Another stellar album from Ian Brown

They're one of the biggest and well respected bands out there, but Pearl Jam have also suffered set backs along the way. From corporate fall-outs, to the Roskilde tragedy, the band discuss the trials and tribulations they've faced on the road to success.

By Polly Weeks

When you're about to interview one of the biggest rock bands of the Nineties, the last thing you want to be told is: "Please only ask Pearl Jam about the current record and not their history."

Luckily, by the time guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard show up, the PR who gave the order has disappeared and Stone says: "Don't worry, you can ask us anything you want."

It's understandable their press officer would feel protective over the band given their difficult history.

But there was no need to worry. Older and wiser, they are happily promoting their ninth studio album, Back Spacer, which Stone explains is "uplifting - vocally and energetically".

He says: "There are compositions by everybody in the band. You can tell we're all really involved with it. Ed (the lead singer) is really enthusiastic about that. He tries to get everyone involved and he's a great songwriter himself."

While everything is currently looking rosy for the band, life as a Pearl Jam musician hasn't always been so easy.

It all began when Stone and Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament's former band, Mother Love Bone, came to an abrupt end in 1990 when lead singer Andrew Wood died of a heroin overdose.

United in grief, the pair decided to split up rather than find another singer. It was only when another Seattle-based musician, Mike McCready, encouraged the pair to give it another go that Pearl Jam was born, with Mike a member.

After adding lead singer Eddie Vedder and drummer Dave Krusen, the five-piece headed to the studio in 1991 to make their highly-rated album Ten.

"Looking back at those days it's really strange," says Mike. "The other day I was looking at a photo of us and we're these 24-year-old really skinny men. Visually that's what strikes me. It reminds me of the chaos going on at that time. Luckily that's not around any more."

Chaos is one word to describe what happened from 1990 onwards. The group was rocked by an ever-changing line-up, highly-publicised slurs from the likes of Kurt Cobain, near-splits and tour cancellations.

The pressure, for Eddie Vedder in particular, got so bad around the time of their second album Vs that band members refused to do interviews and stopped making music videos.

In a 2007 feature, Rolling Stone said the band "have spent much of the past decade deliberately tearing apart their own fame".

This is disputed by Stone, who says: "In the past we have done things which are seen as counter-intuitive to most people. However, if we did things against our fame, well then that didn't really work out because here we are talking to international press about our new record coming out. Why would anyone care about it if we weren't famous?

"Whatever we seem to be doing, it seems to have been the right choice for the band and it doesn't seem to have hurt us. We may not have made a few million bucks in 1994 that we could have made, but the fact we're still being talked about is fine."

Indeed, these days Mike and Stone give absolutely no hints that life has been anything but an easy ride.

"We're like kids in a sand box," says Stone. "Just to be able to dream about what we can do as a group, we're the luckiest guys in the world. It's very easy to be motivated.

"The band is a fantastic group of people and I think rock and roll is an incredibly fulfilling job. It's a way to release energy and there are just so many great things about punk rock music - I couldn't list them all here."

Delving a little deeper into the past, by the time Ten had become a worldwide hit, drummer Krusen had to leave the band, which seems to have set a precedent. The band are currently on their fifth drummer.

While the group had a growing fan base, they faced criticism from the music press, who believed their style was too commercial, and their contemporaries such as fellow Seattle singer Kurt Cobain.

Add to this the rising pressure that the band found themselves under as they became more successful, and within a couple of years things began to unravel. Tours were cancelled and videos unmade.

But somehow Pearl Jam managed to go on releasing chart-topping albums and keep the fans onside. Almost 20 years down the line, supporters are as enthusiastic as ever.

Mike explains: "Our fans are proactive in a way where they'll get together prior to shows and raise money for issues we support. They just do it off their own backs. They take the time to do positive things on a grassroots level which I've never seen in any other band situation.

"That's interesting to me and I applaud it and it just shows you they are socially aware and interested in doing something more than just going to the shows and I'm very grateful for that."

The fans' loyalty has been tested over the years. None more so than in 1994 when the group became embroiled in a disagreement with ticket agency Ticketmaster about the service charge the company was adding to ticket prices.

"We're always going to keep pushing boundaries in terms of what a band can control," Stone explains.

"There's always going to be a conflict with your business partners if they are a corporation - in terms of how they see it.

"Whether it's distribution, merchandise or touring, we try to make it more interesting and challenge the norm. That's benefited us greatly and that's something people expect from us now, hopefully we'll continue to do that."

The row with the ticket agency led to the band cancelling their 1994 tour, leaving fans frustrated but begrudgingly accepting Pearl Jam's stance.

The band had no choice but to retreat to the studio for their third album, Vitalogy. Dave Abbruzzese, the third drummer, was fired and the band turned to loyal friend Jack Irons to pick up the drumsticks.

They released another couple of albums, No Code and Yield, then Soundgarden's Matt Cameron replaced Irons in 1998. The band released another album, Binaural, in 2000 and all seemed to be going well when tragedy struck.

During a gig at Denmark's Roskilde Festival, the crowd rushed forward, crushing nine fans to death.

Deeply affected, their next releases, Riot Act and Pearl Jam, highlighted the band's dark mood.

Now they are ready to move on. Mike explains: "I think the world we were in when we recorded the last record was certainly a lot darker. Even down to the politics - in particular the administration in the US.

"It feels like we're sitting at a new dawn now and we're excited about what is going on. I think that's reflected in the music and in our daily lives, in mine for sure. I feel very positive."

Stone adds: "Everyone involved is really thankful for our friendships and the things we set out to do together and the fact we made it through. There were times when we could have gone in a different direction but we didn't.

"Now we're sitting on a record that's probably one of our best records in a long time. We have a renewed sense of purpose. I just think right now this is going to be a special time for the band."