Former Pearl Jam drummer Dave Abbruzzese revealed the band turned down a tour with Ozzy Osbourne in a new Facebook post, “I remember the PJ Ten album coming out. No album support to speak of from the label. We just wanted to play.
There was mention of us going out opening for Ozzy. (Another Epic Records artist). We said no and opted to go it alone.
Borrowed money and climbed in a van. We went out and played to less than half full clubs at times. Went into record stores that didn’t even have our record. After every show, our name would resonate through the town.
We sold that record. We sold our band.
No MTV support. No radio support. All word of mouth from the shows we played. We kept that attitude when we joined the RHCP, Smashing Pumpkins tour.
Gave it all we had and it obviously was enough.
We changed the game by pouring everything we had into it.
Thank you everyone that was there again and again.
I know we never let you down. You never let me down either.
I am going to add on to this post.
Thank you to Ellyn Solis and Julie Farman .
They worked at Epic and took the band to the next level and believed in us.
I will be forever grateful to these two awesome ladies as well as the small army of awesome people that did all the work necessary to help the band succeed and capitalize on the energy we put forth on the stage.
So many amazing people did such incredible work.
The PJ touring and management crew. Family.”