Pearl Jam “in the middle” of a new studio album

Pearl Jam

Guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament have confirmed that Pearl Jam have been working on material for a new studio album.

They released the standalone single Can't Deny Me in March 2018, which was the first new material from the band since 2013’s Lightning Bolt. 

Now Gossard tells Rolling Stone: “We’re going to make a record, and we’re in the middle of it. We’re just going to keep plugging away until we get one done.”

Ament adds: “We’ve gone in, probably, four or five times in the last couple of years, so we have a whole ton of unfinished stuff. We’re just in a little bit of limbo. I’m sure everybody’s got a bunch more riffs, and I’m sure vocalist Eddie Vedder’s got a handful of journal lyrics. 

“It’s just going to take us all getting into a room together for six weeks and just knocking something out.”

He adds: “It’d be fun to record or even just write a song together. I think when Chris Cornell passed, that’s really been a tough one to wrap our heads around, and then there’s just life stuff.”

Gossard, Ament and Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron took to the stage at the Chris Cornell tribute concert in Los Angeles last weekend as Temple Of The Dog, which featured the much-talked about vocal performance from Miley Cyrus on Say Hello 2 Heaven.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.