Has fatherhood changed your view of the world or this country?
For me, the fear is that my daughter in 20 years, if she wants to have a well-paying or decent-paying job after educating herself, will have to work for one of maybe three to five major corporations that run the whole fucking globe. And that those corporations will probably be profiting off the unhealthy state of consumers. There will be blood money involved. You won’t be able to make an honest living that can’t be tracked back to some destruction of the environment or some disrespect to American workers. When I say disrespect, I mean all-out abandonment, as all the factory jobs will be in other countries. Not to go off on a tangent, but not only do they go to other countries, they go to other countries for a while and then switch to another one after they exhaust those resources. It’s a real chew-them-up-and-spit-them-out corporate approach; at some point, the planet is going to be decimated. [Laughs] Bring in the guitar solo.

Though you’ve always been outspoken about politics, you kicked it up a notch since Bush was elected. Some of your fans have said they don’t like the Bush bashing at shows.
I guess you have to just realize this is just part and parcel of what we do. It’s not all that we do. I think you can still have a good night out and, at times, a great night of rock ‘n’ roll if you come see our group. I don’t think we are going to hit you over the head with anything. Hopefully, the music is powerful. At this time, I feel, “How can you not be talking about this stuff?” I’d be talking about it if I was a bartender. I’d be talking about it if I was a druggist. I’d be talking about it if I was the head of a corporation and how we’d deal with that. Or what was our place in the world and how we would combat these things. The fact that we’re in a band, which is one of the places you’re allowed to speak up; we don’t have stockholders we have to kowtow to or lobbyists where we’re fronting opinions for them because they are sneaking us money. If there’s any job you should be expressing yourself this kind of way it would be that of a musician or a writer. When some of these bigger problems end, we can shut up and play. And we’ll be happy doing that. I look forward to the day and welcome it. I would love to stop thinking about this stuff. That’s where the fury and frustration comes in. I’m fucking sick of dealing with this. I’m sick of living as an American and knowing that our government has run rampant and, even worse than that, has treated us like we’re idiots.

Pearl Jam’s activism and charity work is truly impressive. I heard that on the tour supporting the new album, you guys are giving money to various charities—arts, education, environmental—in every city you play in. Can we talk about that?
It’s exciting. You can get something done right quick, and the idea is that we don’t have to talk about it. We don’t want credit and also don’t want the flak. We don’t want anything other than to help take care of a problem, of which there are many. In a lot of cases—and I hope this doesn’t sound heavy-handed—it’s an attempt to stop the bleeding in certain aspects of these communities that we play in that normally would fall under the responsibility of the local government or even the federal government. The idea is that we don’t have to talk about it and bring up the issues at the show and beg someone to check out a Web site or get involved. It’s like, “Let’s just take a portion of this and do something about it on a small level.” Even if it’s just keeping them on their feet, whatever these organizations are. Just little things, like paying for attorneys’ fees or whatever. What might take months of raising money through a Web site, we can do in a night. If it’s part of what we do as a show, it helps it be a sort of celebration, too. We play and everyone has a good time, but some good work is done as well.

With Sleater-Kinney, you talked about the importance of Fugazi and Sonic Youth as bands that do what is right and correct. The people in those bands are in their 40s and 50s now. When you look around, what bands do you think will take their place?
Although I would put Ian MacKaye up for sainthood, I don’t think I’d ever want to wear the robe. The whole doing-right thing is just what you do. It’s not a thing. I guess it’s a goal. It’s tricky. It just feels weird to hear it. I think you just want to reserve the right to be a human being and have flaws. As far as younger bands, ones out there with a modicum of success and don’t find ways to share it, I feel bad for them. They’re missing out on one of the great parts of being alive. I would bet you that when the guys in Kings Of Leon—and I’m just choosing an example—have made money off their first couple records that they have shared it with some of those in their family. I imagine there’s a big farm they all hang out on and they spring for the barbeque. I’m just sure of it. And it will go from there to friends and local things. It will just happen. I can’t imagine it not. At some point, and this is what happened to us, the success of the first record or two was so off the scale that it was just a natural reaction to want to include others in the success and help out where needed.

Each of your records has sold fewer copies than the one before it, which sounds like a negative thing. But your first record is like the 40th best-selling record ever.
Is that right?

Ten sold more than 12 million copies, and now your records aren’t selling a million.
I guess we should’ve kept some of that money. [Laughs] We shouldn’t have been so generous.

I don’t think it’s a Pearl Jam thing. I think it’s an industry thing. I can’t imagine any band selling 12 million copies now. It seems like many popular bands will put a record out just so they tour and make millions of dollars that way. It’s not about the record anymore, it’s about the big event: the concert.
We haven’t really done much to participate in the mainstream much over the past few years in order to make our lives more comfortable and kind of ground us to where we feel we can make a record that will still be relevant. We want to feel that we can communicate or relate to normal people because we are grounded and fairly normal. I think the goal at the beginning of this band was to sell 50,000 records, so the fact that we can still get close to a million is still beyond the beyond. There’s no complaints from our side. I think Tom Waits’ Mule Variations sold more than all his other records put together, which blew me away because I have probably bought six copies of Swordfishtrombones myself. And it seemed like all my friends had his records. The mainstream is different, and that’s why you get those ginormous numbers.

Tom Waits was on the cover of MAGNET when Mule Variations came out. We weren’t around in the ’70s and ’80s to help him out then. That must be why Mule Variations sold so well.
Absolutely. [Laughs] I have that issue. That was a great interview, actually.

Thanks. The photo that we’re using of you in this issue features your dog Hank. I heard you found him—or he found you—in Hawaii.
He found me on an island in Hawaii on Christmas four or five years ago. He’s a Hawaiian mutt, which is kind of ridgeback and pit bull, but he’s Hawaiian, so he’s laid back. He’s a great dog.

As you might know, MAGNET can’t go an issue without at least one obligatory Guided By Voices reference.
[Laughs] Well I’m glad we didn’t make it through the interview without mentioning them.

How did you come to ask Bob Pollard to open for you on this tour?
At the beginning of making this record, when we wondering where it was all going to go, Guided By Voices was playing down the road; it was their last Seattle show. I had never seen them. Me and (producer) Adam Kasper had talked about going. We were tired from working, but we still made it over there. They played for three-and-a-half hours. We went from being tired and beat to having one of the greatest musical experiences of our lives. Just having guitars and drums and vocals and beer—with those elements, they just take you off the planet. The other huge element is their following. It was camaraderie with people I had never even met—everyone singing in unison to these fairly underground songs. Some of their records are a little deceiving, because live, it’s like the early-’70s Who in its power, like Live At Leeds. It’s a fucking train, and the only thing keeping it on the rail is the fact the songs are only two minutes. At three minutes, they would fucking explode. And what’s interesting is that the day we finished mixing our new record, Robert Pollard was playing solo. So we went over and saw him. It made us realize how long it took us to make the record. So he kind of bookended our record-making experience. And it really inspired me, just how he is. He appreciated my presence, which I was grateful for. You never know how some people are going to react. The time I saw him when he was on his own, he said he wondered how these songs would sound like in an arena. So in a 28-hour period, I figured out a way it to make it possible. I think I had told him, “Well, as soon as you get an arena in Dayton, we’ll do it.” [Laughs] The next closest city was Cincinnati. And then we thought it would be a good idea if he got a practice gig in Pittsburgh before he hit the hometown. It’s an honor to share the stage with Bob.

You’ve managed to work or play with some heavy hitters: Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Rolling Stones, Pete Townshend. Is there anyone else on your dream list?
There’s no list. It’s always nice to bump into somebody. These things usually come about randomly and end up profoundly affecting your life. I can’t think of anyone I’ve met who’s ever let me down, whether it’s Cheetah Chrome from the Dead Boys or meeting the Ramones and becoming good friends with Johnny. It’s interesting: I’ve come to know the guys in the Who, because they had been so influential. I think what you really learn is how bands work. Or what it’s like being in a band and being accepting of the others in the band and realizing that the great bands are made up of individuals and you have to embrace the individuality of the people in your group. The other thing is I really enjoyed meeting Pete. He and I played a couple shows together; singing and playing together, that was when it went to another level of communication. It was like seeing what it was like being in a band with him.