Jeff Ament Speaks on Pearl Jam’s Anniversary, Film and Future

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament revealed the band’s future, including a documentary on their time together, directed by Cameron Crowe. Crowe, whose films include Almost Famous and Jerry Maguire, is a long-time friend of the group.

On the film, Ament said, “I just saw a rough cut. It was so weird seeing footage of stuff I didn’t know anybody was taping at the time. The whole movie is Cameron’s love letter to us — but it’s equal parts complimentary and really painful. It shows our growing pains and some real bad times, including Roskilde. It was just really hard to watch.” Roskilde refers to the 2000 Danish festival where nine fans were trampled to death during Pearl Jam’s set.

Other upcoming plans for the group include deluxe reissues of their albums Vs. and Vitalogy.

2011 marks the band’s 20th anniversary, and as part of the celebration they are putting together a two-day festival, most likely to take place in the Midwest.

“We’ve played enough festivals that we know what makes them exciting,” Ament explained. “We want to give people places to go that aren’t necessarily musical — second stages and all that kind of stuff. We’re asking our friends if they want to play a couple of shows with us… We never even thought we’d last this long.”

Though the milestone gives them a chance to look back, Ament says it’s not slowing Pearl Jam down.

“We’re ready to work on new songs and get excited about what’s ahead.”