2020 could very well be a banner year for veteran rock bands, the sort people refer to as ‘dad rock,’ at least. First, the Foo Fighters are planning something big, and now, on Friday, “grunge” icons Pearl Jam made some cryptic posts on Instagram that are obviously intended to elicit excitement from fans.
But, in typical fashion for social media teases, it’s mysterious and vague. Here’s one:
And then another, which turned up Friday morning:
And another one later on Friday …
It’s been a considerable bit of time since Pearl Jam released a new album, Lightning Bolt, released in 2013, is the band’s most recent, though they did premiere a new song, “Can’t Deny Me,” in 2019.
Pearl Jam also announced a slate of European tour dates for Summer 2020, though at this moment that’s the entirety of the band’s 2020 plans that have been made official.
So what, then, is all of this teasing about? It seems likely that it pertains to new music, but it’s impossible to say for sure. Guitarist Stone Gossard did tell Rolling Stone last year that, We’re going to make a record, and we’re in the middle of it. We’re just going to keep plugging away until we get one done.”
Bassist Jeff Ament echoed the same thoughts to Rolling Stone, noting that all the band needed to do was get together and hammer it out:
“We’ve gone in, probably, four or five times in the last couple of years, so we have a whole ton of unfinished stuff. We’re just in a little bit of limbo. I’m sure everybody’s got a bunch more riffs, and I’m sure vocalist Eddie Vedder’s got a handful of journal lyrics.
“It’s just going to take us all getting into a room together for six weeks and just knocking something out.”
Is this what the social media posts are about? Or is this all pertaining to something else entirely? We’ll wait and see …
