FAQ SECTION 1 - CURRENT INFO 1.1 What’s the band up to right now? Any word on the next tour? Pearl Jam has just completed an extensive European and North American tour. 2001 will be a year off for the most part. No new album expected anytime soon, and no tour dates expected this year. The Official Bootlegs from the North American Tour are scheduled to be released as follows: 1st Leg: January 31 via pearljam.com February 28 in retail 2nd Leg: February 28 via pearljam.com March 28 in retail Also, there are plans for a 2000 tour DVD/VHS video. There is no release date as of yet, but we do know that there will be clips from multiple shows on it. Possibly band interviews and backstage footage as well, but that is unconfirmed. *this info is current as of the publishing date, in the event that an album release date or other tour info is released we will not update this section of the FAQ until the normal update cycle (which is approximately bi-monthly). We will however try to list any such information on our web site (http://pjfaq.cjb.net/currentinfo.html) until the next FAQ update is released. SECTION 2 - MEMBERS 2.1Who is in Pearl Jam? Pearl Jam is: Eddie Vedder - Lead Vocals, rhythm guitar Stone Gossard - Rhythm guitar, backing vocals Mike McCready - Lead Guitar, backing vocals Jeff Ament - Bass Guitar, backing vocals Matt Cameron- Drums, percussion 2.2 What drummers have been in Pearl Jam? The drummers of Pearl Jam have been: Dave Krusen Matt Chamberlain Dave Abbruzzese Jack Irons Matt Cameron 2.3 Who is this Krusen guy that I have heard about? Dave Krusen was the original drummer for Pearl Jam. It is him that you hear on the skins on the album Ten. Dave left the band in 1991 to attend to personal problems at the time. 2.4 Who is Matt Chamberlain? Matt Chamberlain was Dave Krusen's replacement as the drummer for Pearl Jam. Matt was formerly in the Saturday Night Live band and can be seen in the earliest of Pearl Jam MTV videos such as Alive. Matt later left Pearl Jam, suggesting as he left that Pearl Jam check out a drummer named Dave Abbruzzese in the Texas funk band, Dr. Tongue. Chamberlain's previous efforts include Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians. He has fronted a band called Critters Buggin, which includes saxophonist Skerik formerly of Sadhappy and bassist Brad Houser. They play largely instrumental jazzy alternative music that is difficult to describe but excellent to listen to. They have an album named "Guest" which was co-produced by Stone Gossard, and released under Stone's Loosegroove label. Currently Matt has made quite a name for himself as drummer for Tori Amos as well as a session drummer for the likes of Melissa Etheridge, Sheryl Crow, the Wallflowers, and Fiona Apple. 2.5 Why was Dave Abbruzzese fired? No one knows the exact story yet behind the firing of Dave A. All that is known so far is that he was fired by Stone around Aug. 1994. The story released to the media, at first, said that it was an amicable split and that Dave A. left the band to study music. Then Dave A. later released to the press his version of the story. According to Dave A., the band fired him for reasons that are still unclear to him. Why the band released the first statement that Dave left the band is still unknown. Jack Irons was his replacement, and Matt Cameron is now the drummer for the band. 2.6 What Happened to Jack Irons? After the South Pacific tour of 1998, Pearl Jam announced that Jack would not be joining them for their summer tour because of medical reasons. Jack has now retired to raise his family. 2.7 So what is Matt Cameron’s status? Is he the permanent drummer? Matt is still only considered a "temporary" drummer. After Jack decided not to play the '98 summer tour, PJ needed a tour drummer. Matt happened to have some free time, so he came on board as a temp drummer on 4/17/98. His first performance with PJ was on Letterman on 5/1/98. He toured with PJ over the summer, kicked some serious ass, and then agreed to help Pearl Jam record a new album in 1999. Then came the question: so now is he the new drummer? Actually this question has been answered in an official capacity several times now, the problem is that sometimes the answer is "yes" and sometimes "no." Here's what Stone has to say about that in a short interview on sfx.com "Matt just wants to make records with us and he wants to tour. I'm not sure if he's officially in the band or not, but I don't think it really matters. If Matt Cameron wants to hang out with us and play drums and go on tour, all the power to him. I don't think we need a swearing-in ceremony of anything like that; if he wants to play on our records, great. We're honored" 2.8 Did any of the band members go to college? Jeff Ament went to University of Montana to study art (he also played basketball there) and dropped out before he could graduate. Mike also went to community college but not straight out of high school. As far as we know, Stone and Jack graduated from high school but never went to college. Eddie dropped out of high school but later received his GED and briefly went to community college in Chicago before returning to San Diego. 2.9 What are the birthdays of the band members? * Eddie: 12/23/64 * Jeff: 03/10/63 * Stone: 07/20/66 * Mike: 04/05/65 * Matt: 11/28/62 2.10 What is the marital status of the bands? Eddie Vedder married Beth Liebling in Rome on June 3, 1994. Matt Cameron is married to April Cameron who, incidentally, you will find credited for contributing strings on Binaural. The other band members are presently unmarried. 2.11 Do any of them have children? Matt has a son, Raymond Cameron. 2.12 What do we know about Eddie Vedder's wife Beth? Eddie has always maintained a pretty private life and not much is known about her. It has been mentioned in interviews that they met in Chicago in 1984 and have been together since. They married in 1994. She is described as a writer and as of late, she is in the band Hovercraft. She plays under the alias ‘Sadie 7’, and plays bass. 2.13 Do the guys have any siblings? We know Eddie has two brothers, one named Jason, and one named Chris. His third half-brother's name is either Brian or Mike (??). Jason is the one that played with Pearl Jam in Den Haag, 1992. Eddie wished Chris Happy Birthday during the DJ segment of their Atlanta broadcast. Eddie also has a half-sister Gina who was given up for adoption a few years before his birth. She is apparently the "Sister Parish" referred to in the Ten liner notes. We know Jeff has a brother, Barry. Barry has been extremely involved in the graphic design of Pearl Jam stuff (posters, album packaging, newsletters, stickers, t-shirts etc.) through the graphic design firm Amesbros (http://www.amesbros.com) that he and Jeff are a part of. We know Stone has a sister, Shelly. She once worked at Curtis Management (the bands management firm), and later at Stone's record label Loosegroove. She is no longer employed with the band. According to IMDB.com he also has a sister named Star. 2.14 What is Eddie's real name? Eddie Vedder. His biological name is Edward Louis Severson III. He was adopted by the man he not so fondly calls "that lawyer fuck" and had the name Edward Mueller. After his mother divorced, he took her maiden name, Vedder. Eddie also used the alias "Jerome Turner" in the credits for No Code, Yield, and Live on Two Legs. Supposedly "Jerome" is really his middle name. On the same note, Stone has used the alias "Carpenter Newton" in a similar fashion. 2.15 What's that weird tattoo on Eddie's right calf? Eddie sports a tattoo of a crossed tomahawk and a wrench on his right calf. (YEOUCH!) This tattoo is the logo of Earth First, a radical environmental group. BTW, former Pearl Jam member Dave Abbruzesse also sported a tattoo, the famous Pearl Jam stickman logo, on his arm, below his shoulder. Here is a picture if you’d like to see it (http://pjfaq.tripod.com/edtattoo.jpg). 2.16 I’ve heard Mike is a cross-dresser, what’s the deal? Well, Mike has had a tendency to wear dresses, feather boas, sequined spandex shirts and the like at shows. Not quite sure why, but this is a long-standing tradition. Whatever floats your boat, eh? 2.17 Do the members of Pearl Jam do drugs? We shouldn’t even cover this question… but for some reason people often ask. This is the type of question that won't get you too far with the band or with their true fans. You might get some opinions and idle banter about the topic, but it really has nothing to do with their music, so who really cares, right? We don’t need to know about such private things. Next question please... 2.18 Did Ed ever work for MTV? Yep, Ed was an intern at MTV in the late 80's. It isn't know whether he worked out of San Diego or NYC. If anyone has any more info on this, it would be greatly appreciated. SECTION 3.0 – BAND HISTORY AND ISSUES 3.1 Where is the band from? The band as a whole is from Seattle, Washington, although originally Eddie Vedder is from Evanston, Illinois and later, San Diego, California. Jeff Ament originally hails from the state of Montana. Stone Gossard is from Seattle, Washington. Matt Cameron is from San Diego, California. Mike McCready was born in Pensacola, Florida but raised in Seattle. 3.2 When did the band get together? Pearl Jam formed in late 1990 after the death of Seattle singer Andrew Wood which broke up his band, Mother Love Bone, of which Ament and Gossard were members. 3.3 How did Pearl Jam come together? This question has a long answer. Briefly, it begins with early Seattle bands such as Stone Gossard's March of Crimes and The Ducky Boys, Ament's Deranged Diction, and Mark Arm's Mr. Epp. These early bands boiled down into Green River with Stone Gossard and Steve Turner on guitar, Ament on Bass and Arm on vocals. After a couple personnel changes, Green River parted ways with Arm and Turner going on to form Mudhoney and Ament and Gossard going through a couple bands and finally settling down in Mother Love Bone with ex-Malfunkshun vocalist Andrew Wood. MLB started to gain some momentum commercially with a record deal in the works with a major label and some airplay on MTV, after being "discovered" by Kiss bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons. Unfortunately, Andrew Wood passed away due to a heroin overdose stopping Mother Love Bone in their tracks. Wood's roommate, vocalist/guitarist Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, hit hard by the death of Wood wrote the songs Say Hello To Heaven, and Reach Down about his deceased roommate and decided to record them as a tribute to Wood. This project developed into an entire album entitled Temple of the Dog after a line in the Mother Love Bone song Man of Golden Words. This project included Cornell on vocals and guitar, Stone Gossard on guitar, Jeff Ament on bass, Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron, and recent Gossard/Ament recruit Mike McCready also on guitar. At the same time that Temple was being designed/written Gossard, Ament, and McCready had just finished a three song instrumental demo with Matt Cameron helping them out on drums. The demo was driven by the Gossard creation Dollar Short that would eventually evolve into the AOR anthem Alive. This tape made it into the hands of a young San Diego gas station attendant named Eddie Vedder through friend and ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons at a game of one on one at a local basketball hoop. According to Vedder, after listening to the tape several times and then went surfing with the music playing in his head over and over. It was then that he put some of his lyrics to the music. Vedder dubbed his vocals onto the tape and titled the tape Mamasan ...it consisted of Part1--Alive, Part 2--Once and part 3--Footsteps. He sometimes refers to this in interviews as his little Mini-Opera. Ament, Gossard and McCready were impressed and eventually arranged a jam session to test the waters of a possible band formation. Things went well and Vedder joined in on the Temple of the Dog project with backing vocals and co-lead vocals on Hunger Strike. With Temple in the can, the band Mookie Blaylock was born with the addition of Dave Krusen on drums. The band took their name in reference the then New Jersey Nets point guard of the same name. This name was changed in favor of Pearl Jam (after briefly considering the name Reenk Roink) and the band was solidified. 3.4 What does the name Pearl Jam come from? It’s not known for sure. A few theories: Vedder's grandmother's name was Pearl and she was married to a Native American that influenced her cooking style. She had a recipe for preserves that included a Native American hallucinogenic substance (Peyote), hence, Pearl Jam. This is widely thought of as BS that Ed told to Rolling Stone. Another theory is that the members thought it would be funny to have frat boys wearing t-shirts that had the slang for, uh, a male bodily fluid on them. The one we believe is this one, straight from Ed: "I remember throwing words and meanings around for band names,..... I was writing songs daily and they seemed more important than the name of the band,.... I didn't grasp at the time how representative it may become,....not to mention we were just making a little record that few people would ever hear,...... so the words came, 2,... one of which was Pearl. The name of my great grandmother,..... married to a contortionist...... He used to fit himself into a suitcase.... One in a long line of peculiar individuals. Pearl is also a surfing term when you go headfirst and eat it on the face of a wave.... Janis Joplins greatest record was called Pearl,..... And of course, Earl the Pearl Monroe who shared the court with Phil Jackson I believe,.... (I often tell people that it was Phils initials that led us to our name..... ) I thought that was much better than the rumor that Pearl Jam was some sort of slang for "ejaculated liquid"..... harsh,..... No,..... I feel that the best justification for the name is in reference to the pearl itself,... and the natural process from which a pearl comes from,...... Basically, taking excrement or waste and turning it into something beautiful,...... This is how our band began,..... taking emotions that we wrestled with personally and letting them evolve into songs,..... In this way the songs became vehicles in which to deal with it all,..... Add the volume of loud instruments, amplified vocals,..... moving chord changes,.... And it wasn’t just shit anymore,.... It was kind of beautiful,.... powerful,,...... UNCULTURED! As Johnny Rotten would say later, Anger is an Energy...... And Shit can be Beautiful. the proof is in the pearl." 3.5 I've heard of Bad Radio. What is it? Bad Radio is the San Diego band that Eddie Vedder was in prior to Pearl Jam. You might have heard of Bad Radio since there are bootlegs available now with Eddie's stuff with his old band. Plus, Betterman, one of the songs off of Vitalogy, is an old Bad Radio song. There are various audio and video recordings of Eddie in Bad Radio floating around. 3.6 What other bands were the rest of the guys in before PJ? Quite a few, see Question 3.3 3.7 Do the members of Pearl Jam make any music outside of the band? Phew...short question with a long answer. OK, the really short answer is yes. Here's the long answer: Mike - Currently Mike is taking part in a project called "The Rockfords" which consists of Mike’s childhood friends and members of the now defunct Seattle band "Goodness". The first album, called The Rockfords, was released in February 2000. They are planning to work on a new album in 2001 Another notable project that Mike took part in was "Mad Season." This lineup included Mike, Layne Stayley(vocals), the late John Baker Saunders(bass), and Barrett Martin(drums). They released one album in 1995, Above. An attempt was made to revive this project under the name "Disinformation" and with Mark Lanegan on vocals in 1998, but regardless of varying reports that material for an album was nearly completed, the project is not going to happen. As well Mike has done guest appearances on guitar for many many many songs from other bands and projects, probably more than we even know about. Stone - Stone is currently a member of the band "Brad", and he also ran his own record label, Loosegroove(http://www.loosegroove.com), which he closed in early 2000 to focus more time on Pearl Jam. Brad has released two albums, Shame and Interiors. Ed - Ed has never put together a real "side project" but has a history of collaborating (independently of the band) with others both on record and on stage including, but not limited to: Pete Townshend, Hovercraft, Neil Finn, Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn, Mike Watt, The Ramones, Neil Young, Susan Sarandon and lately the WA indy group "C Average". Jeff - Jeff is currently a member of the band "Three Fish", a real departure musically from Pearl Jam. They have released two albums, Three Fish and The Quiet Table. Matt - Matt has put together his own project "Wellwater Conspiracy" with John McBain. Matt does more than just playing the drums for the project, providing music from a lot of different instruments and electronic sources… he even does vocals! Actually for what it’s worth it might be more correct to consider WWC (as it is commonly known) Matt's primary band, and Pearl Jam his side project. The have released two albums as well, Declaration of Conformity and Brotherhood of Electric, and have a 3rd album ready for release in 2001. Synergy has put together a bit of a side project discography where you can find out about many of the recordings the guys have released aside from their albums and singles. (http://www.sonymusic.com/artists/PearlJam/chords/sideproj.html) 3.8 What are Pearl Jam's influences? Stop, think hard for the name of a band, and you'll have probably just picked one of Pearl Jam's influences. The band claims many punk and classic rock bands as influences (The Who, Neil Young, KISS, The Ramones) as well as blues oriented artists and many of their contemporaries such as Soundgarden and Mudhoney. 3.9 What is the Ticketmaster controversy all about? Taken from one of many articles on the subject: "While Springsteen and U2 have taken action to keep scalpers from turning the expense of concertgoing into a fan's nightmare, it took Pearl Jam to say enough's enough and take up the long-overdue fight to bring down the cost of a concert ticket being bought via legitimate means. On June 30th, 1994 bassist Jeff Ament and guitarist Stone Gossard gave three hours of testimony before government subcommittee on Capitol Hill about the ever-escalating expense involved in purchasing tickets to entertainment events, singling out Ticketmaster and charging that the computerized ticket service prices its tickets for rock concerts far higher that the band's young fans can afford. When Pearl Jam and the ticket conglomerate could reach no agreement on the specific issue of pricing tickets for their summer tour (the band proposed charging a face value of $18 plus a 10% service charge, which falls well below the usual service charge on concert tickets), PJ filed an antitrust suit with the Justice Department claiming they were forced to cancel their summer tour because Ticketmaster had prompted a national boycott against the band be members of a national association of concert promoters; and that Ticketmaster has a virtual monopoly on the national distribution of concert tickets since no competing ticket service exists as an alternative for fans. Ticketmaster has denied all of Pearl Jam's allegations. The band has garnered support of artists such as R.E.M., Garth Brooks, Neil Young, Grateful Dead, and Aerosmith, whose manager Tim Collins testified at the House hearings and read a statement that Aerosmith had issued from Italy where they were on tour, quoting Steven Tyler's view of how Ticketmaster relates to the music industry: ‘Mussolini may have made trains run on time but not everyone could get a seat on those trains.’ The Justice Department continues its investigations into the matter." *Post-Script: Attorney General Janet Reno has since dropped the investigation against Ticketmaster and after an unsuccessful tour using non-TM venues they have decided to use TM under strict surcharge guidelines when other options are not available. Also of note, in 1999 Pearl Jam closed ties with US concert promoter House of Blues after a brokering scandal was uncovered involving some shows from the 1998 US tour. 3.10 I recently bought Pearl Jam tickets from Ticketmaster, what is going on? After a few less than successful attempts at touring without using Ticketmaster and being unable to play in many cities, especially LA and New York, Pearl Jam decided that they would opt to go with Ticketmaster in locations where there was no other choice as opposed to limiting their tour to non-Ticketmaster venues. In 1998 about 50% of the tour was handled through Ticketmaster and the other half through alternative agencies. The 2000 US tour was handled almost exclusively through Ticketmaster, symbolic of recent events in the industry that has almost crushed their ability to use alternate ticketing agencies. Pearl Jam has decided that they can no longer handle the distractions of the Ticketmaster battle and choose instead to concentrate their tour energy on putting on great a show. They still claim victory over Ticketmaster in the form that Ticketmaster must now itemize their surcharges so that concert goers know how much the band is actually charging and how much is exorbitant Ticketmaster fees. 3.11 What are some of the issues Pearl Jam are activists for? Actually that's not such an easy question either. Pearl Jam is active both directly and indirectly in a lot of different charitable causes and organizations. From building houses for Native Americans, to donating large sums of money to Seattle school libraries, to their fight with Ticketmaster, to playing a variety of benefit concerts and contributing to benefit albums, their activism is truly broad. They seem to be most vocal about environmental issues and women’s rights, which you will also find reflected in the music. Synergy has put together a good resource outlining some of the issues and organizations Pearl Jam. (http://www.sonymusic.com/artists/PearlJam/activism/alist.html) 3.12 How does Pearl Jam feel about Napster/mp3's? Here's what Ed had to say about the subject in a few interviews: Interview with Will Pendarvis on Krock in NYC (5/10/00) WP: I've noticed that everything I see from you is written on a typewriter, so it doesn't seem like to me that you spend much time on the 'net. EV: I did when I first got a computer. I was interested to see what was going on out there, and what the community was like. And actually, there was some really positive stuff out there, kind of an interesting way of communicating. And since then, I haven't really gone back to it. I kinda know what's going on; I hear a little here and there. It's also something you can't keep up with. It's really moving incredibly fast. So, I figure I'll check in once the dust settles a little. How would the band react to downloading music? I think again, we're doing the same. We want to see where this technology goes and catch up to it when it settles down even just a little bit. If we were able to offer music or live shows.. we've talked about certain things, trying to use the medium in a positive fashion and a responsible way. Right now, it's more of an exercise in frustration, and not like a fulfilling one... WP: You're just going to see how it pans out and then make a decision on whether it's going to be good or not, right? EV: A little bit. Again, to start trying to get on the horse right now while it's still pretty wild, would be time consuming and a little too much to keep up with. We'll see where it all goes. As long as it stays like a community thing, and not a regulated thing, being taxed and conformed, it should be all right, I would hope. And in an interview from KROQ in LA(5/12/00) "I personally think if you can make music available, be responsible to the consumer and do it on a level that you can still sustain yourself artistically and distribute the music. It seems like if you put it out at a decent price and you can download it from a real site for a decent price... it won't be as appealing to get it for free. I think there's been a lot of ways to get music for free for years. You can get music by recording on a cassette. When cassettes came out back in the late 50's, in the 70's whenever it was, that was a concern. I think in some ways probably in the end if you just kinda let go be a little more free with the stuff. It will only encourage more interest or something."