Stone Gossard said he could easily write 50 songs a year for Pearl Jam, but that frontman Eddie Vedder’s creative process made it impossible.

The guitarist admitted that other colleagues would say of him: “If there’s one thing he’s got, its ideas,” and added that, even though he came up with “too many songs for Pearl Jam,” he always created them with his longtime colleague in mind.

“I write every song for Eddie, ultimately,” Gossard told Kerrang in a new interview. “He’s my muse. I would love to write 50 songs a year with him, but it’s just not on the cards; it just doesn’t work like that for him.” He continued: “I can write all the time. The way Ed really operates… is for something that’s immediate for you, coming in at a time when he’s ready to connect with it. He likes to be in the process with you. So, if I send him 30 ideas, it’s just too much information for him to manage; that’s just not how his brain works.”

Gossard, known for dry wit and his was of underplaying words, presented a modest explanation for his ability to write songs. “I don’t know the first thing about music other than, like, I pick up my instrument and I tinker with it until I find something I like – that’s been my process from the beginning,” he said. “If a symphony asks me to come up and play, I’ll strum along and that’s about all I’m going to be able to give them.”

Along with his appreciated for Vedder’s art, he gave another reason for why he’d never want to front his own band: “God… Lord, help me,” he said. “One, I can’t sing and play guitar at the same time. And two, I can’t sing!”

 

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