Pearl Jam apparently were sent a few audition tapes before finding Eddie Vedder, according to Stone Gossard in a new Let There Be Talk interview.
“We only got freaking four or five tapes. They were all bedroom tapes and none of them were compelling. So we didn’t wait around.
“That’s the thing, that’s the thing I think about a lot – if you’re putting bands together or you’re trying to do something with other people, you can spend so much time looking for the right perfect people.
“But usually, those people are one connection away. If you’re waiting around for something too long, you’re not doing it right. That’s been the lesson in my life in terms of just the people that are around right now.
“There’s someone right now that you know or knows somebody that you can jump off a cliff with. And I remember we heard Eddie’s [Vedder] voice – a completely different register than normal. And he obviously could sing.
“Jack Irons just said, ‘He’s a great guy – he’s a good guy. He loves sports, and he’s into songwriting, and he’s motivated.’ That’s all it took. We were jumping off cliffs right and left at that point.
“If you’re lucky enough, you’ve been in a band and it got signed, that stuff can happen, so then you just think, ‘OK, well, maybe stuff can happen again.'” Ultimate-Guitar transcribed his remarks.