Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron has become the latest member of the band to comment on the status of their next album. During a recent appearance on The Vinyl Guide podcast, Cameron said their latest effort is “ready to go” and added that there could be a tour on the horizon.
“We’re sort of figuring all that stuff out right now, but we did make a record with Andrew Watt that’s in the can — mastered, mixed, ready to go,” he told host Nate Goyer. “And so I think the powers that be are trying to figure out when that’s gonna come out and touring and all that kind of stuff.”
When asked for clarification about whether Pearl Jam would be hitting the road in 2024 with a new album, Cameron responded, “I think so.”
Elsewhere in the podcast, Cameron spoke about how touring has more or less returned to normal over the past year: “We did kind of a big tour in 2022, and we had to wear masks and the crew had to wear a mask, and we had to test and it was just no fun. We got through it great, and the crowds were fantastic. We just did a little run this past September and that was kind of back to normal. I caught COVID during that during that tour, unfortunately, but I think in general the touring industry is pretty much back to normal.”
Various members of Pearl Jam have spoken about the group’s next album over the past several months, with Stone Gossard first saying it was “getting close to the finish line” this past June. A few weeks later, bassist Jeff Ament gently pushed back and said the project “doesn’t feel like a record yet,” while adding that the band hopes to have the album out “next year.”
At the time, Ament said Pearl Jam would reconvene in September to make decisions about which songs would make the album and whether they needed to record more material.
“Sometimes you end up pulling the cart in opposite directions,” he explained. “But, [it’s about] just embracing all of that, embracing everybody’s ideas, hopes, dreams, wishes, and styles… I think that’s what we hope for, musically. I think we want to turn the corner and access all the best parts of each other.”
Based on Cameron’s comments, it appears that the band was able to make those final decisions, and all signs point toward the release of Pearl Jam’s follow-up to 2020’s Gigaton sometime next year.
In the meantime, Consequence is holding a vinyl giveaway for Pearl Jam’s 30th anniversary reissue of Vs., which you can enter here.
