Pearl Jam concludes their Binuaral tour near election day in 2000. The band's coming off Roksilde. Ed a divorce. In interviews, he reports the literal children of Sonic Youth helped him through the days. Parts of Severed Hand have been reported to have been written during that time. --> Have to go through Christmas, get into the Winter in Seattle, then Spring comes, getting out into parks on the rare sunny day, Memorial Day Weekend, summer, hiking, not touring, Labor Day concludes the season, a week later, you wake up and turn on the TV, answer a phone, read the newspaper, sit impatiently in an airport. President George W. Bush, the faith-based initiative guy, who received fewer votes than Bill Clinton's VP, some say because of Nader who Eddie had been lobbying for at every show on their tour- even going out of his way on his days off for the man! I am Mine is premiered at Bridge that year. Long Road on the 9/11 Tribute with Neil Young.

Thank you for that brief synopsis. Where are we going here?

feeling out of the vein tonight frank?

The most logical explanation for Ed's Riot Act vocal style and his low profile on the album. After the upheaval in his personal and professional lives. After the outcome of the election. Ed spends much of this period getting stoned.

it's no wonder RA was that glum - Eddie probably was going through one of the worst time of his life. way to go after a writer's block. granted, he apparently fed his inspiration from the awesome RA tour.

And rolling on x

I read this as..

It's
his
blood

.

When did the band enter the studio for Riot Act?

This is the period where I really started to get into the band.

i think this is when pj started to get popular w/ gay indie kids, but it might have been pre-binaual. its still open for debate

did you see any shows?

Same here, actually.

Did you see Binaural shows? What drew you in?

Alas, I got into them after the Binaural tour and it was an MP3 of Evenflow that got me interested. And then I didn't get to see them before Toronto '05.

if this time would have been the first I'd really sat down and listened to them, I'd say no thanks.
Juve, was it a live recording of Evenflow? If so, what show?

For the life of me I will never understand how the song Even Flow got people into this band. Even when I was younger and listened to Ten a lot, I never really cared for that song.

Agreed! I would understand if it was an outsider's favourite.

No, I bought Binaural on a whim. It was my first CD I ever bought. I liked the cover and I had heard of PJ before. I liked the album, but didn't get too into it at the time. Then my parents bought me the Verona 2000 show for my birthday and I was hooked. My first show was in Kansas City in 2003.

Riot Act was mainly recorded during two two-week sessions in February and April 2002.