Rockin' out with Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam has been making music in Seattle since 1990, becoming a staple of the Pacific Northwest music scene. This iconic grunge-rock band released a fiery new song titled “Get it Back” on all streaming services Saturday, Oct. 10. The band originally released the track for one day on the album “Good Music to Avert the Collapse of American Democracy Vol. 2,” a recent Bandcamp charity that worked to raise funds to support voting rights in the U.S.  The album raised over $250,000 in proceeds. The song was written by Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron and was the first piece of music to be released since the band’s hit album “Gigaton” earlier this year.

Along with the new song, Pearl Jam announced that they will live stream a full-album performance of “Ten” to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their first concert at Seattle’s Off-Ramp. The live stream will be of a previously recorded show in Philadelphia from April 29, 2016, because bassist Jeff Ament and frontman Eddie Vedder want to bring attention to Pennsylvania’s status as a pivotal swing state this year.

“We will sound the alarm, with their well-being in mind, to put it out there that there’s some bad information being spread out there,” Vedder said toThe New York Times. “And it’s turning into chaos and deadly violence and dividing us.”

Last month, Pearl Jam created PJ Votes, an initiative that seeks to increase voter turnout. Pearl Jam asked fans to accept the Take-Three Pledge which encourages fans to bring three friends with them when voting.

“It’s about reminding people that their voice matters and their voice can make a big difference,” Ament told Rolling Stone. “Like a lot of things, if you find out that your good friends are doing something, you become more curious about it and more invested in it. What we found with voting is that when people you’re living with or your family or your best friends are voting, then you tend to vote as well.”

Pearl Jam is not exclusively engaged in national politics. The band has campaigned with U.S. Sen. Jon Tester D-Mont. in previous elections. Ament and Tester have been friends for nearly 40 years. Both are from small-town Big Sandy, Montana, which had a population of roughly 700 people when they were growing up. Tester and Ament were neighbors, and Tester even refereed Ament’s junior high basketball games. Ament shared memories with Politicoin 2018 about their relationship growing up, saying, “My dad cut his hair, and I think they probably butchered a couple of our pigs,” Ament said. “I think if you asked either one of us when we were 15, 16 or 17, [where we currently are]... we would cast you aside and say: You are drinking too much.” Tester and Ament hailing from such a small town in rural Montana is notable because they stand together as fixtures of the U.S.’s respective political and musical cultures.

You can listen to “Get it Back” on all streaming services and stream the virtual concert at https://nugs.tv/live-webcasts/5,321/Pearl-Jam-09-2020-8-18-2018-Safeco-Field-Seattle-WA.html from Thursday, Oct. 22 to Sunday, Oct. 25.