In 1991, Rage Against The Machine was still one year away from putting out their debut album and Pearl Jam put out their soon-to-be-classic debut Ten. Though the histories of those two bands could've been quite a bit different, says Rage Against The Machine drummer Brad Wilk. Wilk tells Dean Delray in an interview that he was personally called by Pearl Jam vocalist Eddie Vedder in 1991 after Ten was recorded to come and audition for the band.
Drummer Dave Krusen had recorded the drums on Ten, but left shortly thereafter due to addiction issues, and Vedder knew Wilk was a talented dude.
"They go to England to mix Ten, which Tim Palmer was doing, I get a call from Eddie, 'We just lost our drummer, I'd love for you to come up and meet everybody. I'm going to send you the tape of the songs.'"
"I'm like shitting my pants, I've never been out of the country, I've got to go get my fucking passport, I'm listening to the songs, I'm super young [23 years old] and thinking, 'This is my break, this is my time.' I go to Europe and we play together, me and Eddie have this history, and we're bonding over in Europe, but to the others I'm just the new guy."
Wilk says he flew to England to try out but ultimately didn't click musically with the band, specifically bassist Jeff Ament.
"Long story short, I go there, and I just don't click musically, mostly with Jeff, who is an incredible bass player, awesome guy, and this is a classic case — it doesn’t matter how good you are, chemistry is everything. It just wasn't clicking… I just wasn't the guy."
Brad Wilk would then go on to form Rage Against The Machine later that year and would have an illustrious career anyway with bands like Audioslave, Prophets Of Rage, and even Black Sabbath. Though you do have to wonder how rock history would've unfolded if Wilk joined Pearl Jam.
