Dave Abbruzzese Statement on The Drummer Situation

VINNY GOOMBA

Being in a band is really difficult.  It's even more difficult if it's your livelihood.  I imagine a lot of us here joined bands largely because we were and are inspired by Pearl Jam and bands like them, so I know a lot of us can relate on a much smaller level.  I have always loved my bandmates like brothers, brothers can disagree and fight plenty, and playing in a band has never been part of how I put food on the table.  With that said, there's been plenty of times where one or two members behave in such a way that they alienate themselves from everyone else.  Goals, personalities, addiction, artistic vision, professionalism, there's dozens of things that need to be in alignment for it to not be a total shit show.  Sometimes you work through it, and sometimes you can't.  Dave contributed a lot to PJ when he was in it.  I would have liked to see him inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and to be on the level of some of the other guest musicians they have had, to call him up on stage for a song or 2 here and there.  With that said, none of us really know the truth, and it was a very tumultuous time for everyone in the band when he was fired.  I think we've all had close relationships with people that have had their blow-ups, and gone to the way side as a result.  Could some of them be mended?  Probably.  Life is short though, and it makes you question whether it is worth the energy to even find out if it's worth a fuller reconciliation.  It is likely that all parties feel the same way in this situation.     

mace1229

Go Animal said:

YourDirtisMyfood said:

Glorified G is about Dave A, correct, or just a rumor?

It's an anti gun song that takes a couple shots at him. Great song.

I heard an interview a year or two ago where Dave answers that. He said he bought 2 .22 guns to go camping. He was, and I think still is anti bigger guns and assault rifles. But wanted something small for he and his friend to have for protection against wildlife while camping. He said it was no big deal, he didn’t take the song personally. I’m not sure if I bought that, but that’s what he claimed anyway.
The “always keep it loaded” I think he said was a line from Jeff’s dad, which I’ve heard before.

HughFreakingDillon

jwhjr17 said:

My old eyes can't read that with the underline under the entire thing.  That's ok, guessing I would be wasting my time anyways.

yeah, I have no idea why it did that. I just copied and pasted as plain text. I tried but couldn't get rid of it. 

HughFreakingDillon

mace1229 said:

Go Animal said:

YourDirtisMyfood said:

Glorified G is about Dave A, correct, or just a rumor?

It's an anti gun song that takes a couple shots at him. Great song.

I heard an interview a year or two ago where Dave answers that. He said he bought 2 .22 guns to go camping. He was, and I think still is anti bigger guns and assault rifles. But wanted something small for he and his friend to have for protection against wildlife while camping. He said it was no big deal, he didn’t take the song personally. I’m not sure if I bought that, but that’s what he claimed anyway.
The “always keep it loaded” I think he said was a line from Jeff’s dad, which I’ve heard before.

yes, he addressed this on his facebook page recently as well. The song started with those two lines, and the rest is a fictionalized version of what actually went down. (according to him)

HughFreakingDillon

mcgruff10 said:

Dude was in the band for three years over thirty years ago. Let it go.   

just thought it would be of interest to some here. that's all. nothing to let go. 

TahoeJeff

mace1229 said:

Go Animal said:

YourDirtisMyfood said:

Glorified G is about Dave A, correct, or just a rumor?

It's an anti gun song that takes a couple shots at him. Great song.

I heard an interview a year or two ago where Dave answers that. He said he bought 2 .22 guns to go camping. He was, and I think still is anti bigger guns and assault rifles. But wanted something small for he and his friend to have for protection against wildlife while camping. He said it was no big deal, he didn’t take the song personally. I’m not sure if I bought that, but that’s what he claimed anyway.
The “always keep it loaded” I think he said was a line from Jeff’s dad, which I’ve heard before.

Yeah, I heard something like this. I heard that I think Dave and Jeff were having a conversation about those guns, and Dave joked, "Got a gun? Hell, I got two" and he said that he saw Ed out of the corner of his eye jotting down something in his notebook, and that's where the line came from.

bootlegger10

Easy for Ed, Jeff, Stone and Mike to take the high road on it when they are still in the band making bank.   Dave A. is in the unfortunate spot where he can't help but see how great PJ's success turned out.  Would be tough not to hold a grudge.  Can't blame him for using this opportunity where eyes are on him to talk about his other successes and projects.   We have no idea of what went on behind the scenes with their individual relationships.

The guy drummed on my favorite album of all-time, Vs.  

Ledbetterman10

bootlegger10 said:

Easy for Ed, Jeff, Stone and Mike to take the high road on it when they are still in the band making bank.   Dave A. is in the unfortunate spot where he can't help but see how great PJ's success turned out.  Would be tough not to hold a grudge.  Can't blame him for using this opportunity where eyes are on him to talk about his other successes and projects.   We have no idea of what went on behind the scenes with their individual relationships.

The guy drummed on my favorite album of all-time, Vs.  

I argue that Dave got a lot of undeserved writing credits on Vs. and Vitalogy that he's reaped benefits from for years (and still does). Vs. is the only PJ album where every band member is credited as a songwriter on every song. But we know that's not the case. Animal and Daughter are Vedder/Gossard songs. RVM and Small Town are Vedder songs. I know Dave deserves a credit on Go, and probably on WMA, but that's about it. And on Vitalogy, songs like Not For You, Corduroy, and Immortality, total Eddie songs, are credited to the entire band. My point is he's done alright for himself. Especially for someone who was in the band for under three years. 

pdalowsky

Didnt think we'd be discussing Dave A in this detail again  this week. 

Another of lifes little curveballs

Merkin Baller

pdalowsky said:

Didnt think we'd be discussing Dave A in this detail again  this week. 

Another of lifes little curveballs

I bet you didn't think we would be talking about PJ needing a drummer either. 

bootleg

I just like to see fences get mended.  It’s not healthy on either side to hold a grudge that long.  We’ll probably never get the whole story on what happened with Dave A but the part that’s always felt odd is that it has never come across as something that was completely irreconcilable.  Maybe personalities just clashed and things just didn’t work out.  Maybe Dave wanted more fame, more money, maybe he was a complete jerk.  Of course you would move on from that but would any of that warrant a complete lifetime shunning?  You don’t have to invite him back in the band or anything but it wouldn’t hurt to at lease recognize that he existed and had some significant contributions in the early years.

mookeywrench

bootleg said:

I just like to see fences get mended.  It’s not healthy on either side to hold a grudge that long.  We’ll probably never get the whole story on what happened with Dave A but the part that’s always felt odd is that it has never come across as something that was completely irreconcilable.  Maybe personalities just clashed and things just didn’t work out.  Maybe Dave wanted more fame, more money, maybe he was a complete jerk.  Of course you would move on from that but would any of that warrant a complete lifetime shunning?  You don’t have to invite him back in the band or anything but it wouldn’t hurt to at lease recognize that he existed and had some significant contributions in the early years.

Mended fences keep good neighbors.
Grudges can be tossed while respecting the notion that their personalities were not made for eachother and keep their boundaries.

Lerxst1992

pdalowsky said:

Didnt think we'd be discussing Dave A in this detail again  this week. 

Another of lifes little curveballs

it’s just a derivative of Matt retiring from the band. That’s the curveball…or slider?

ForceofNature101

bootleg said:

Of course you would move on from that but would any of that warrant a complete lifetime shunning?  You don’t have to invite him back in the band or anything but it wouldn’t hurt to at lease recognize that he existed and had some significant contributions in the early years.

Although Ed did that very thing, no?   Watching the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Ed specifically gave him a shout out by name and said "we had the great Dave Abbruzzese, he was a great drummer, he IS.a great drummer, he's a great fucking drummer".  

It isn't necessarily a shunning of Dave, it is just life moving on - it has been 30 years since Dave parted ways with the band.  I am not sure what else people are expecting a band that revels in their privacy of inter-personal relationships, to say about him in that regard

JK109224

I wouldn't be feeling sorry for Dave A in terms of finances. He'd do quite well from royalties alone. Does he have $10 million? No. But he would be very comfortable.

kmcmanus

ForceofNature101 said:

bootleg said:

Of course you would move on from that but would any of that warrant a complete lifetime shunning?  You don’t have to invite him back in the band or anything but it wouldn’t hurt to at lease recognize that he existed and had some significant contributions in the early years.

I am not sure what else people are expecting a band that revels in their privacy of inter-personal relationships, to say about him in that regard

It’s possible the band is doing Dave a favor by not commenting 

sociopearljam

Gern Blansten said:

sociopearljam said:

This guy is a fucking clown. I get that it must have been tough getting fired from such a big time band because of your personality. It happens though. Dave A. was a shotgun marriage all along. 

He's also a great drummer that put a lot of solid work into PJ

Yeah, he was a good drummer that did work on two of the 12 studio albums. I know it was a particularly high profile period in the band's history, but we all know that was about the time period and not really that much about Dave. The amount of discussion this guy elicits relative to his time and contributions to the band is kind of crazy to me. I also feel like the pro-Dave folks don't ever acknowledge the shotgun marriage element of the whole. It wasn't like he toiled with the guys for years before the band made it big. It jumped onto a rocketship as it was taking off and, to what I think is obviously clear now, before the guys really knew each other well. It happens.  

KV4053

sociopearljam said:

Gern Blansten said:

sociopearljam said:

This guy is a fucking clown. I get that it must have been tough getting fired from such a big time band because of your personality. It happens though. Dave A. was a shotgun marriage all along. 

He's also a great drummer that put a lot of solid work into PJ

Yeah, he was a good drummer that did work on two of the 12 studio albums. I know it was a particularly high profile period in the band's history, but we all know that was about the time period and not really that much about Dave. The amount of discussion this guy elicits relative to his time and contributions to the band is kind of crazy to me. I also feel like the pro-Dave folks don't ever acknowledge the shotgun marriage element of the whole. It wasn't like he toiled with the guys for years before the band made it big. It jumped onto a rocketship as it was taking off and, to what I think is obviously clear now, before the guys really knew each other well. It happens.  

100% agree with every element of your post.

yosi

sociopearljam said:

Gern Blansten said:

sociopearljam said:

This guy is a fucking clown. I get that it must have been tough getting fired from such a big time band because of your personality. It happens though. Dave A. was a shotgun marriage all along. 

He's also a great drummer that put a lot of solid work into PJ

I also feel like the pro-Dave folks don't ever acknowledge the shotgun marriage element of the whole. It wasn't like he toiled with the guys for years before the band made it big. It jumped onto a rocketship as it was taking off and, to what I think is obviously clear now, before the guys really knew each other well. It happens.  

I never thought about it this way, but I think it’s 100% correct. 

Merkin Baller

sociopearljam said:

Gern Blansten said:

sociopearljam said:

This guy is a fucking clown. I get that it must have been tough getting fired from such a big time band because of your personality. It happens though. Dave A. was a shotgun marriage all along. 

He's also a great drummer that put a lot of solid work into PJ

Yeah, he was a good drummer that did work on two of the 12 studio albums. I know it was a particularly high profile period in the band's history, but we all know that was about the time period and not really that much about Dave. The amount of discussion this guy elicits relative to his time and contributions to the band is kind of crazy to me. I also feel like the pro-Dave folks don't ever acknowledge the shotgun marriage element of the whole. It wasn't like he toiled with the guys for years before the band made it big. It jumped onto a rocketship as it was taking off and, to what I think is obviously clear now, before the guys really knew each other well. It happens.  

I think this is the best summary I've read to date, not only of Dave's time with and contribution to the band, but also the cult of Dave A.