Jamily Matters

Pearl Jam played Madison Square Garden on September 11th and Billie Jean and Roche (and Venus and Serena) were there!

It was Billie's first show of the tour and Roche's second but it was the first the two attended together so they were looking forward to comparing notes in this episode of Jamily Matters. 

From the new "stools" setup to start PJ shows to the MSG crowd to the musical highlights to Ed's poignant talk about 9/11 to Josh's role in the band to Roche getting initiated into the family by Billie Jean's husband and brother, it was an amazing night of music. If you were there, relive it with the crew and if you weren't, they'll make you feel like you were there!

Pearl Jam is through two legs of their 2022 tour! What are the trends we've seen so far? 

Varied openers!
No Covers shows!
Tighter song rotations!

It's been a topsy turvy ride and we are barely halfway through the tour.

To help make sense of what we've seen so far and with Billie Jean "on assignment". Roche speaks with Randy Sobel of the Live On 4 Legs podcast about U.S v Euro, Gigaton v Ten, and full show v festival sets. Randy also takes us behind the scene of the Jamaroke night in Las Vegas after the band bowed out due to COVID. Roche and Randy also look ahead to the future of Pearl Jam as a touring band.

Finally, Randy plays "My PJ Experience..." and explains why the PJ fan community is so important to him.

Live On 4 Legs (and Jamily Matters) is available wherever you get your podcasts. 

Jamily Matters is back and so is Pearl Jam! 

It's been over two years but the band is finally back on the road for a full fledged tour! Roche and Billie discuss the first four dates of the tour to see if they can spot any trends, give some setlist highlights, and overall impressions of the beginning of the 2022 Pearl Jam tour. They also reveal what shows they hope to attend and how they got tickets. 

Then, it's the part of the podcast that Billie has been dreading. Now that they have ranked all the songs on the albums, it's time to start ranking all the PJ studio songs from least favorite to favorite! Every ranking has to start somewhere and this one starts at the bottom...and Billie couldn't be more disgusted having to do this. 

Are you doing song rankings as well? Hitting up any PJ shows this year? Let us know!  Email us at [email protected] 

Billie Jean and Roche catch up on Pearl Jam news including the release of Eddie Vedder's solo album, Earthling, a new song from Stone Gossard's band, Painted Shield, and the announcement that Pearl Jam's next album will be produced by Andrew Watt (26:55). Then, Billie had a chance to see Eddie Vedder's Earthling Tour and gives a recap of the show.

Click here to listen to Painted Sheild's song, "Dead Man's Dream"

Vinyl is back!

The format is fast becoming THE physical alternative to streaming. Even young people, who never had vinyl in the house as kids, are embracing vinyl.

But Pearl Jam never left the vinyl bandwagon. They have been supporters of vinyl from the beginning of their career and continued through to Gigaton.

In this episode of Jamily Matters, Billie Jean and Roche are joined by Jon Landman, managing partner of The Syndicate entertainment company to discuss the reasons for vinyl's resurgence, the the allure of it, and why it's getting harder for artists to get their music pressed to vinyl. Then, the gang go over their PJ vinyl collection and Roche's "should I or shouldn't I" dilemma. 

For a seemingly "sullen" band, Pearl Jam has a surprising number of Christmas songs, covers and originals. Billie and Roche discuss some of their favorites PJ holiday tunes and wonder if the band would ever tackle a Hanukkah song.

But first, Roche gives an update on the song rankings project and he and Billie give their thoughts on Eddie Vedder's new band, The Earthlings. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from your friends at Jamily Matters!

Yield is Pearl Jam's masterpiece.

Is that opinion or fact? Roche and Billie Jean make their case for why it's a fact in the latest episode of Jamily Matters. 

It's the album that they've been most excited and most nervous to rank because it is unquestionably their favorite.  After waxing poetic about this amazing work of art, they begin the difficult task of ranking the songs of Yield. 

And not without controversy as Billie Jean risks her friendship with Roche by ranking his favorite all time PJ song lower on her Yield list. 

BONUS: Billie tells of well known drummer who auditioned for Pearl Jam but lost out to Jack Irons. 

It's late 2002 and Pearl Jam have just released their last album of new material for Epic Records. The record deal they signed pre-Ten had finally been concluded (The compilation albums Lost Dogs and Rearviewmirror would be released over the next two years to officially wrap up the deal) and the band would soon become free agents for the first time in their career. 

The world is their oyster. 

But what do they want in that oyster?

Even the members themselves weren't quite sure.

Enter Matt Shay. At the time, Matt was at J Records working for Clive Davis but he also had a relationship with Pearl Jam. Could he bring these two titans together? We now know the answer was yes but for the first time Matt gives us the backstory of Pearl Jam signing with J Records, the recording and promotion of the Avocado album, and how the entire process reset the band as it entered its pivotal second chapter of it's career. 

Pearl Jam made their triumphant return to the stage at the Sea.Hear.Now. Festival in Asbury Park and Billie Jean was there!

How did the Gigaton songs sound? What was it like seeing Pearl Jam live after a 3 year hiatus? What was the vibe like on stage and in the crowd during the set? What were the highlights? 

Billie Jean answers those questions and more on this episode of Jamily Matters!
 

Billie Jean and Roche mark the 30th anniversary of Ten as well as the 25th anniversary of No Code on this edition of Jamily Matters. It's been fun reading and listening to the band reminisce about the most important album in its history and the crew point out some of their favorite interviews with the band over the last few months. They also discuss the importance of No Code in the Pearl Jam catalogue. Then, they give their thoughts on all the recent PJ news before Roche makes EVERYTHING uncomfortable with his "just saying" take on Olivia Vedder's singing debut.