Pearl Jam’s New Album Is ‘A Lot Heavier Than You’d Expect’
Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready was recently interviewed by Classic Rock magazine and revealed that the band’s upcoming new album is “a lot heavier than you’d expect”.
The band is working on the follow-up to 2020’s “Gigaton” with producer Andrew Watt, who previously worked PJ singer Eddie Vedder’s ’22 solo LP “Earthling”.
McCready talked about working with Watt, “When we were in the studio with him this past year, he really kicked our asses, got us focused and playing, song after song. It took a long time to make ‘Gigaton’, but this new one didn’t take long. Andrew was, like, ‘You guys take forever to make records. Let’s do this, right now.'”
As for what you can expect with the musical direction, McCready said, “It’s a lot heavier than you’d expect. There’s the melody and energy of the first couple of records. Andrew pushed us to play as hard and melodic and thoughtful as we’ve done in a long time. I feel like Matt Cameron’s drumming has elements of what he did in Soundgarden.”
McCready added, “For better or worse, you’re gonna hear a lot more lead guitar from me — stuff I haven’t done in a long time. I went crazy, like with Chris Cornell and Temle Of The Dog on ‘Reach Down’ [1991] all those years ago. I got to do it again. Usually the first or second takes are best. After that I start thinking about it and it doesn’t have the feel. But Andrew caught the lightning in a bottle, as they say.”
Amazing how Pearl Jam just keeps on keepin’ on, hey? 2020 marked 30 years performing live for the band – 11 studio albums, 100’s of live performances and official live concert bootlegs, over 85 million albums sold worldwide. Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees in 2017. An absolute monstrous band!
The band’s last album, “Gigaton”, debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums. Do you think their new album will do the same?
