It was a full-circle moment recently for The War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel, who last month caught a Pearl Jam show in Los Angeles.

“I was supposed to go see them in 1994 in Boston where I grew up,” said Granduciel, calling from Burbank. “My friend like had tickets and then he didn’t have tickets so I never saw them. The other day was my first time. It was so much fun.”

On the surface, one wouldn’t necessarily see a musical connection between the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame grunge act and the modern indie band that seamlessly melds indie rock and psychedelia with a small hint of jam band sensibility.

However, taking a step back you can see a comparison more in the spirit of the music and respect of their respective audiences.

“You probably don’t hear it but (Pearl Jam) taught me how to play guitar,” Granduciel said. “When they’d play on ‘Saturday Night Live’ or (David) Letterman, I’d record them on VHS and watch it over and over studying where their hands were and what amps they were playing.

“The only thing they really influenced was we did Jimmy Fallon during lockdown. We decided to do a song nobody’s ever heard before. That was inspired by when (Pearl Jam) was promoting ‘Vs.’ on ‘Saturday Night Live’ and the first song they played was ‘Not for You’ (from the then-unreleased album “Vitalogy”), which no one had heard. I was like, ‘That’s the balls-iest thing I’ve ever seen. Then they did ‘Rearviewmirror’ and ‘Daughter.’ It was life-changing.”

"Thinking of a Place" is just a beautiful song to play during a warm summer night where the sun is setting and everything is just gold.
That song is just a warm blanket, so beautiful and it really does evoke a certain place in my mind.

Just love this song and this band.