Stone Gossard on Brad, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and When That New Pearl Jam Album Is Coming Out

"Don't Cry" by Neil Young off his Freedom record is one. I never really heard the song before, but Shawn fell in love with it and this is the one to do. We all listened to it and it's such a great cover for Shawn. It's a little bit more heavy metal. He also does "Purple Rain" from time to time, too.

Can you believe it's been 20 years since Shame was released?

That's a trip isn't it? It doesn't seem like 20 years ago.

There's something about that record that feels like it could be released now and feel current.

In its own way, when you listen to that record, a lot of the things we were trying at that point were a little bit ahead of its time. There was a bit of a slacker rock sensibility and it definitely wasn't a grunge record. We're proud we have a style that's our own that comes natural to us. Shawn is real risk taker with his voice and his being influenced by soul music allows him to find notes that are atypical. He'll be more experimental than a throwback soul singer.

What are the similarities of making a Brad record and a Pearl Jam one?

We're both very democratic bands. Everyone is involved in the creative process. They're both wide open and anything can happen. In both bands, there isn't one person dominating and it's a combination of everyone looking out and trying to hear everyone else's songs, and playing well on them. I'm involved in production and I have my way I like doing things and it crosses over. If we haven't done anything of Mike's (Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready) in a while, let's get him going. Both bands have very different aesthetics to what gets people going. It's fun to be in two bands that have two ways of hearing music. I'm very fortunate to be in both of them.

You've said in other outlets that the new Pearl Jam album is moving along. What's its progress?