Pearl Jam

[LaneSax]

[LaneSax]

[allegate]

Got a ticket for the show next week; realized that in life - for both myself and the band - this is close to one of those "see them while you can" times.

[allegate]

A post shared by on Jan 01, 2017 at 12:00pm PDT

lol I did not know they were fans of the Puss n Boots sequel.

[allegate]

Huh, I read on Reddit about the videos but never did I ever...

So, now that it's out in the world, I am very excited to finally tell you what's kept me so busy and disconnected recently: I have had the unique honor of directing/creating the first-ever tour visuals for one of the greatest live rock bands of our generation and a hugely formative part of my Seattle youth, Pearl Jam.This was a very unexpected twist in our life, and not what I had imagined this year to look like at all as we were heading into it five months ago. Aside from a few small things, I haven't worked in live concert design since Nine Inch Nails 2014. I have been enjoying a different, more personal, more experimental career in these last years (which led to this lovely community here), and with a very demanding toddler it felt more than ever like my current path was the right one to be on: producing my own little world of art and stories, at my own pace, away from the chaos and externalities of massive client projects like tour productions.
But I always said that I would do tour work again some day, if the right artist and the right creative connection came around. There's a short list of musicians I'd drop everything and rewire six months of my entire life to make art with, and Eddie Vedder (or as iO now calls him, "Uncle Ed") is absolutely one of them.
Ed and I hit it off immediately and discussed an inspiring approach to creating abstract visuals inspired by the Dark Matter theme that felt tactile and analog, using the album's light-painted artwork as a jumping off point (I was not involved in the album art / album promotions in any way, that was all very much underway when I came on board). Steph, who produced the project, set up a raw studio space here in Tacoma and put together a very lean local crew, and we spent two months filming in the small, loose, experimental, DIY approach I take to all of my work. With the 1000fps Ember camera (made by a local Washington company, Freefly), we followed paths of inspiration through elements, light refractions, chemical reactions, and other experimental setups that traced the connective tissue of the universe. A grueling month of post production, editing, and rehearsals later, the Dark Matter world tour is out on the road now, with two shows under our belt in Vancouver this past weekend.
This is not a technically elaborate, precarious production like with Nine Inch Nails, where the music was on a grid that could trigger visuals with laser precision. Pearl Jam has one big screen behind them (which we all agreed should be a projection screen to translate the warm analog feel of the visuals and the band; Pearl Jam, I insisted from the beginning, is not "bright cold harsh LEDs" - they're "warm dim incandescent bulb light"). No moving parts, no choreography, no sensors or anything. The screen might be displaying some signature Rob Sheridan visual flair, but it was important that the show remain very much Pearl Jam, who are a 100% live band known for improvisations, deep connections with the audience, and changing up their setlists every single night. So another unique challenge was how to create visual narratives with songs that could be at different speeds, different lengths, and in different orders at any given time. I think the balance we found brings a new dimension to PJ's shows that lets their new material shine while preserving the musical dynamics, incredible musicianship, and fan interactions that make each of their shows so special. The other night I watched in awe as the band flowed effortlessly from rocking out in a psychedelic cosmos of my own making, to scribbling jokes on an overhead projector, to an emotional one-man acoustic performance, to turning the volume up to eleven and every light on in the entire arena as 15,000 people all sang "Even Flow" together -- and I was smiling proudly as it all actually worked.
I will have a lot more to say about this tour, the unique ways we made the visuals, and of course videos to share as more people start to see the shows and I maybe get ten seconds to breathe. For now, enjoy some Patreon-exclusive photos, and I have to go pack my bags and fly to Portland with a hard drive full of content updates - show number three is tomorrow night!
Thanks again everyone, I'm sorry I haven't been able to be more communicative through all this. It was a massive undertaking amidst raising a challenging and frequently ill baby, and I truly was at my absolute limit of what I could do. But now, the bulk of the work is done, the band is thrilled, and even though I'll be out at more shows throughout the year to tweak/update production elements, I feel like I can kind of sort of breathe again. I'm also just very excited that people get to see our work now. This has been another bucket list adventure for me, so thanks so much for being here while I was running on overdrive to make it all happen.
I can't wait to tell you more!

Would be wild to see him tomorrow night. Very slim chance but wild.

[allegate]

So apparently waiting until this week to buy tickets paid off: I was supposed to be in a stage right obstructed view seat and now I'm staring down the barrel of the floor from the $500 section. Apparently even though the tickets were sold to me they didn't open the area so they put me over here for my "trouble" lol.