worked as night clerk

In the 1980s, Vedder worked part time as a night clerk at a local gas station . Through the Southern California music scene, Vedder met former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons , who became a friend and would play basketball with him. Later in 1990, Irons gave him the demo tape of a Seattle band looking for a singer. Vedder listened to the tape shortly before going surfing , where lyrics came to him. He wrote lyrics for three of the songs in what he later described as a “mini-opera” entitled Momma-Son . The songs tell the story of a young man who, like Vedder, learns that he had been lied to about his paternity and that his real father is dead, grows up to become a serial killer, and is eventually imprisoned and sentenced to death. Vedder recorded vocals for the three songs, and mailed the demo tape back to Seattle. The three songs would later become Pearl Jam’s ” Alive “, ” Once “, and “Footsteps”.