“Eddie Vedder”

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Hey, check, check, hello.

This is Eddie Vedder.

The guys do not know that I'm doing this.

They don't know I'm here early.

I'm usually late.

But, you know, they want to start this thing early,

and then where the fuck are they?

Come on, fellas.

Let's do this.

Welcome to Smart Life. Smart Life.
Smart Life. Smart Life.
This is what I want to bring up. When we had dinner on Sunday, we started talking about words that we get mixed up.
Like, I never knew the difference between rife or ripe. Like, if something is rife or rife with information or ripe.
You know, what is the right? And then, Jason, didn't you have one? Yeah, my big question up until a couple of weeks ago, a couple of years ago rather, was making ends meet. Now, I always thought that people would say that as a, well, we're just trying to make ends meet, meaning we're just trying to buy the cheapest kind of meat.
You know, because we're poor, we're trying to make ends meet. The meat at the end of the cow.
Oh, my God, I need a new crew. I need a new fucking crew.
I thought that until a couple of years ago. But it's really about completing the circle.
Make ends meet. M-E-E-T.
Now, if I'd been a reader, I would have seen this in print and known that it wasn't M-E-A-T. Yeah.
Now, the more egregious one, Sean, before we move on here, Will. I can't wait.
This is, all of this is so, I'm so close. This is, and Mystery Guest, we're getting right to you.
Stay awake. So, but this is music related, so you'll enjoy this.
Mystery Guest is from the music world. You know what he's going to say, Sean.
So Sean, Sean P. Hayes.
Yeah, that's me. A music fan, and also a music student.
Aren't we all? Students studied music.

This is...

When we were watching the Beatles documentary together.

Oh, that's right.

Yeah.

We all watched the Beatles documentary.

This ding dong didn't understand that the Beatles is spelled B-E-A-T.

Right.

Like the beat, like one makes a beat with music.

Wait, and you knew this?

Jason, you knew this?

Yeah, man.

I did not know that.

Isn't that so stupid?

The bug, the Beatle, is B-E-E-T.

Right, but I never knew it was a pun on beat, like a rock beat, like a drum beat. So you did know that Beatles, the bug, is spelt with two E's.
I do. I just didn't put two and two together.
You didn't put it together. But listen, I can't be the only person out there.
Well, no, most of those people are locked up.

You know what we're going to get?

We're going to get online.

We're going to get people responding to this on our socials saying, like,

I was today years old, which, by the way, that expression, fuck off.

But wait, don't you think, don't you think,

if you want to write a comment on any one of our feeds or whatever and admit that you didn't understand that the Beatles was a pun on the word beat and not the bug. Yes.
Please join me. It'll really help Sean out.
It will help Sean out. It'll really help me out.
It's good. We've got Bennett and Rob.
I want everybody to, we've got Bennett, Rob, and Michael here. Can they contribute as well just to say, what did you guys know? We've never done this before, but you guys knew about the pun.
I knew about it for sure. I knew about it.
I knew about the pun. You did for real? Michael Granterri knew about the pun.
Are you serious, you guys? You're not. Well, I admit it.
I'm going to look dumb. Hang on.
We haven't heard from Robert Armier. Armier.
Rob? Yeah, it's like beatless with one S. Beatless.
Beatless. Beatless.
Beatless. It's like smartless.
Beatless did not clear. Smartles.
They went with they Oh my god They Anyway We Wait I was about to accuse them Of ripping us off But I guess that was 60, 70 years ago So it's probably It's an homage Oh it's an homage That's what it is Thank you Thank you very much So yeah So we cleared that up So that's So the Beatles Super inspiringhmm. Watching their...
But wait a minute, let me just say, I wasn't the only person in the room when we were all watching that together that didn't know that the Beatles was a pun on the word... Somebody else who's a big listener of the show, she also didn't know.
She was our kind host too. She was our kind host.
And let's just say, we're not going to, no, you know why we're not going to out her?

Because she's a friend.

She's a friend, okay?

And we give you initials,

at least, right?

No, no, no, we don't need to.

We just say that she's a friend.

She's a friend.

She's a friend.

With a capital F.

She's a friend with a capital F.

That's right.

8 p.m., must see TV.

Well, now we know who it is.

Oh, shoot, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry to go.

Oh, Sean, we've said too much. On Tubi.
Do I have Tubi? Listener, sorry for that. Okay.
Mystery guest, sorry for that. Here comes, here comes.
All right. After this, after going on like this, they're going to be more like a misery guest, am I right? Do you like the rock and roll? I love the rock and roll.
Do you like the sound of actual instruments being played, plugged in, played loud? This isn't dance music, listener. This is heart-pounding, head-banging, mosh-pitting, stage-diving, rock and roll, but his music is also melodic at times.
It's rhythmic, it's complex, it's emotional. The lyrics are often poetic and complex.
In February, he will release his first solo album in more than a decade called Earthling. We know him mostly from the group Pearl Jam.
He's one of our most enduring rock stars of voice for a couple of generations now and one of my all-time favorites, folks, Mr. Eddie Vedder.
No way. What? Hello there.
It's so crazy to meet you. This is so cool.
Eddie Vedder, I mean... I mean, hey, Will.
Now, Eddie, I have a... By the way, how are you? So nice to meet you.
You too, Sean. Eddie, we met once years ago at SNL.
Do you remember that? I do remember. Wait, wait, wait.
Tell us about that. Why would you remember that? What happened? He took a photo of us together, right, Ed? Yeah, it was the after thing.
Yeah. And it was that memorable.
memorable just of just one photo with will arnett will do it it'll burn it into your brain it was no i wish it would have went longer but those things are sometimes crowded but that was the the highlight of the night we had a little corner and it's with this guy this can i do can i do a little little thing about you eddie so when i was in college i was uh the entertainment committee, and we were in charge of getting bands to come. And at Illinois State University, greatest university in the country, you played, and I don't know if it was the same ticket as the Red Hot Chili Peppers or not.
I think it was, right? Yeah. And maybe you opened for them, or was it just a double? Yeah, it was us and the Pumpkins and the Peppers, I believe.

And the Pumpkins, right.

Smashing Pumpkins.

Oh, you remember.

And I remember seeing you.

I was like, everybody in the audience was just blown away.

And you hadn't really become you yet.

And the band was just kind of on the rise, right?

Do you remember when you weren't you?

Yeah.

What was that like, Eddie?

Wait, Sean, you organized a night that had Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, and Smashing Pumpkins.

Well, we, as a committee, discussed of the band's touring, who we would go after, who we thought the student body would like to hear. And this was at your college.
God, what a school. And, yeah, it was wild to see you then.
How have you been? Do you remember that eddie what was the venue like was it was it kind of a hall it was called the bone center we used to call it the boner how'd you guys come up with that was there a lot of love making happening at the center no um boy if uh will arnett was there i bet eddie would remember no no um eddie so eddie before you were ed, were there any, were you always doing music and wanting to, planning on, dreaming of being a rock star? Were there like some regular jobs that kind of put some food in your mouth before you started successfully rocking and rolling? Oh, for sure. Yeah.
I ended up doing a lot of midnight shift work, which, uh, it's came in handy because, cause that's kind of the job now is that you kind of night work, you know, you're not supposed to peak to like nine or 10 at night. And, and that kind of, uh, that lifestyle ended up working for, for the current occupation.
But, um, yeah, no, a lot waiting of waiting tables. I really had like a passion or an instinct and a drive and all these things to, if I was going to try to write songs, I was at least going to just give it my best shot and, you know, worked hard in little bands and then would do midnight shifts and do all the, you know, making of flyers.
And I heard when you talked to Dave Grohl the other day and he was talking about recording with cassette to cassette players and going back and forth. I mean, it's the same thing that I did.
And I think that comes from a desire. You know, that's not that was before the advent of home multitrack recording, which was in the early mid-80s, which we finally got around to.
I'm sure Dave did too. But before that, it was, but it was really just wanting to be able to write a song yourself or, you know, have it sound like a drum machine or have it sound like a real, a real piece of music, even though doing it by yourself and i think that came from listening to early pete towns and demos which back then were on a on bootleg vinyls that i would acquire and um and hearing that one guy could kind of play everything and what about what about how dave played every single instrument on that first album for fooo Fighters.
That was pretty impressive, wasn't it?

Yeah, he gave me that tape long before it was out.

I think it just said, this side.

Play here.

Did you give him any notes on it,

or was it pretty much done?

Oh, it was done.

Yeah. It was done.

And then their first tour,

it was actually Dave and I.

Oh, wow.

And Mike Watt. We were supporting Mike Watt, who had just put out a great record with a lot of collaborations.
And so when we took it on the road, it would be me, Dave, and Watt at the end of the night as a three-piece, and then Pat Smear would join us, et cetera. Oh, how cool.
And then I would start the night playing drums with a little three-piece, and then Foo Fighters would play, and that was very first tour and I want to say it was something a little insane like 28 shows in 30 days or wow you know I wanted to ask you Eddie about like you were saying um Jason touched on then you touched on when Dave was talking about um recording and trying to do like a like a real patchwork sort of multi-track with the cassette tapes and stuff and using the home stereo, his folks' home stereo and stuff, which is so cool. And just that desire to like get it out because he knew obviously he had like a song or an idea of something and he had to do it.
So he had to, and you probably heard us rambling on before you came on here about watching the Beatles duck together. And I was, Sean will attest to this.
Jason was minding his own business, but I was obsessed with watching this documentary, watching that process, that creative process. It's one of the, I said to them the other night, it's one of the most inspiring things I've seen in years and years, watching that process and watching Paul work out songs and John and watching him go through Let It Be and trying to figure it out.
and then Ringo sitting next to him, blah, blah, blah. What I'm getting to is...
Promise? Promise? And I don't want... Yeah, I don't want this to turn into one of those, like, Eddie Vedder says on the podcast that he puts him, you know, he's like the Beatles or like one, you know, because that's what people like to do.
They want, no one's listening. But what is...
Did you have that experience as a kid as well where you were just like, had all these ideas for songs that you just knew had to come out or like you had a vision for it? Like, was that kind of coming out of you in that way, in the way that I imagine it would? Well, you know, one thing I have to say about the documentary was which was enlightening and exciting for me to finally realize that i had something in common with john lennon and that is that i'm always the last guy to show up at practice how about that he was so late all the time in common however i was early today i'll be late for practice but see i you know maybe i'm a little too comfortable with the fellas in the band but you guys i deeply respect you know you were very on top no i i'm usually late the guys would know this i'm usually late because i'm i'm working on a last minute lyric or something so we have some we i can make some progress from my side of the fence but um i think early on i think it was just uh know, how to cross that bridge or how to build the bridge from playing somebody else's song to writing one yourself. And, you know, like our lead guitar player, Mike McCready, is just, you know, unbelievable.
and um and i was never going to be able to do that or or my interest lied into

kind of communicating

and getting lyrics and chords and momentum

and, you know, rhythms to communicate,

and that started early on, you know,

and it still continues.

It's still the ever-moving goal line, you you know that you try to get across on a daily basis was it more of an excitement to get uh lyrics out or get music out rhythm melody um you know sound or or was the initial draw um more writing poetry you know Well, I think it's to get them to match, you know, so that the song is, you know, the song is the lyrics and the lyrics are just fit with the music, that the music means what the lyrics mean and the lyrics sound. So are you saying that rarely will there be a stack of lyrics on one side and a stack of cool sounding melodies and it's just arbitrary what set of lyrics go with what kind of song? In other words, are they written separately sometimes in your process? And then you go, oh, these lyrics would go good with this sound or does it happen simultaneously you know every once in a

while because i will just sit and just write to write just write to write and typewriters or

calligraphy whatever i'll just write to write and then i'll bring those uh notebooks and and pads

of paper and and then something comes up and then i might think that this song sounds like

that one thing i might have been writing about.

So you might take the one line. That's interesting.
You might take two, and then you flesh it out. Rarely would you take a whole page and just have it match up.
So many of your lyrics are like just stuck with me, and they always will be. Like I just know so many of them off by heart.
but they're kind of part of my experience,

you know, especially in my sort of 20s and 30s they were really just they're so ingrained in my head like I at any point I can't this is not a joke I can't tell you how many times out of the blue I will go alone listless breakfast like out of the blue Eddie it, it's crazy. Absolutely.
And what's nuts is, and Jason kind of said, like, you know, your lyrics are, you are like a, I don't want to embarrass you. You're like a poet, though, and your lyrics do have, and I know that your songs have so much meaning.
What was funny to us was a couple weeks ago, we had David Byrne on the podcast. And I was know, the, the song, the, all that lyrics are like, this is not your beautiful house.
It's not your beautiful wife. I was like, wow.
What was that moment? Like, like that, those lyrics are so important to so many people and they read into them. And he was like, oh, it didn't mean anything.
He said, he said, I was trying to sound like a preacher from AM radio. And I just kind of made it up and it has no meaning.
And we were like, what? I thought he was being a little modest. Because so many people have, like, you know, really read into that shit.
I have David Byrne lyrics that, you know, it's their one step short of being tattooed on my forearm. I mean, I've lived by them, you know.
Be a little more selfish, it might do you some good. Yeah.
You know. Yeah.
But to Will's point, Eddie, do you ever like actually let it in, the fact that because music is such a psychological thing for people that when you grow up or what you listen to becomes a part of who you are. And do you ever just really soak that in and realize you're one of those people that have created music and lyrics that now live inside so many people? It's kind of an unbelievable feat.
He's shaking his head. No, he's shaking his head.
Never think about that at all. It's more thinking that if that opportunity still exists to still do something better or, you know, current or, you know, I feel like these days or especially the last couple of years, you know, I've leaned on music.
Our whole family's leaned on music, whether it's been having dance parties or recording together or whatever. It's always been a positive thing.
And, you know, I'm still looking. I need music to get me through, and I'd like to have music that may, you know, do the same for others.
Maybe. I'll try.
Do you ever find that – I know that you have a love-hate relationship with fame and success like most people with an admirable level of humility. But do you ever treat yourself to reaching into that bag of accomplishment to help you through some of the extraordinary levels of pressure or anxiety? Like, you know, standing in front of 100, thousand people, you're about to walk out and play it.
Like I would imagine a normal person would need to reach into some sort of bag of something, uh, of some sort of, um, pride to, so that you don't have an anxiety attack. So do you, do you at least use it for, for that? Um, if you won't pat yourself on the back when you don't need it? No, but you bring up a good point.
I should do that. Yeah, like, that's okay to tap into it there.
Yeah. Jason, what's the bag you reach into? Can you talk about it on air? Well, it's got a Ziploc.
I want to say this. I want to say, sorry, just wrap up the lyrics thing because it's just killing me.
And I've always, to me, one of the most sort of heartbreaking lyrics of all time is from your song Black, which I know is many years ago, Eddie. So forgive me for, again, embarrassing you.
But there's that lyric that says, I know you'll have a beautiful life someday. I know you'll be a star in somebody else's sky, but why can it be in mine? That to me speaks of somebody who understands pain and heartbreak and stuff in a way that's so profound.
It's so honest and revealing and, you know. But you start crying well.
I'm gonna, man. No, it's like there is a vulnerability in that to be able to say that, to communicate that to somebody that, that, I don't know, man.
No, it's like there is a vulnerability in that to be able to say that, to communicate that to somebody that, I don't know, man. It really speaks to, I don't know if you want to talk about that or that kind of writing a lyric like that.
Does it feel exposing or does it make you feel vulnerable at all? Well, back, that was the first record. So we didn't have anybody listening to us, you know?

So there was no reason to, when we were recording it, there was no reason to think that, you know,

I was exposing any kind of vulnerable side.

It was just really communicating what I was feeling.

Or to be honest, again, that was something that that music,

that the plaintive chord changes and all that,

it sounded like heartbreak.

So, you know, I think some of it may be based in truth or experience,

but then you create a story around that,

and then you witness some stuff going on over here,

and then you incorporate that.

But in the end, it wasn't just you know men singing that it was like men and women singing and and actually it was so many you know back then our crowds were average age of 19 or something we will be right back Have you met All Modern? All Modern thinks making your space modern

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You guys, you know, made incredible and still do rock and roll music and rock, whatever you want to call it. There was, you know, guitar driven.
It was hard. It was a great sound.
And yet you weren't afraid. You did bring this kind of, you know, you guys kind of exposed yourself in this way that was very, I don't know, just really accessible to you guys.
Because it was very kind of honest. There was something I think that that's, you know, you connected with your audience like right from the get.
And for me, I always connected to your music because of the way you guys were so open in that way. I loved that you weren't just sort of, music oftentimes, especially kind of hard rock music, was very sort of, felt very male-driven.
And like you said, it was much more inclusive, it felt like. You know, I was always a little bit envious of the singer and writer of lyrics in this band Mudhoney, Mark Harm, because it was so acerbic and felt so...
His lyrics were pushing outward and galvanized, and it felt to me like he was just protected. You know, it was like Iggy Pop.
And Kurt, too, his lyrics were cryptic and tough and weren't even sure sometimes what he was singing about. Or Michael Stipe, it was like protected in some kind of shroud of mystery.
And I always wished I was better at that at the time. But it was just the way that I was writing or feeling.
I really, to be honest, I didn't know what I was doing as far as what would happen if anybody heard it because we just didn't think anybody really would. Not as many people as ended up hearing it, which maybe probably made the second record a little tougher because then you did have the thing of maybe people were listening or that it would be heard and criticized.
And that was probably the hardest one to get through lyrically and still have it be pure and not reacting to, uh, the future reaction, you know? Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. All those albums are just so good.
And you've made so many of them. And, and now the, the solo effort, um, getting that done in between, uh, what, is there a dominant thing in your life now? I'll bet it's family.
Uh, and just generally just us having the, uh, privilege of getting older. Cause the only other alternative is death.
Um, and you're starting to absorb a lot of different things. Is that what's fueling your change in sound to the extent that, that, that, that there, that there is one.
I mean, I know, I'm sure it's vastly different than what you guys do with the band, but what's the main thing that's driving what sounds good to you nowadays and what you're writing about? You know, I think I went down to Los Angeles to participate in something called Vax Live. It was put on by Global Citizen and a lot of great people coming together to encourage people to vaccinate right when the opportunity was being afforded and encouraging pharmaceutical companies, et cetera, to make the vaccinations available to third world countries, et cetera.
So it was a great endeavor. And then I just happened to bump into a guy that I'd come to know over the years a bit.
His name is Andrew Watt, a kind of producer, musician. And we'd been friends for a while, or just kind of acquaintances, and I just wanted to go see his studio.
And we hung out for a couple days and just immediately started writing. So I think what was informing some of this new stuff was just a new collaborator, a new studio, which is a little home kind of spun basement.
And just working with another guy, Josh Klinghofer, which has been working with our group. When we go out live playing our new record, which was two years ago, which we haven't toured on yet.
Can't wait for that. Called Gigaton.
So Josh was in the fold, and we just started hanging out. And then we actually, it was going so well, we had the rest of the guys come down, and then we started doing some Pearl Jam songs as well, just in this new atmosphere and new feeling.
And that went really well, too. So I think coming out of COVID, it was like an antidote to all the isolation.
But what's affecting your taste nowadays? Is it your sensibility? Is it being adjusted mostly with your family dynamic and your tempo there? I think, well, certainly that's part of the fabric, you know, of, you know, nothing makes you feel more grown up than being a parent. Yeah.
And having kids now that are, you know, becoming young adults, if they're not already there. And it's a house of badass women.
So, you know, I think it comes from a place of humility. Yeah.
And responsibility and always looking out for, you know, their world. Let me ask you something just about...
I was going to say, Eddie, sorry, Sean, just before you... I know that you mentioned that your buddy had a little basement studio.
I'm in my new little basement studio anytime, Eddie. I just, no, I don't want to embarrass you.
Sean and Jason, stay out of it. Yeah.
Eddie, anytime, man. I got like a little vocal area over there.
Look how inspiring that environment is, Eddie. One microphone.
He's all set up. I got two microphones, dude.
Sorry. I turned to him.
Yeah, man. You know what, Will? I'm going to send you, see that blank space right there? Yeah.
I'm going to send you a nice ukulele with a holder. Just put it right there.
Yes. I think I should send you all a ukulele.
Look, Jason, you got a space for ukulele? Right there. Right there.
Bring it. And Jason will send you a signed headshot.
Yeah, I can sign an 8x10 for you. Happy to.
Be right up there. Yeah, you look like the dry cleaners of the oakwood corporate housing um but speaking about that you just pointed to your guitars on your wall do you i don't even know how many instruments do you play and and what's the one instrument that you don't that you wish you did uh i wish i could play i mean i can make i can get a sound out of a violin but i wish i could play one.
Or maybe a cello. Like a fretless stringed instrument with a bow would be...
Is that because you love classical music? No, but I don't mind it. But I think you could...
Sure, it's fine in the background. You could do some...
I'm a big fan of this guy Warren Ellis, who plays with Nick Cave and and the Bad Seeds and just Nick Cave. And Warren had a band called The Dirty Three, which was all instrumental back in the day.
We almost called this podcast that. That's amazing.
The Dirty Three. Dirty Three.
By the way, it would have been good. But they were incredible.
And it was all improvisational. And he's been a huge inspiration to me all my life.
Was there, as time went on, Pearl Jam, I think, was formed around late 80s, early 90s, right, or something like that? 90, 91, yeah. Yeah, and as time went on and technology improved around music, did that help? Did that hinder? Did you embrace it? Were you like, that we're all we're all acoustic like did that influence you in any way we're analog we're analog i think that i think technology is great i still my goal has been or i think the group kind of agrees using the technology to do what we've always done but maybe do it more efficiently or quicker and and to honest, it probably doesn't sound quite as good if you don't do it right onto tape, like two inch tape, like we used to analog, et cetera.
But I just think you can get lost in the technology. And so, but if you can comb through it and distill the technology to do the simple things that you used

to do with the old stuff. I just feel

like nothing can really

make the music better

than just playing well and

writing well. And that

you can do with anything, so we don't need all the extra

stuff, but

you can use the technology

to just make it go a little

quicker and maybe sound a little bit better sometimes. So you guys don't feel any pressure to sort of keep up with what I seem to see as somewhat of a trend where this integration of electronic sound with the more sort of traditional sort of amplifier, you know, music, guitar, stuff like that.
You've never sounded older, Jason. I know.
You've never sounded more out of touch than this moment. And you've sounded out of touch a lot.
I'll name the two other groups I listen to, Radiohead and Wilco, where they take sort of an electronic sound and they infuse it into some of the... Is that something that you guys play around with? Do you feel obligated to? Is it interesting to you? I think if I was better at it, I think sometimes I'd be inspired to do that.
And then, and then, and that entails reading like manuals. We're figuring out how to, to work these knobs.
And, you know, I'll, I'll buy this. I'll, I'll read about a guitar pedal that Ed O'Brienbrien from radio had used and or i'd watch him use it and then it's all i need and then realize that you need to spend a lot of time figuring out what the knobs do and i i wanted i'd rather be writing right or doing something that i could write about yeah hey eddie i forgot to ask you I just ask you really quick? I keep going back like, oh, man, I've always, because these are things I've always wanted to talk to you about because we only talk to each other for like 90 seconds.
Well, I'm so happy to be talking to you. 15 years ago.
He's been waiting since that photo. I got my list out.
I have like a whole Eddie file. God bless you.
Lighting up a name. Oh, he's smoking.
Will, he's smoking. Go ahead.
Will, this is not smoking. I don't smoke in my studio.
That's the only thing. This is breakfast.
Why not? Well, if you're going to have Eddie over there, you're going to have to allow smoking. Of course he can.
Who's kidding? Who? So, hang on. So, I don't know what year it was, but you and a guy who I've known for a long time, Bill Janowitz from Buffalo Tom.
You know Bill. I love Bill.
Great guy. Great guy and great band.
And you guys played their song. Taillights Fade, yeah.
Oh, my God. Have you guys, Sean and Jason, have you guys seen that? Taillights Fade to Black.
No, I have not. I want to see it now.
Can I YouTube that? That was cool, right? You were in Boston doing that where everybody, you know,

and you guys knew the song.

I mean, did you and Bill know each other for a while

or what was the deal?

I think we played one show with them, I think, in Boston

back in maybe 91.

And I had already had their record or CD at that time.

And then that song used to hit me.

And I remember the first time we ever had a tour bus

Thank you. and I had already had their record or CD at that time and then that song used to hit me and I remember the first time we ever had a tour bus

and looking out the window and feeling very tragic

amongst all the newfound success

and having that song really hit me

and then years later I used the word taillights

Thank you. success but and having that song really hit me and then years later I used the word taillights in one of my songs and I next time I saw Bill I said hey you know I was going to call you but I used that I used taillights and I apologized and he says oh don't worry about he goes, you know, I got it from Keith Richards.
So what is it, the song about Before They Make Me Run, I think. Either that or When the Whip Comes Down.
Something about taillights fade, but yeah. Wow.
Why do I remember you in a Red Sox cap? Is that a cap you wear often? Are you a Red Sox fan?

You're a baseball fan, aren't you?

I have an affinity to the Red Sox,

and partly because of the history and the glory of that old building,

which is Fenway Park.

And I grew up at Wrigley Field,

so the old buildings and baseball and the smaller feel are kind of in my DNA. And then the third oldest ballpark is...

Because the understanding... So the old buildings and baseball and the smaller feel are kind of in my DNA.
And then the third oldest ballpark is... Dodger Stadium.
That's right. My beloved.
So it's the Cubs that are your team, right? Yeah, but I feel like I can like the Red Sox because it's American League, you know. Yeah, yeah, I gotcha.
Talk to me about the difference between recording in a studio where you guys have multiple tracks and you can really dial in, you can do your vocals a million times once the music is laid down or vice versa. I'm not sure what the sequencing is there versus when you get together as a group and you play live and you know that you're, there's no net under you guys and you're feeling and hearing the momentum and the sound of the music at the same time the audience is do you leave yourself open to a completely different experience there and allow the audience to to drive and inform the the mood there what songs what order you're going to play how you're going to play them.
Is it participatory like that or is it pretty siloed? No, for sure. I mean, that's what makes our job harder, but we've done it to ourselves.
And that's why people like to apparently like to see us more than once or more than once in a weekend or more, or 10 times on a tour or something because all the shows are different. And I think that comes, we have our crew, we've just been a big family for 30 years.
And, you know, if I were to do the same thing twice, they would know it. And I like to entertain, we like to keep them entertained and on their toes.
And I think they respect that. And, um, and that level of respect and, and feeling like we're all part of it and, and everyone's going to have to be on point for the whole night is part of why we can make changes or, or know we do things like call audibles you know if we're feeling something's happening or or or you know the other thing is being able to stop a show yeah yeah have you ever cut a show short because the audience wasn't as responsive as you'd like or didn't come back for an encore because you're like you know what we're good you know what sean they don't deserve it i shouldn't say this but we probably end up playing longer on those nights because we're gonna get them we're not leaving that until we fucking get i get that vibe i get that is there a city that's tougher than than others uh or a country that's tougher than others and and and and the opposite as well is there is there is there an easy lay somewhere well if i could take it out of that vernacular um please do yeah please save jason from himself the crowds in south america are just they will sing guitar solos they will sing in unison a 100,000 people will sing the guitar solo.
That's great. They'll also be 5,000 people outside of your hotel room at 1 in the morning singing the song and singing the guitar solos.
That's great. I'll bet you LA and New York are tough crowds.
They used to be. Yeah.
I think they used to be. And I think back in the day, we were more concerned about that or look, we were spoiled at some point.
So if people weren't being riled up, we'd want to rile them up even more or something. But I just don't think we care about that as much anymore.
And we're there to just play well.

I mean, we're there to communicate.

And the other thing is making a big room feel small and intimate and that's always kind of the goal and you just never know what can happen and creating a space where other things can happen it could be some kind of crowd interaction or some interaction within the band, but just being open to that and grabbing it as opposed to having like a scripted out thing, which would kind of be amazing. You could do longer tours if you just kind of knew that you got up at two, you had a workout, you went to soundcheck, you did the set, you went home, you did the same thing the next night.

I mean, you could really fit in a lot of shows.

It would be easier.

Got up at 2 in the afternoon.

That's a wake-up at 2 in the afternoon.

Well, because you stay up until 5 in the morning, you see.

Good Lord.

This is a tough question.

It's like, do you have a show or experience or a festival

or like a moment that you felt like was kind of,

that kind of rose above there you just felt so connected and you're like,

you look back on and go like that moment.

That's the one I'm going to chase.

I mean, it kind of happens a lot, you know?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Same.

Shut up, Will.

No, Eddie and I are the fucking same.

We're both artists.

Shut up.

We're artists and you're a robot.

Have you ever...

Seen Promises Promises.

It was on Broadway.

Have you ever seen Sean in Walsh?

Thank you. Shut up.
We're artists and you're a robot. Have you ever...
Seen Promises Promises. It was on Broadway.
Have you ever seen Sean in Promises Promises? Have you ever gotten scared because you opened your mouth and because you were getting sick, nothing came out, or you had no voice, or whatever caused you to do a lesser performance than you hoped for? And what did you do and how did you handle it? Well, I used to stress out about that stuff more, but now I think it's just, you know, relax, get through it. You know, there's things you can do, well, you would know.
You can change your breathing. You can do certain things to get it out, or maybe you have to sing one certain line at a lower, or do a harmony octave or something.
Or just talk it. Jeremy spoke up in class today.
Point the microphone at the audience, is that what you were going to say? You do the, yeah, let them do it. Hey, you guys do it.
Right, yeah. I was in, I went to, this is like three or four years ago, I went to Berlin with the guys from U2, and with Bono and Edge and those guys, and I went to see them do a show.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What do you mean you went to Berlin with U2? You're on the plane? I wasn't on the plane.
I met them there, but I was hanging with Edge and Bono in the south of France. They live in the south, and was working down there as you know and they were we were hanging out they're good they're great guys and um they're great are they so so we go bateman at his drippiest oh are they so um anyway so you're on tour with you too go ahead no i met them at the show but we're you know whatever we were all so anyway i go to the show bono loses his voice like three songs in that show i was at that show oh and you took over and i took over and i gotta give the audience what they want you know and and people didn't notice um wait what happened to bon was he sick or something? They canceled the show, man.
It was almost like he inhaled like a chemical or a smoke thing and it just shut down his vocal cords. It just, that's what I heard, yeah.
That's exactly right. They had this new smoke.
The people who were doing the, whatever, does that fall under pyro, I guess, or scary though right i mean those are those i've had that moment too like as because we all perform where you go like oh shit is this the thing yeah is this the moment you know what i mean uh-huh yeah um eddie what is the guns to your head you can only do one thing for the rest of your life between the two? Making music or surfing? Making music. Okay.
But you do love the surfing. I've, you know, look, I'm at an age where I can't surf as big of waves as I used to.
And so I've had my fill and I've got a couple of nice pictures of me on big waves. Do you get out there with laird hamilton at all i used to yeah um i haven't seen him in a while but um yeah he you know he invented so many of the things that people now do on the water you know he'd invent something you know stand up and invent toe and surfing with his friends and then move on to something else and then invent stand-up paddle and then move on to something else.
Now he's foiling where he's, you know, three feet off the water and foiling through that. So we, I've been lucky enough to be with him and, and be taught by him.
Um, what, what is

it, if the, if the waves are X amount of feet high, that's too high for you to paddle out.

What is it? Well, nowadays I would say, you know, I'm not going to buy a 12 foot

Thank you. feet high that's too high for you to paddle out what is it well nowadays i would say you know i'm not gonna a 12 foot wave is a lot of water good god but you know i've been on sean and jason sean have you surfed no i look at me no no i know jack johnson is the best surfing musician oh really i mean he grew up right there at pipeline he's he's incredible and great great person great family now have you you have you done the laird hamilton workout with him in the pool there i have yeah that stuff can you explain to our listener what that is what is that well it's just a a series of exercises that you do underwater thinking that you know you're getting used to your body under duress underwater so when you you know it applies to surfing and so you have like a major wipe out you're used to like battling underwater and it might just be you know you have a swim mask on and you're carrying some weights and you hold your breath and then you just do laps under the pool you know you see if you can do a couple laps or be under for 90 seconds, then come up and get another breath and then do more.
Or you just, you go to the deep end and you push yourself up, get a breath, go down, push yourself up, get a breath, go down. The cool thing is the heavier the weights, the faster you go down.
So that's kind of nice. And that's just, you know, they used to do it years ago that the Hawaiians would go swim down, pick up a big rock, you know, run for 30 yards and then come up and get a breath and then do laps.
Just to train themselves. So Laird's probably the closest thing to a human fish we have today.
Would you say that? Him and Kelly Slater, yeah. Yeah, they're...
Kelly Slater, great golfer, great golfer. play golf eddie i do not all right you know what eddie i don't either eddie were you doing the were you doing the cold plunge stuff too did you get into that he's he's he's a expert at that i've got the puget sound so i can jump into that that's that's fairly cold um i i might someday i feel like i haven't needed it quite yet but i'm'm certainly getting it.
Just take a cold shower. I love it, man.
I do that cold thing too. I'm super into it.
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All right, back to the show.

I want to know, Eddie, you've worked with so many people,

legendary, huge names, too many to list.

Is there anybody you haven't worked with that's on your dream list?

Outside of you.

You've got an appointment with Will at the studio. You know, it's just this life in music.
Gro would tell you the same thing if he hasn't already. It's just been such a huge, incredible blessing and growing up loving music just about more than anything and then knowing the music and then getting to know the people that made it and inspired you to begin with and and then when you're then when you become you know close friends that's that's just a whole nother level of uh then it then it kind of changes then then you're just friends and and it right and now you don't even think that that's, you have to kind of remind yourself that, oh, that's the guy that kind of raised you musically.
That's what Jason and Will think of me. Can you talk about your co-bandmate on Mrs.
Mills? Yeah, I sent Jason a song yesterday. It'll be out in February with the rest of the collection of this new stuff.
On Earthling? Let's listen to a clip. But you had a special guest star there on Mrs.
Mills. Well, the song asked for it, and it was a song about a piano.
And there's a piano that resides at Abbey Road and it was interesting to hear that Paul McCartney tried to purchase it to have it because I think it was like the Lady Madonna piano a lot of songs were and they called it Mrs. Mills because it was left behind by a woman Gladys Mills who used to write kind of English pub songs and sing-alongs, and her piano was left, and they'd call it Mrs.
Mills, and it's still there because they refused to sell it to Paul. And we had our own Mrs.
Mills in California, the same model, Steinway, and the guy I was working with, Andrew, he had Elton John in there playing Mrs. Mills Paul came in and played Mrs.
Mills because they recorded a song together Elton we did a couple songs and he played the shit out of Mrs. Mills and then Stevie Wonder came in and Stevie was playing Mrs.
Mills and and I started thinking about how this piano preferred not to be owned. She just wanted to be there with all these fantastic men were laying their hands all over her, and she liked it that way.
So that's what the song's about. And it did have kind of a Beatles-esque feel.
And we thought, speaking of fills, we thought about you'd kind of go for a Ringo-type sound on the drums, and then we were able to reach him, and he was joyfully contributed and made it into something really, really special. So we got to sit and record and play play with ringo and and it was just a a real it's a great song education do you like to oh yeah all three of those he sent were just i genuinely meant what i said i could listen to these in a loop for a week straight no no no wasted on batemaneman doesn't appreciate anything.
Wait, you know what? Eddie, I wanted to finish. We started the whole thing with me recounting the time that I worked at Illinois State University.
Yes. At the concert.
Yeah, let's go back to that for sure. No, wait, because I wanted to finish.
Because you grew up in Chicago? Yeah, I grew up in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, yeah. That's west of Chicago.
Correct. You were in I think.
I was north, yeah, you were about the same distance. Anyway, I was at this concert, it was, again, it was Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Smashing Pumpkins.
And so, and you, I was, I weighed, I weighed like 70 pounds, and they let us in the front row, and I worked with the security. So when you did the body surfing and jumped into the crowd,

I am the one who had to keep everybody off the stage

so they wouldn't rush it.

And I was like, wait a second.

I was 19 years old at 70 pounds,

thinking I could hold back a crowd rushing the stage to get to Eddie Vedder.

And let's not forget, super, super gay.

Oh, my God.

Oh, yes, you pointed out.

I wore a cape. I was super gay.
Oh, my God. Oh, yes, you pointed out.
I wore a cape.

I was so gay.

Oh, bless.

A cape that said security.

Oh, God.

Oh, boy.

So the question is, Sean,

the question is...

Did you feel safer

knowing that Sean was there?

Exactly.

Did you feel safer?

I do remember you

jumped into the crowd, didn't you? Didn't you used to do that?

Yeah. Yeah, that would be a nightly

occurrence. And then the Chili Peppers would play and then I'd do it a bunch more just for fun.
Are you still doing that when you guys are going out and playing those huge venues? When's the last time you jumped into the pit? Trying to think. Jill would not be happy.
It was fun in the 20 movie or whatever the Cameron Crowe Pearl Jam documentary there was maybe a 4 minute thing of just all the montage of me jumping in and watching my young kids react that was pretty fun did anybody just grab your junk one time? oh Sean what do you think he. This isn't like the bushes behind the bus station.
No, I'm just saying, right? Crouch grab. I mean, they had to have.
Actually, maybe that explains the calluses, but yeah, so maybe it did happen. Yes, it might.
Calluses. Are you close to rescheduling your dates that you owe us on the domestic tour? I think I saw there were two there for the forum in Los Angeles.
Are we close to resetting those? Yeah. Yeah, I think we're going back to Europe in the summer and I think there's been some that's being announced in the States hopefully before that.
I'm not sure if they've been announced, but that's the plan. Okay.
Don't make like you don't know us when those come out. Come on, guys.

Yeah, man.

Come on. I don't think you know how much I like you as well.
Well, we're going to be all over you when you get out there. We are so all over.
Oh, my God. Are we all over it? Let's speak about your...
I'm going to body surf over. Are you going to...
The band. With a T-shirt that says, please grab here and an arrow to your jump.
What What

What With a T-shirt that says, please grab here and an arrow to your joint. Talk to me about scoring movies briefly or longly, however you want.
Your work with Sean Penn is fantastic. Is that something that you enjoy doing? I mean, you're mostly writing songs for those films as opposed to scoring to picture.
Yes? Question? Yeah, I think, you know, Sean is really the driving force behind all that, or I feel like the ones that have meant the most or anything at all. We're really just the Sean ones.
And, you know, working with Sean is great, as you know, because, you know, he can be as much as he's my older brother and, you know, we're so close, but he's still a terrifying individual. And it will really bring out the best in you.
And even lyrically, you know, if you've ever been out with Sean, you know, he might at three in the morning kind of recite a Dylan song with nine verses and do it perfectly. Wow.
You know, and so when you write, you want to give him something that's worthy of, you know, reciting at some point. Right.
You know, he's just been a great collaborator. And this last one we did, Flag Day, that came out just a few months ago was just another great experience.
And his daughter is just incredible in it. He's incredible in it.
Your daughter participated as well, yeah? Well, yeah. I love the story because she was just a stand-in vocalist.
We were writing songs, Glenn Hansard and I, the great Irish singer, person, Irish human, Irish earthling. But we came up with this song we really wanted Sean to hear, but we didn't have our female vocalist for another week or so.
And so I just asked my daughter to come down and give it a whirl. And she doesn't spend a lot of time.
You know, she's shy about it and very humble and just kind of, you know, enjoys it. But she came in and I played it for Sean and it was something about her voice and the vulnerability of it and that it was just kind of perfect for the song.
So he said, not only do I like the song, but this version. And there was also great symmetry because it was him and his daughter and then Olivia as well.
So it it it was a great experience and then the craziest coolest thing which we could have never predicted and and even a week before had no idea it would happen or three days before but olivia came up and sang on stage when we played the ohana festival with all her uncles you know in the band you know from glenn to chad smith to josh and

andrew and all these great players so it was kind of like she had the perfect wave and and and she surfed the shit out of it she sang great and that was a big thing to be in front of people so that's very cool hey speak eddie speak a little bit because you just talked about glenn answered who I'm such a fan of his music.

I'm so happy that you guys,

that, the idea of you guys working together for whatever reason makes me really, really happy. Tell me about your relationship with Glenn and how that came to be.
You know, I'll tell it quick. The crazy thing, or I mean, it came from such a tragedy in a way because he was playing somewhere in Oregon.
And I read about it the next day that during the set, some young man who obviously had some deep, deep issues, walked away from his girlfriend, left her in the crowd. next thing you know, he was jumping from the back of the stage onto the stage and killed himself.
Aye, aye, aye. It happened behind Glenn.
Glenn thought maybe an amp had fallen over. Fuck.
It got even more hectic because it was a one, two-lane burrowed the venue, like a winery or something, and he was there with his group swell season, and all the crowd had to stay put so they could get emergency vehicles in and out, so everyone was kind of watching this thing happen. Anyways, I was able to get his number and reached out that next day just to see how he was, because we had gone through some stuff with the Ross Gilda thing, the concert where we had our own extra large dose of tragedy.
So that's how we met on the phone, and then I called the next day and checked back in on them, and they decided to keep playing, which I think for them was a great idea and that's how

our friendship started and

now we're again just

brothers and I just

love the guy. That's so great.

Every day I get to see Glenn is

a good day.

Let me ask you a

final question. We will let you go.
You've been very

generous with your time.

I'm going to miss it. This is the dumbest question of the morning.

Do you want me to ask it?

I'm going to pretend Sean texted me and asked me to ask you this question.

Oh, that's nice.

That's really nice.

And it's a final Pearl Jam question.

Does the title of the band mean what I think it means? Go, Eddie, go. No, no, don't put it in my mind.
Tell us what you think it means first. Well, I'm going to wait until he gives a little color on it.
There's a slight grin on his face, listener. Well, the thing is, I don't really know what it means, so you could be right.
I think you do. Okay, there it is.
Can you explain the grin? It's just a ridiculous question. It's a ridiculous question.
It is a thank you, Eddie Vedder. It's a really good question.
What do you think Pearl Jam means? I think it means whatever it wants. You know, first of all, Eddie Vedder just clowned you, dude.
You just got clowned by Eddie Vedder. I think it means, can I say what I think it means? Go ahead, Sean.
I think it means when a couple who is deeply in love with each other.

This is very nice.

Way to start.

Have an intimate relationship.

Okay.

And they have a leave behind.

Oh.

During an intimate encounter.

A leave behind.

There's an organ scream.

What? There's an organ scream. An organ scream.
There's an organ scream. And what you get is Pearl Jam.
Yeah. And then you write music to it.
Yeah. Are you talking about a dick barf? Whoa, bro.
Well, I don't know what... I mean...
Which was the other option for the band name? Dick barf was the original thing. That was...
Pearl Jam. I knew it.
Kind of... Fucking dick barf.
It didn't clear. It was already taken.
Oh, my God. Did you guys hear about the Guar show? You know, Guar, speaking of great band names.
Did you see that they were playing a theater and they had somebody crowd surfing and by the time he got pushed up on the stage, he had lost his prosthetic leg. No.
So everyone had to scramble. And then they stopped the show.
See, this is the good thing. Any singer should be able to stop the show.
Anybody running the show, any promoter should have a kill switch and be able to stop the show. It's just something you need to do.
And I tell you, when the leg comes up from the back of the crowd and gets passed up, just the leg, it's just fantastic. Filled with Pearl Jam at that point.
By the time it gets to the front. Do you think that Eddie and I could play brothers? Do you think that I've had that a bunch? Yeah, I was thinking about that early on.
That's a compliment to me, by the way. It is.
Yeah. It is.
Are you guys resisting the urge to just sing Eddie's songs to him? Yeah, I've been trying not to dork out for a solid hour now. I keep wanting to go like, I don't mind stealing bread from the mouth of the dick and dance.
No, don't do it. We're about to get away with it.
Okay. Eddie.
But it's on the table. Sorry.
I just can't fucking man I love you Eddie dude

I love you

you're a beast

and until

we see you in Inglewood

please be well

yeah

thank you

thank you

thank you for doing this

such a pleasure

and an honor to meet you

I got some

I really

really love you guys

so thank you

you are the man

likewise

thank you Eddie

alright

be well

thank you

thank you

thank you and hopefully we see you soon much. Thank you, Eddie.
All right. Be well.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. And hopefully we'll see you soon.
Much love, fellas. All right, Eddie.
Bye, buddy. Chaka.
Bye. You guys are welcome, okay? You're welcome.
I just walked on a... There's about half a dozen true rock stars in this world.
I agree. There goes one of them.
Wait, how do you know him, Jay? What do you... I just, you know.
He doesn't. He doesn't know him.
You don't fucking know me, Sean. He doesn't know him at all.
I don't, but I requested, and he was nice enough to say yes. That sounds nice.
I met Eddie, I met him at SNL, like 15 years ago, maybe longer. And longer, it was like, yeah, 15, 16 years ago.
This was the photo that he remembers so clearly? he took it and it was like the first it wasn't whenever it was before the iphone and he had an actual camera and i was on 8h right after the show we hung out after two but we were in the thing and i was just waiting at 8h talking to somebody and eddie comes over he had a briefcase with him which is funny um no joke and he goes, and they just performed on the show, and then he goes, hey, do you mind if we take a photo? And I was like, what? And then he produced, he's got a camera. He's just been taking photos.
He asked you to take a photo with him. Yeah.
Good Lord. And it was, I couldn't, and then I went and talked to him and the rest of the guys at the after party, like Mike McCready and those dudes.
And Mike McCready was a big Arrested fan. Oh, yeah? Yeah.
And we were still on the original, on air, on the original Fox version. You know, the more guys that are like rockers, the more, because, you know, growing up, you only see them in videos, you just hear their songs.
You just assume they're like testosterone-filled tough guys that are going to kick my ass. And then you meet them and they're like the heart of gold, gentle giants, like the sweetest.
That's what I meant about Eddie's music, about his vulnerability to his music and the way that made it. It's so interesting.
There was power and emotion that matched the weight of their musical sound too. And it's okay, Sean, to what you were saying, it's okay for men to be vulnerable in that way and express themselves in that way.
That's what a real man is. I couldn't agree more.
And I don't know about you guys. I mean, he just said it and I said it to him and I say it to you guys all the time.
You know, it felt like it wasn't okay for men to say, I love love you to their friends and i say it all the time it's really important i love you i love you too and i think it's so true because it's like oh it's too scary to say that no it's not it only makes you evolve sure and i mean it and fuck you jason well i'm just saying it passed you know it used to be like if you said you said I love you to a man, people would think that you're gay or maybe even bye. Bye.
Old school. Bye.
Smart. Smart.
Smart. Smart.
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