Anticipation is steadily ramping up ahead of a new Pearl Jam release after members of the band began hinting in mid-2023 that a new collection of tracks would arrive in the new year.
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In a new interview with Classic Rock magazine, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready admits that the songs the band has been working on for their follow-up to 2020’s Gigaton are a bit heavier than fans might expect.
The band’s still unnamed 12th album is helmed by super-producer Andrew Watt, who took home the 2021 GRAMMYs Producer of the Year award and has worked in the past with frontman Eddie Vedder on his Earthling solo EP. McCready says, "When we were in the studio with him this past year, he really kicked our a**es, 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.'"
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So, they took his advice and got to work, leading to a renewed energy that fans will certainly hear in the finished recordings. "It's a lot heavier than you'd expect,” McCready explains. “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."
The guitarist adds, "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 Temple Of The Dog on 'Reach Down' all those years ago. I got to do it again... Andrew caught the lightning in a bottle, as they say."
Lyrically speaking McCready says, "I think Ed has always been very aware of everything that's going on and always fighting for the underdog," of frontman Eddie Vedder’s headspace in this new era. "Certainly America has got so many f***ed-up issues. Guns. Racism. That idiot Trump. All that stuff has always been there, but you have to be aware of it and consciously fight it, because you want this to be a better world, if you're a good human. And I see Ed as that, and hopefully we are. We try to be proactive and solution-oriented, and not sit back and do nothing."
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Adding to his lasting appreciation of the late Soundgarden and Temple Of The Dog singer, McCready will be honoring him while also drawing on his experiences in the Seattle Grunge scene he was an integral part of creating, with a new Rock Opera project currently in the works with "about 18 songs that I’m working on, and I’m singing on it... It’s been a long journey."