Eddie Vedder revealed that on Earthling there will be several special guests including Elton John, Ringo Starr, Stevie Wonder and… his dad.
“I’ve never known my dad wellVedder told a Mojo. “I met him maybe three or four times as a child, but only as a family friend. It would have been nice to talk to him knowing he was my dad before he died when I was 13, but it didn’t happen”.
When Vedder was a teenager, his mother revealed to him that the man she thought was his father was in fact his stepfather and that his biological father was dead.
“The craziest thing happened about 10 years ago when some old Chicago Cubs players got together and played baseball for a week. Every two years I used to go there too, to be with them, to be able to learn and then teach baseball to my daughters, ”he explained to Mojo. “Among these former players was Carmen Fanzone, a very tough trumpet player who played in third base. Shortly thereafter he also became the head of the Musicians Union in Los Angeles, a really great person. One night I saw Carmen playing in a small club in Arizona. Also with him was this man who played keyboards, who was my father’s best friend. Two years later, he brought me some photos of them in a small studio in the basement. Then a couple of years later, he brought me a record with five songs of my father singing. I carried that record around for two, three months in my suitcase, I wasn’t ready to listen to it. Eventually I found the courage and after a couple of bottles of wine I listened to it one evening when I was in Argentina. He was good, really. It was incredible, like he left me a message“.
With the help of the manufacturer Andrew Watt, Ed Vedder created a collage around his father’s voice and included it as a hidden track on his new album. “I thought of the record as a setlist: you know, towards the end the special guests arrive. We had Stevie and Elton, Ringo was an incredible addition… and then my dad, in the midst of all these great characters. Sounds pretty good”.
Speaking of Andrew Watt, Eddie Vedder said: “He was working on the Morrissey record, some of the best Morrissey stuff I’ve heard in years, so I was curious to see his studio. He worked a lot with Chad Smith and Josh Klinghoffer, achieving great sonic results. And so, just as I was visiting the studio, we started writing. One song turned into two, then three, then four in just two days. It all started from there. We were still in semi lockdown, so people had the energy to create. I was inspired to write fast. Everything sounded great and his ability to mix and make everything sound loud and loud… It was a new adventure, really inspiring.“.
Eddie Vedder’s new album, titled Earthling and recorded in summer 2021, will be released on Friday 11 February.
Small my table, sits just three. Born in 1980 in Reggio Emilia. He created pearljamonline.it in 2001 and wrote the first edition of “Pearl Jam Evolution” in 2009 together with his wife Daria. He collaborates with barracudastyle.com, hvsr.net and rockol.it, he has collaborated with Rolling Stone and Il Fatto Quotidiano. He continues undeterred to try to find “beautiful melodies that say terrible things”.
Favorite song: Present Tense
Favorite album: No Code
Favorite artists or bands besides PJs: Tom Waits, Ramones, Bruce Springsteen, Mark Lanegan, Cat Power
