly, Throw Your Hatred Down, Jeremy, Small Town, Even Flow, Black, Rearviewmirror
Encore:
Worldwide Suicide, Betterman, Life Wasted, Blood, Baba O'Riley, Yellow Ledbetter
mp3 FLAC1 FLAC2 FLAC3
While we wait for news to trickle through as to the contents of this year's X-mas vinyl, it's good to know it will be a happy Christmas in the Vedder household, as Eddie has picked up two Golden Globe nominations:
Into The Wild for Best Original Score
Guaranteed for Best Original Song
Anyway, while we all wait around for something PJ related to happen, it's time to open Santa's Sack (this may be familiar to those of you that visited The Army Reserve) and dig deep for some festive cheer!
This comes in the form of a new soundboard bootleg from PJ's performance at this year's Hurricane Festival, the last of 4 shows the band played in Germany this summer. Being a festival, it has a nice sprinkling of hits (Corduroy, Betterman, Even Flow), as well as a few fan favourites (Why Go?, Faithfull), giving a nicely rounded show, with the band very much on form (by their own confession, they had some shitty festival gigs this summer).
Download and Enjoy!
2007-06-24 Hurricane Festival, Scheessel, DEU
Main Set:
Why Go?, Save You, Severed Hand, Grievance, Dissident, Interstellar Overdrive, Corduroy, Faithfull, Green Disease, Given To Fly, Throw Your Hatred Down, Jeremy, Small Town, Even Flow, Black, Rearviewmirror
Encore:
Worldwide Suicide, Betterman, Life Wasted, Blood, Baba O'Riley, Yellow Ledbetter
mp3 FLAC1 FLAC2 FLAC3
Saturday 15 December 2007
Its That Magical Time Of Year...
Every year (bar one) since the creation of the Ten Club, Pearl Jam has released a Christmas single on vinyl to members of its fanclub.
Although it is often Easter before these beauties end up in our hands, it's the thought that counts, and there are 16 years worth of thoughts in this collection. Comprising everything from original Christmas songs, live performances, covers, duets, Jeff Ament on lead vocals, and some stuff thats just plain random, this collection is made available here in mp3 and FLAC formats with full artwork to make it an essential addition to any fan's collection, or the perfect gift to the Jammer close to your heart...
The Christmas Singles Collection (1991-2005)
Side A:
Let Me Sleep (It's Christmas Time)
Ramblings
Sonic Reducer
Ramblings Continued
Angel
Rambling Again
History Never Repeats (Live)
Sonic Reducer (Live)
Swallow My Pride (Live)
My Way (Live)
Olympic Platinum
Smile (Live)
Happy When I'm Crying
Last Kiss
Soldier Of Love (Live)
Side B:
Strangest Tribe
Drifting
Crown Of Thorns (Live)
Can't Help Falling In Love (Live)
Last Soldier (Live)
Indifference (Live)
Gimme Some Truth (Live)
I Just Wanna Have Something To Do
Don't Believe In Christmas
Sleepless Night (Live)
Reach Down (Live)
I Believe In Miracles (Live)
Someday At Christmas
Betterman (Molo Session)
Little Sister (Live)
Gone (Demo)
2006 Holiday Single
Love, Reign O'er Me
Rockin' In The Free World(live)
Note: Missing from the collection is Live For Today from the 1997 single. If you have a copy of this and would like to share, please get in touch.
BWR
Tuesday 11 December 2007
Stone Discovers New Johnny Cash, Recruits Him For Project
From Seattle Weekly:
This summer, musician Emmanuel "Vinny" Miranda had an angry conversation with a girl that ended with him hanging up the phone. "I was like, 'Well, forget this,'" says Miranda, a 10th-grader at Todd Beamer High School. Pissed, he grabbed a pencil and wrote some lyrics about how the girl was "all alone/With nobody in your life to call your own."
That's where the story would've ended for most jilted teenagers. But most jilted teenagers aren't "Juanny Cash, the 15-Year-Old Johnny Cash Prodigy," as Miranda is billed at his weekly gig at downtown's Can Can nightclub. As it turns out, he recently had a recording session with John Carter Cash, son of Johnny. His lyrics are now immortalized on a yet-to-be released CD with Dave Roe, bass-slapper for the Tennessee Three, and Jamie Hartford, who played electric guitar for the 2005 Cash biopic, Walk the Line.
Miranda's teenage phone friend wasn't impressed with the tune, titled "Cold Hearted Woman." "She was like, 'This is a mean song,'" Miranda says. "But everybody writes mean songs. Johnny Cash wrote a lot of mean songs. That's what you write."
"With that voice, you think, 'Well that's just the greatest thing I've ever heard,'" says Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam. In September, Gossard pulled Miranda into his studio for an "ongoing project" that has Seattle musicians reinterpreting the songs of Hank Williams Sr. "He has this incredible gift, this huge sound. And then he's got a real fire in his eye, and he gives it up."
This summer, musician Emmanuel "Vinny" Miranda had an angry conversation with a girl that ended with him hanging up the phone. "I was like, 'Well, forget this,'" says Miranda, a 10th-grader at Todd Beamer High School. Pissed, he grabbed a pencil and wrote some lyrics about how the girl was "all alone/With nobody in your life to call your own."
That's where the story would've ended for most jilted teenagers. But most jilted teenagers aren't "Juanny Cash, the 15-Year-Old Johnny Cash Prodigy," as Miranda is billed at his weekly gig at downtown's Can Can nightclub. As it turns out, he recently had a recording session with John Carter Cash, son of Johnny. His lyrics are now immortalized on a yet-to-be released CD with Dave Roe, bass-slapper for the Tennessee Three, and Jamie Hartford, who played electric guitar for the 2005 Cash biopic, Walk the Line.
Miranda's teenage phone friend wasn't impressed with the tune, titled "Cold Hearted Woman." "She was like, 'This is a mean song,'" Miranda says. "But everybody writes mean songs. Johnny Cash wrote a lot of mean songs. That's what you write."
"With that voice, you think, 'Well that's just the greatest thing I've ever heard,'" says Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam. In September, Gossard pulled Miranda into his studio for an "ongoing project" that has Seattle musicians reinterpreting the songs of Hank Williams Sr. "He has this incredible gift, this huge sound. And then he's got a real fire in his eye, and he gives it up."
Eddie, Matt Damon To Teach 'People's History'
An unlikely pairing if ever there was one, but according to this source, Mr. Vedder is to be one of a host of celebs to contribute to a documentary miniseries based on historian-author Howard Zinn's 1980 book "A People's History of the United States". Eddie will split Music duties for the film with R&B star John Legend.
PJ fans may remember Zinn's name as he came onstage to give a speech at the two 2004 shows in Boston, as well as numerous dedications of the song Down to him; The line "You can't be neutral, on a moving train" originates from one of his books.
To be titled "The People Speak", the project will feature music and readings based on America's struggles with war, class, race and the rights of women. It has yet to be picked up by a network.
Check out Down, performed live in Beneroya Hall, Seattle, in 2003...
PJ fans may remember Zinn's name as he came onstage to give a speech at the two 2004 shows in Boston, as well as numerous dedications of the song Down to him; The line "You can't be neutral, on a moving train" originates from one of his books.
To be titled "The People Speak", the project will feature music and readings based on America's struggles with war, class, race and the rights of women. It has yet to be picked up by a network.
Check out Down, performed live in Beneroya Hall, Seattle, in 2003...
Sunday 9 December 2007
Updates, New Boxset?
A couple of site updates, a new page, called Let My Love Open The Door, has all the latest on causes that PJ support, most of which is also available on the official site, but it can't hurt to spread the word.
Also, a new featured artist, Niko Taylor. You can now find all featured artists chronicled on your right hand side for easy access.
Also, a newsletter informing people of release dates for next year includes a new Boxset from Sony Legacy, called the Worldwide Singles Box. While the rest of us wonder what this could be, Jamilyman from the Message Pit was able to bring us this, from deep within 10C HQ...
Kat: Dammit Sea, operation singles has been leaked!
Sea: You mean....
Kat: YES! Those stalke... I mean fanatics were able to find some obscure reference to the new Singles project!
Sea: We knew this day would come. We just didn't expect it this early!
Santos: I told you guys that throwing a Green Hoodie at the men would not be enough to throw them off the trail!
Kat: You are right. I expected them to be doing their holiday shopping and not scouring the net the way only they are capable of. Hmmm... Do you think we should?!?
Santos: Do we have any other choice?
Sea: No! Now the only question is, do we put more towels up... or do we go with the Koozie???
Kat: Let's not lose ourselves here, gang. I am not ready to play the Koozie Trump Card just yet. Santos, you put up another 50 towels, I will send out a Little Birdie announcement, and Sea, you run some interference with the Deep contest.
Sea: That's perfect! That should buy us a couple more days to put together something about the aforementioned Operation Singles.
Santos: Sounds like a plan! Let's rock and roll!
Kat: Tweet Tweet...
Also, a new featured artist, Niko Taylor. You can now find all featured artists chronicled on your right hand side for easy access.
Also, a newsletter informing people of release dates for next year includes a new Boxset from Sony Legacy, called the Worldwide Singles Box. While the rest of us wonder what this could be, Jamilyman from the Message Pit was able to bring us this, from deep within 10C HQ...
Kat: Dammit Sea, operation singles has been leaked!
Sea: You mean....
Kat: YES! Those stalke... I mean fanatics were able to find some obscure reference to the new Singles project!
Sea: We knew this day would come. We just didn't expect it this early!
Santos: I told you guys that throwing a Green Hoodie at the men would not be enough to throw them off the trail!
Kat: You are right. I expected them to be doing their holiday shopping and not scouring the net the way only they are capable of. Hmmm... Do you think we should?!?
Santos: Do we have any other choice?
Sea: No! Now the only question is, do we put more towels up... or do we go with the Koozie???
Kat: Let's not lose ourselves here, gang. I am not ready to play the Koozie Trump Card just yet. Santos, you put up another 50 towels, I will send out a Little Birdie announcement, and Sea, you run some interference with the Deep contest.
Sea: That's perfect! That should buy us a couple more days to put together something about the aforementioned Operation Singles.
Santos: Sounds like a plan! Let's rock and roll!
Kat: Tweet Tweet...
Saturday 8 December 2007
New Music Series: #2 Niko Taylor
The second featured artist in our New Music Series is original NYC Man Niko Taylor. As a solo musician Niko's wide-reaching tastes have given him a large musical canvas with which to work, as I found out when interviewing him late last month.
A conversation with Niko Taylor.
Why don’t you start by introducing yourself...
Sure. Well, I'm 26 years old and I live in Brooklyn, New York. I work as a freelancer copyeditor and proofer, mainly for university presses.
Music for me is a hobby, though one that I'm very serious about. Right now, it's more about just doing something creative and being true to it - not really about any dreams of worldwide success or anything like that.
I guess working freelance gives you a bit more freedom than most to pursue your music then..
Yes, definitely. I still work a lot of hours, but I can structure my day so that I have plenty of time to write. For example, I'll work for, say, two hours, and then have an hour break.
And since I work from home, my guitar and piano are right there. It's a really good situation for following my muse.
And it's not just for writing - I can also work on recordings this way as well -- over the course of a day, I might lay down a track or two. It's really nice.
You mentioned the guitar and piano, are they the main songwriting tools you turn to when an idea pops into your head?
You know, it's funny - I'm a guitar player. That's what I've played for years, that's what I took lessons on. But recently my wife and I got a really nice electric piano - one of those that really feels like a piano. And having that around, that's turned into my main writing tool. My skills are pretty basic, but it really helps me to think about my songs in a different context.
I like the fact that I don't know what I'm doing exactly. I think that way I avoid common chords and changes, which I know so well on the guitar - They may very well be standard on the piano, too, but since I don't know that instrument as well, it sounds very fresh to me.
Listening to your recordings, it's certainly apparent you are capable of covering a broad spectrum of musical styles. Being open to learning new instruments can only bring more colours to the palate...
Well, I could see that. I suppose no two songs do sound the same. But really, I think that's a result of how I write.
I don't sit down and say, “I should write a song about” ... well, whatever. How I feel, what I see, whatever.
What will happen is I'll be sitting listening to music, and something in a song strikes me - It's instantaneous, sometimes only a few seconds of a song.
So, I go over to the piano and try to write it myself. And the variety of things I listen to is what I think causes the variety in my sound.
Take the song 'Goodbye,' for instance, that was my version of a 50's girl group song - I heard 'Walking in the Sand' by The Shangri-La's and said, "Oh, I gotta write my own version of that!"
So you set out to (re)create a certain sound when writing, as opposed to sitting down and saying ‘I want to write a power ballad in the style of...’
Yes, it's all about sound - and for me, the lyrics follow from that. I'll have some nonsense words as I'm trying to recreate a certain sound, and as I work it out, those will slowly morph into a fully formed idea.
But it's not always about genre, sometimes it's just about a certain rhythm. Like, the song 'Together Alone' was written after hearing ‘Cut My Hair’, a Who song on Quadrophenia that had a great, marching, pulsing guitar rhythm - just the cadence of it, that's what I was after, not necessarily "70's concert album rock," you know?
So, going though my own imagination, my own style, my background, these varied influences come out sounding nothing like the originals - Especially when they transfer instruments as well - Because they usually start on the piano but wind up on the guitar!
It always amazes me where they start out from and where they end.
The process of making music is one which has always amazed me, even as you say, how one song can change from its inception to the finished product.
Totally - I am so fascinated by it. That's why I love listening to bootlegs of artists I love - Often times you can hear how a song changes through various versions - Or how images or lines start in one song and wind up in another (Bruce Springsteen does that one a lot!)
Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I am exactly the same when it comes to bootlegs, just hearing one little bit of improv makes a song seem so much better. For example, I listened to an old PJ bootleg from 95 last night and Even Flow came on with a different intro and I was in heaven for the next five minutes!
You know, a nice example re: Pearl Jam is the transformation of Light Years - Have you heard the earlier version of it? What's it called?
Puzzles and Games...
Yes - isn't that fascinating? To hear what bits of the song worked and what didn't?
God, I love comparing and contrasting like that - It gives you a chance to get inside the artist's head, to hear what they thought would be good, what they tried, what they ditched, what they kept. So fascinating.
And I don't think the two versions have too many note for note similarities, there are parts of the chorus that are more upbeat, and I think they have rewritten the verses to match the beat that the chorus carries...
I want to say the verses on the final version have a sort of plodding pace, but that’s the wrong word...
I think that's accurate. But I think you're right - maybe after they finished Puzzles and Games, they heard the chorus again, and said, you know, that's what we want this song to be - But they couldn't have gotten there without writing the whole damn first version of the song!
So, who has inspired you to pick up the guitar?
Well, I was inspired to pick up the guitar by Guns N Roses, actually.
They were your first musical love?
I was really into them when I was like 8 or 9 years old, and that's what inspired me to ask my Mom for a guitar and guitar lessons.
I remember listening to Appetite for Destruction so many times that I wore out the cassette tape - you know, like it literally wouldn't play anymore!
I always think its funny when people say that they were really into music at such a young age, I never really got into music of any sort until my teens hit, I think Nimrod by Green Day was my 'Appetite for Destruction'
Yeah, I don't know, I was really struck by hard rock - Guns N Roses, and Bon Jovi, but it was Pearl Jam (and Nirvana) that got me into songwriting and playing in a band, and that didn't happen until high school, ninth grade, 1995 or so.
Listening to your music, your tastes have obviously widened considerably since then...
Yes, they really have. I mean, I was in a very PJ-influenced band in high school, but I've broadened my scope since then.
But you know what's funny? Pearl Jam was in many ways responsible for that. I think they were, and still are, a great band to get obsessed with as a growing musician, because they are really into rock history.
So through them, I learned about the Who and Neil Young. And Neil Young I think was a huge influence for me, especially in where my music has gone since then.
I understand, the same thing happened to me. By listening to Green Day, I was turned onto other 'mainstream' bands and then I hit on Red Hot Chili Peppers, and kinda became obsessed with the melodic nature of their playing, and looked for traits like that in other bands. Eventually I was turned on to a bunch of bands that influenced them, like Thelonious Monk, which just opened up new worlds...
Its like a domino effect...
I know. It's similar to what we were talking about with songwriting. It's amazing where something stars and where it ends.
Neil Young is perhaps one of the greatest influences you could wish to have, because you could listen to his style of guitar playing and his voice, which is in the upper registers and think that he would be limited by that, but instead he has a 30-40 year career that covers wide and vastly differing scopes of the musical landscape.
Well, in some ways, he and I were a good match because my voice is in the upper register also. I think he's keyed into something about songwriting - Something very basic, very simple. And listening to a ton of Neil Young I think makes you more creative, not less creative.
Which I think is different from, say, Paul McCartney. Personally, I don't think a lot of people hear Paul McCartney and say, Hey, I could do that - Because so few of us could!
But with Neil Young, I think he does something very simple, very basic, and does it very well, that it liberates you - Or, well, liberates me.
Do you feel creatively inhibited by McCartney?
Yes, I do - And even some John Lennon, though he's probably my other biggest influence.
But the parts of him that are more like Neil Young - the simple, rough, primal John Lennon - White Album onward, and then especially the early solo stuff like Plastic Ono Band.
But sometimes he's too much like me - like I hear a song like 'Look at Me' on Plastic Ono Band, or 'Crippled Inside' on Imagine, and I think “Jesus Christ, this is like my dream song to write - Yet he wrote it already!”
But that's different from McCartney, where he's doing things I would never think to do - Or he's doing things I don't even understand, because he's on such a high and complicated level.
While I agree that musicians like McCartney have abilities few others possess, I am very much of the opinion that it is harder to write a simple, accessible pop song than hide behind walls of complexity...
Yes, I agree - I totally agree - Simplicity is harder than complexity!
That's not to say I can't or don't appreciate bands or artists whose sound is based in complex song structures.
I guess what I'm saying is that I think people like Neil Young and John Lennon wore the process on their sleeve, whereas McCartney is so good at it that it seems effortless - he hides all the hard work behind it, or the emotional rawness that goes into it.
I think the man is a genius - He is the best at making the simple, perfect pop song - I guess I just personally don't learn a lot from him - I mean, learn about the craft of songwriting, for myself, just the style, I guess.
Growing up, were you part of a musical family, so to speak?
No, not at all. Nobody in my family is a musician. It's just something that I found on my own.
I only ask because I know your wife (Jillian Lubow) collaborates on some of these recordings with you.
Yes! There's a song, Say Yes, which I wrote, but she did all the vocals. My wife, by the way, is an amazing singer songwriter!
But we're so different - Like, my creative process I described to you, it's so different from hers. She sits down and says, I want to write a song about this, and then she just works away at it. She's less scattershot, less random than I am.
But I learn a lot from her - I love her words. They're poetic, smart, sassy, witty, funny, and they tell a story.
A lot of times, I think of the words as an afterthought, so a lot of times they come out like R.E.M. lyrics (another huge influence of mine) - You know, just random poetic phrases, but nothing super coherent... Just evocative.
But some of the stuff I'm working on now is trying to have some more lyrical clarity. The next song I'm gonna record was inspired by Springsteen's Nebraska album - I tried to sit down and really write about something.
I wanted to ask early on, are you living in New York or San Francisco now, as I gathered you were living in San Fran quite recently...
That's right - I'm back in NY, which is my permanent home. Jill and I went out to SF on a temporary basis - sublet our place in BK and then got a sublet in San Fran, just to test it out - but we're back now.
Being able to do that is one of the perks of being a freelancer.
But New York is definitely my home, geographically, spiritually, musically, everything.
I ask because both cities are steeped in musical history, but very different musical histories...
I think of NYC and the punk rock of the Ramones and Velvet Underground, and the downtown scene, as well as the inner city rap scene, whereas I associate San Francisco more with the hippy movement of the 60s.
Actually, in college, I did my honours English thesis on the Velvet Underground and Andy Warhol and the whole 1960s NY downtown scene. If you go to http://npt203.googlepages.com, you can find a version of the paper, which was published at PopMatters.
Musically, I'm definitely more of a NY guy than an SF guy - Mamas and Papas, Grateful dead, etc.? Eh, they're OK... But I got really into the downtown punk thing - Velvets, Talking Heads, Dylan, Blondie, the whole thing... That to me is just the epitome of cool - that hard edged, gritty, tough attitude.
And if I'm ever in a full band again (which is very possible - it's in my plans), I would love to have that kind of sound - You know, the kind of band that could just rip into a good Velvets or Stooges cover?
Just a punk rock power trio, rough around the edges?
Well - Oh, I don't know! Because then I'd also want a country western tinged rockability outfit - Kind of like Bob Dylan's recent bands. Oh, I just want to go in a million different directions, which, in a way, brings us back to where we started - The variety in my music.
I'm all over the place, but I think that's a virtue - I mean, I don't know, but it's the only way I can be.
----------------------
To enjoy Niko's music for yourself, download this 6 track EP:
1. Because Of You
2. Goodbye
3. In My Head
4. Never Gonna Cry
5. Together, Alone
6. Say Yes (Feat. Jillian Lubow)
Download Link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7QLIQBET
You can check out Niko's blog at http://nikotaylor.vox.com/
To hear more of Jillian's work head to http://myspace.com/jillianlubow or http://jillianlubow.vox.com/
To read Niko's thesis on the 60s downtown scene, which was published in PopMatters, go to
http://npt203.googlepages.com/
PLEASE leave feedback and let us know what you thought of this feature, the interview, and most importantly, the music.
BWR
A conversation with Niko Taylor.
Why don’t you start by introducing yourself...
Sure. Well, I'm 26 years old and I live in Brooklyn, New York. I work as a freelancer copyeditor and proofer, mainly for university presses.
Music for me is a hobby, though one that I'm very serious about. Right now, it's more about just doing something creative and being true to it - not really about any dreams of worldwide success or anything like that.
I guess working freelance gives you a bit more freedom than most to pursue your music then..
Yes, definitely. I still work a lot of hours, but I can structure my day so that I have plenty of time to write. For example, I'll work for, say, two hours, and then have an hour break.
And since I work from home, my guitar and piano are right there. It's a really good situation for following my muse.
And it's not just for writing - I can also work on recordings this way as well -- over the course of a day, I might lay down a track or two. It's really nice.
You mentioned the guitar and piano, are they the main songwriting tools you turn to when an idea pops into your head?
You know, it's funny - I'm a guitar player. That's what I've played for years, that's what I took lessons on. But recently my wife and I got a really nice electric piano - one of those that really feels like a piano. And having that around, that's turned into my main writing tool. My skills are pretty basic, but it really helps me to think about my songs in a different context.
I like the fact that I don't know what I'm doing exactly. I think that way I avoid common chords and changes, which I know so well on the guitar - They may very well be standard on the piano, too, but since I don't know that instrument as well, it sounds very fresh to me.
Listening to your recordings, it's certainly apparent you are capable of covering a broad spectrum of musical styles. Being open to learning new instruments can only bring more colours to the palate...
Well, I could see that. I suppose no two songs do sound the same. But really, I think that's a result of how I write.
I don't sit down and say, “I should write a song about” ... well, whatever. How I feel, what I see, whatever.
What will happen is I'll be sitting listening to music, and something in a song strikes me - It's instantaneous, sometimes only a few seconds of a song.
So, I go over to the piano and try to write it myself. And the variety of things I listen to is what I think causes the variety in my sound.
Take the song 'Goodbye,' for instance, that was my version of a 50's girl group song - I heard 'Walking in the Sand' by The Shangri-La's and said, "Oh, I gotta write my own version of that!"
So you set out to (re)create a certain sound when writing, as opposed to sitting down and saying ‘I want to write a power ballad in the style of...’
Yes, it's all about sound - and for me, the lyrics follow from that. I'll have some nonsense words as I'm trying to recreate a certain sound, and as I work it out, those will slowly morph into a fully formed idea.
But it's not always about genre, sometimes it's just about a certain rhythm. Like, the song 'Together Alone' was written after hearing ‘Cut My Hair’, a Who song on Quadrophenia that had a great, marching, pulsing guitar rhythm - just the cadence of it, that's what I was after, not necessarily "70's concert album rock," you know?
So, going though my own imagination, my own style, my background, these varied influences come out sounding nothing like the originals - Especially when they transfer instruments as well - Because they usually start on the piano but wind up on the guitar!
It always amazes me where they start out from and where they end.
The process of making music is one which has always amazed me, even as you say, how one song can change from its inception to the finished product.
Totally - I am so fascinated by it. That's why I love listening to bootlegs of artists I love - Often times you can hear how a song changes through various versions - Or how images or lines start in one song and wind up in another (Bruce Springsteen does that one a lot!)
Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I am exactly the same when it comes to bootlegs, just hearing one little bit of improv makes a song seem so much better. For example, I listened to an old PJ bootleg from 95 last night and Even Flow came on with a different intro and I was in heaven for the next five minutes!
You know, a nice example re: Pearl Jam is the transformation of Light Years - Have you heard the earlier version of it? What's it called?
Puzzles and Games...
Yes - isn't that fascinating? To hear what bits of the song worked and what didn't?
God, I love comparing and contrasting like that - It gives you a chance to get inside the artist's head, to hear what they thought would be good, what they tried, what they ditched, what they kept. So fascinating.
And I don't think the two versions have too many note for note similarities, there are parts of the chorus that are more upbeat, and I think they have rewritten the verses to match the beat that the chorus carries...
I want to say the verses on the final version have a sort of plodding pace, but that’s the wrong word...
I think that's accurate. But I think you're right - maybe after they finished Puzzles and Games, they heard the chorus again, and said, you know, that's what we want this song to be - But they couldn't have gotten there without writing the whole damn first version of the song!
So, who has inspired you to pick up the guitar?
Well, I was inspired to pick up the guitar by Guns N Roses, actually.
They were your first musical love?
I was really into them when I was like 8 or 9 years old, and that's what inspired me to ask my Mom for a guitar and guitar lessons.
I remember listening to Appetite for Destruction so many times that I wore out the cassette tape - you know, like it literally wouldn't play anymore!
I always think its funny when people say that they were really into music at such a young age, I never really got into music of any sort until my teens hit, I think Nimrod by Green Day was my 'Appetite for Destruction'
Yeah, I don't know, I was really struck by hard rock - Guns N Roses, and Bon Jovi, but it was Pearl Jam (and Nirvana) that got me into songwriting and playing in a band, and that didn't happen until high school, ninth grade, 1995 or so.
Listening to your music, your tastes have obviously widened considerably since then...
Yes, they really have. I mean, I was in a very PJ-influenced band in high school, but I've broadened my scope since then.
But you know what's funny? Pearl Jam was in many ways responsible for that. I think they were, and still are, a great band to get obsessed with as a growing musician, because they are really into rock history.
So through them, I learned about the Who and Neil Young. And Neil Young I think was a huge influence for me, especially in where my music has gone since then.
I understand, the same thing happened to me. By listening to Green Day, I was turned onto other 'mainstream' bands and then I hit on Red Hot Chili Peppers, and kinda became obsessed with the melodic nature of their playing, and looked for traits like that in other bands. Eventually I was turned on to a bunch of bands that influenced them, like Thelonious Monk, which just opened up new worlds...
Its like a domino effect...
I know. It's similar to what we were talking about with songwriting. It's amazing where something stars and where it ends.
Neil Young is perhaps one of the greatest influences you could wish to have, because you could listen to his style of guitar playing and his voice, which is in the upper registers and think that he would be limited by that, but instead he has a 30-40 year career that covers wide and vastly differing scopes of the musical landscape.
Well, in some ways, he and I were a good match because my voice is in the upper register also. I think he's keyed into something about songwriting - Something very basic, very simple. And listening to a ton of Neil Young I think makes you more creative, not less creative.
Which I think is different from, say, Paul McCartney. Personally, I don't think a lot of people hear Paul McCartney and say, Hey, I could do that - Because so few of us could!
But with Neil Young, I think he does something very simple, very basic, and does it very well, that it liberates you - Or, well, liberates me.
Do you feel creatively inhibited by McCartney?
Yes, I do - And even some John Lennon, though he's probably my other biggest influence.
But the parts of him that are more like Neil Young - the simple, rough, primal John Lennon - White Album onward, and then especially the early solo stuff like Plastic Ono Band.
But sometimes he's too much like me - like I hear a song like 'Look at Me' on Plastic Ono Band, or 'Crippled Inside' on Imagine, and I think “Jesus Christ, this is like my dream song to write - Yet he wrote it already!”
But that's different from McCartney, where he's doing things I would never think to do - Or he's doing things I don't even understand, because he's on such a high and complicated level.
While I agree that musicians like McCartney have abilities few others possess, I am very much of the opinion that it is harder to write a simple, accessible pop song than hide behind walls of complexity...
Yes, I agree - I totally agree - Simplicity is harder than complexity!
That's not to say I can't or don't appreciate bands or artists whose sound is based in complex song structures.
I guess what I'm saying is that I think people like Neil Young and John Lennon wore the process on their sleeve, whereas McCartney is so good at it that it seems effortless - he hides all the hard work behind it, or the emotional rawness that goes into it.
I think the man is a genius - He is the best at making the simple, perfect pop song - I guess I just personally don't learn a lot from him - I mean, learn about the craft of songwriting, for myself, just the style, I guess.
Growing up, were you part of a musical family, so to speak?
No, not at all. Nobody in my family is a musician. It's just something that I found on my own.
I only ask because I know your wife (Jillian Lubow) collaborates on some of these recordings with you.
Yes! There's a song, Say Yes, which I wrote, but she did all the vocals. My wife, by the way, is an amazing singer songwriter!
But we're so different - Like, my creative process I described to you, it's so different from hers. She sits down and says, I want to write a song about this, and then she just works away at it. She's less scattershot, less random than I am.
But I learn a lot from her - I love her words. They're poetic, smart, sassy, witty, funny, and they tell a story.
A lot of times, I think of the words as an afterthought, so a lot of times they come out like R.E.M. lyrics (another huge influence of mine) - You know, just random poetic phrases, but nothing super coherent... Just evocative.
But some of the stuff I'm working on now is trying to have some more lyrical clarity. The next song I'm gonna record was inspired by Springsteen's Nebraska album - I tried to sit down and really write about something.
I wanted to ask early on, are you living in New York or San Francisco now, as I gathered you were living in San Fran quite recently...
That's right - I'm back in NY, which is my permanent home. Jill and I went out to SF on a temporary basis - sublet our place in BK and then got a sublet in San Fran, just to test it out - but we're back now.
Being able to do that is one of the perks of being a freelancer.
But New York is definitely my home, geographically, spiritually, musically, everything.
I ask because both cities are steeped in musical history, but very different musical histories...
I think of NYC and the punk rock of the Ramones and Velvet Underground, and the downtown scene, as well as the inner city rap scene, whereas I associate San Francisco more with the hippy movement of the 60s.
Actually, in college, I did my honours English thesis on the Velvet Underground and Andy Warhol and the whole 1960s NY downtown scene. If you go to http://npt203.googlepages.com, you can find a version of the paper, which was published at PopMatters.
Musically, I'm definitely more of a NY guy than an SF guy - Mamas and Papas, Grateful dead, etc.? Eh, they're OK... But I got really into the downtown punk thing - Velvets, Talking Heads, Dylan, Blondie, the whole thing... That to me is just the epitome of cool - that hard edged, gritty, tough attitude.
And if I'm ever in a full band again (which is very possible - it's in my plans), I would love to have that kind of sound - You know, the kind of band that could just rip into a good Velvets or Stooges cover?
Just a punk rock power trio, rough around the edges?
Well - Oh, I don't know! Because then I'd also want a country western tinged rockability outfit - Kind of like Bob Dylan's recent bands. Oh, I just want to go in a million different directions, which, in a way, brings us back to where we started - The variety in my music.
I'm all over the place, but I think that's a virtue - I mean, I don't know, but it's the only way I can be.
----------------------
To enjoy Niko's music for yourself, download this 6 track EP:
1. Because Of You
2. Goodbye
3. In My Head
4. Never Gonna Cry
5. Together, Alone
6. Say Yes (Feat. Jillian Lubow)
Download Link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7QLIQBET
You can check out Niko's blog at http://nikotaylor.vox.com/
To hear more of Jillian's work head to http://myspace.com/jillianlubow or http://jillianlubow.vox.com/
To read Niko's thesis on the 60s downtown scene, which was published in PopMatters, go to
http://npt203.googlepages.com/
PLEASE leave feedback and let us know what you thought of this feature, the interview, and most importantly, the music.
BWR
Friday 7 December 2007
A Moment With Eddie Vedder
From The LA Times.
"Into The Wild" is the story of a young man who breaks away from his family and sets off to explore uncharted territory.
The story of its soundtrack is much the same. At 42, Eddie Vedder is not quite young (although, in a yellow leather jacket and band T-shirt, he looks it) and the family he (temporarily) left behind is Pearl Jam, the band he has fronted for the last 17 years.
But like Chris McCandless, memorably incarnated in the film by an emaciated Emile Hirsch, Vedder chose to walk a solitary road, playing every instrument on all but one of the soundtrack's 11 songs.
Vedder didn't set out to make the album on his own, but once he started to work on the songs, they came out in a rush, and calling in other musicians would have slowed things down. "I kept thinking at some point Matt Cameron would come down and play drums on it," Vedder says, referring to Pearl Jam's drummer. "But we just kept everything moving forward. The quicker we went, there got to be a real energy to it."
From the beginning, Vedder connected with McCandless' story on a deeply personal level. Their lives are marked by a handful of striking similarities, including the fact that each had the way he understood his own family radically altered in his late teens. McCandless discovered that his father was a bigamist with a secret family on the opposite coast. Vedder was informed that the man he'd been raised to believe was his father was actually his stepfather, and that his real father had died years before.
Vedder does not discuss the subject at length but the parallel clearly drew him in. "I had things that I hated to go through as a young adult that just happened to serve me well for this job." It's not hard to hear an echo of the righteous anger in Pearl Jam's songs when Vedder describes the disillusionment that sent McCandless on his journey. "The people that he trusted, and the world that he trusted, he felt betrayed by," Vedder says. "He felt like there were things in the world that were wrong, and he probably felt that at home too."
He also relates to the paternalistic bond between McCandless and Hal Holbrook's widowed veteran, a mirror of his own friendship with the late Johnny Ramone. Working on "Into the Wild" brought Vedder back to his earliest influences. The album's layered sound was inspired by Pete Townshend's demos for the Who's "Who's Next," which demonstrated that one man with a multitrack tape recorder could make as much noise as a full band. "That was a mind-blower for me," he recalls. "To hear the impetus and the core of that stuff and realize that one person could orchestrate his own music like that, that was a great case to study, plus those were my favorite songs in the world."
Vedder also took a cue from watching Neil Young turn an initial inspiration into a full-fledged song in a matter of minutes. "I've put it into practice on a song here and there, just grabbing something and turning it into something immediately," he says. "Getting a spark, grabbing it, one hour later -- song. But never on a body of songs like this one." Vedder is reluctant, at first, to venture a guess as to why the songs came so quickly. He launches into an explanation several times, then retreats and starts over, as if seeking just the right approach. "I haven't said this yet, for the reason that it might be taken the wrong way," Vedder says. "But I shouldn't be shy. I should be proud of it. And it's not being proud of myself. It's being proud of whatever happened."
What happened, Vedder says, is that he started to feel more like the songs' conduit than their author. "It felt like other things were at work," he says. "Things came through, musically and lyrically, that I didn't have to do too much work with. It felt more like grabbing little sparks around my head and putting them on the fire."
Although inspiration came quickly, Vedder took his time arranging the songs, changing tempos and adding instrumental verses to fit them into Penn's nearly completed movie. "I didn't want to say, 'It's a minute and a half scene, but here's a five-minute song -- take what you want,' " he says. "I wanted to make it as easy as possible, give him a piece of music that he could just play where he wanted it to start and end where he wanted it to stop. I just wanted him to be able to get it and play with his kids."
The movie already had music in it when Penn sent it to Vedder with a request to add one or two songs to the mix. Despite his confidence in his initial submissions, Vedder was prepared for rejection. "I liked what we had done, but I was ready to be told, 'Thanks, and hope this doesn't jeopardize our friendship, but I'm going to stick with the other stuff.' "
Instead, after leaving the studio late one night, Vedder was awakened early the next morning. "I blearily woke up to a phone call from Sean saying he had already put two pieces in the movie, and maybe we could do five or six more and think about the theory that the singer could be the interior voice of the character," he says. He began to think of the album as a way to retell the movie's story in miniature, like the songs for "Harold and Maude," another touchstone for the teenage Vedder. When he found out that movie had no soundtrack album, Vedder bought the necessary Cat Stevens records and assembled his own.
Although the two have been friends for years, Vedder still speaks of Penn with a degree of awe. Having seen Penn regale guests with a late-night recitation from a Phil Ochs song, Vedder strove to be worthy of such a moment. "He makes songs sound like poetry," he says. "When I was writing, I was thinking, 'This has to be good enough for him to recite to one of his friends at 4 in the morning.' "
The release of "Into the Wild" has stirred up some of the resentments that greeted the publication of Jon Krakauer's book, from those who see McCandless as a spoiled rich kid whose headstrong cockiness amounted to a death wish.
But Vedder has no doubt that McCandless intended to survive his Alaskan adventure, drawing a comparison with his own preferred way to get back to nature. "I don't think a guy goes out to surf big surf and thinks that he's not going to come back in," he says. "I think McCandless was out to catch big waves, and he wanted to challenge himself. He was going to, as all of us hopefully will do in our lives at some point, take it to the edge, to find out where the edge is, and find some truth in it all. And then you come back, not just to share your knowledge, but to become a different person, and that's how you contribute to society. These aren't just romantic journeys. They could be considered integral to becoming a more fully realized human."
Vedder's solo voyage has taken him down new paths. He has been mulling over the idea of a string of solo dates, the better to experiment with ideas that might not go over as well in the stadiums Pearl Jam usually plays. "At my age, I want to keep getting better," he says. "I don't want to say this is it. We'll still keep playing, but this is the end of our growth. So this would be a way to grow a couple new branches or something."
"Into The Wild" is the story of a young man who breaks away from his family and sets off to explore uncharted territory.
The story of its soundtrack is much the same. At 42, Eddie Vedder is not quite young (although, in a yellow leather jacket and band T-shirt, he looks it) and the family he (temporarily) left behind is Pearl Jam, the band he has fronted for the last 17 years.
But like Chris McCandless, memorably incarnated in the film by an emaciated Emile Hirsch, Vedder chose to walk a solitary road, playing every instrument on all but one of the soundtrack's 11 songs.
Vedder didn't set out to make the album on his own, but once he started to work on the songs, they came out in a rush, and calling in other musicians would have slowed things down. "I kept thinking at some point Matt Cameron would come down and play drums on it," Vedder says, referring to Pearl Jam's drummer. "But we just kept everything moving forward. The quicker we went, there got to be a real energy to it."
From the beginning, Vedder connected with McCandless' story on a deeply personal level. Their lives are marked by a handful of striking similarities, including the fact that each had the way he understood his own family radically altered in his late teens. McCandless discovered that his father was a bigamist with a secret family on the opposite coast. Vedder was informed that the man he'd been raised to believe was his father was actually his stepfather, and that his real father had died years before.
Vedder does not discuss the subject at length but the parallel clearly drew him in. "I had things that I hated to go through as a young adult that just happened to serve me well for this job." It's not hard to hear an echo of the righteous anger in Pearl Jam's songs when Vedder describes the disillusionment that sent McCandless on his journey. "The people that he trusted, and the world that he trusted, he felt betrayed by," Vedder says. "He felt like there were things in the world that were wrong, and he probably felt that at home too."
He also relates to the paternalistic bond between McCandless and Hal Holbrook's widowed veteran, a mirror of his own friendship with the late Johnny Ramone. Working on "Into the Wild" brought Vedder back to his earliest influences. The album's layered sound was inspired by Pete Townshend's demos for the Who's "Who's Next," which demonstrated that one man with a multitrack tape recorder could make as much noise as a full band. "That was a mind-blower for me," he recalls. "To hear the impetus and the core of that stuff and realize that one person could orchestrate his own music like that, that was a great case to study, plus those were my favorite songs in the world."
Vedder also took a cue from watching Neil Young turn an initial inspiration into a full-fledged song in a matter of minutes. "I've put it into practice on a song here and there, just grabbing something and turning it into something immediately," he says. "Getting a spark, grabbing it, one hour later -- song. But never on a body of songs like this one." Vedder is reluctant, at first, to venture a guess as to why the songs came so quickly. He launches into an explanation several times, then retreats and starts over, as if seeking just the right approach. "I haven't said this yet, for the reason that it might be taken the wrong way," Vedder says. "But I shouldn't be shy. I should be proud of it. And it's not being proud of myself. It's being proud of whatever happened."
What happened, Vedder says, is that he started to feel more like the songs' conduit than their author. "It felt like other things were at work," he says. "Things came through, musically and lyrically, that I didn't have to do too much work with. It felt more like grabbing little sparks around my head and putting them on the fire."
Although inspiration came quickly, Vedder took his time arranging the songs, changing tempos and adding instrumental verses to fit them into Penn's nearly completed movie. "I didn't want to say, 'It's a minute and a half scene, but here's a five-minute song -- take what you want,' " he says. "I wanted to make it as easy as possible, give him a piece of music that he could just play where he wanted it to start and end where he wanted it to stop. I just wanted him to be able to get it and play with his kids."
The movie already had music in it when Penn sent it to Vedder with a request to add one or two songs to the mix. Despite his confidence in his initial submissions, Vedder was prepared for rejection. "I liked what we had done, but I was ready to be told, 'Thanks, and hope this doesn't jeopardize our friendship, but I'm going to stick with the other stuff.' "
Instead, after leaving the studio late one night, Vedder was awakened early the next morning. "I blearily woke up to a phone call from Sean saying he had already put two pieces in the movie, and maybe we could do five or six more and think about the theory that the singer could be the interior voice of the character," he says. He began to think of the album as a way to retell the movie's story in miniature, like the songs for "Harold and Maude," another touchstone for the teenage Vedder. When he found out that movie had no soundtrack album, Vedder bought the necessary Cat Stevens records and assembled his own.
Although the two have been friends for years, Vedder still speaks of Penn with a degree of awe. Having seen Penn regale guests with a late-night recitation from a Phil Ochs song, Vedder strove to be worthy of such a moment. "He makes songs sound like poetry," he says. "When I was writing, I was thinking, 'This has to be good enough for him to recite to one of his friends at 4 in the morning.' "
The release of "Into the Wild" has stirred up some of the resentments that greeted the publication of Jon Krakauer's book, from those who see McCandless as a spoiled rich kid whose headstrong cockiness amounted to a death wish.
But Vedder has no doubt that McCandless intended to survive his Alaskan adventure, drawing a comparison with his own preferred way to get back to nature. "I don't think a guy goes out to surf big surf and thinks that he's not going to come back in," he says. "I think McCandless was out to catch big waves, and he wanted to challenge himself. He was going to, as all of us hopefully will do in our lives at some point, take it to the edge, to find out where the edge is, and find some truth in it all. And then you come back, not just to share your knowledge, but to become a different person, and that's how you contribute to society. These aren't just romantic journeys. They could be considered integral to becoming a more fully realized human."
Vedder's solo voyage has taken him down new paths. He has been mulling over the idea of a string of solo dates, the better to experiment with ideas that might not go over as well in the stadiums Pearl Jam usually plays. "At my age, I want to keep getting better," he says. "I don't want to say this is it. We'll still keep playing, but this is the end of our growth. So this would be a way to grow a couple new branches or something."
Piece Of Crap
This is the name I have affectionately given my laptop, when after 3 years of (not quite) loyal service, it could no longer take the strain of housing a monsterous PJ bootleg collection, and died, hence the lack of updates for the last week or so.
It also happens to be the name of a Neil Young song he performed with PJ way back in 1994 at the Bridge School Benefit concerts, notable for being the first shows Jasck Irons played with the band. Check It Out:
Anyway, now I'm back, so lets go over the all the important (and the not so important) news in PJ world from the last 7 days.
Eddie's song Guaranteed has been nominated for a Grammy. It is in Category 84, Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media, where he shall commence battle with Chris Cornell, who was nominated for You Know My Name for the illustrious prize once dubbed by Mr. Vedder as being 'completely worthless'.
Keep your eyes peeled for the Guaranteed music video to premiere soon as well.
Meanwhile, Stone has been using his recent downtime to plot another Brad show, as part of a Seattle Benefit for presidential candidate Barack Obama. Get tickets here.
In the new Rolling Stone, Jeff tells us how "Pearl Jam's goal every night is "Let's try to be Zep in ' 73, MSG . " They changed it up with every record. When we made Ten, we wanted to be as diverse as possible so we could go any direction we wanted after that, the way they did."
Sticking with the famous magazine, they made up for last weeks lack of PJ inclusion in their top 25 live albums of all time by naming Mother Love Bone's Chloe Dancer/Crown Of Thorns as one of the top 50 songs of all time over 7 minutes long. There were no rankings given.
Also, an upcoming episode of Iconoclasts, which will feature Sean Penn, includes Ed's music from Into THe Wild. Check it out on the Sundance Channel, December 10th.
Finally, in what can barely be passed off as newsworthy, College football player Colt McCoy, 21, quarterback for UT, named Yellow Ledbetter as one of the songs that gets him pumped up during a workout. How this would get you pumped up I've no idea, but he's probably bigger and stronger than me, so I won't argue.
BWR
It also happens to be the name of a Neil Young song he performed with PJ way back in 1994 at the Bridge School Benefit concerts, notable for being the first shows Jasck Irons played with the band. Check It Out:
Anyway, now I'm back, so lets go over the all the important (and the not so important) news in PJ world from the last 7 days.
Eddie's song Guaranteed has been nominated for a Grammy. It is in Category 84, Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media, where he shall commence battle with Chris Cornell, who was nominated for You Know My Name for the illustrious prize once dubbed by Mr. Vedder as being 'completely worthless'.
Keep your eyes peeled for the Guaranteed music video to premiere soon as well.
Meanwhile, Stone has been using his recent downtime to plot another Brad show, as part of a Seattle Benefit for presidential candidate Barack Obama. Get tickets here.
In the new Rolling Stone, Jeff tells us how "Pearl Jam's goal every night is "Let's try to be Zep in ' 73, MSG . " They changed it up with every record. When we made Ten, we wanted to be as diverse as possible so we could go any direction we wanted after that, the way they did."
Sticking with the famous magazine, they made up for last weeks lack of PJ inclusion in their top 25 live albums of all time by naming Mother Love Bone's Chloe Dancer/Crown Of Thorns as one of the top 50 songs of all time over 7 minutes long. There were no rankings given.
Also, an upcoming episode of Iconoclasts, which will feature Sean Penn, includes Ed's music from Into THe Wild. Check it out on the Sundance Channel, December 10th.
Finally, in what can barely be passed off as newsworthy, College football player Colt McCoy, 21, quarterback for UT, named Yellow Ledbetter as one of the songs that gets him pumped up during a workout. How this would get you pumped up I've no idea, but he's probably bigger and stronger than me, so I won't argue.
BWR
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