Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love talked trash about the fact that I hooped. I once stopped to say 'Hi' before a show, and as I walked away, Courtney yelled, 'Go play basketball with Dave Grohl!'
Punk rock and skateboarding took the 'school' out of living your life, and I related to learning as I went, doing a lot of different things that I liked, when I liked. Consequently, I'm mediocre at all of the above, but still stoked on being a lifetime student of music, skating, painting, writing, etc.
Everybody got away from what Pearl Jam are supposed to be.
When I moved to Seattle, I was hanging out with kids who had done drugs, had sex a million times. I look at them now and realize their childhood was taken away.
Everything Ticketmaster stands for is what we're fighting against. They're just a small cog in a machine where the artist is at the bottom.
With Pearl Jam, everybody is so good at what they do, it's hard to get up the courage to say, 'Can I sing this part,' or, 'I want to play guitar.'
I love sad. Sadness makes you feel more than anything.
I played djembe, percussion, keyboards and I sang.
Unless you're a vegan freak of nature like Tony Gonzalez, I don't think you can play sports much past your early 30s.
I have to go someplace where I can soak myself in a creative atmosphere.
With Pearl Jam, everybody is so good at what they do, it's hard to get up the courage to say, Can I sing this part, or, I want to play guitar. I feel like I have more courage to do that.
We went to Big Sur about three years ago and hung out at the Esalen Institute.
We just finished making a record. Everybody wants to play shows, so we're going to after that.
We've always been a band that stood up for what we thought was right.
Right after 'Backspacer,' my best friend got killed tragically. Something happened to me then where I got super motivated. I had a shelf of all this unfinished music... So I just went to work and made a conscious decision that I was going to finish a bunch of stuff. Life's short.
Every few years I'll party way too much to remind myself what an idiot I am.
Our first record didn't come out on vinyl, so I think that might have had something to do with actually being in a position to make sure that it came out in vinyl this time. It sounds way better.
I didn't write this song. Someone was talking in a room. I just wrote down everything they said.
Make movies. Don't make videos. Videos are evil.
It's hard for us not to be involved with things. When you have so much information and you see so much need, there's too much going on for us not to get involved.
