Jeff Ament may be in one of the most beloved and successful American bands but his artistic ambitions don’t end there. Since starting Pearl Jam 22 years ago following stints in Mother Love Bone and Green River he’s released two solo albums and assorted side projects.
He united two of his previous collaborators – Joseph Arthur (vocals/guitar) and Richard Stuverud (drums) – into the trio RNDM (pronounced random).
A preview of sorts took place during the second day of 2011’s PJ20 anniversary shows at Alpine Valley Music Theatre when Ament joined Arthur onstage for “I Miss the Zoo.” The two were then joined by fellow Pearl Jam members — guitarist Mike McCready and drummer Matt Cameron — on “When the Fire Comes.” The track, which featured Arthur singing, appeared on Ament’s 2012 solo effort.
Calling the project RNDM seemed appropriate due to the nature of its existence. Ament originally met Arthur in 1999 when he opened for Three Fish. The two kept in contact over the years, while Stuverud has become Ament’s go-to guy on drums when he’s not recording with Pearl Jam. A scheduled jam session last April at Ament’s Montana home immediately turned fruitful. After four days nearly 20 tracks were completed. Released last fall, the band’s debut, Acts, features 12 of those numbers.
“It felt like those first bands you’re in, where the first few weeks you ate and slept and breathed the music that you were working on,” Amend said. “All you did was hum those songs until you got to the next practice. I was completely open to whatever was going to happen, and I know Joseph was, too.”
The excitement at how quickly the songs fell together led to discussions of live dates, videos and, even, outfits. With Pearl Jam on the shelf until all its members decide to return, Ament is prepared to continue more work with RNDM in the studio and on concert stages in 2013.
On the day my conversation with Ament he’s running late due to taking part in a radio interview. After offering a quick apology, I wonder aloud if the station is actually playing the band’s music. While RNDM’s songs have immediate hooks and energy that balance pop with indie rock sensibilities, on-air playlists have notoriously become tighter with each passing year.
“I have no idea, actually,” said Ament. “I, actually, haven’t paid attention to any of that. I don’t know how much that stuff makes a difference anymore, anyway.
“To be honest, I haven’t done this kind of stuff in like 20 years. It’s kind of fun, actually. We’re doing lots of in-stores and performances on the radio. It’s just about being in a new band.”
And with Ament passing the blunt honesty test, it became a worthwhile venture to discuss the musical and visual ideas behind RNDM, influences, stumping for his friend, Montana Senator Jon Tester and his plans for Pearl Jam and RNDM in the new year.
JPG: I was going to ask this later in the interview, but might as well bring it up now. You released a couple solo albums and the Tres Mts. Side project, but they’ve been a bit more under the radar than albums by Eddie and Stone. With all the attention on RNDM and you being more in the spotlight is this fun for you or weird?
JA: Well, the other projects, we didn’t really put them out there with any splash. It was just up by design. It was about getting music out there if people pay attention to what’s going on with the website or whatever, they would know it’s out. Beyond that, we weren’t doing any interviews. This was the first thing where, out of all of those records, where I felt so good about it. I felt more willing to stick my neck out. I’m happy these guys are coming with me because I knew there’s pretty great potential in us being a really good band. So, it’s a little easier.
JPG: Going back in time, I saw you and Joseph perform together during his set on the second day of the PJ20 shows at Alpine Valley back in September 2011…
JA: I was probably so nervous. Basically, Joe and I went over that song once backstage and then Mike [McCready] and Matt [Cameron] weren’t even with us. I played that song on the trip over for those guys, just to remind them of the arrangement. So, the song didn’t really get played together as a band. I was probably too nervous to notice what we were doing.
JPG: It worked out well in the end, in the spirit of the event. With that particular song, “When the Fire Comes,” was a test of sorts that you and Joseph were in the same place musically?
JA: When I was finishing up that [second solo] record, I wasn’t that happy with what I was doing vocally. I really felt like it was one of the more important songs on the record. Once I started thinking outside of me singing it, I thought, “Man, Joe would sound great on this song; the register that his vocal is in.” I went back and forth with myself for a couple of days before I reached out to him because you just don’t want to bug people. He’s got enough things to do, his own music. Late one night, I shot him an email and he sent me an email right back and said, “Man, I’d love to do it.” Sent him the song. Sent him the lyrics. Pretty much within a day or two he sent it back to me. That’s basically what’s on the record is that performance that he recorded in a hotel room in Zurich, Switzerland.
When I hooked up with him I think, maybe, he played a show in Seattle not that long after that, like a KEXP lunch show or something. I hooked up with him at that and played a song of his called “I Miss the Zoo,” which was the [other] song that we did at the PJ20 thing. That was when I was like, “Man, we could write a few songs together and we could do some things that neither one of us had done.” It wasn’t the idea of starting a band or putting out a record. It was more about just trying to collaborate and teach other some tricks that each of us had. I was just trying to grow as a musician. It wasn’t until two days into doing these recordings that it started to become apparent that we were making a record and that it was pretty good.
JPG: Is that one of the best things about this, that there wasn’t any idea beforehand…?
JA: Yeah.
JPG: …and also recording it at your home that it the situation was more like, “Come on over to Montana and we’ll see…”
JA: Yeah, yeah. For 20 years there’s that mantra of don’t have any expectations, don’t have any expectations…You tell yourself that about all sorts of things. This thing, we didn’t have to tell ourselves that because there weren’t any. There wasn’t any of the baggage. I wasn’t trying to get him to sing on my songs. There wasn’t any of that. It was like, “Hey, let’s get together and see what happens.” He didn’t know what he was getting himself in for and neither did we. So, in that regard, there was a healthy amount of respect in the room, and we were playing music. I think that comes across on the record.
JPG: Now how many paintings did he complete while recording his vocals. (Arthur has done live painting while singing during a performance.)
JA: None. No painting there. We were far too busy learning each other’s tunes.
*JPG: The process of this has been really quick. Is it a matter of good timing or is it because of having the Monkeywrench label so you’ve been able to put out the album and videos and everything else? *
JA: It’s amazing to have a label to help facilitate all that stuff. The other part of it — the videos and stuff — Joe has a friend, Ehu, who actually shot and directed all the videos. That’s a guy that probably worked even faster on his craft than we did on the record in terms of shooting the videos and staying up all night editing them and the next day sending them to us and blowing us away at every point. He’s been the perfect collaborator for that video album.
I think there’s an energy with the band and that energy’s been contagious. Ehu caught the bug that we had. Luckily, we have a ton of visual… We have more visual stuff for this record than I’ve been involved with Pearl Jam in the last 10 years, which is kind of cool. Kind of cool to just do something crazy like put masks on and walk around New York City and get on subways and have people look at you like they want to kill you.
JPG: It’s a good thing that you didn’t accidentally walk into like an Occupy Movement rally and the next thing you know the police would be coming after you because you were wearing masks.
JA: Yeah. Washington Square Park was closed. There definitely were some people there that looked like they wanted to kill us.
JPG: The whole orange theme for the outfits and masks, how did that come about?
JA: It was one of those early conversations when we were recording, like taking a lunch break or something. And in those lunch breaks we would half jokingly talk about the band and the world tour…This is like a day or two into the recording. One of the things that came up was, “Yeah. We could all dress in fluorescent colors.” At that point I took notes every time that we’d go off on those tangents. So, I wrote fluorescent and, as it became apparent that we were making a record, I started to see the album as kind of ‘80s fluorescent colors and that turned into orange gear. “Oh, we can have somebody put orange piping on suits.” And I’m like, “I have a friend who makes handmade ski masks in Bali. We could have him make us some crazy orange masks.” So, I designed a mask. Then, it started to take on this performance art element that I think all of us wanted to secretly do ‘cause we listened to Kiss when we were kids or whatever.
JPG: As far as RNDM’s songs, the performance art aspect of the group goes well with the music because it fun and upbeat. Was one thing influencing the other?
JA: If I had one pre-meditated thought going into the project it’s that I wanted it to have energy, good energy. That was the one thing I told Richard. I said, “Everything that we do I want it to be a little more up tempo than what it initially feels like it should be.” There are so many great ‘80s power pop bands, whether it’s Joe Jackson or Elvis Costello or Psychedelic Furs or any of those bands but I wanted to get into that realm a little bit.
Richard Stuverud the drummer, he’s so well-versed in that music that I knew he would just slay these songs if it was in that mode. A lot of these songs have like a New Wave take on Motown. There’s really interesting high energy grooves happening. That’s one of my favorite elements of the record is just how Rich is playing, how he interprets Joe’s songs.
JPG: Going with three specific songs on the album, when I was listening to “Modern Times,” and there were a couple of other songs as well where, speaking of the ‘80s, your bass playing reminded me of Mike Watt.
JA: I’ve probably been more influenced by Mike as a motivated creative force than anything. When people ask me about musicians or bass players that I’ve been influenced by I feel like I get influenced by different people in so many different ways. Having seen the minutemen multiple times growing up and fIREHOSE and getting to hang out with Mike a handful of times ‘cause he’s such an approachable guy, and then touring with Flea and the [Red Hot] Chili Peppers, just being around that creative force that both those guys are. They’re just so much energy and so much passion. They believe so much in what they’re doing. There’s just not any half-assing any of it. Probably more influenced by Watt on that realm than the other part. It’s awesome that you…I love the minutemen. I listen to the minutemen all the time. There’s probably some of that that’s seeped into me somehow.
JPG: Then “Hollow Girl,” as it fades out, it sounds as if there’s a jam that’s starting to happen. Did it go on for awhile and you faded out early for the album? Does it happen live?
JA: That was something that happened on the spot. I think Joe heard it as this buzzout thing and I had an idea at the end that we cut that part to like a half-time part; the drums would slow down and then it developed into something. The cool thing is that song live is really a monster. It can really go to some cool places because it is so open at the end at that half-time thing.
JPG: The last one, “Williamsburg,” has a bit of a flavor of U2’s “Trying to Throw Your arms around the World,” yes?
JA: I’ve read some U2 references in a couple things, which is kind of cool, ‘cause I’ve never thought of Joe’s music like U2 at all. For me, personally, there’s not that much to hate about U2. Those first couple U2 records, I played bass to those records. Adam [Clayton] in particular early on, was really unique in his style. He played the high strings. He played the B string and G string open a lot. Had a really interesting take on how he played. It’s an honor to be…I mean, if it sounds like U2, it’s not the obvious way that you might sound like U2. I get that and I think U2 went through that phase with that song you’re talking about in particular where they were paying homage to early American music, in particular Black music and so, that makes sense.
JPG: As far as the energy and the upbeat feel to the album, I read that you were traveled with your friend, Montana Senator Jon Tester, during his re-election campaign and how what he had to deal with just ate at you. Do you think if the RNDM album was recorded in August instead of April, it might have come out darker, angrier?
JA: Yeah, maybe. The great thing about this record, there was no preconceived notion of what is was going to be. It really was one of the most natural projects that I’ve ever worked on. The great thing about going to Montana is, where I’m at in Montana, we’re not getting newspapers and we were really so busy, not on the computer very much, so we weren’t very affected by the outside world as we were doing this stuff. If anything influenced us, probably just being in the forest, being around nature.
And it very well could have been [different] if we would have recorded it in August, would have more newspapers getting delivered. If we’d been reading about what was going on, I’m sure it would have had some effect.
The political process in our country right now is a joke. Absolute joke. There’s millions of people that don’t have jobs in this country and they’re spending billions of dollars on fuckin’ ad campaigns. It’s a joke.
JPG: Well, congratulations on Tester being re-elected and whatever role you played in it. [Pearl Jam played a fundraising concert for U.S. Senator Jon Tester on Sept. 30 in Missoula, Montana.]
JA: From growing up in a town of 700 people, mostly, I just feel pride that I’m friends with him. I know how hard he works and I know that he’s the real deal. He’s like a breath of fresh air in Washington. I’m proud of him and also just proud of the band that they supported me and wanted to help him out. The band guys were just troopers the whole step of the way.
*JPG: In regards to the mix of musicians and politics, what do you have to say to the “Shut Up and Sing” crowd?
JA: I think it’s crazy. Lobbyists, corporations, the Koch Brothers, if they can have a voice, a massive voice with millions of dollars, private funds, being poured into politics, why don’t people find more offense in that? It’s crazy how the right wing can spin and say, “Oh, Hollywood…” I’m like, “Look man. First of all, I’m not Hollywood, I’m a Montana kid. I’m like a rural Montana kid. I’m so absolutely far from Hollywood.
And I’ve had people say to me, “You’re going to hurt Tester more than help him.” I’m like, “I’m helping him as a kid that grew up in the same town as him.” I believe in him that much, so I feel like it’s important. I’m a testament for him because I know him. I want people to know how much I believe in him and I don’t find anything wrong with that. If somebody’s running for office, that’s what you’re looking for. You’re looking for testaments. You’re looking for people that know these people and you want to hear their side of what they know about this person, good and bad.
I’ve always had a problem with that “Shut Up and Sing” thing. It’s like, “If you know anything about our band, you know that we’re not like Van Halen. We are paying attention to the planet and our country and our community and if we see injustice, we’re going to speak out against it.” That’s just how it is.
We’ve worked really hard to have this pulpit that we can use every once in awhile. Ultimately, we’re not telling people that they have to do these things, that they have to vote a certain way, it’s like, “This is our view. Go research it and make your own decision. Be involved in it. Be involved in the conversation and the process.” I’ve always done that. I’ve always said, “Look man. I’m not telling you to vote for Jon Tester. I’m telling you to be involved with this conversation and do your own research and make your own choice, but be involved.”
JPG: Just because you’re a musician or you stand in front of a camera, it doesn’t mean you give up your citizenship. So, you still should be allowed to have a voice.
JA: It’s crazy. The people that are yelling the loudest are the Rush Limbaughs and guys like that who are… They’re doing that in the worst way. Rush Limbaugh’s a weather man. He has one of the biggest pulpits in the land.
JPG: On the artistic side of it, I remember watching the Pearl Jam Twenty documentary and it showed the reaction to a performance of “Bushleaguer.” Afterwards, some of the band members were against playing it again because they didn’t want to go through that uncomfortable situation where a portion of the crowd turned on you. But, you were defiant and wanted to play it again because you felt that art should be confrontational and you shouldn’t cower, even if everyone isn’t cheering. I just thought that was such a great statement at the time.
JA: I’ve always felt like music can be good in that confrontational way. It goes back to what I was saying earlier about it starting a conversation. I feel like I’ve always been in bands that have been a little bit controversial at different times. And some of the early punk bands, in particular, when I was in Green River and we opened up for the Dead Kennedys and Black Flag, those crowds hated us. They would throw shit at us and I kind of ate it up. I was into it. I was like, “Good. There’s something we’re doing up here that is causing a reaction.” Reaction is great. If it makes you feel anything and that to me is better than just numbing people out and being a pure entertainer where you just try to make people happy.
Ultimately, I never really cared what people thought. It’s always been about, “Do the guys in the band, the people I’m playing with, are we getting off? Are we creating something that we love? That we totally believe in?” We’ve been lucky in that people have reacted to that and bought our records and they come to our shows. That’s an awesome fringe benefit of being in a creative unit. For me it’s always been more about making great art than it has been about being entertainers.
JPG: Is that what after all this time keeps it exciting for you, that you fall into these situations of creating art such as RNDM?
JA: Yeah, that’s the awesome part. I get to make a record with Joseph Arthur. The pure fan side of me; I’m so stoked right now. I mean Joe’s one of my favorite artists out there. I’m rolling around the country in a bus with him right now playing songs that we wrote together. So, it doesn’t get any better than that especially after playing music for 30 years. It’s awesome to be reinvigorated at this point.
JPG: So what’s up for 2013? Pearl Jam? A second RNDM record, which could be called “Of Kindness?”
JA: Yeah, there you go. RNDM “Acts of Kindess.” Originally, there was talk of it being like a two or there… was going to be three acts and there was going to be a record of violence and a record of kindness and whatever… We’ve actually written a bunch of stuff since we’ve been out here. As we were rehearsing for the tour, we recorded five or six songs. There’s five or six pretty good songs left over from the last batch, so if we went in the studio for a couple more days we’d probably have another record ready to go. So, If Pearl Jam isn’t super busy next year, then I’ll certainly go out and play a few more shows with these guys.
JPG: In terms of Pearl Jam, since you are such a tightly-run organization with a record label, management and publicity, if you enter the studio and if the songs are going well in April, do you think you could put together a world tour in a snap for summer and fall? You see some bands where they have their next two years planned out with the album completed many months before its release and first tourdates.
JA: it’s not like I’m not talking to these guys. I’ve talked to everybody multiple times, even in the last three weeks since I’ve been out touring. So, it’s not like we’re on a sabbatical from one another or anything. It’s more like once the wheels start turning with that then it’s on. We relish not being in that mode. Until everybody’s like 100 per cent ready to give themselves to the process of making and finishing a record, which is just getting it to the point of the record being out. From the start of the recording, it’s usually like a four or five month period and it’s because some of us in the band are so hands-on in that process. That’s kind of like our day job, where you make sure the art’s right, songs being mastered and you’re talking sequence and you’re talking about tourdates and you’re talking about merchandise. And all that stuff is time consuming. You want to have a chunk of time scooped out for it.
I told everybody, I’m ready to go whenever. If they’re not, if Soundgarden wants to do some more touring, which I’m behind 100 per cent because I love the record, I love all those guys so much that… Like I said, we have another RNDM record ready to go. I’m easy. It’s all creative. It’s all music. Pearl Jam’s gonna be there whenever we want it to be.
