Lightning Bolt Turns 12

 

Vs. Turns 32

 

Neil Young's Mirrorball Reissue

 Neil Young has announced the reissue of his album, Mirror Ball, featuring "the Band."  It will release on October 24th as part of a CD or vinyl, 4-album boxed set that includes Unplugged, Harvest Moon, and Sleeps with Angels.  Though the album is not available by itself, single-album releases from Neil Young's archives generally become available in the following months.  So, keep your eyes out, and we'll let you know.

You can pre-order the boxes at Greedy Hand Store at Neil Young Archives (NYA) or wherever you buy your favorite music.

Mirror Ball is an analog recording and the album has been remastered from the original analog masters by John Hanlon and Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering. Additionally, four of the tracks have been remixed in analog by John Hanlon, as the originals were from digital mixes ("I'm the Ocean," "Big Green Country," "Truth Be Know," and "Throw Your Hatred Down").

Mirror Ball, originally released in 1995 and recorded with Pearl Jam. Considering the Seattle band was one of the prime movers of rock bands in the 1990s, it was an event immediately upon its release, and found a rabid, younger audience and inspired long-time fans alike with its inherent high energy. Songs like "I Am the Ocean" and "Throw Your Hatred Down" helped impact so much of the second half of the 1990s.

Happy Birthday, Josh Klinghoffer!

Credit: Geoff Whitman

 

The Love Bone Earth Affair

This week, Pearl Jam released an HD remaster of The Love Bone Earth Affair, a 1993 VHS documentary directed by Josh Taft about Mother Love Bone released after the release of their original compilation album (now Apple and Shine).  

Here is what the band has to say:

This video, originally released on VHS, features never-before-seen footage of Mother Love Bone in concert and includes interviews with frontman Andrew Wood, bassist Jeff Ament, and guitarist Stone Gossard.

In honor of the enduring impact of Mother Love Bone’s music, individual reissues of Shine EP and the seminal full-length debut Apple are available now! A limited-edition, newly remastered Japan-exclusive Mini-LP/SHM-CD that includes both records will be available on October 10. 

Elements EP by Barking Dog

 Last month when your humble TSIS author was drowning in his day job, Loosegroove Records announced the release of a new album by Barking Dog, a band featuring former Pearl Jam drummer, Jack Irons.  What does it sound like?  Imagine Jack Irons grooving with his friends on some instrumental tracks full of experimental rhythm.  There you go, you've got it.

If you still have doubts, it's available on all streaming services, and once you fall in love, you can get the 12" on copper vinyl from Loosegroove Records.

Here is what Loosegroove had to say about the album:

Barking Dog’s Elements EP blends years of musical collaboration, friendship, and shared passions. The band features Jack Irons (drummer for Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers), Anthony LoGerfo (longtime drummer for Neil Young and Promise of The Real), and Micah Nelson(musician and founder of Particle Kid). Together, they share a love for rhythm, Neil Young, and dogs.

Their connection began in 2016 at Ohana Festival, where Jack and Anthony bonded over music and life. Anthony, best known for his work with Neil Young and Promise of the Real, is currently touring with Micah in Neil’s band Chrome Hearts. His "meditation grooves" formed the early rhythmic foundation for the project, which Jack built upon with experimental drums and percussion and Micah rounded out with his signature sonic layers.

After reconnecting in 2023, the band recorded the final tracks at Jack’s home studio, including the addition of a steel drum, a nod to Jack’s past work on Pearl Jam’s No Code and Yield. The tracks were mixed by Adam Hawkins, bringing together the elements of their collective sound.

The EP’s tracks, each named after natural elements, represent their sonic journey:
Heat Of The Sun Broken Water Sprouted Stream of Consciousness Light of White Moon Clouds Over Shadows

The band name, Barking Dog, reflects their shared love for their dogs, Charms, Plato, and Tsuki, and the record is dedicated to them. Elements is a testament to the band’s deep friendship, musical exploration, and the connections that shape their sound.

Trilogy Tuesday: Hail To The Chief

 OK, let's try this again.  We promised you a weekly trilogy and delivered one.  Just one, then we failed you for two weeks in a row.  Shall we try a reboot?  Sure, let's go for it.

In today's trilogy, Pearl Jam is going to get political.  They are known for singing about all types of political topics, mostly environmental, but they tap into the military industrial complex, women's rights, and anti-capitalism, but a few times, they've taken direct aim at our Presidents.

Today's trilogy features three songs specifically about U.S. Presidents.  Bu$hleaguer (George W. Bush), Barack Around the Clock (Barack Obama), and Can't Deny Me (Donald Trump). We'll learn the Pearl Jam doesn't always attack the man at the top, but if they don't, they snuff out the song and try to pretend that they never offered it as a free download.  

Maybe keep the microphone away from Stone for a while.

Sorry, it's the best we could do for an embargoed song.

Backspacer Turns 16

 

Trilogy Tuesday: The Hand Trilogy

 Pearl Jam announced they were going to play some songs about hands in Raleigh on May 11th [2025] and proceeded to play Upper Hand and Severed Hand, somehow forgetting that they did have a third song with "hand" in the title as part of their repertoire, Sleight of Hand.  Ed seemed to have caught the mistake and made good on the full trilogy at their show in Pittsburgh on May 16th.

Well, this got us thinking!  We all know about the infamous Mamasan (or Momma-Son) Trilogy (Once, Alive, and Footsteps), and a few lucky fans have heard the "Man" Trilogy (Leatherman, Nothingman, and Better Man), played together in Detroit in 2003, but can we think of some other trilogies?  Can we dig through Pearl Jam's catalog and mix up some better ideas?  Will Pearl Jam play them after reading about our ideas on TheSkyIScrape.com and then endorse our book, I Am No Guide: Pearl Jam Song by Song?

We don't know the answer, but we're going to see what comes of it.  Each Tuesday (when we remember, and until we get sick of it), we're going to present a Pearl Jam trilogy of songs that we think goes together.  Maybe the titles match, maybe the songs tell a story, maybe the covers of the 45s look pretty together.  Either way, we should have some fun with this.  You can even suggest ideas via BlueSky.

Let's start this off with the trilogy that started us down this dangerous, likely stupid, path: Sleight of Hand, Severed Hand, and Upper Hand.  Give a listen to the songs form Pittsburgh this year, and see if you're not inspired to enjoy Pearl Jam in a new way.

Ten Turns 34

 

No Code Turns 29

Mother Love Bone Reissues (2025)

 

The Ten Club has announced that they are reissuing Mother Love Bone's two albums Shine (1989) and Apple (1990) for the first time in a decade on vinyl and CD.  Fan Club members can pre-order Shine (on "Purple Haze" vinyl) and Apple (on "Red Alert" vinyl) or both albums as a "Japanese exclusive" CD set in a "mini-LP gatefold."  CDs of the individual albums are coming tomorrow (?), featuring bonus tracks: "Capricorn Sister" on Shine and "Gengle Groove" and "Mr. Danny Boy" on Apple.

In honor of the enduring impact of Mother Love Bone’s music, both Shine and Apple will be reissued and available in CD, Vinyl LP, and digital formats on Sept. 26! Preorder begins today and tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, Stone Gossard!

Credit: Geoff Whitman

SOLAT

Stip, alongside Concertpants from Instagram, have joined the State of Love and Trust crew to talk about Matt Cameron's departure from Pearl Jam. Part retrospective, part tribute, part speculation, part group processing, the team blasts through the stages of grief and reflect on what Matt Cameron meant to Pearl Jam, and what Pearl Jam means without him. If you're still puzzling through what this means for us as fans, and for the future of the band, perhaps this episode helps. And if it doesn't, it's still a great way to kill 90 minutes!

Farewell to Matt Cameron, and Thank You!

Credit: Geoff Whitman

I panicked when Dave Abbruzzese left Pearl Jam, thanks to a deep and abiding fear that a band breakup was imminent. No one seemed to enjoy being in Pearl Jam, and I assumed he was a core part of both their sound and identity (it was a different time. We just knew what Rolling Stone and Spin told us). At the very least, for the duration of my fandom, he was the only Pearl Jam drummer I knew. I didn’t know what Pearl Jam was without him. Or what they would be for me.

I was relieved when Jack Irons joined since it meant Pearl Jam would continue. I knew next to nothing about him – only that he was in the liner notes of Vitalogy, and that playing drums on Stupid Mop was not exactly the calling card I was looking for. It wasn’t until much later that I learned about his history with Ed, and that Pearl Jam would not exist without him.

I saw Pearl Jam live for the first time with Jack. It was a transcendent experience (Randall’s Island, Night 1). Prior to that moment, Pearl Jam always felt fragile – something that could fall apart at any moment, their survival dependent on the will and whim of Eddie Vedder, a man equally likely to shatter or detonate at any moment. Something changed for me after that night. Seeing them live was almost a supernatural experience– like they were channeling something larger than themselves – something primal, elemental, raw, and true that was simultaneously not of this world and its beating heart. Something that real couldn’t help but exist. After that night, Pearl Jam finally felt immortal – something that would HAVE to endure, whether they wanted to or not.

And yet, when Jack left the band, I still felt fear, if not outright panic. By 1998 it seemed inevitable that the Seattle bands were destined to disintegrate, and I wasn’t confident Pearl Jam would be different. When I learned that Matt Cameron would join them for the Yield tour, it wasn’t just that I was relieved (though I was!). This pairing felt right and proper. The greatest drummer of the grunge moment should be a part of its greatest band. I don’t think I knew he played on the demos sent to Ed, but I knew Temple of The Dog, and when Matt became an official member, it felt like the closing of a loop, or the end of an extended prologue. Pearl Jam had found its forever lineup. The one it was always meant to have.

Twenty seven years is not forever. But in terms of band dynamics it may as well be. And while Jack Irons is often credited with saving Pearl Jam, Matt Cameron is undoubtedly the reason they endured. Matt Cameron did what probably felt impossible for most of the 90s. He made Eddie, Jeff, Mike, and Stone want to be in Pearl Jam.

Matt was a flashier drummer in Soundgarden. His parts more obvious. But that makes sense. Soundgarden was the musically showier band. Pearl Jam’s playing wasn’t technical in its orientation. It was emotional. Soundgarden, for me, often felt like an exercise in craft. Whereas Pearl Jam was a study in experential truth. And I think we often forget (or take for granted) something fundamental about Matt: that he is arguably the most adaptable and selfless drummer of his era. In the innumerable albums he has guested on, the bands and projects he has been a part of, one of his singular gifts is his capacity to be whatever the music needed him to be. There is no overlap between talent and ego on Matt’s Venn diagram. He drummed in service of the song, not himself. I don’t think there is a member of the band as musically giving as Matt. There is a reason Eddie spent twenty seven years gushing about the opportunity to play with Matt. Matt enabled all of them to be their best selves, in ways that were maybe hard to see from the outside, but were so blindingly apparent to the band. And while this stage banter sometimes made it seem like Matt was in an extended guest spot, in reality it was recognition that his singular talents were not taken for granted – the ones the audience could see and hear, and the ones that could only be felt and understood by the band itself.

Credit: Geoff Whitman

It's not that Matt was a chameleon. It’s just that he was monstrously talented, endlessly adaptable, and somehow always true to himself. Matt ensured whatever Pearl Jam did, the music would always maintain its integrity, and that whatever direction their individual muses took them (including his own), he would be there to hold it all together, and ensure that whatever came out of that alchemy was unmistakably Pearl Jam. In the studio for sure, and especially in the increasingly emotional and improvisational live experience.

Although Matt was the drummer on 60% of their albums and for 80% of their life as a band (I double checked the math. 80%!), he missed their imperial moment in the early 90s. He was not the studio drummer on the songs that made them famous, the songs that endured in the public consciousness. It is true that Matt will always stand outside the Ten, Vs, Vitalogy arc (he was having his own with Soundgarden) when Pearl Jam was the most important band in the world.

But there is another Pearl Jam. The Pearl Jam I have seen for twenty nine of my thirty shows. The band that could release 72 bootlegs and set two records for most albums to debut in the Billboard 200. The band that built a reputation as one of the best live rock acts of all time. Their incomprehensible performance chemistry is a product of the Matt Cameron era. The Pearl Jam that made Pearl Jam Radio possible, that made it so that you could be a fan solely of their live material and never run out of things to listen to – we owe this to Matt. His legacy is that Pearl Jam never became a legacy act. He was not of the Pearl Jam I saw on TV growing up. But he was the backbone of the Pearl Jam I was privileged to grow alongside of.

Rock bands have short life spans. Group dynamics are complicated under the best of circumstances, and having to maintain them under the glare and scrutiny of a sometimes obnoxious and entitled fan base (which is, to be fair, all fan bases) is hard to do. Bring in egos, money, the pressure and need of the machinery that depends on you, and it’s a miracle any of them survive. Most don’t. And most of us, therefore, find that our favorite music gets trapped in a particular moment in time – those brief windows when a band existed. And the music becomes a frozen, reified thing. Something we can go return to, or a piece of the past we can carry with us. But that relationship is always looking backwards, always recapturing something we had to leave behind.

But not for us. We have been blessed to grow old with our band. That the soundtrack of our lives is forever expanding, bridging our past, present and future is a gift we were given. Pearl Jam has been a constant in my life for almost 34 years – as a living, changing thing. The music did not just help me find and retain my youthful passion and outrage, but grapple with my adult responsibilities and obligations. It has been there to bridge the space between my dreams and my reality, to help me understand the world I grew up in, the world I made, and the one I will be passing on.

It is easy to take this for granted, and Matt’s departure is shocking because, whether we are conscious of it or not, it reminds us none of this is inevitable. None of it will last forever. It takes luck. It takes work. It takes love. It is a relationship, and now that will relationship will have to change. It is only appropriate that we grieve what is lost. It shaped our fandom. In countless ways, big and small, it helped shape who we are. It mattered. What follows will still be real. But it will be different.

I love Matt’s output with the band. He has anchored some stellar albums. He has been the drummer on some of my very favorite Pearl Jam songs. And he has even written a handful of my favorites. But his biggest contribution, I think, is the fact that Pearl Jam is still here. I don’t think it would be without him.

When Matt announced his retirement it was bittersweet. Matt has earned his the right to walk away on his own terms, while he can. Our heroes deserve the right to control their destiny. I wish him all the best in whatever happens next. I am sure he will be back on stage at one point. But I will miss him. What he accomplished, what he represented, and what he made possible.

This marks the end of an era, but not the end. This time I didn’t feel panic. Because Matt carried the rest of the band to a place where I no longer fear for Pearl Jam’s future. He made them comfortable in their skins. He made them enjoy being in a band together. He built the symbiotic and generative relationship they have with their fans. He helped turn concerts into revivals, and I just can’t imagine the band ever wanting to give that up. Pearl Jam will be different without him. But it will endure. Thanks to him.

Thank you Matt, for the music.
Thank you, Matt, for the memories.
Thank you, Matt, for putting in the work.
And thank you, Matt, for ensuring that this is not the end.

Credit: Geoff Whitman