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Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament Flies Solo

September 16, 2008 11:35 AM

Since 1996, Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament has been writing and recording at his home in Montana. For the most part the recordings were merely song sketches. This year, he says, "I was tired of looking at the list of 50-plus 'works-in-progress,'" so he buckled down and put the finishing touches on ten of those tracks. Today, via indie record stores and PJ's site, you can pick up Tone, Ament's first solo album, in which he plays nearly every instrument (save many of the drum parts).

"For better or worse," says Ament, "this album is me, unchecked, left to my own devices, playing instruments I'm not comfortable with, and singing, pushing and painting myself into corners." He adds that, "Most of the time, I felt like I was putting together a punk-rock cassette in 1982. No big expectations, no pressure. just putting some music out there for ya."

We met Mr. Ament at the Bonnaroo fest this year, where we interviewed him alongside Mike McCready and dudes from My Morning Jacket. There seemed to be some beef brewing between PJ and MMJ, regarding a long-awaited showdown on the basketball court (which you can see for yourselves in the video below.) That would explain Ament's message on the postcard that he sent us, accompanying our copy of Tone.

To preview some of the cuts from Tone, check out Ament's Myspace page. We particularly like "The Forest" and "The Only Cloud In the Sky."