Min bild av och mitt förhållningssätt till Pearl Jams frontman Eddie Vedder har varit allt annat än rationellt och konstant, från att vid första mötet (MTV Music Video Awards -92) ha gått från att vara ett ”nedknarkat totalt utflippat psykfall utan begripligt melodisinne what-so-ever” till ”Guds gåva till rock’n’rollen” till ”plågsamt ointressant och ofarlig”. Nevertheless, avsett dagsform har han alltid varit "top dog" i bandet, vars övriga medlemmar ständigt känts tämligen anonyma. Men på ”No Code” är det annorlunda. Eddie Vedder är förvisso återigen huvudrollsinnehavaren med bravur men får här stark konkurrens av nytillkomne trummisen Jack Irons (var kom han ifrån?) samt kompgitarristen Stone Gossard, vars låtskrivarbriljans (och sångstämma) märks som mest på svängiga Mankind. Och även om det är Mike McCready som är den officielle ”virtuosen” är det Gossard som dominerar, inte så mycket i teknik som i coolness och attityd.
Idag är Pearl Jam för mig främst en nostalgitripp och skivsläppen efter ”Roskilde -00” har gått mig nästintill obemärkt förbi. Men återigen, med "No Code" är det annorlunda. Förutom Mankind innehåller plattan ett gäng topprankade tunes från Pearl Jams digra låtkatalog. Och alla har de sina egenheter; Hail Hail – avig rock’n’roll med den klockrena strofen ”hail hail the lucky ones, I refer to those in love”, Smile – countryrock med smak av gubbighet (lite som en blandning av Steve Earle och Neil Young), In My Tree – suggestivt och maniskt, Jack Irons briljerar… och så singeln Who You Are såklart… och Hawaii-doftande Around the Bend… och Off He Goes… och… äh, det är faktiskt endast Habit som man hade kunnat vara utan – resten har sin självskrivna plats. Tveklöst är det så att man på ”No Code” uppnådde den perfekta balansen mellan det stökiga, det strukturerade och det experimentiella. Pure quality, med andra ord. Och än så länge lyser nostalgin med sin frånvaro.
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What Is This? and Red Hot Chili Peppers
Main articles: What Is This? and Red Hot Chili Peppers
Irons was a founding member of, and the original drummer for, the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Irons attended Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, California alongside Anthony Kiedis, Michael "Flea" Balzary, Hillel Slovak, and Alain Johannes. As teenagers Irons, Alain Johannes, and Hillel Slovak formed the band Chain Reaction in 1976. The band was soon renamed to Anthym with Michael Balzary (Flea) included in the line-up; the band then changed its name again, settling on What Is This? in 1980.
Soon thereafter Flea formed the Red Hot Chili Peppers with Anthony Kiedis, Slovak and Irons in 1983. The band quickly gained popularity around Los Angeles, but when What Is This? signed a recording contract Irons (along with Slovak) left the Chili Peppers to concentrate on What Is This?. With What Is This?, Irons recorded two EPs (Squeezed, 3 Out of 5 Live) and one full length album (What Is This?). After the recording of the self-titled What Is This? album, the band broke up. Irons played on several tracks on an album by the duo Walk The Moon, made up of Johannes and Natasha Shneider. After hearing that Cliff Martinez had resigned, Irons returned to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Irons can be heard playing drums on the band's third album The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987), as well as on the band's cover of "Fire" (originally penned by Jimi Hendrix and first released on the Chili Peppers' The Abbey Road E.P.). When childhood friend and bandmate Hillel Slovak died of a heroin overdose on June 25, 1988, Irons left the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Slovak's death was such a huge shock to Irons that he has been clinically depressed ever since.[1]
[edit] Eleven
Main article: Eleven (band)
After Irons left the Red Hot Chili Peppers he went to a hospital to receive treatment.[2] After a brief stint with Joe Strummer's backing band, Irons teamed up with Johannes and Shneider in 1990 to form Eleven. With Eleven, Irons recorded the albums Awake In A Dream (1991) and Eleven (1993). Midway through the recording of Eleven's third album, Thunk (1995), Irons departed to drum with Pearl Jam, and Matt Cameron of Soundgarden played drums on the album's remaining four tracks. Irons returned to the band once again in 2002 prior to the recording of the band's fifth album, Howling Book (2003).
[edit] Pearl Jam
Main article: Pearl Jam
Jack Irons was asked by bassist Jeff Ament and guitarist Stone Gossard to join Mookie Blaylock, the band that would become Pearl Jam, in 1990, when the band was first forming and still looking for a singer and a drummer. Although he didn't join the band at that time because he was committed to his own band, Eleven, he did pass on a cassette of the band's work to a singer named Eddie Vedder, a local musician in San Diego at the time, with whom Irons had formed a friendship. Vedder joined the band and Irons had no more to do with the project for the time being.
Irons became the official drummer for the band in late 1994 following the departure of Dave Abbruzzese. His first recording with the band was "Hey Foxymophandlemama, That's Me" for Vitalogy. He drummed on the Pearl Jam/Neil Young collaboration Mirror Ball (1995) and on the subsequent Pearl Jam records No Code (1996) and Yield (1998). In 1998, prior to Pearl Jam's US Yield Tour, Irons left the band due to dissatisfaction with touring.[3] As a member of Pearl Jam, Irons brought a unique drumming style to the band, particularly in the way he played his fills and with his use of a trash can lid as a cymbal.[4] Irons co-wrote the music for the No Code songs "Who You Are", "In My Tree", and "I'm Open". He also wrote and sang on the Pearl Jam songs "●" (from Yield) and "Whale Song" (which was on the band's collection of rarities and B-sides entitled Lost Dogs). Coincidentally, Matt Cameron, from the now-disbanded Soundgarden, replaced him again as he did four years prior on Eleven's record.
Mvh
JZ
eller var det ironiskt? ;-D
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zOAzJFd4KDA
...med tanke på Gossards coolness... (killen i orange outfit)
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