PEARLS of WISDOM

Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam returns with a solo project, American Death Squad, and advice that applies to all of us.

- Joe Daly

As Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament awoke on New Year’s Day, 2020, he knew that in a few short months, his band would release Gigaton—their hotly-anticipated eleventh album, and the veteran rock quintet’s first clutch of new material since 2013. Sprawling tours of North America and Europe would follow. For Jeff and his bandmates—vocalist Eddie Vedder, guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready, and drummer Matt Cameron— this was shaping up to be their busiest and most important year in quite some time.

And yet on this warm July day, we find him relaxing with a cup of tea in the cosy confines of his Montana home, half a world away from the stages of Europe. The Pearl Jam tours, of course, are casualties of the current global pandemic.

“Montana’s where I grew up, and I typically come back here when I’m not touring,” he tells Bass Player. “I’m doing what I’d normally do. I go into the studio in the morning and then do some sort of activity in the afternoon, like go for a bike ride or a hike, or go skating.”