stone gossard
Stone Gossard, Ani DiFranco Team for Single Benefiting Abortion Rights
Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard and beloved indie singer/songwriter Ani DiFranco have teamed for the first time on the single “Disorders,” all proceeds from which will be donated to the National Network of Abortion Funds, which aims to remove financial and logistical barriers to abortion access. [embedded content][embedded content] “What keeps me coming back to playing my guitar is the magic of how musical bits and pieces can transform into a complete song with a life of its own,” Gossard says of “Disorders,” which was crafted in tandem with Pearl Jam producer Josh Evans and the musicians Skerik and Stanton Moore. “The major ingredients are usually an inspired collaboration and some ephemeral fairy dust. What was recorded six years ago as a demo in New Orleans sat for a while until Skeri...
Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard on Reviving Loosegroove Label: ‘I’m Still A Kid in the Sandbox’
Flush with the success of Pearl Jam’s 1991 debut Ten, the band’s co-founder and guitarist Stone Gossard could have easily spent his hard-earned cash on any number of creature comforts. Instead, he teamed with longtime Seattle rock scene cohort Regan Hagar and in 1994 started Loosegroove Records as an imprint through Sony. Gossard utilized his good fortune to amplify friends and fellow artists pushing past the grunge-era sounds of the Queen City, like the saxophone-driven avant-rock of Critters Buggin, the hip-hop and funk-inflected Weapon of Choice and the rough-and-tumble Devilhead. “We knew so many people who were playing music, and I was meeting so many musicians that I was inspired by and excited by,” Gossard tells SPIN over Zoom. “Having had all this experience for 10 years in terms o...
30 Artists Reflect on 30 Years of Pearl Jam’sTen
The story has been told thousands of times, but it bears repeating: Pearl Jam should never have happened. The ’90s had just begun. In March 1990, the promising Seattle rock band Mother Love Bone was about to unveil their debut album. But on the eve of the release, the band’s lead singer, Andrew Wood, died tragically of a heroin overdose. His band members, guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament were blind-sided, devastated, and decided to end the band. Over the next few months, Gossard slowly found his way back to music. He made a few demos that landed in the hands of a surfer from San Diego via Chicago who got them from ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons. The surfer’s name was Eddie Vedder. The songs he sent back? “Alive,” “Once,” and “Footsteps.” Pearl Jam formed around t...
Duff McKagan Drops ‘Two-Generation Stand’ From His Teenage Punk Band The Living
Before he was bassist for one of the biggest bands in the universe, Guns N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan was a punk rocker in Seattle. And now we can hear what a 17-year-old McKagan sounded like thanks to The Living: 1982, a previously unreleased LP from his early band The Living. Lead single “Two-Generation Stand” is out now, with the album due April 16 via Seattle’s Loosegroove Records, a label owned by Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam) and Regan Hagar (Satchel, Brad). McKagan played guitar in The Living, which also featured vocalist John Conte, bassist Todd Fleischman and drummer Greg Gilmore (Mother Love Bone). “It doesn’t matter what year this music was recorded cause it is undeniable …. but the fact that Duff, Greg, Todd and John created these fully realized songs in 1982 gives credence to ...
Stone Gossard Calls Eddie Vedder His ‘Muse’: ‘I Write Every Song For Eddie, Ultimately’
Stone Gossard and Eddie Vedder have been making music together for 30 years, and while some relationships may get stale after the three-decade mark, the Pearl Jam guitarist feels a different sentiment: his singer is his “muse.” During a recent interview with Kerrang!, Gossard opened up about that relationship. “I write every song for Eddie, ultimately,” he confessed. “He’s my muse. I would love to write 50 songs a year with him, but it’s just not on the cards; it just doesn’t work like that for him. When he’s in a writing process, it’s different than it is for me. I can write all the time. The way Ed really operates, the way that he loves to get music, is for something that’s immediate for you coming in at a time when he’s ready to connect with it. He likes to be in the process w...
Stone Gossard Reminisces About Pearl Jam’s Inception
Pearl Jam’s first show was 30 years ago on Thursday. Crazy, right? To mark the occasion, guitarist Stone Gossard looked back at those formative years in a lengthy conversation on Apple’s Strombo show. Gossard told the host that there were “than 60, 70 people. And at that time, we were really trying to be as spontaneously pushing ourselves to kind of take chances. And Ed [Vedder] came up to rehearse with us for the first time we’d written four, three songs.” The guitarist also revealed why Pearl Jam left “Better Man” off of Ten. “None of us had any say in that,” Gossard said. “That that was Ed’s thing. His ability to think that way has really been an important part, huge part of our long-term success because I just think that our fans have gotten used to t...
Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard and Mason Jennings’ New Band Painted Shield Release Debut Single ”I Am Your Country’
Seven years ago, Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard linked up with former Pearl Jam drummer Matt Chamberlin for some instrumental demos. Now, the pair have reunited with some additional help from folk singer Mason Jennings and Seattle keyboardist and singer Brittany Davis to form Painted Shield. The newly-formed group dropped their debut single “I Am Your Country” and announced that their self-titled debut record dropping Nov. 27. The four-piece, with the help of mixer John Congleton, melds a concoction of roots rock, electronica and contemporary folk-pop and is signed to Gossard and Regan Hagar’s Loosegroove Records as the first act on the influential indie label since its reboot. Loosegroove initially shuttered in 2000 and is most notable for releasing Queens of the ...
Eddie Vedder on ‘Democratic Process’ While Recording Gigaton, Admiration for Bandmates
Eddie Vedder opened up on a variety of topics — including working on new music during the global pandemic, why he finally joined Instagram and why the “democratic process” of recording Pearl Jam’s Gigaton makes it one of his favorite records — on a special fan-driven Q&A session with SiriusXM, Faithful Forum with Eddie Vedder, on Wednesday (Sept. 3). Vedder has been deemed Pearl Jam’s frontman, but he points out how PJ co-founders Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard’s longtime musical partnership has paved the way for the foundation of the band. “I think at some point we functioned without a leader,” he said in the interview. “If I ended up in that situation, I think it was reluctantly. It was by no means a hostile takeover. It was their world that started all this. It was Green River. A...
