Wellwater Conspiracy Gears Up For Live Gigs

by Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.


It's been months since Wellwater Conspiracy (Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron and ex-Monster Magnet guitarist John McBain) played in front of an audience, but these are two musicians who don't get rusty. The pair told Billboard.com they are thrilled to be back onstage for shows tomorrow (May 4, New York) and Saturday (May 5, Hoboken, N.J.) in advance of WWC's "The Scroll & Its Combinations," due May 22 from TVT.

Cameron and McBain played nearly all of the instruments on "Scroll," but will be getting an assist from some Seattle veterans for the live gigs. Ex-Soundgarden bassist Ben Shepherd will sing on a number of tracks, while producer Jack Endino (Nirvana, Screaming Trees) will play bass and the Walkabouts' Glen Slater will play keyboards. Setlists will go heavier on WWC's first two studio albums, according to McBain.

"We haven't really had a chance to work on getting the new songs down, because they're a lot more involved," he says. "It would demand a lot more rehearsal. We just grabbed the simpler songs. In the future, I'm sure we'll do some more of the other ones, but that would involve bringing our busload of singers."

On record, that busload has included Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, Queens of the Stone Age guitarist/vocalist Josh Homme, and any number of obscure Seattle collaborators. But don't bank on a major surprise appearance, as Cameron admits with a laugh, "I have no idea where Eddie is."

Cameron says he and McBain have written seven or eight new songs since the "Scroll" sessions, which are "about 80-or-90% formed, just as far as the rhythm tracks go." He describes some of his own compositions as "a little bit more guitar-rock driven, which is kind of all I can really do when I write songs. When I try to stretch out and write a sensitive song, it sounds silly. I stick to what I know."

Eager listeners can surf to TVT's official Web site to hear sound samples from "The Scroll & Its Combinations." The label plans to make live tracks available in the coming weeks.


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