WHAT, VEDDER NEXT?

Pearl Jam haven't split up - after all these years of living with realisation they were the scenester choice of people who didn't like music, and of watching the hand of history wave away from that scene, Pearl Jam still think they have something worth sharing with us. We don't want to be dismissive, but there's only so far you can carry the goodwill generated by "not being Fred Durst."

Anyway, as you'd expect, everything is in place for the next Pearl Jam album, with Vedder talking about struggle and rage:

The band are also saying that the material being written for the album is "easily the best stuff" the band have ever produced.

"It's been a difficult record and it's like sometimes the harder something is, then the more valuable it becomes," singer Eddie Vedder said.

During an interview with a Brazilian radio station, he added: "It's easily the best stuff we've done but also some of the hardest stuff. It's very aggressive, because again, it's kind of a product of what it's like to be an American these days. It's pretty aggressive, especially when you turn it loud."

Well, yes, we're sure it is pretty aggressive when you turn it loud, but then so is anything. In Iraq, the US army tortures prisoners of war by playing them Barney The Dinosaur turned loud.

music pearl jam eddie vedder