Pearl Jam Aim To Finish New Album By Early 2012

Pearl Jam hasn't let all the self-reflection involved with their 20th anniversary celebration turn them in to a nostalgia act -- they are still looking to the future. Bassist Jeff Ament recently gave a progress report on the grunge-survivalists tenth studio LP.

With a 20th anniversary tour (which kicked off with the two-day PJ20 Festival in Wisconsin), book, and documentary film to promote, you would think that Pearl Jam might sit back on their haunches and let the wave of nostalgia carry them for a while. Luckily for us, that's not how Eddie Vedder & Co. get down.

Prior to drummer Matt Cameron's touring obligations with Soundgarden, the members of PJ hit the studio with longtime friend and producer Brendan O'Brien to record some songs for what will become their tenth studio record. Bassist Jeff Ament recently told Rolling Stone how the album is coming along and how recording was a much needed break from memory lane:

"We're at least at the halfway point.The first handful of songs we had are a great, great start. It's been really important for us that in the middle of all this, we got together and recorded a bunch of songs. It sort of gave us a breath to go, 'Okay, we can go back and get ready for the show and book and movie and all that stuff.'"

One of the new songs from those sessions was the bilingual rocker 'Olé', which was debuted on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and is available for free download at PJ20.com. Ament also told RS about how recording at O'Brien's Los Angeles studio was a refreshing change for the band:

"We made the bulk of our records in Seattle, so it's just great to get out of Seattle for me. Everybody leaves all their stuff at home and you just go down for 12 days and it's all you do. It's like, go to a hotel and sleep, get a little breakfast, go back to the studio, repeat. There's just nothing else. It's taken us a long time to figure out how to do it right and have it take less time than it sometimes does. We're excited."

While Pearl Jam is hoping to be finished by early 2012, Manager Kelly Curtis wouldn't be surprised if we hear more new music soon:

"They knocked out a bunch of songs in just a couple weeks with Brendan, and everybody was blown away. It's hard for them to sit on that shit. They're raring to go forward."

The upcoming release will be Pearl Jam's tenth studio album, a number that holds a great deal of symbolic resonance for both the band and fans alike. Their first album was named 'Ten' after the jersey number of their original namesake -- basketball player Mookie Blaylock. The band hasn't named the album yet, we wouldn't be surprised if it ended up being called 'X', 'Ten 2', 'Mookie Blaylock', or something along those lines of nostalgia.