Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder on writing songs while surfing

Pearl Jam is one of the world’s biggest, well-respected rock groups. Now, in a rare extensive interview with correspondent Anthony Mason, Eddie Vedder and bass player Jeff Ament open up about the band’s founding, being together for nearly 35 years, their latest album, and more for “CBS Sunday Morning,” to be broadcast Sunday, September 22 on CBS and streamed on Paramount+.
Mason caught up with Pearl Jam while on tour for a revealing, personal look, in which Vedder and Ament talk about their childhoods, making music together, their dedicated fan base, being on tour, growing older, and their friendship.
Watch the excerpt in the video player above featuring Vedder talking about writing lyrics while surfing to an instrumental tape sent to him by a group of Seattle musicians, and bassist Jeff Ament’s reaction when he heard them:
EDDIE VEDDER: I was doing those midnight shifts security. So, when I went for a surf in the morning … I remember it being super foggy and one of those days where you think, ‘Maybe I won’t go out.’ … But I had the music in my head, the instrumental, and just kind of wrote it. And then, I was still wet when I hit ‘record.’
ANTHONY MASON:  When you heard what he sent back, what did you think?
JEFF AMENT:  I listened to it. And then I remember I left and went and got a coffee, and then I came back, and I listened to it again. … And then I remember calling Stone [Gossard] and I said, ‘You need to come over here right now.’
Ament, and guitarists Stone Gossard, and Mike McCready flew Vedder up to Seattle to audition.
VEDDER: It was just, I was like, you felt it. Like, you were like, ‘Oh, this is what it is. Like, this is heaven.'”
You can stream Pearl Jam’s latest album, “Dark Matter,” by clicking on the embed below (Free Spotify registration required to hear the tracks in full):
The Emmy Award-winning “Sunday Morning” is broadcast Sundays on CBS beginning at 9 a.m. ET. “Sunday Morning” also streams on the CBS News app [beginning at 11 a.m. ET] and on Paramount+, and is available on cbs.com and cbsnews.com.
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