Pearl Jam Blast Back On Punky Single 'Running'

After topping multiple Billboard rock charts with their sleek, heavy comeback single “Dark Matter,” Pearl Jam keep it loud, fast and punky on “Running,” the second song to emerge from the band’s upcoming album Dark Matter (April 19, Republic).

The 2:19 rocker has an uncharacteristic chant-y, gang vocal chorus, with the riffs originating with bassist Jeff Ament. “Jeff had the main parts for that one, and we worked it over as a band,” guitarist Stone Gossard told SPIN. “I love the bridge. I don’t know what the hell those chords are that [guitarist] Mike [McCready]’s playing, but it sounds original.”

“Running” was one of the last songs put to tape with producer Andrew Watt at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La Studio in Los Angeles. “It was fun to come up with one more uptempo song,” Gossard said, adding that frontman Eddie Vedder’s “vocal dexterity here and on a few other spots on the album is just stunning.”

Vedder was in London this week to sing with the Who as part of their long-running Teenage Cancer Trust benefit concert series. On Thursday (3/21), he premiered Dark Matter to a crowd of invited guests in London, in much the same fashion as a February listening party at the Troubadour in Los Angeles which found him pouring shots of tequila for the afternoon crowd.

Dark Matter is the follow-up to 2020’s Gigaton and will be supported by a multi-leg international tour beginning May 4 in Vancouver. Fans can experience the album a few days early as part of global listening parties in more than 500 worldwide theaters on April 16. The events will feature two complete airings of Dark Matter: one in the darkened cinema and the other with “added visuals.” Click here for more information.

Meanwhile, Pearl Jam has announced 12 vinyl variants for Dark Matter, 10 of which are exclusive to independent record stores (eight are U.S.-specific, while the other two will be sold internationally). The two other editions are standard black and crystal clear.