Jeff Ament spoke to my class yesterday
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Hey everyone!
I'm a first-time poster here. I'm mostly a lurker over at Red Mosquito but
that message board's been down for several days.
Anyway, something happened yesterday that I just can't keep to myself. I'm a
life-long Pearl Jam fan who's seen them numerous times dating back to 1993
and as recently as two shows in 2006, but I won't bore you with any more
fandom stories ...
Anyway, I'm currently a student at the University of Montana and we had a
guest speaker in my Entertainment Management class yesterday (Oct. 23) and
it was none other Jeff Ament. All semester our syllabus had listed
"Featuring Special Guest TBA" and we were not told who it was until he
walked into our classroom.
He spoke for almost an hour and a half and fielded questions for most of
that time. Jeff is originally from Montana and keeps a home around the
Missoula area, where the University of Montana is located.
Anyway, knowing that I was witnessing something rare, I started taking notes
and thought I'd share what Jeff had to say to our class. There was no media
present, and I think his appearance was kept secret so that there wouldn't
be a circus.
These are paraphrased comments, so don't interpret this as direct quotes. He
was very candid, and I don't think he'd mind me sharing this, otherwise I
wouldn't post it.
- The first real gig Jeff ever played was with some friends at a bar in
downtown Missoula called the "Top Hat."
- He was an art student here for a short time in the early 80s before
dropping out and moving to Seattle to start his music career.
- He said he had only $60 to his name when he arrived in Seattle.
- Because he was speaking to an entertainment management class, he said
networking was vital to his career. He described having a network of about
150 people in the Seattle punk scene.
- Jeff said Pearl Jam has maintained a lot of control over their work
through the years and has never really worked with any heavy-handed
producers.
- He talked a little bit about the evolving music industry and mentioned
that some producers and managers are steering their bands toward providing
music for commercials. For some bands it's hard to turn down that kind of
money. He said Pearl Jam is fortunate that it hasn't had to do that and he
said the band is approached all the time about providing material for ads,
but they turn them down.
- Jeff was asked about how Pearl Jam formed and he told a short story about
picking Ed up at the airport and going directly into a room and playing
music for five or six hours, then they shared a bottle of wine and
immediately started to get to know each other. He said at that point he and
Stone wanted to be in a band that was serious about music and wasn't about
partying all the time and getting chicks. He said Pearl Jam was all business
right from the get-go.
- He said there are three members of the band who are "super heavily
opinionated." He did not elaborate, but I'm sure you can guess who those
three are.
- He said the band is very good to its crew, which numbers between 40 and 50
during tours. He says they have profit-sharing programs and some of the crew
members who have been around for a long time have made good livings.
- He said "Stone and I have our own little language" because they've
collaborated together for so long. He says this sometimes confuses other
band members during jams or the music-writing process.
- Jeff noted that he used to do all the artwork for the band but it became
too demanding as they rose to fame. He said the record company would call
him some days and say "we need artwork for the single - you've got two days"
and then he decided he couldn't do it all anymore.
- He talked a bit about his upbringing in Big Sandy, Montana and that being
a "jock, a punk rocker and a basketball player" didn't go well together. He
drew a lot of laughter when he said this.
- He said the names "Mookie Blaylock" and "Pearl Jam" were last-minute
names. Somebody asked him how they came up with Pearl Jam and it was
interesting to hear his explanation after it was such a secret for so many
years. He told the same story that's only recently come to light. He said
many names were floating around and everyone in the band liked "Pearl" and
thought something needed to go with it. Then Ed, Stone and Jeff went to New
York to sign a deal with Sony/Epic and they went to a Neil Young show where
Young only played about eight songs but they were all "20 minute jams." Jeff
said he thinks he said suggested "how about Jam?" to Ed and Stone and that's
how it was added to make Pearl Jam.
- He added a funny anecdote to this story. Three years later when Pearl Jam
played the Bridge School Benefit and met Neil Young for the first time Young
showed up in a '55 Cadillac with a customized license plate that said "Pearl
10." It was a total coincidence, but it gave the band members shivers.
- Jeff thinks YouTube is great and doesn't mind seeing Pearl Jam stuff up
there. He just hopes that a five minute video of him playing with his fly
unzipped never shows up there.
- He talked about the band's official bootlegs and told a funny story about
being in a record store in New York years ago before MP3s were around and
REAL BOOTLEGED COPIES of their shows were being sold for $30 or $40. He said
there were three rows of Pearl Jam bootlegs and Mike McCready grabbed a copy
of each one, walked up to the cash register and said something to the effect
of, "I'm in this band. You are selling these illegally and I'm taking them
and there's nothing you can do about it." Everyone in our class laughed, and
I don't know how much of that story is true, and how much of it is a joke or
whether Mike really walked out with them.
- Jeff was asked about fame and said that Pearl Jam really got big here in
the states when they were touring in Europe for the first time and it caught
them by surprise when they got home. He said when the band got back from
Europe they played a show in Columbus, Ohio for a pretty big crowd by their
standards at the time. He said that after the show the band could barely get
to their bus because so many people were loitering outside wanting to meet
them. That's when they first realized that their music was catching on.
- He said the whole Nirvana feud was generated by the media, and there was a
time when they couldn't get through an interview without a reporter pushing
the issue. He said it got ridiculous.
- Continuing his discussion of fame, he said there was a time when he
couldn't go to the grocery store without it being weird and the band
eventually had to pull back. He said it was good for the band.
- Somebody asked him who he listens to and he said Kings of Leon, The
Strokes and My Morning Jacket and lots of others. He says people often
complain to him that there's no good music coming out anymore and he
responds that that's crazy. He said there's lots of great stuff out there
and technology has made it more accessible.
- Somebody asked him what's next for the band and he said he didn't really
know. He said they're on "hiatus," but they have one show already booked for
next year. He says eventually band members will start calling each other and
get the itch to start working together again. He said Ed usually is the last
one to come into the fold.
- Jeff said Ed's work on Into the Wild is awesome and he appreciated it even
more after seeing how it fit into the movie.
- Someone asked him how many songs surface during the recording process but
don't make it onto the albums, and he said everyone usually brings 4 or 5
songs to the table and gets one or two of them on the album. He said a song
doesn't make the cut unless someone else in the band champions it. So if
you're a member of Pearl Jam and you want one of your songs on the next
record, at least one other band member needs to be a big fan of it. He said
there are songs that people have gotten onto the record that in retrospect
probably didn't belong, "myself included."
- Someone asked Jeff what he does during these "hiatuses." He said the
breaks are great and he still spends a lot of time jamming and recording
music. He's also very involved in the Missoula community and has championed
local efforts to build skate parks and other things for the community.
- The final question asked of Jeff was "Red Sox or Rockies." His answer: Red
Sox.
There you have it. Hope you enjoyed.
- Evil Beaver
