THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Painted Shield combines the talents of Pearl Jam co-founder Stone Gossard, folksinger Mason Jennings, drummer extraordinaire Matt Chamberlain, soul innovator Brittany Davis, and renowned guitarist Jeff Fielder. Their albums have been released on Gossard’s newly reactivated Loosegroove label, which famously released the debut Queens Of The Stone Age album back in 1998.
“Playing with this incredible group is one of my greatest joys,” Gossard says. “Three records in and we are still turning over all kinds of new soil. This beast of a song starts first and foremost with the insane lyrical propulsion provided by Matt Chamberlain. Then, one by one, the beauty of hearing Mason, Britt, Jeff and Josh Evans’ touch… it makes something wholly original.”
Adds Jennings: “I think Painted Shield 3 is our most equally collaborative record yet. You can really feel all five of us on this one, with Josh Evans’ production keeping it all cohesive. Stone has some classic amazing Stone riffs like The Pleasure and Lover Divine. Brit takes the lead on some fantastic grooving songs like The Getter and She Runs. Matt Chamberlain really brought his amazing modular synth writing chops to the table on songs like Testify and Run Em All Down. Jack-of-all-trades Jeff is holding down the amazing bass on songs like End In Mind and singing amazing harmonies on songs like The Pleasure. And I’m bringing my folkier songwriting passion to songs like Window and Clear Blue Sky. The result is Painted Shield 3. A musical universe unto itself.”
Further to the single Lover Divine, he says: “Lover Divine started as a Stone guitar riff that Josh put through a series of effects. I loved the vibe and was reminded of some conversations Stone and I had had about our love of Egyptology and also our love of the band The Stooges. So I kinda put these two ideas together. The vocal part in the intro was from the bass guitar line I wrote in the chorus. I decided to sing with the bass because I loved how it sounded when Paul McCartney would do that with The Beatles. Then Josh took the bass out and left my vocal bass. Jeff added his bass after that. Brit came up with some killer chords to go with it and Matt brought the punk energy with the drums. The rest is ancient history.”
