Lightning Bolt is the tenth studio album by the American rock band Pearl Jam. Produced by long-time Pearl Jam collaborator Brendan O'Brien, the album was released in the United States on October 15, 2013, through the band's own Monkeywrench Records, with Republic Records handling the international release one day earlier.
The band began composing new songs in 2011, the album's first recording sessions took place in early 2012 before the musicians decided to take a break. As all band members got into side projects afterwards, work on Lightning Bolt only resumed in March 2013. The music for Lightning Bolt has a harder rock sound with longer songs in contrast to predecessor Backspacer (2009), and the lyrics convey singer Eddie Vedder's feelings on aging and mortality.
Preceded by a promotional campaign focusing on Pearl Jam's website and social network profiles and two moderately successful singles, "Mind Your Manners" and "Sirens", Lightning Bolt was well received by critics, who considered the album an effective return to the band's old sound, and topped the charts in the United States, Canada, and Australia.
Production Soon after completing Backspacer in 2009, Pearl Jam and producer Brendan O'Brien intended to soon repeat the experience given that according to O'Brien "we had a really good time doing it.". In 2011, amidst preparations for the documentary Pearl Jam Twenty and its accompanying tour, the band recorded some tracks with O'Brien at Los Angeles' Henson Recording Studios, with the song "Olé" being issued as a free download. O'Brien considered that the studio helped the band get to a "submarine mentality, and everybody going into the ship together", and bassist Jeff Ament added that working outside the band's hometown Seattle led the musicians to work more efficiently.
After some time developing demos, the musicians returned to Henson in March 2012, where they recorded seven songs. However, they decided to take a break, as guitarist Mike McCready explained, "we had to take some time to figure out what we wanted to do." Guitarist Stone Gossard added that despite the bandmembers thinking that after the productive sessions the album was nearing completion, eventually they considered the tracks "didn’t feel strong enough for a record. Work on the album resumed only in March 2013 as the bandmembers regrouped with new compositions, mostly done separately in each member's home studio—though McCready at times worked along with drummer Matt Cameron—before the group reunited to finish the songs together. O'Brien attributed the long break to the band's busy schedule, as the musicians got into side projects after putting the Pearl Jam album on hold: singer Eddie Vedder started a solo tour, drummer Matt Cameron returned to Soundgarden, guitarist Stone Gossard rejoined side project Brad, Ament recorded solo album While My Heart Beats and started the project RNDM, and McCready formed the group Walking Papers while also taking part in a partial reunion of Mad Season.Reiff, Corbin. "Interview: Mike McCready on Mad Season Reissue and New Pearl Jam". Premier Guitar, March 6, 2013. Vedder still considered that all the diversions helped Pearl Jam to have "more importance placed on the records" and focusing on making the best album possible. Like with previous records the songs had their first recordings with all the musicians playing together, though O'Brien added that with Lightning Bolt "we don’t keep as much of [the live recordings] as we used to." Guest musicians include O'Brien himself at the keyboards, long time keyboardist Boom Gaspar, and violinist Ann Marie Calhoun. After six weeks of new recording sessions, the album was mixed in Seattle at the band's desire, with the process taking place in Studio X.
Composition In contrast to the short tracks of Backspacer, Lightning Bolt features longer songs and a more experimental sound that McCready declared to aim for "a logical extension of what Backspacer was". Stone Gossard added that the band being more comfortable with the composing and recording process lead to "a slight return to some of the more sort of peculiar things we did, say, between No Code and Binaural." McCready said that "there's a Pink Floyd vibe to some of it, there's a punk rock edge to other stuff", with the lead singles "Mind Your Manners" and "Sirens" being inspired by the Dead Kennedys and a concert in Roger Waters' The Wall Live, respectively. Neil Young was noted as an influence in "Yellow Moon". O'Brien considered the track listing to have "a lot of drama" from the intensity of the musicians' work, but that the band itself were united and enjoying themselves during the creation process. According to Gossard, the album's simpler arrangements, "sussed out" songwriting and less production than in Backspacer made for songs that were easier to learn and play live. One of the tracks, "Sleeping by Myself", had been previously featured in Vedder's 2011 solo album Ukulele Songs. O'Brien suggested the re-recording as he thought that the composition was "a Pearl Jam song as far as I’m concerned." Another, "Pendulum", was originally composed during the Backspacer sessions.
While writing the lyrics to Lightning Bolt, Vedder tried to be less cryptic in expressing his feelings compared to the "word games" of previous Pearl Jam albums. The songs discuss lasting relationships, bad faith ("Getaway," "Mind Your Manners"), the state of the world ("Infallible") and life's transience ("Pendulum"), which Vedder summed up as "the same mysteries that I’ve been trying to unravel for a few decades now." Gossard explained that the reflective tone was indicative of the bandmembers' age: "[At] 40-something, almost 50-something, you're looking at life through your kids' eyes, through the filter of relationships that are 20 or 30 years long, through the filter of your parents getting older and the passing of friends and relatives-relationships and all that they encompass, the difficulties of them and the sacrifices you make in them and also the joy they bring you." Vedder at first was afraid of writing songs about mortality, but relented given he felt that "death is everywhere" and writing about death would help "getting through it", as "living to the day you die, and being cognizant of the end, you might lead a more appreciative life". One of the compositions about the theme was "Future Days", which discusses the loss of Vedder's friend Dennis Flemion, who accidentally drowned in 2012. The concernment in the songs also owed to Vedder being a father, as the singer detailed that "It’s going to be their world and what is their future? It feels like there is a lot that can be lost in the next 50 years if people don’t pay attention."
Release and promotion
Pearl Jam's website and social network pages were extensively used to create expectations and excitement for the upcoming album, with two countdown clocks being posted on the band's website. The first was revealed July 1, 2013, and once it hit zero a week later, the site had an announcement of a 24 date two-leg tour in North America from October 11, 2013, through December 6, 2013. After the tour was revealed, the PearlJam.com countdown clock reset, showing a new countdown which was set to end on July 11, 2013, and afterwards lead to news of the band's tenth studio album Lightning Bolt being released on October 15, 2013. On the same day the band revealed lead single "Mind Your Manners" through digital download, radio airplay and an audio-only YouTube video. The track received heavy airplay on rock radio, debuting at 12th on the Billboard Rock Airplay charts, and with 14,000 downloads reached number 14 at Rock Digital Songs and 12 on the Alternative Rock Tracks charts. An official Pearl Jam app was made available on iTunes on July 25, 2013, and through the final week of August, the band's Twitter revealed Lightning Bolts track list through the artwork made by designer Don Pendleton for each track. "Mind Your Manners" was played live for the first time at their show in London, Ontario on July 16, 2013. Three days later the band debuted two more songs, "Lightning Bolt" and "Future Days," during a show at Wrigley Field. On August 23, 2013, the music video was released for "Mind Your Manners," directed by Danny Clinch.
On September 18, 2013, the band released Lightning Bolts second single, "Sirens", and put online a short documentary directed by Danny Clinch where the bandmembers discussed the new album with friends Carrie Brownstein, Judd Apatow, Mark Richards and Steve Gleason. Ament suggested the concept of the video inspired by the Vanity Fair Comedy Issue, thinking it would be a variant on traditional press interviews. On September 23, 2013, the music video was released for "Sirens", also directed by Clinch. A special listening party with fans was held by SiriusXM at Seattle's Studio X eleven days before the album's release. Monkeywrench Records and Republic Records sent the album's title track, "Lightning Bolt" to mainstream rock and modern rock radio on March 4, 2014, as the album's third single.
Pearl Jam released the album through Monkeywrench Records/Republic Records in conjunction with Universal Music Group in the United States. The album also saw release through the band's official website, independent record stores and online retailers. It was made available to stream for free for a limited time on iTunes on October 7, 2013, in the run up to the official release. The band promoted the release of the album with a week-long programme of shows on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, which included live performances of "Sirens" and the title track "Lightning Bolt". Pearl Jam also licensed the songs of Lightning Bolt along with 36 other tracks from their catalog to Fox Sports for the network's coverage of the 2013 World Series.
Lightning Bolt Tour
Pearl Jam promoted the album with shows in North America in 2013 before a tour of Oceania in January 2014. The band headlined the Voodoo Music + Arts Experience on November 1, 2013. The shows in Oceania were part of the Big Day Out festival. On November 15, 2013, drummer Matt Cameron announced that he would not be touring with Soundgarden in 2014, due to prior commitments promoting Lightning Bolt. On December 13, 2013, the band announced an eleven-date European leg starting on June 16, 2014. In May 2014, the band announced a ten-date tour of the American Midwest starting on October 1, 2014, to coincide with two appearances at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. To conclude the tour, the band played at the annual Bridge School Benefit in Mountain View, California. In March 2015 the band announced a nine-date tour of Latin America, scheduled to start in November.
Packaging