Pearl Jam have a new album in the works, the follow-up to 2020's experimental Gigaton, and according to guitarist Mike McCready, the grunge icons are going back to their hard-rocking roots.
In a recent interview with Classic Rock, McCready described the record, which is being produced by Andrew Watt (Ozzy Osbourne, Post Malone, Miley Cyrus, Iggy Pop), as "a lot heavier than you'd expect."
"There's the melody and energy of the first couple of records," the Pearl Jam guitarist said, referencing his band's landmarks Ten and Vs. albums. "We worked with Andrew Watt, who's a younger pop producer-type guy, but he's really a rock guy at heart — I think we're his favorite band. When we were in the studio with him this past year, he really kicked our asses, got us focused, and playing, song after song. It took a long time to make Gigaton, but this new one didn't take long. Andrew was like: 'You guys take forever to make records. Let's do this, right now.'"
He added: "Andrew pushed us to play as hard, melodic and thoughtfully as we've done in a long time. I feel like Matt Cameron's drumming has elements of what he did in Soundgarden."
McCready also prepped fans for a lot more guitar pyrotechnics than in recent years. "For better or worse, you're gonna hear a lot more lead guitar from me, stuff I haven't done in a long time," he noted. "I went crazy, like with Chris Cornell and Temple of the Dog on 'Reach Down,' all those years ago. I got to do it again. Usually, the first or second takes are best. After that, I start thinking about it and it doesn't have the feel. But Andrew caught the lightning in a bottle, as they say."
No release date has been announced yet, but look for Pearl Jam's new album later this year.
