Pearl Jam share new song, announce new album, and lock in ...

It's a hell of a time to be one of the many Australian fans of grunge icons Pearl Jam.

After months of speculation, the band has shared a brand-new single, confirmed they have a new album on the way, and locked in an Australian tour with some very special guests.

That's a lot to take in, so let's go through this one step at a time.

The band have just released 'Dark Matter', their first new music since 2020 album Gigaton, and the first taste of their forthcoming studio album of the same name.

The new single is further proof of the band's ability and willingness to try new approaches while remaining true to the elements that make them Pearl Jam. After all, no one sings like Eddie Vedder, try as they might.

It is a dark, aggressive, fairly urgent-sounding song, once again positioning the band as one of the most anthemic groups to come out of the grunge boom of the early-90s.

The stadium-ready rock tune feels miles away from Gigaton's Talking Heads inspired first single 'Dance Of The Clairvoyants'.

This is Pearl Jam at their biggest, boldest, and most epic.

Dark Matter will be the band's 12th album and will be released on Friday 14 April.

The band made the record with the Grammy award winning Andrew Watt, who produced Eddie Vedder's 2022 album Earthling and has had recent success with records from The Rolling Stones, Post Malone, Justin Bieber and many more.

Turns out, he was born to make a Pearl Jam record.

"He has encyclopedic knowledge of our history, not only as a band and how we wrote songs, but as players," bassist Jeff Ament said of Watt in a statement.

"He could pinpoint things we did on old songs to the point where I was like, 'What the f**k is he talking about?'

"His excitement was contagious. He's a force. I just want to say thanks for keeping us on track."

With only one song released so far, it's difficult to know what the whole record will have in store. We do know that the band are very excited about what they've put together.

"We're at this time in our lives when you could do it or you could not do it, but we still care about putting something out there that is meaningful and we hopefully think is our best work," frontman Eddie Vedder said in a statement.

"No hyperbole, I think this is our best work."

That's a big call from a band who have sold over 85 million records, and made a couple of the most revered rock'n'roll albums of all time. 

Their debut, 1993's Ten, is one of the totemic records of the grunge era and continues to influence countless rock bands to this day. 

Since that record, the majority of Pearl Jam releases have topped the Australian charts, and their all too rare visits to Australia have always commanded enormous crowds. 

Pearl Jam have not been to Australia in over 10 years, when they headlined the final ever run of Big Day Out festivals around the country in 2014.

This November, the band will play three enormous east coast dates, dropping in at festivals in Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne. The shows are part of a 35-date world tour the band will kick off in May.

News of Pearl Jam touring won't be a surprise to their most eagle-eyed fans. There have been hints dropped all over the Pearl Jam socials for months and fans have speculated all sorts of prospective itineraries on forums and Reddit.

What will be a surprise is the friends they're bringing with them.

It took over 20 years for Boston indie rock legends Pixies to come to Australia for the first time.

Since that first visit in the 2000s, the band have become semi-regular visitors, blazing through sets of their formative noisy rock'n'roll classics as well as cuts from their solid recent albums in shows that prove they're still one of the all-time great bands.

In what is shaping up to be another enormous year for high-profile tours, this one promises to be one of the biggest for rock fans.

Catch Pearl Jam and Pixies playing the following shows. Tickets are available from Friday 23 February.

Wednesday 13 November – Carrara Stadium, Yugambeh Land, Gold Coast

Saturday 16 November – Docklands Stadium, Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Land, Melbourne

Thursday 21 November – Giants Stadium, Wangal Land, Sydney