On Music: Band member Shawn Pedini talks about the energy with King Jeremy: The Pearl Jam Experience

King Jeremy: The Pearl Jam Experience will make their encore performance Saturday, Oct. 5 at the Somerset Abbey in Madison. Drew Forsberg photo

The year of the tribute band coverage continues with a five-piece New England-based group called King Jeremy: The Pearl Jam Experience that will be making their encore performance at the Somerset Abbey on Saturday, Oct. 5.

I got the opportunity to chat with Shawn Pedini as he drove around on his day job on the 18th of this month. He was very candid and extremely informative in helping me make deadline that afternoon. I began by asking him what his role in King Jeremy is, and he responded …
A: Well, I’m just one of the guitar players. Yup, that’s what I do, I play guitar … I’m the tall, bald one with a beard.

Q: How long has this tribute band been together?
A: We got started in 2013, I think. We did things pretty regularly for a while and then we all got busy, people moved away, we’ve gone through a couple of different bass players, a few different drummers, but the core of the band has been the singer and two guitar players. The drummer we have now is the one we’ve had for five or six years. The COVID hit, so there was some downtime there, obviously, but then we’ve been going pretty strong the last two years, I’d say, and it’s really picking up now.

Q: It must be great to work at a regular job and still have success as a musician.
A: Yeah, that’s how we do it, we’re all busy guys as working as professionals, but it’s fun to go out a couple of weekends a month and pretend we’re still 19 or 20 years old.

Q: I understand that you’ve performed at Somerset Abbey before, correct?
A: Yeah, we were there last November I believe, and that was our first time there.

Q: What was it like for you guys?
A: It’s a beautiful place, an old church, and they take care of us and its fun and relaxed.

Q: It must be nice for you as musicians to be able to enjoy the venue and not feel pressured.
A: Exactly! We can actually concentrate on what we do instead of the logistics like arguing with the sound guy or trying to find a pizza, we don’t have to worry about any of that. It’s nice to be able to focus on your craft and making people happy. For me, personally, there’s nothing better than people smiling because you’re taking them away momentarily, from whatever they’re worrying about. It’s a good feeling, yeah.

Q: Now, with the whole Pearl Jam catalogue, is it easy to put together a set list?
A: We have a bullpen, like in baseball, we always have a general idea of what we’re going to do. Like at the Somerset Abbey, we’re going to go in with 25 or 30 songs that we’re going to try to do. But then we have a bullpen of songs on that set list of maybe another 15 songs that we can choose from depending on the vibe of the audience.

Q: How so?
A: If it’s a really relaxed crowd maybe we’ll want to do some of the more chill, meditative material. If it’s a really rowdy place we just keep it going, keep the energy up. As a tribute band for Pearl Jam there’s a lot of requests so we’ve got to be on the game for that, too, because we’re there to make people happy, it’s our job, it’s what we get paid to do: do what the audience wants.

Q: How far do you go to perform?
A: Well, since the last few years, when we decided to do it more professionally, it’s been Maine, but we do mostly South Shore Massachusetts. We have played Southern New Hampshire in the past, but if the opportunity is there, we’re going out there to it.

Q: What can folks expect at the Somerset Abbey gig?
A: They can expect a lot of Pearl Jam (chuckle) obviously, but I can say that this is the most authentic representation of that band’s music, if you close your eyes you’re going to hear and feel the energy. It’s the closest thing to a Pearl Jam show is what we’re going to give them, the way we jam is just how they do it live. There’s some material that we do album-wise but we try to keep it like the live version of everything.

Q: Well, that’s what you’re presenting at the time so yeah, that makes sense.
A: Yeah, and that’s where the energy is … and it keeps people engaged, you know?

Q: Is there anything you’d like to pass on to the folks reading this article?
A: Oh, they better be there! (Laughter) I mean, if they’re into rock ’n’ roll, they’re going to be happy, and everybody in the band grew up with this music. So if there are Pearl Jam fans out there and they come to the show, they’ll know what I’m talking about. There’s a whole Pearl Jam family out there and, if they want to feel young for a little bit, show up and they will not be disappointed, so I can say that!

Lucky Clark, a 2018 “Keeping the Blues Alive” Award winner, has spent more than 50 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.

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