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K: Were you a part of making the index too?
Lance: Yes.

K: The index makes you look deeper into the photographs because it focuses on things you possibly hadn't seen, like the Gary Shandling picture on the wall.
Lance: Yeah that was us and the band. Mainly Eddie and Jeff I think. But that was the idea, taking pieces of the photo, the focus or maybe not even the focus of the photo. That idea was kind of done. Well, Irving Penn did it in his book and that's where I got the idea to do these little thumb sketches in the back. We didn't want to put captions in every page. We wanted to keep it real simple.

K: Well, as you go through the book it sets a mood and your focus is on the contents of the photographs and emotions...
Lance: That was the idea. For me and Charles, we wanted to cater to the photography community as well as the music community.

K: What is the significance of focusing on hands so often. That seems to be a running thing with Pearl Jam.
Lance: I think that's a Jeff thing. That's a good question that's probably more for Jeff. I don't know, I have the same thing, hands are... there's a huge significance.

K: On No Code, there's hands, eyes, ears.
Lance: Yeah, senses. That's the big thing. And I have the same thing, just photographically, artistically, hands are beautiful. It differentiates us from everything...from every other person and from, I don't know. You could get totally deep with it...from primates. Not to compare, please don't compare but look at David's hands on the statue of David that's the huge thing is his hands are totally gorgeous and detailed. I don't know, Jeff has always had that thing too. You know Five Against One and five and five people and five fingers. It's also what they play with, you know...playing instruments and me taking photos.

K: How long was the book in the works? You say like just in the back of everyone's mind since the beginning?
Lance: Yeah, I think in Europe it was always talked about like a joke [in 1992]. I would always say, "that one was for the book." Then it was in the works, physically - production was almost a year and a half, maybe almost two years. It's hard to say it kind of was a long process. They had the first approval book when they went to Hawaii. Yeah about a year and a half.

K: There was a recent statement that said that Charles Peterson shot 107 rolls of film while he was on tour with Pearl Jam in '96 over in Europe. How many rolls of film would you estimate that you've shot of them over the years?
Lance: I must have shot. Oh my God, what was the question? How many rolls total? Thousands. Thousands. I mean I can't even...easy...thousands...I would say five thousand.

K: I hope you have a nice big room where you keep all this stuff.
Lance: Oh yeah.

K: It's very valuable though..
Lance: I know that's the hard...I mean I just shot, shot, shot, shot shot. Yea we went through thousands of rolls of film.

K: Who chose which photos would be used in the book? Did each of the band choose or did you and Charles choose?
Lance: Hank Trotter is the man. Props to Hank. [laughing]

K: Props to Hank. What did he do, come and look at all of them?
Lance: Well here's how it all started. Charles and I sat down, the very first step we took was we sat down with everything and we both went through everything. His and mine included and we marked photos just quickly, photos that stood out. That was the first edit. The second edit was printing everything up and pinning it on a wall. All these photos, you know hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of photos, and pinned them on this huge wall and then we brought Hank in. He didn't know whose photos were whose. He did an edit from that. Basically me, Charles and Hank Trotter did the main edit from that and the band let us have the freedom to do that and in February, we sent them the first draft of the book. They switched a couple of things but it was really minimal. So we were really lucky, the first edit was the main one, the main body of how it was going to be. Hank was definitely the main person.

K: Is Hank a Pearl Jam fan too?
Lance: No.

K: That's interesting...then he had a more objective eye.
Lance: We wanted someone that was completely...ya know, he is, but he's...I don't think he's even seen them. He was coming at it strictly aesthetically, not knowing the band really, and that's what we wanted. We wanted something that was... I don't know if you've noticed, the book tells a story, like you're going to a show, you see what the show's like. Then you get to see them individually as performers, and as you know, hopefully normal people backstage. That's the whole point.

K: And then you travel to the next show and you do it all over again.
Lance: Exactly. So Hank is, without a lot of explanation, he was able to come up with how Charles and I really envisioned this thing. I can't emphasize enough how we did not want our book to be... I mean if you look at most rock books there's a lot of emphasis put on design and fonts, the way type is and all this extra stuff and it really seems to take away from the photos. The whole point of this was that we did not want to date ourselves, we wanted it to have maybe a longer life. Well, we didn't want it to look like it was made at a specific time. I don't know how to explain that...like "oh that was the time when this type font or design was really popular."

K: No, it's not trendy at all. It communicates that.
Lance: Good. that was a huge point with us and the band. As you notice there's not a lot of writing.

K: Do you think there's a single photo in the book or two that best represents Pearl Jam?
Lance: The cover. There's probably two. That's a hard one. People can read into it what they want. It's not like they're always reclusive and quiet. The cover is a very good example of a band hard at work basically. Also, I would almost say the posed shot of them standing in the little alcove bedroom. You know?

K: Stone playing air guitar?
Lance: Yea. That's a nice moment and I would also say the one of Stone and Eddie sitting in the clear cut. I just think that that's a real peaceful moment, and you can see the light there. It kind of just that was actually one of the options for the cover. Charles captured them really well during their Asia tour which I know a lot of the stuff is from. There's a shot of them just on the plane that I really, really like and also a shot of them in the dressing room where Eddie's got some tea.

K: The steaming tea and the dice game on the plane?
Lance: The steaming cup...those two shots are... Yea, they're just laughing and having a good time. That to me really says, I mean it's hard because I'm not...[laughs] I like my photos up to a point. I'm my worst critic, let's put it that way.

K: I think we all are.
Lance: It's kind of cliche but it's very true. I mean I get sick of looking at all those photos. It's hard for me to pick one specific shot because they've gone through so many different stages, just like we all do, in our lives. Hopefully in each stage there's a photo that represents that stage.

K: The pictures of the fans...whose idea was that?
Lance: That was Hank, and Charles did that really well again. That was something that he really, really captured. I don't have very many fan shots in there. I think the only ones I do is where Eddie's in the crowd and that was at Seattle.

K: I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you about that day at Drop in the Park.
Lance: Yea that was another one. That's a pretty historic moment, especially in Seattle, just because of the magnitude of that and also because of how...you know everything that preceded that and how the city was not very supportive at first, and then when it happened, there was not one incident of the police having to get involved or anything. So, this sounds corny but it was pretty communal.

K: It doesn't sound corny at all, we love that kind of stuff.
Lance: [laughs] That was pretty great. Great day. Well Seattle is pretty non-supportive of the music scene, especially the rock music scene. There's no all ages places here really there's one or two. There's just a lot of bs that's involved with it...

K: Did that happen since the Seattle music scene exploded or was it like that all the time?
Lance: Oh no, it's always been that way and you think it would have changed considering how much revenue bands brought the city but even now it's, it seems like it's gotten worse, Yea it's pretty screwed up and the band knew that, that was one of the main reasons why they did this. They wanted to give something back to the fans but they also wanted kids to have the opportunity to come and see them without having to deal with all the crap.

K: How often did they turn their backs or put their heads down to avoid a photo?
Lance: They never did. I mean Mike definitely... Mike was a ham. They never turned their backs on me. Ya know Eddie...I was more concerned about not intruding on his space than he was of mine. I definitely was aware of it. No I think I was pretty good...there's times I can read it. There's times when I know not to take photos and there are times where it was ok. I have regrets where I wish I was taking more but that's always the way it is.

K: That's probably a standard thing with photography because the moment will never come again.
Lance: Yea, exactly, the times where I didn't have my camera. There was only one time when I didn't have my camera and that was them and Neil Young just doing a little impromptu jam and I missed it. I'll never do that again. Anyway, no they were all very, I mean they asked me to go on the road so they were aware of it.

K: You haven't gone on the road in a while do you miss it?
Lance: Yes, that's an interesting thing because I was at a point where I felt there wasn't a lot more I could do. I had been with them for so long. It was just time to take a break and I was definitely busy with other things. I thought it was great when Charles went. It wasn't a surprise to me. I mean I knew about it, we had talked about it.

K: Who was on the '98 tour? Was it you or Charles?
Lance: Nobody. They allowed photographers and they all take photos as well but I'm relaxed about it. If the opportunity comes again I'm sure I'll take it, but in the meantime, more than anything I just missed hanging out with them, you know? But I still get to see them when they come back. I felt like I had done everything I could.

K: You were with them for five years right?
Lance: Yea, it was just like wow what am I...? "ok this is the part where Eddie jumps in the song." I had gotten to the point where I knew everything that was going to happen. I mean every show's different but...

K: That's understandable.
Lance: Plus I wanted to work on the book. And Charles went out and he really, I think, captured them as they are, still now. They went into this whole transition during No Code where they grew up and settled down and mellowed out and all this stuff. He really did a good job of getting that. I mean like you said a lot of them are really dark and moody and I think a lot of the vibe I got was at a time when everything was just really excitable and more upbeat. Not that that's a bad thing, but its a transistion.

K: You were talking about Charles' photographs and that one on the boat..that's a great photograph.
Lance: Yea, I agree. That really exemplifies it if you look at the difference between mine and his at that time and at the other time. They're really at ease with being a band together.

K: Is there anything you haven't said that you'd want people to know about the book?
Lance: The main goal of the book was to have it be...to give back to the fans. Thank you to the fans, even though there's no writing and specifics about that in there. It's something to show mainly to the fans and I'm hoping it crosses over into our peer group as well, but I really think that was the main thing and you know how the band is with their fan club shows and everything else.

K: They're always giving something.
Lance: Yea when they can. You know it's hard with all the time things. Yeah, that's the main thing and I'm hoping it can make more fans out of people that maybe weren't so much before. We all went into it with keeping in mind, Ok what do people want to see that go to the shows...that see the band live? I'd rather have people look at it and go, "wow. it was a totally different place but this totally makes me feel, and reminds me of when I went and saw them." Even though it was a couple of years later and all the way across the country, it brings back those feelings - that's the whole point of photographs in general.

K: What else are you up to?
Lance: My new band is called the Ya Ya's. We were in L.A. recording with Duff McKagan from Guns and Roses. Mike is totally behind it. We're just working away.

K: Are you going to release anything?
Lance: Yea, we are but we're waiting. We might do some shows with Duff in L.A. in January he's got a solo project going. We're doing the band thing, we recorded some things, we got on the radio. We're abusing my connections basically. [we laugh]

You'll find additional information in the Place/Date Review.

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Photographs used with permission. Photographs © copyright 1998 Charles Peterson and Lance Mercer. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.