Pearl Jam will release its eighth studio album, a self-titled effort, May 2 via J Records. The set will be preceded by the Eddie Vedder-penned single “World Wide Suicide,” which will be delivered March 8 to U.S. rock radio outlets. Beginning at 6 a.m. ET that morning, the track will be available for free download for two days from the band’s told Billboard.com last April. “I’ve woken up a few times and had a riff going in my head that I really liked, say, of [bassist] Jeff [Ament]’s or something,” he said. “It’s like, OK, cool. That one is sticking in my head. I want to keep doing that. Let’s do that. Whereas before, you’d just do it and it’d be done.”
Pearl Jam will tour extensively this year, but dates have yet to be announced. Since its 2003 “Riot Act” tour, the group has grossed nearly $36 million from 68 shows reported to Billboard Boxscore, 23 of them sellouts.