pearl jam's eddie vedder and stone gossard emerge from seclusion with a new album- and much to say about their war with ticketmaster and their distaste for the press. when asked why he's decided to make himself available to the press after more than two years of studious avoidance, pearl jam's eddie vedder allows himself some nervous laughter before answering, "it gets boring talking to the same old friends from seattle." his lighthearted reply notwithstanding, the media-shy vedder clearly has more than casual chit-chat in mind. the very issue of the band's apparent distaste for the media, for example. then there's the now celebrated struggle between pearl jam's david and the wicked ticketmaster goliath. and there is an entirely more mundane matter: vedder and guitarist stone gossard are, in fact, actively promoting the recent release of yield, pearl jam's strongest album since 1993's vs., and an ambitious 40-date tour of the u.s. later this year. "we're excited about the new record and we're excited about the prospect of other people hearing it," says gossard. "doing press can be a part of building awareness. we haven't done it in a long time, so it's a way of doing something different." gossard cautions, however, that pearl jam's new accessibility may be short-lived. "this is as much an experiment for us as it is business," he says. "we decided that we were gonna do some press again. we didn't say that we were gonna do it for the rest of our lives. collectively, we thought, 'okay, we'll try it.' maybe it's the last time we'll ever do it."

by hélène schilders/ifa :: guitar world, vol.18 no. april 1998