The Jamily is alive and rocking

In August 1991, the band Mookie Blaylock was sitting in a Seattle restaurant, trying to come up with a new band name. The four band mates were six months away from recording their debut album, unaware that their first album would go on to sell over 98,00,000 copies, a recording that would be ranked repeatedly in the decades to come as one of the greatest music albums of all time.

They decided on the name ‘Pearl’. But a few months later, while watching Neil Young perform in New York, they settled on their full name — “He played, like, nine songs over three hours. Every song was like a fifteen or twenty-minute jam,” recollected one of the members. And Pearl Jam was born.

Reflecting the spirit of their idol’s birth, concert organisers and band managers, Anuj Gupta, (23) and Himanshu Vaswani, (23) organised a tribute gig last Friday (October 22). Mumbai bands such as Tough on Tobacco, Split, Blakc, Blackstratblues and Pentagram came together to play their hearts out in a party to celebrate Pearl Jam’s 20 anniversary of their first concert together in Seattle.

Pearl Jam fans, known to each other as the Jamily, usually start young. Sidd Coutto, of Mumbai band Tough on Tobacco, was fourteen when he first heard a Pearl Jam song, and instantly, “It made me want to rock!” he says. “I had always listened to music, but that band — it changed everything, man!”

The infatuation continues, as Pearl Jam remains an eternal college festival favourite — no campus fest is complete without the lingering notes of ‘Alive’ crooned by a college band. It is also the cover-favourite of bands that would otherwise shy away from doing covers (performing songs of other bands). A Pearl Jam song can transcend their creative considerations, the anthems sending even jaded concert-attendees into lighter-searching frenzy. Shawn Pereira of Blakc confirms this, saying, “They are the only band we have ever done a cover on.”

Pearl Jam has been extensively — and sometimes regrettably — ‘covered’ by musical acts like Aaron Lewis, Seether, Ben Harper, Dave Matthews Band, Puddle of Mudd and The Strokes. Nick Rhodes is a Seattle-based musician who has been in three highly successful Pearl Jam ‘cover bands’. He denies vehemently the commonly-held notion that a band that does only covers lacks musical talent or passion. “Pearl Jam’s music is not easy to play and it takes talented musicians to play this stuff. We all play the music because of our love for the band.”

Their concerts are attended religiously by Pearl Jam fans, many of them old-timers who have attended literally hundreds of their shows. The band is the sole survivor of the grunge wave, as contemporaries like Nirvana either self-combusted or faded from popularity. Fan Olivia Lobo speaks authoritatively on their seemingly eternal appeal. “Pearl Jam touched upon issues like abortion and racism, which other grunge bands, despite all their bravado, wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole.”

Jayesh Raman, a 33-year old ad executive recollects the two concerts he has attended. “Eddie Vedder was as usual swigging from a wine bottle throughout the concert. The concerts aren’t flashy with lights and smoke; that’s what makes them amazing. I remember them performing Evenflow, and it reached that part where Vedder says, ‘It’s not a TV studio...Josh, turn these lights off,’ and the crowds went insane. Vedder climbed on twenty-foot high railings and started swinging back-and-forth like a madman. It was fantastic.”

Raman attended the concert on Friday, despite his reservations about bands covering his favourites. “Cover bands are just keeping the fans alive with the music. It’s what Pearl Jam would want,” he concludes. Twenty years after that gig in Seattle, Pearl Jam is quite literally echoing with musicians around the world.