Record Store Day(s) 2020

Record Store Day has announced more changes for 2020.  Instead of releasing albums on one day later this year, they're going to release albums on three different days.  Coming June 1, they plan to announce a new list of releases for each day.

Since 2008, Record Store Day has grown into the world’s largest single-day music event, shining a light on the culture of the indie record store across the globe. In 2020, that world is different, so Record Store Day will be too. RSD is now scheduled to be celebrated with special, properly distanced release dates on Saturdays in August, September and October.

Record Store Day will look very different this year, but supporting indie record stores may be more important than ever. We don't know what sort of rules will be in place, or what sort of gatherings people will be in the mood for this year, so we're focusing on the music and getting the really great titles on the RSD Official List this year into the stores and into your hands, in the most financially and socially responsible way.

The titles on the RSD 2020 Official List, launched on March 5th, will be released at participating record stores on one of these three RSD Drops: August 29th, September 26th, and October 24th. The new version of The List, with newly assigned RSD Drops dates will launch on June 1 so check back here for a look at when you'll be able to pick up the titles on your RSD 2020 wishlist at your local record store.

Jeff Covers Buzzcocks' Sitting Around At Home

Today, Pearl Jam posted a video of Jeff Ament and John Wicks (of Fitz and The Tantrums) covering Buzzcocks' Sitting Around At Home.  The Pearl Jam website calls it a "single."  Could we expect a 45 in the near future?

"This Buzzcocks’ tune (written by Steve Diggle) has entered my brain every bored moment I’ve had since 1979. Different Kind of Tension is a great existential pandemic listen. Recorded with my crosstown brother John Wicks, crushing the drum kit in his basement". - Jeff

Eddie Vedder on the Kōkua Festival Stream

Last night, the Kōkua Festival, which was forced to cancel this year, aired several artists from home.  Among them, Eddie Vedder, singing Far Behind from his Soundtrack for the movie Into the Wild, a duet of Constellations with Jack Johnson, and Better Together with Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, and an entire ensemble. 

Other artists included in the stream were Willie Nelson, Ben Harper, G. Love, Ziggy Marley, Lukas Nelson, Paula Fuga, Kawika Kahiapo, John Cruz, Anuhea, Ron a Artis II, and Thunderstorm Artis.

Peak to Sky 2020, Cancelled

Gigaton Visualizer Comes to Apple TV

Pearl Jam has announced a week-long collaboration with Apple TV to bring you the Gigaton Visualization Experience in Dolby Atmos to your living room.  Apple TV subscribers will be able to watch Gigaton (oh, and also the Beastie Boys Story) starting today. 

Pearl Jam and Apple TV are announcing the release of the Gigaton Visual Expierence in Dolby Atmos - a special audio visual event. This experience will be available for free to all Apple TV users for one week. Start watching on Friday, April 24.

Check tv.apple.com for a free week offer, if you want to subscribe.

Ames Bros Gigaton Serigraphs

Ames Bros is offering a very limited run of Gigaton-themed posters tomorrow, April 20th, 2020, at 1pm ET.  Head to their shop tomorrow if you want one, but hurry, because there will be very few available.  Here's what to expect:

• Signed and Numbered out of 200. 
• Only 85 available at time of sale.
• Large Format Serigraph
• Seven Color Serigraph on Coventry Rag 320 GSM, 100% Cotton Archival Paper with hand-deckled edges
• Hand signed & hand numbered
• Official Pearl Jam serial numbered security label

Eddie's At-Home Performance of "River Cross"

In case you didn't make it though all 10 hours of live performances that were part of the One World: Together at Home special, you can watch Eddie performing River Cross on the same pump organ featured on Gigaton.

You can still be part of Global Citizen's efforts to combat poverty on their Take Action page.

Jeff Ament & Montana Pool Service on PMA Podcast

Jeff and his work building pools in Montana was featured in the final episode of PMA's podcast.  He talks about growing up in Montana, what inspired him to build skate parks all over Montana, and how his early life influenced his music.

This Season Zero finale is special for a few important reasons. The first one is that unlike all the previous episodes, we actually recorded this one properly in a studio, so this is a little glimpse into what the next season will sound like. It’s also remarkable because had our guest this week not done so much important work building skateparks across his home state of Montana, this magazine and podcast may never have been created.

Please enjoy our interview with Jeff Ament, who was kind enough to drop by for a chat to help us trace the roots of his empathy, and learn more about his truly groundbreaking organization, Montana Pool Service. We hope you enjoy it!

You can also pick up the print issue, featuring Jeff on the cover on their website.

The Gigaton Image 3-D Viewer

Did you have View Master as a kid?  Do you wish you could enjoy the Gigaton artwork through one while rocking out to the album?  Well, Pearl Jam has the item for you!  Pick up an Image 3-D viewer with a disc of Gigaton artwork on their website for $35 (unknown S&H).

Now if Pearl Jam will get into the back catalog for more discs!

Pearl Jam Postpones European Shows

From Pearl Jam's website:

In light of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Pearl Jam's 2020 European tour dates have been postponed until June/July 2021.

We are working with all of our partners to reschedule these dates and will release the new tour routing as soon as we are able.

All tickets will be honored for the rescheduled concert dates.

Refunds are not being offered at this time. However, we are still reviewing specific ticketing policies with our partners in each country. Ticket holders will be notified of any changes.

As previously announced, London's BST festival was cancelled on April 8th. For more information and the event statement, please go here.

We look forward to returning to Europe in 2021!

The Ten Best Answers from Mike & Stone's AMA

If you missed Stone and Mike's AMA on Reddit last night, never fear.  Their answers are archived here, but we've combed through and found you 10 great answers.


From Stone, re: Buckle Up

i wrote the riff in Santiago Chile in my hotel before our first show in SA last time we were there.. i think. i wrote lyrics in seattle about a year ago . it was the last song that was brought to band right at the end of making the record ...fall last year. i love the simplicity of the song> Jeff Ament came in and threw wicked lyrical bass and keys on it right away and the rest is history.. Thank you so much for enjoying. It makes makes me very happy. we rehearsed a few times ... its gonna be gooooooood.

How do you decide who handles which guitar part when writing a song? Is it each of you writing your own parts, or do you write parts for one another?

Depends on the song. I usually am confident that Stone will come up with something great for my songs.On Retrograde he came up with the atmospheric melody in the first part of the chorus.Sometimes ED will have a fixed Idea on how a rythm should be played with references like " make it sound like the KInks" Jeff will have specific melodic leads that he will want me to play. I usually like to hear what the guys will come up with on their own.Mike

From Mike, re: singing

I really want to sing for songs I write outside of Pearl Jam. Its been daunting cause Ive been around the best ! Im taking singing lessons from Sue Carr in Seattle shes really great and Im practicing a bunch.

Stone: follow-up to Moonlander when?!

Im finishing up a record i co wrote with Mason Jennings that is a song away from being mixed. Its called Painted Shield. its really good. Hopefully out in a few months if we survive this crazy shit .

Is there any chance that we could get another lost dogs type album with all the unreleased songs from Avocado onward

Hope you’re both doing great in these tough times and thanks again for all the amazing music, can’t wait to see you guys live when all this is over!

Gigaton is its own record. Id love to record more music in this time of pandemic but its imoportant that we are all taking measures to be safe. Good Idea about Lost Dogs 2 Ill bet we have the music for that.MM

 Hi there. Quick escape has a very rare (and wonderful) effect on the guitar, on the solo, how do they do that? With any pedal, which one? greetings from Argentina

Stone: What solo ... first or second...? the first solo is me and he had lots of crap on it... harmonizer and octaver plus tons of distortion.... Thats all Josh Evans on effects choice . It might be guitar direct into the board and distortion with preamps .. i do love that line though.. stone

Mike: On Quick escape I was using a bunch of pedals .One for sure was the Electric Mistress flanger that Alex Lifeson turned me on to.I love that pedal. I also asked Josh Evans and Neil Hunt at separate times to move the switches on an old delay while I was playing so I would get a sound that I couldnt repeat live. I wanted it special for the track

Have been pretty blown away by the cover of Hunted Down by Soundgarden that Stone is doing lead vocals on that was one of the recent ten club singles. Was wondering how that cover came about? It's a really exciting interpretation of that song.

Thanks . i can't get that lyric out of my head. It speaks to me how we spend our lives hiding from( metaphorical) howling dogs. I remember hearing that song for the first time as a test pressing of the Subpop single at one our local music bars.. My jaw fell through the floor ....Matt fucking Cameron and Chris Cornell showing why SG is one of the greatest of all time. sg

Mike: any plans for a solo record?

I would like to do a solo record some day and have some Ideas for it. I hope it will happen in the next few yearsMM

It seems like you guys had a lot of choices for this record, the one notable that missed the cut is Can’t Deny Me. Two years ago when you guys released it as a single, did you have a different concept for the album? If so, when did that all change?

Also, was Of The Earth ever considered for this album? I love the song and would love to hear a studio recording of it some day (hoping that maybe we have enough “Stray Cats” laying around)

Cant Deny Me was a single that came out when we didnt have a record out.It might come out again someday but Im not sure. I think Ed feels like we havent gotten the best take of Of The Earth from what I remember.I hope we can get it sometime>MM

If you Mike, and you Stone could freely pick a Neil Young cover to play love (From his vast amount of amazing songs) - which one would it be? Off the top of your head? Other than Opera Star off Reactor that is!

I keep humming The Great Divide. It really is stuck in my head. Lets play that as a cover!!!! sg

Pearl Jam at Hyde Park Cancelled; Band Considering Other European Shows

This from Pearl Jam's Facebook page:

We've just been informed that BST Hyde Park 2020 has been cancelled. We are hugely disappointed to share this news and are working closely with event organizers on our possible 2021 return.

In the meantime, ticket holders can hold onto their tickets. For the official statement and full refund information: bst-hydepark.com

We are assessing the rest of the 2020 European tour dates with partners and plan to have a full tour update on Friday. We appreciate your patience in understanding that Ten Club customer service has no further information to share until then.

Fan Club Singles 2017 & 2018!!

Yes, it is about time!  If you head to the downloads section of Pearl Jam website, those of you who were paying members in 2017 and 2018 will have four songs to download.  

The 2017 Single is a pair of Eddie Vedder covers, Tom Petty's Wildflowers, and Warren Zevon's Keep Me in Your Heart.

The 2018 Single are Pearl Jam covers, Soundgarden's Hunted Down, featuring Stone Gossard on vocals, and Chris Cornell's Missing (from the Poncier EP)

Download them today plus the two missing issues of Deep magazine.  The 45s can't be far behind.

Eddie Vedder Joins One World Together at Home

Pearl Jam has announced that Eddie Vedder will be one of 25 musical artists streaming live as part of One World Together at Home, a streaming event hosted by Global Citizen and benefiting the World Health Organization.

The show will take place on April 18th on a long list of streaming platforms, including Amazon, YouTube and Apple TV, but the time is unclear at this point.

For the most up-to-date information and to receive e-mail notifications, visit the Global Citizen website.

Happy Birthday, Mike McCready!

Artwork Leak for Gigaton II?

Lost Humans cover art, with a flat-lining EKG?

Last night, one of our Australian members received some mock-up artwork from a a source close to Pearl Jam.  Based on information from the source, this is an on-going project that may be under consideration due to COVID-19 and the "Stay At Home" orders that have postponed Pearl Jam's North American Tour and kept the band in isolation from each other.

The files came with the name, Gigaton II: Lost Humans.  This is, no doubt, a working title, but it may be a play on Lost Dogs, the previous collection of b-sides by the band, released in 2003.

Reversed imagery from the spine of Gigaton?

There certainly is no shortage of demo material that has leaked since 2003 and a few songs have dropped onto Fan Club singles, soundtracks, and compilations.  Is there second collection of b-sides on their way to us?  Is there a sequel of Gigaton in the works already?  Sadly, we're left only with questions and a couple of poorly-cared for jpeg files.