Well, you got to give it to Eddie Vedder, Mike McCready, Stone Gossard, and Jeff Ament. Those guys are the solid core of Pearl Jam, and have been in place in the band since the early conception in 1990. However, Pearl Jam had what you would call a serious case of ‘drummer fatigue’, in their early days.
The band tore through multiple drummers from 1990-1998, before Matt Cameron became the full time guy. Now that the Seattle Grunge legends are getting inducted into the Rock Hall, they did something this past weekend that was both classy and never done before. They invited every former member of the band to the ceremony. Yep, this means ALL of their former drummers! And, that is a relatively large number of guys.
Via a hand written note shared on social media, the band has cordially invited every drummer from their past to the event. The letter said, in part, “While awards and accolades are understandably subjective and a countless number of our peers have yet to be honored, we do feel fortunate to be recognized and provided the opportunity to reunite with everyone who has been a part of the group. Specifically the drummer who all left their distinctive mark on our band in the pre-Matt Cameron years. Dave Krusen, Matt Chamberlain, Dave Abbruzzesse, and Jack Irons are each individually great players who gave their all to the early recordings and live gigs.” This band has an amazing ability to be brutally honest, and fair, in everything they do. This act of generosity and acknowledgement is rarely seen. Nice work, guys! See you at the Rock Hall Ceremony!
-Matt
