Gigaton – listening party. Part 1.
by Henrik Tuxen
It could be that I'm somewhat bass-biased, due to the fact that this particular instrument was my main weapon and identity for more than a decade, when I played with The Sharing Patrol from 1984-1997, and with other bands and constellations.
This naturally means I have an idea of what the bass can do and add to (rock)music, and in my book Jeff is on fire on Gigaton.
First, he wrote the music to arguably the best song of the album, Quick Escape. A twisted 'rocker' with an aggressive and intense feel, which reminds me of a vibe like on Queens Of The Stone Age's thrilling “Era Vulgaris”. Quick Escape is a true example of how contemporary rock music can be exciting and relevant, which unfortunately is rarely the case nowadays. Check out Jeff's solo on the song, where he's literating going madman-bass-crazy.
Jeff also wrote both words and music to the atmospheric, pleasant but also slightly disturbing and spacy Alright, which has some resemblance to Nothing As It Seems, which Jeff wrote for Binaural, although I'll argue that Alright overall is a better song.
Besides this Jeff - as he has generally done over the years – contributes with a distinct melodic touch in many songs, adding an almost sensual texture, which makes many songs more interesting and unpredictable. Besides this, he knows how to play around with a wide range of distinctive sounds and settings, as well as never escaping his main function. More precisely; as 50% of the engine, backbone and driving fundament in the music, closely linked in with the other half, Matt Cameron behind the drums. Some rhythm section.
Jeff's heavy, but also melodic and melancholic sense of playing, works especially well with Eddie's vocal and phrasings. This is not at least true on the fast rocker Who Ever Said, the opening song on Gigaton. A personal favorite which kind of reminds me of Brain of J, the opening song from Yield ,1998.
As usual Jeff and his brother are heavily involved with the artwork, along with Eddie. Pearl Jam is built on friendship and mutual respect, but over the years there's been an extra strong bond between Stone and Mike, as well as with Jeff and Ed. The latter not at least due to graphics and artistic interest and the strong ties to sports as well as strong ties to left-wing punk rock roots.
The hard rockin' athlete
I met Jeff many times over the years. First time in 1996 and last time in London 2018, when PJ played O2 Arena, and we had a super cool talk about trekking in South America, which we’d both just experienced. I'd joined Trekking Nemo in Chile, and Jeff had completed the 4 day W-trip in Patagonia in South of Chile/Argentina, where he spotted a wild Panther. The two other guys, Johnny and Jonathan, I played with in The Sharing Patrol, both came from Seattle when we met in 1984. In Seattle they lived in a collective with Jeff Ament, who's room according to my bandmates consisted of a bed and 200 hard core punk records.
One of the best times I spent with Jeff was after the Wuhlheide show in Berlin 2014. We ended up hanging out and drinking beers in the great summer night, and Jeff gave us all a ride to the centre of town in his car, at a time when all public transport had stopped, and we were basically in the middle of the woods. My friend Kasper Schulz loudly declared the truth the same evening, uttering the words 'Jeff Ament is the greatest guy in the World'.
The same night Jeff took a selfie, and when I woke up from my hangover the next day, he had mailed me this photo of him, Kasper, Susan, Martin and myself.'
Here's a snippet from that night from “Pearl Jam; The More You Need – The Less You Get” (Chapter 16).
“Jeff also finds it funny that I work for a magazine called Gaffa. One of the names originally in contention against Pearl Jam was Gaffa, Pearl Gaffer or something like that, he says. On a more serious note, we talk about the Roskilde accident. Jeff tells me that he had seriously considered returning to the 2001 edition of Roskilde Festival as an anonymous guest to revisit the location and process the experience in his own way. But something came up, or he changed his mind–the idea never materialized in any case. I tell him that he should really feel free to let me know if he would like to revisit the festival or contact the people touched by the accident in any way. He thanks me for the offer, and we’ve later discussed this a bit via e-mail. But it hasn’t come any further than that as of yet.”
Jeff, Martin, Susan, Kasper, Henrik. Wuhlheide. June 26, 2014. Photo: (sefie): Jeff Ament.