“Eddie Vedder”
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All right, 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.

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 was, I never knew the difference between rife or ripe. Like if something is rife or rife with information or ripe. Yeah.

you know, what, what is the right? And then Jason, didn't you have one? Um, yeah, my, my big question, uh, up until a couple of weeks ago, a couple of years ago, rather, uh, was making ends meet. Now I always thought that people would say that as a, uh, well, we're just trying to make ends meet, meaning we're just trying to buy the cheapest kind of meat. You know, we're not, we're cause 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 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. 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 guests, we're getting right to you. Stay awake.

So, but this is music related, so you'll enjoy this. Mr. Yes 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, 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.

Right. Like the beat, like one makes a beat. Wait, and you knew this? Jason, you knew this? Yeah, man. I did not know that. Isn't that so stupid? The bug, the beetle, 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 beetles, 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 like on our social 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 make it, 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. Bennett knew about it. I knew about the pun. You did for real? Michael Grant Terry knew about the pun. Yeah.

Are you serious? You guys, you're not? Well, if 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. It's like smartless. Beatless did not clear. Smartles. They went with beetles. Beatless. So 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 inspiring though. Yeah. Watching them. Right. Mm-hmm.

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 beat. 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. 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. on CTV. Now we know who it is. Oh, shoot. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Oh, Sean, we've said too much. On Tubi. 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 mostly from the group Pearl Jam. He's one of our most enduring rock stars, a 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.

meet you this is so cool better i mean hey will now eddie i have it by the way how are you so nice to meet you you too sean eddie we met we met once uh years ago at snl do you remember that i do remember wait wait tell us about that why would he remember that what happened we took a he took a photo of us together right ed yeah it was the after it the after thing

And it was that memorable. 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 highlight of the night. We had a little corner. Well, now you get 60 minutes with this guy.

Can I do a little thing about you, Eddie? So when I was in college, I was on 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.

And the pumpkins, right. So, actually, pumpkins. Oh, you remember. Wow. 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? I don't know. 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 night, Eddie? What was the venue like? 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 lovemaking happening at the center? No. Boy, if Will Arnett was there, I bet Eddie would remember. No. No.

Eddie, so Eddie, before you were Eddie, 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...

it came in handy because that's kind of the job now is that you kind of... Night work. You're not supposed to peak till like 9 or 10 at night and that kind of...

That lifestyle ended up working for the current occupation. But yeah, no, a lot of waiting tables, a lot. 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 stuff.

do all the making of flyers. And I heard when you talked to Dave Grohl the other day, and he was talking about recording with cassette tube, 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. That's before the advent of home multi-track 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 really just wanting to be able to write a song yourself or have it sound like a drum machine or have it sound like a real piece of music, even though you're doing it by yourself. And I think that came from listening to early Pete Townsend demos, which back then were on bootleg vinyls that I would acquire.

and hearing that one guy could kind of play everything. What about how Dave played every single instrument on that first album for Foo 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. It was done. And then their first tour, it was actually Dave and I

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 like their very first...

And I want to say it was something a little insane, like 28 shows in 30 days. Wow. You know, I wanted to ask you, Eddie, about, like you were saying, Jason touched on, then you touched on when Dave was talking about, um...

and trying to do like a real patchwork sort of multi-track with the cassette tapes and stuff and like 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 dock 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 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's like the Beatles, because that's what people like to do. They want no one's listening. But did you have that experience as a kid as well, where you just had all these ideas for songs that you just knew had to come out, or you had a vision for it? Was that kind of coming out of you in that way, in the way that I imagine it would? One thing I have to say about the documentary, which was...

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 time. No, I'm usually late. The guys would know this. I'm usually late because I'm working on a last-minute lyric or something, so we have some... I can make some progress from my side of the fence, but I think early on, I think it was just...

you 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 I was never going to be able to do that. Or my interest lied into kind of communicating and getting...

and chords and momentum and beat, you know, rhythms and to communicate. And that started early on, you know, and it still continues. It's still the...

ever moving gold line, you know, that you try to get across on a daily basis. Was it more of an excitement to get lyrics out or get music out? Rhythm, melody, you know, sound? Or was the initial draw more writing poetry, you know? Well, I think it's to get them to match.

So 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 music?

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 notebooks and pads of paper, 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. They're kind of part of my experience growing

you know, especially in my sort of 20s and 30s, they were really just, they're so ingrained in my head. Like, 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'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 asking him about, like, you know, um...

you know, the song, all that lyrics sort of like, "This is not your beautiful house, this is not your beautiful wife." I was like, "Whoa, what was that moment like?" Like, 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, "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, 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, you have a love hate relationship with, with fame and success, like most people with, with an admirable level of humility, but do you ever, do you ever treat yourself to reaching into that bag of accomplishment and,

to help you through some of the extraordinary levels of pressure or anxiety. Like, you know, standing in front of 100,000 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, of some sort of pride so that you don't have an anxiety attack. So do you at least use it for that 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? It's got a Ziploc. And, no. I want to say this. I want to say this. Sorry, just wrap up the lyrics thing because it's just killing me. 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't it be in mine? That to me speaks of somebody who understands life.

pain and heartbreak and stuff in a way that's so profound it's so honest and revealing and and you know you start crying well i'm gonna man no it's it's like there there's a there is a vulnerability in that to be able to say that to communicate that to somebody that 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 or you create and then you witness some stuff going on over here and then you incorporate that and you kind of. But in the end, you had it wasn't just, you know, men singing that. It was like men and women singing. And actually, it was so many, you know, back then our crowds were average age of 19 or something. Mm hmm.

We will be right back. And now back to the show. You guys, you know, made incredible and still do rock and roll music and rock me, 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 or...

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 singing.

writing or feeling or you know, I really to be honest I didn't know what I was doing as far as you know, what would happen if anybody heard it because we just didn't think anybody really would not not not like 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

of maybe people were listening or that it would be heard and, and criticized. And, and that was probably the hardest one to get through lyrically and still have it be sure and not reacting to the future reaction, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All those albums are just so good. 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. And just generally just us having the privilege of getting older because the only other alternative is death. And you're starting to absorb a lot of different things. Is that what's fueling your change in sound to the extent 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 VaxLive. 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 had come to know over the years a bit. His name is Andrew Watt, and kind of producer, musician,

And we've 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 of 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 Klinghoffer, 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 sensibilities? 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, 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, Jason, stay out of it. 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, too. Sorry. Can I turn to him? Yeah, man.

You know what, Will? I'm going to send you, see that blank space right there? 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 of...

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. I'd be right up there. Yeah, you look like the dry cleaners of the Oakwood corporate housing. 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 what's the one instrument that you don't that you wish you did? Um.

I wish I could play... I mean, I can get a sound out of a violin, but I wish I could actually really 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 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. 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. 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, screw that, we're all acoustic? Like, did that influence you in any way? We're analog, we're analog. 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 now.

or quicker and to be 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,

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 that entails reading like manuals and figuring out how to work these knobs and you know I'll buy this, I'll read about a guitar pedal that Ed O'Brien from Radiohead used or I'd watch him use it and then I'd say oh I need and then realize that you need to spend a lot of time figuring out what the knobs do and I wanted I'd rather be

Writing. Right. Or doing something that I could write about. Yeah. Hey, Eddie, I forgot to ask you. Can 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 now. Yeah.

15 years ago. He's been waiting since that photo. Oh, I got my list out. I have like a whole Eddie file. But, oh, God bless you. Lighting up a name. Oh, he's smoking. Well, he's smoking. Go ahead. 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 Janovitz 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 and looking out the window and

feeling very, uh, tragic amongst all the newfound, uh, success, but, um, and, and having that song really hit me. And then I, and then years later I used the, I used the word taillights in one of my songs. And I, 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, um,

And I apologize, and he says, oh, don't worry about it. And 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. Um, why do I remember you in a, in a, 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, to the Red Sox and partly because of the history and, and, and the glory of that old building, which is Fenway Park. And then I grew up at, um,

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? Dodger Stadium. That's right. My beloved. So it's the Cubs that are your, that's 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 then...

you know that 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 drive and inform 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

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 that level of respect and feeling like we're all part of it and everyone's going to have to

Be on point for the whole night is part of why we can make changes or, you know, we do things I call audibles, you know, if we're feeling something's happening 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 'em. We're not leaving until we fucking get 'em. - I get that vibe, I get that. - Is there a city that's tougher than others or a country that's tougher than others and the opposite as well? Is there an easy lay somewhere? - Well, if I could take it out of that vernacular. - 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. 100,000 people will sing the guitar solo. That's great. They'll also, there'll be 5,000 people outside of your hotel room at one in the morning singing the song and singing the guitar solos. That's great. I'll bet you L.A. and New York are tough crowds. They used to be.

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 um it could be some kind of crowd interaction or some interaction within the band or 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 2, you had a workout, you went to sound check, 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. 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 Promises Promises? Have you ever seen

Have you ever gotten scared because you opened your mouth and because you were getting sick, nothing came out or, you know, 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 do.

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. Or...

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. I was in, I went to, this is like three, 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? I kind of went by. You're on the plane? Yeah.

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 I was working down there, as you know, and we were hanging out. They're great guys. They're great. Are they? So we go... Jesus. Bateman at his drippiest. Oh, are they? So, um...

Anyway, so you're on tour with you to go ahead. I met them at the show, but we're you know, whatever we were up So anyway, I go to the show Bono loses his voice like three songs in that show I was at that show Oh any you took over you know, I took over and I gotta give the audience what they want you know and and people didn't notice and

Wait, what happened to Bono? Was he sick or something? They canceled the show, man. It was almost like he inhaled a chemical or a smoke thing and it just shut down his vocal cords. 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 whatever? But 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. 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, uh, making music. Okay. But you do love the surfing. I've, 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. I haven't seen him in a while, but 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 paddle. He'd 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. Oh, yeah. Foiling through that. So I've been lucky enough to be with him and be taught by him. What is it 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, 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. 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 incredible and great, great person, great family. Now, have you done the Laird Hamilton workout with him in the pool there? I have, yeah.

Can you explain to our listener what that is? What is that? Well, it's just 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 if you have like a major wipeout, 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. And 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. Do you play golf, Eddie? I do not. You know what, Eddie? I don't either. Eddie, were you doing the cold plunge stuff too? Did you get into that? He's an expert at that. I've got the Puget Sound, so I can jump into that. That's fairly cold. I might someday. I feel like I haven't needed it quite yet, but I'm certainly getting there. Just take a cold shower. I love it, man. I do that cold thing too. I'm super into it. And we will be right back.

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 and 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 then when you become close friends, that's just a whole other level of...

Then it kind of changes. Then you're just friends. 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 in Brooklyn.

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 call it Mrs. Mills, and it's still there because they refused to sell it to Paul McCartney.

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 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 feels, 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 with Ringo, and it was just a real... It's a great song. ...education. Do you like the... Oh, yeah. All three of those he sent were just...

I genuinely meant what I said. Can we get in on that? I could listen to these on a loop for a week straight to not get tired. How the hell do I know? No, no, no. Wasted on Bateman. Bateman 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 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. That's...

Correct. You were in Evanston. 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 went...

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 75, 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 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? Yeah, exactly. Did you feel safer?

I do remember you bought it. 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. Joe would not be happy. It was fun in the 20 movie or whatever, the Cameron Crowe Pearl Jam documentary. There was maybe a four-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. This isn't like the bushes behind the bus station. I'm just saying. I mean, they had to have. Actually, maybe that explains the calluses. But yeah, so maybe it did happen. God.

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. Oh, my God. Are we all over it? Let's speak about your— I'm going to body surf over the band.

With a T-shirt that says, please grab here and an arrow to your junk. 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 it's you're mostly writing songs for those films as opposed to scoring uh to picture yes question yeah i think you know sean is is really the driving force behind all that or i feel like the ones that uh have meant the most or anything at all we're really just the sean ones and you know working with sean is great uh as you know because you know he he can be a

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 or you know so when you write you want to give him something that's worthy of you know reciting at some point 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 this 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 he...

he uh we we came up with this song we really wanted Sean to hear and but we didn't have our our female vocalist for another week or so and so I just asked my daughter to come down and and give it a whirl and she doesn't spend a lot of time saying you know she's shy about it and very humble and just kind of you know enjoys it but

But she came in and I played it for Sean and there 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 was a great experience. And then the craziest, coolest thing, which we could have never predicted and even imagined

A week before, I 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 how hey speak eddie speak a little bit because you just talked about glenn hansard who i'm such a fan of uh 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 in somewhere in Oregon. 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. It happened behind Glenn. Glenn thought maybe an amp had fallen over. It got even more hectic because it was a one, two lane burrowed into 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 him the next day and checked back in on him 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. This is the dumbest question of the morning. Do you want me to ask it? Sean texted me and asked me to ask you this question. That's really nice.

The and it's it's a final Pearl Jam question. Does the title of the band mean what I think it means? Mm-hmm. Go, Eddie, go. No, no, don't put him on. 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. OK, there it is. Can you explain the grin?

Just a ridiculous question? It's a ridiculous question. It is a thank you, Eddie Vedder. 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 a 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... 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 GWAR show? You know GWAR, speaking of great band names. Did you see that they...

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, it's just the-- and gets passed up, just the leg, it was-- it's just fantastic. -Filled with Pearl Jam. -That's great. 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 in a bunch? Yeah, I was thinking about that early on. That's a compliment to me, by the way. It is. Yeah. 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 naked dead.

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. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for doing this. Such a pleasure and an honor to meet you. I really love you guys.

Thank you. You are the man. Likewise. 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. 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 want? I just, you know, you don't know me. 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's good.

That's so 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? Yeah, 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 too, 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 was funny. No joke. And then 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, when I, 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 gonna 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,

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, there was a-- it felt like it wasn't okay for men to say, "I 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... Fuck you, Jason. Well, I'm just saying, in the past, you know, it used to be like, if you said I love you to a man, people would think that you were gay, or maybe even, Bye! Bye! Old school. Bye! Smart. Blast. Smart. Blast.

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