Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard Says New Album Doesn’t Recreate ‘Backspacer’

2012-04-25

Story by Charles Ken

Pearl Jam album update from guitarist Stone Gossard

Pearl Jam are plugging away at their new album, and although the guys have stated time and time again that they have no idea when it will be finished, guitarist Stone Gossard says the set is starting to come together. In an interview with Artist Direct, Gossard — who is currently on tour with his other rock band, Brad — stated that the new sounds are a move away from Pearl Jam’s last album, 2009’s “Backspacer.”

“We’re always picking away at this new record,” Gossard said. “We’re plugging along, and it’s taking shape. It’s pretty exciting.” Gossard went on to explain that the guys don’t want to recreate the sounds of their past on this new set. “Trying not to recreate ‘Backspacer’ is one of the things we want to do,” he said. “We want to make sure we’re not just locking ourselves in. We want to keep expanding our horizons. We’re still writing, and what it’s going to be is still up in the air.”

Brad’s new album, “United We Stand,” dropped earlier this week, and Gossard says the album took an incredibly long time to create. “When we decided to make the record, we basically said, ‘The studio is going to be ours for the next six to nine months so book time when you’ve got any songs,’” he said.

“We ended up recording a bunch of material during that period. Over the process of a couple months, we started narrowing everything down. It narrowed down pretty easily. Usually when you have four people trying to describe the same elephant, it can be difficult—especially if you have a lot of material. However, our process was pretty great… ”