Pearl Jam: The drummers poll

Wasn't Abbruzzese fired for posing for cheesy endorsement deal advertisements in "Modern Drummer"? I don't think I realized Matt Chamberlain and Matt Cameron were 2 different drummers. What ever became of Dave Krusen?

I haven't listened to much Pearl Jam in recent years, but Cameron is pretty great on Badmotorfinger and some other stuff. And Abbruzzese is excellent on Vs. I like the sound of "Ten," but more for the reverb-y production. I don't know.

Cameron, despite the fact that I wish he'd quit and reform Soundgarden.

JACK IRONS 4EVER

Matt Cameron's a great drummer but not nearly as well suited to Pearl Jam as he was to Soundgarden, and I kind of hate the way he steamrolls over some of the dynamics of songs originally recorded w/ previous drummers. Abbruzzese, as easy as he is to make fun of, did some pretty great stuff on those 2 albums he was on, little fills that really make the song for me sometimes. I feel little for Ten, and nothing for Krusen. Matt Chamberlain's also a great drummer who did his best work w/ other bands.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Abbru was the most fun to listen to for sure.

FIVE FIVE FIVE AGAINST ONE snare hitz

Matt Chamberlain is one of the tastiest drummer alive.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Aw, poor Dave Krusen. I didn't even know the dude's name, but I did listen to my Ten cassette a fair amount way back when and he plays some good parts on it.

Pearl Jam was in Oakland last night and their drummer tested positive for COVID but the show went on and they invited a local kid to sit in with them and it looks like he did an amazing job pic.twitter.com/0ifIek4Iwj

— Wu-Tang Is For The Children (@WUTangKids) May 14, 2022

The single version (i.e. new recording) of "Even Flow" with Abbruzzese was definitely an improvement.

But there's no shortage of good drummers here. They even had Matt Chamberlain on tour if not on record.

And damn, that really is good considering it's a fan picked out of the seats.

From Billboard:

A fan who attended the show explained the backstory in the comments section. “Eddie asked if there were any drummers in the crowd that wanted to play,” YouTube user Joe Booth wrote. “Josh jumped up and ran to the front isle. Eddie saw his shirt, which listed all of the PJ drummers. The. Eddie said, ‘Get him tested for COVID and bring him out for the encore!’ The place went NUTS! Epic PJ concert moment. Congrats, Josh. Get set!”

that kid wasn't picked out of the seats, he was called by Vedder who had seen his band play. That commenter is making stuff up. "Josh" is Josh Klinghofer who was already on the tour with them and stepped in to play drums after Cameron got COVID. third drummer was a music teacher from the Bay Area that Vedder is friends with.

Wasn't Abbruzzese fired for posing for cheesy endorsement deal advertisements in "Modern Drummer"?

― Savannah Smiles, Monday, February 25, 2008 5:36 AM (fourteen years ago)

i would also like to know

xp ahh, damn you Billboard - never mind then.

i think two stories are being conflated.
there were 2 shows in oakland, last night (fri) and night before (thurs) two separate ring-ins & one of them was named josh

1st night/Thursday: a guy named Josh Arroyo was picked out of the crowd & played Yellow Ledbetter in the encore. He was 30’sish ie not a kid. But they literally plucked him out of the crowd after he begged to be put in. (Apparently in real life he is a drumtech for Ben Harper & Jack Johnson)

2nd night/Friday: high school kid named Kai sat in on Mind Your Manners halfway through the show. Ed had seen his band The Alive & called & asked Kai to play with them.

ah ha, that makes sense.

The band’s ridiculous animosity towards Abbruzzese is insane. They pushed him out for doing all the press that Epic was requesting and splurging on a sportscar. He was lucky in that he ended up with co-writes on every VS. song and didn’t get stuck with the Ticketmaster lawsuit legal bills.

Irons is an interesting songwriter and a great drummer, but he never totally gelled with them