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| April 2000
The first single from Binaural which was scheduled to be released in May, was 'Nothing As It Seems'. On April 10th Pearl Jam invited fans to hear it at the bandīs web site. The single was released to radio on April 11th with the B-side "Insignificance." and to stores on April 25th. On April 12th, they performed 'Grievance' on the David Lettermanīs birthday at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York. At the end of the song Mike smashes his guitar and Eddie presents it to Dave. "It actually felt like we were offering them something fairly challenging. We obviously respect the audience, That's what I think we all feel when we're an audience, whether as a theatergoer or seeing films or reading. I'm insulted when I'm not respected as an audience member. That one, we felt like we could [release] and we weren't trying to fool people [about releasing Nothing as it Seems as a single]", Eddie Vedder at the SoHo Mercer Hotel (Pearl Jam were in NYC, being interviewed that week for the Binaural album)
Stone
Gossard.
"I kind of pulled myself out of that decision a little bit, because I didn't feel like it was "my" song. I felt like I wasn't really allowed to have an opinion about it necessarily, or I was too close to it. And those guys thought it was a different enough song, and it would be a good song to put out there initially. I think Mike's doing some amazing stuff on it. Everybody's really excited about that part of it, and I don't think any of us expected for it to do as well as it's done, but I guess it's doing pretty well", Jeff Ament.
04/12/00 - Ed Sullivan Theater: New York, NY (The Late Show with David Letterman appearance)
The band stayed in NYC after the Letterman show to do two days of press for
the new album at the Soho Mercer Hotel. Stone and Jeff were interviewed for the MTV
News. During
the sit-down with MTV News, Stone described how one of the songs he wrote for
the album, "Rival," draws upon his reflections on last year's massacre
at Columbine High School -- a situation made all the more complex in light of
the subject matter of the band's infamous "Jeremy" video. "Itīs kind of almost a cartoony look at male ego and sort of anger, violence", Stone Gossard. "Nothing As It Seems" debuted at #12 on R&R's alternative chart, #6 on the rock chart and #13 on the active-rock chart in the magazine Radio & Records, April 21th issue. "Pearl Jam is an automatic for rock radio. They don't seem to want to take advantage of their fans, which is a really good thing, I'm glad there's at least one band doing that. I can see them doing things that are anti-commercial, to preserve that fanbase, which makes sense for them; they don't need another #1 [album]. They've insulated themselves from that, which is a privileged position", Cyndee Maxwell (rock editor for radio-industry trade magazine). "They don't compromise sheet for anyone. They sort of remind me of the way Neil Young has lived his life and his musical career. It's like saying, 'This is what I believe in, and we really don't' give a sheet about playing your game", Scott Weiland (singer of Stone Temple Pilots).
On April 25th, Pearl
Jam posted online a free,
downloadable MP3 of their performance of "Grievance" on the CBS-TV's
"Late Show With David Letterman." The cut was available on the "Fanscene"
section of their official Web site. The studio version of the track was included
on Binaural.
On April
27th Pearl Jam announced another show: May 10 Bellingham at the Mt. Baker
Theater. Tickets went on sale on the 28th.
They also changed the venue of the May
23rd Lisbon, Portugal show at
Utopia Pavilion; they were going to play at the Restelo Stadium. "Just in terms of our relationships with each other, and the fact that we all feel like we're not all going to fall off the edge of a cliff in two weeks we have a couple months", Stone Gossard.
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