As they proved on the amazing premier of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien earlier this week, Pearl Jam have a new album on the horizon, and their debut track "Got Some" was surprisingly bearable. Without a current record label calling the shots, Kelly Curtis, long-time manager of the venerable grungers, recently spoke with Billboard to reveal their release plans.
The album, titled Backspacer, will not actually come out on a record label. Wow, that's so independent, right? Isn't that what the kids call "pulling a Radiohead"? Oh, wait, instead of a record label the band will be partnering with a number of corporations, among them the big-box retailer Target.
In the interview, Curtis explains, "We'll have a lot of partners... Target ended up allowing us to have other partners. We'll be able to take care of all levels of the Pearl Jam fan. We wish we could tell the whole story right now but all the deals aren't done. Target was cool enough to realize that little independent record stores are not their competition. Everyone's making assumptions because Target is a big corporation. It's important to remember we just got out of this 18-year relationship with Sony, and I'm pretty sure they are a bigger corporation than Target. We have the freedom to pick our partners and more control then we've ever had before. We're excited to choose who we're in business with."
While no release information has been confirmed, the album is expected by the end of the year or, if you want to believe the online rumours, September 22.
The album, titled Backspacer, will not actually come out on a record label. Wow, that's so independent, right? Isn't that what the kids call "pulling a Radiohead"? Oh, wait, instead of a record label the band will be partnering with a number of corporations, among them the big-box retailer Target.
In the interview, Curtis explains, "We'll have a lot of partners... Target ended up allowing us to have other partners. We'll be able to take care of all levels of the Pearl Jam fan. We wish we could tell the whole story right now but all the deals aren't done. Target was cool enough to realize that little independent record stores are not their competition. Everyone's making assumptions because Target is a big corporation. It's important to remember we just got out of this 18-year relationship with Sony, and I'm pretty sure they are a bigger corporation than Target. We have the freedom to pick our partners and more control then we've ever had before. We're excited to choose who we're in business with."
While no release information has been confirmed, the album is expected by the end of the year or, if you want to believe the online rumours, September 22.
