Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard has revealed that the highly anticipated tenth studio album from iconic grunge band Pearl Jam is well on its way to completion but will take the group in a totally new direction.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Gossard revealed that he and his bandmates in Pearl Jam had recorded a handful of songs already for the record, and that they plan on writing and recording a few more to add to the album.
“We’ve recorded some songs, and we’re going to record and write some more,” Gossard revealed. “You never know, it might be that we’re a song away or two, or it might be that we’re going to record six or seven more songs. I think the main thing is that were not in a rush and there’s no urgency to it.”
Back in September last year Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament revealed that the record was pretty much halfway done saying ““We’re at least at the halfway point. The first handful of songs we had are a great, great start.”
He also revealed that the band have been enjoying recording to Los Angeles, the first time a Pearl Jam record hasn’t been recorded in Seattle. The record was expected to drop sometime early this year but that timeline seems to be a bit off given Gossard’s recent comments.
Gossard also revealed that Pearl Jam have decided to go experimental with the record and that the band wants to “put something out that continues to expand our boundaries rather than trying to follow what we’ve done in the past.”
“I think it’s a good time to hopefully continue to experiment, and continue to shake it up,” he continued. “So that people can go ‘Wow, that’s kind of weird for Pearl Jam,’ and then 10 years later they can go, ‘Oh, that’s my favorite period.’ Which is always kind of what happens.”
“You try something and at first everybody doesn’t necessarily understand it, and then you look back and you go, thank God we tried something new, because it really opened a door up for us to be able to do this and this and this beyond that.”
Pearl Jam have been celebrating 20 years as a group over the last year, including teaming up with Cameron Crowe to direct a documentary on the band, and with a boutique brewer to produce an official Pearl Jam beer.
