Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament discussed the impending U.S. presidential election and the enduring power of music in a recent conversation with Kamala Harris’ husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, which premieres at noon ET today (Oct. 22) on the band’s SiriusXM channel.
Emhoff, a music nut who recently hosted campaign events with R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe, also attended a Pearl Jam concert in Philadelphia in September. Backstage, he observed the sense of community the band have fostered with their longtime crew members and how it translated “to the camaraderie on stage and the connection with the fans.”
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“I can’t think of one place that is not a great crowd, but Philly is and can be a little even extra special,” Vedder replied. “And of course knowing you were there and your friend [Pennsylvania governor] Josh Shapiro … it was energizing.” Spotting Emhoff on the side of the stage during a cover of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” Vedder “gently whipped a tambourine” in his direction as a souvenir.
“Generally on a campaign, [political candidates] might be in cafes and barber shops, but you’ve been meeting a lot of people in visits across the country to record stores,” Vedder pointed out. “I’m trying to highlight small business and talk about all the great things that Kamala Harris is going to do for the country, and merge it with my love of music,” Emhoff said. “It’s gotten me to local record stores across the country.”
Emhoff and Vedder then proceeded to nerd out on their love of R.E.M., jumping off from the former’s anecdote about visiting the record store in Athens, Ga., where the legendary band formed in 1980, as well as Stipe’s house in town. “He took me back there for a personal tour and he’s like, ‘Oh yeah, right here is where I wrote [the 1985 album] Fables [of the Reconstruction], like, the whole album in three weeks, just walking around in a circle,” Emhoff said. “He let us use his guest house to do [an] interview [with Morning Joe], and then he played ‘Driver 8’ and ‘Wendell Gee,’ which is the first time he played it in 30-something years, to me and Joe [Scarborough]. Then, he played it in front of a crowd of hundreds of people in Athens. This is so surreal to be able to experience this.”
After Vedder referenced a recent Donald Trump rally outside Palm Springs where attendees were left stranded in extreme heat without transportation, Emhoff reminded of the former president, “Somebody who’s only in it for themselves doesn’t care about others. He’s a degraded version of what he was. He was a pretty horrible president that time around, and he has just gotten worse. [We’re] just trying to get people to see what’s right in front of them. You know, get away from all the gaslighting and the distractions and the lies and the things that they’re trying to do.”
Drawing a contrast between Trump and his wife, Emhoff added, “She spent her entire life working for us. He spent his entire life focused on himself. And as you said, Ed, the people will be left holding the bag if, God forbid, he ever gets back there. That’s why we’re out here each and every day trying to get over the finish line.”
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