Matt Cameron

mooook

I was thinking of a previous thread about who their favorite Pearl Jam drummer was. I am a drummer, and have been playing Pearl Jam songs for quite some time now. Of course, at that time the drummer I was listening to was Dave A.

Basically my question is: Do you find that Matt Cameron's drumming in the band has destroyed the dynamics and groove that Dave and Jack brought to a lot of those great songs?

I downloaded the Calgary show, and also have been to the last 2 Canadian tours.... He sounds like a machine gun. This isn't Jesus Christ Pose.

I loved what he did on Riot Act in terms of composition, but for a lot of those other songs-which he didn't write-it seems to me like he's ruined a lot of their live feel.

I guess I'll see tomorrow...I still love Matt, but sometimes not the way he plays those songs.

dustinpardue

a drummer as well............I love what Matt has done. Dave A was such a unique drummer, I think Matt just plays it has way rather than try to copycat what Dave A did. In 2000, Ed described Matt as playing the "manual transmission." Matt is machine gun like. I have never heard him a roll. But I love his work

Milestone

Yes, Matt is a machine gun. But, I think he is fucking fantastic. Most importantly, he fits in with the chemistry of the band. That makes everyone happy to have him around. If Pearl Jam is happy, then they will continue to tour and record. That's what's important to me.

Beav

I think the original vibe of animal has been destroyed due to Matt. Otherwise I think he's on fire this tour.

Milestone

My only complaint about Matt, is how PJ had to change "In My Tree" to fit his style of drumming. The new version of this song is just a shadow of what it used to be. I miss it. Jack was incredible on No Code/Yield.

coutchboy

Go back and listen to any of the boots with Dave on it. He became so inconsistent from show to show because he was constantly battling physical problems.

One night he would have this wonderful, loose feel and fills that were, well, Dave fills. Just Great stuff. And then the next night he would be stiff as shit and would suffer through the set. You could see it in his playing.

His fucking wrists were a mess. I think he had a major case of carpel tunnel syndrome but I've never heard anybody in the band verify that.

Any way, Matt might drum like he's a machine but his drumming is so fucking off-the-charts creative, if you understand everything he's doing. His drumming is more than meets the eye.

The bottom line is that both drummers are great and we are lucky we got to experience them.

I do have to say, the poster that said the band gets along with Matt hit it right on the head though, without that PJ would not be together nor would they have recorded and made available all these boots over the years. They've said so many times.

chopitdown

I can't say that I think Matt destroyed pearl Jams music. I do like Dave A's style on some songs: mostly Animal. I don't think jack or matt capture it like Dave did. But matt is just the f'ing man though. When i fist started playing I tried to cop everything that Dave played b/c he was phenomenal and I loved his bass drumming abilities. Matt brings a different technical aspect to the band. And he puts his own flair on things. And to suggest that PJ had to change In My tree b/c Matt couldn't play it like Jack is ludicrous. PJ lets matt insert his own style into the songs. He also changed given to fly to more tom work than Jack; put it this way...if i can play GTF and In My tree ala jack I know w/o question that Matt can play it in his sleep.
Dave did have a lot of problems with his wrist...i think modern drummer had an article where they mentioned it (Dave grohl had to sit in on a concert at one point b/c of Dave's problems w/ carpal tunnel). He would use heating pads to warm up and then stick his hands in ice water after shows to try to control the inflammation.

62strat

Hmm. People, matt did not change in my tree. thats a band decision. ITs not matt can't drum to jacks rythym, thats the most insane thing i ever hear on this board.

Second, if you really listen to animal, you can placeblame on

a) eds vocals
b) stone and mike palm muting the main riff, and also with less distortion


Dave a had one speed. Thats hard and heavy.

Matt cameron ha touch, grace, and he's a fucking machine back there and has brought so many songs to a new level, for example corduroy. dig it. im out

jimbo_lizardking

Im not a drummer so I have no professional opinion this is just what I feel on the matter.

On songs like Animal, SOLAT, Evenflow & Porch I feel the songs were played better live when Dave was on drums.

Matts drumming seems pretty boring in comparison to Daves in these songs.

Overall though I think Matts drumming is cool although I do think Dave was the better drummer.

campem

I'm no drummer... but here's my take on it.

Each have their styles. I loved Dave A., and my diehard PJ fan drummer best friend, swore by him when he was younger (oh and played in a PJ tribute band that did very well back then).
I was a big RHCP fans before I even knew of PJ, and I always like their drumming. To me Jack is unique in his approach which is melodious on the drums. His style is very different, checkout his album, and I think it suited No Code and Yield perfectly. I never saw him in concert but I would wonder about his work on the Ten songs, surely he could do them, but could he make them is?
Now Matt Cameron is on another level. This guy is amazing. He might not have a style as well defined as the other two, maybe he's more polyvalent, but he sure can play complex parts. I find that, either with PJ or Soundgarden, you have to look at his drumming not from a fill point of view, but in a whole. It's those little things he does off tempo or the nuances he adds by using a tom instead of another which makes him great, without forgetting is machine gun ability. Plus, he writes amazing songs and he's a friend of the band. Oh, we could say that he's the original PJ drummer, the one PJ was waiting for.

stuckinline

thank you moooook!!!!

i have tried to start threads about matt in the past and they got as far as #13.
it seems to me, there is an unwritten rule on this board to not dig matt. i am not a drummer but think matt rocks. and i agree he is the glue that holds pj together.

matt, keep on rockin!

Pearl Jam and toast

Dave A. is the machine.. in that.. he was just too tight and mechanical to fit pearl jam's loose style... especailly on Vs.. Vitalogy was pretty good but i think Jack or Matt would've done much better.

Jack is my personal favorite... i just love the vibe he brought to the band.

BUT

I think Matt is the most talented... and if there was any one drummer i'd choose to replace Jack in 1998 it would be him.

mca47

In the last couple weeks I've busted out some old boots. I've got some from the early days all the way thru this tour and here is what I generally think...

Dave A. was a fantastic drummer. I can't think of too many guys who could match his intensity at the kit. He had some killer fills and the guy sure loved his cymbals. He was good live, but I've noticed many, many times where he'd lose the beat or extend a fill way too long. Great drummer though!!

Jack too is a fantastic drummer. I love what Jack brought to the band. He had such cool rythyms, it added so much to the band at that time. If you listen to the boots the band experimented a lot more back in Jack's day too, which i think is a very good thing. Jack, IMO, was amazing but had some problems during shows. I've got tons of boots from those days and granted I know to this day the band rarely ever practices, but you could tell back then. So many times the band would get off and i think alot of it had to do with Jack.

Matt, I feel, is the most complete drummer the band has had. While some of you may think that Matt's style is "boring", I would have to disagree. Listening to the Canadian boots, I am constantly blown away with what he brings. He's not as flashy as Dave, he doesn't have the crazy beats of Jack, but the guy is flatout incredible. Rarely does the band ever lose a beat with Matt at the kit. The only time they seem to fuck up is when Ed forgets lyrics.

It's cool to see the differences in the drummers and how the band has progressed, but all-in-all I find Matt to be the best they've had.

stuckinline

from the liner notes of lost dogs:

ED: matt cameron writes songs and we run to find step stools in order to reach his level...what comes naturally to him leaves us with our heads cocked like the confused dogs that we are....eventually getting it. did we mention HE's THE GREATEST DRUMMER ON THE PLANET?

i think that says it all!

Pearl Jam and toast

what mca 47 (and that quote from ed) are right on target.

well done.

kenny olav

really good discussion here. i remember watching touring band 2000 and thinking that matt's style on songs like Daughter and Even Flow changed the feel of the songs - more driving and a bit faster mainly. so i guess we mourn the loss of the old vibe, but i like the new vibe too and matt's professionalism has likely saved the band. so long live matt cameron.

i don't know if he did this at other shows, but at quebec city, he added a real nice touch to Insignificance. i dont know enough drumming terminology to describe what he did, but it sounded really fucking sweet. and looked cool too.

i reiterate. long live matt cameron.

HeavyMetalNyge

I also have commented on this before, but for some reason I love discussing this point. I have for a long time blamed Matt for the change that I hear in Pearl Jam's sound from the early albums to now. But after thinking about this for some time, I've decided that PJ sounds different now because PJ is different from when they started. They embarked on a journey together and have each changed as individuals, and that is reflected in their sound. I still long for the PJ with Dave A in the band. That fucking raw energy that they all had. I've yet to feel that from another band, or from the modern PJ for that matter.
In terms of drumming though, I really did love Dave A's sound. He did so many cool fills and what I refer to as little skips with the symbols. I have to say that I also really liked Dave Krusen's work too though. Ten is still my favorite album, and the drums still kill me on those songs. At first I didn't like Jack, but after watching the Single Video Theory, I realized how creative and unique that guy is. Matt is in my opinion the most boring drummer. That is of course coming from a guitar player, so I am somewhat ignorant in terms of the things you drummers may be seeing him do.
So, in order of my most favorite to least.
Dave A, Dave K, Jack, Matt
I don't count the other guy because he never recorded (as far as I know) and I didn't like how he held his drum sticks in the Alive video

Pearl Jam and toast

i've never heard a single person put dave krusen above matt and jack..

personally... well,.. actually the band and most fans who critique it in this way think this too...

but the drums were engineered terribly on Ten... to much reverb.. too much.. headache. although thats probably not dave's fault.. more the producer/mixer.

saying that Ten is your favorite album makes me think you have an emotional attatchment to the songs and your opinion of Dave K is biased

good point about the band themselves being responsible for their own change in sound. i've two things to add to that:

1- matt is part of the band.. so lets not say he had nothing to do with it.. Also i think Jack was almost entirely responsible for the change in sound on No Code and Yield... the band was just ready to embrace the experimenting.

2- on the flipside.. Dave A wouldn't be entirely responsible for the energy they had in the early 90's.. i'd say mother love bone is even more responsible. That top of the world, "we're the best fucking band inthe world" performance they put on put an imprint on Stone and Jeff that has driven Pearl Jam. Not that dave had nothing to do with it.

KingMike

To hear someone say Matt is boring on the drums gives me a confused since of reality. Matt is one of the best rock drummers of all time hands down. What some people may see as boring others see as playing for the song. Look at Kenny Aronoff. This guy is badd ass but he plays for the song. It's always about the song. If it were about drums, guitar, bass. etc.. everyone would be doing non stop leads/fills for 4-5 minutes. If for some reason you do not know who Kenny Aronoff is please don't discuss drumming.

thunder_balls

Well, this is my first post. I don't mind it being about Matt Cameron at all. But, first to start off, I like Matt Cameron a lot. I think he was great with Soundgarden, but I like Pearl Jam more..I don't think he's messed up the groove at all. If you hear bootlegs of Even Flow, it seems to be almost the same tempo all the time. His best stuff would have to be with Soundgarden though. I personally like Matt Cameron a lil' better than Dave Abbruzzese, but Dave is a different player, and he's still real good. No offense to anyone who likes Jack, I like Jack's stuff too, but he's probably my least favorite of the whole bunch.

HeavyMetalNyge

Pearl Jam and toast wrote:

i've never heard a single person put dave krusen above matt and jack..

personally... well,.. actually the band and most fans who critique it in this way think this too...

but the drums were engineered terribly on Ten... to much reverb.. too much.. headache. although thats probably not dave's fault.. more the producer/mixer.

saying that Ten is your favorite album makes me think you have an emotional attatchment to the songs and your opinion of Dave K is biased

good point about the band themselves being responsible for their own change in sound. i've two things to add to that:

1- matt is part of the band.. so lets not say he had nothing to do with it.. Also i think Jack was almost entirely responsible for the change in sound on No Code and Yield... the band was just ready to embrace the experimenting.

2- on the flipside.. Dave A wouldn't be entirely responsible for the energy they had in the early 90's.. i'd say mother love bone is even more responsible. That top of the world, "we're the best fucking band inthe world" performance they put on put an imprint on Stone and Jeff that has driven Pearl Jam. Not that dave had nothing to do with it.

First, of course I have an emotional attachment to the songs on Ten. In fact I have an emotional attachment to most of PJ's songs. Isn't that why you write on their message board? I know it's why I do. Secondly, I am giving credit where credit is due. Dave K was the drummer for PJ when they started. He helped create that excitement and energy that I was referring to. Yes Ten is my favorite album, and I like almost every aspect of the album. Do I care that "the band and most fans who critique it this way" don't really like the way the drums were engineered on my favorite album. No, not really. It's still my favorite album, and IMO one of the best rock albums of all time. And since Dave K helped to create that magic that is on the album, I am giving him the credit that I think he deserves, not because of the amount of reverb on his drumming, but because of the way he was able to channel and capture the emotion and power of the songs thru percussion. And for that reason I placed Dave K above Jack and Matt. I am not analyzing these drummers as individuals, but rather what they created with the band.
Secondly, I never said that Matt wasn't part of the band. I will respect and always be a fan of PJ no matter who they have drumming for them. I have consistantly stated that there are different forms of PJ, depending on their current sound and who is drumming in an effort to include the drummer as a part of the whole and to give credit to that person for shaping that particular form or sound of the band.
Thirdly, I also never said that Dave A was responsible for the energy that PJ had in the early 90's. I spent an entire paragraph above giving credit to Dave K for helping to create that spark. I was simply saying that I liked Dave A's style and PJ at the time that he was in the band was like an f'ing powder keg, ready to blow at anytime. I don't really agree with the idea that the energy came from MLB or their attitude either. That energy was drawn from the unique combination of the PJ members.
Finally, I feel I should clarify one of my previous statements. I'm not saying that Matt is a boring drummer. Matt is a great drummer. His style IMO just isn't as flashy or somehow just doesn't stand out for me as the style of the other drummers. All of PJ's drummers have been great. I attempted to put them in my personal order. That means someone has to be last.

Evolution6579

I think that Matt Cameron is THE BEST DRUMMER IN ROCK MUSIC! Jack was okay. He is kinda spastic like John Bonham. Dave Krusen was very good. Dave A. was too much of a tool. He tried to add too much ALL THE TIME! Matt Cameron is FUCKING AMAZING! He adds so much to the music, offbeat fills, PERFECT timekeeping. He is a human drum machine. Ever heard of My Wave by Soundgarden? Scratch that! Ever heard ANY song by Soundgarden? Crazy time signatures! This whole BULLSHIT about In My Tree? Irrelevant! Watch the Matt Cam version of In My Tree on TB2K. Same tribal-esque drumming, only better cause Matt, unlike Jack, can keep a beat. Plus, Matt writes awesome songs!

Edit:I take it all back(I still mean every word of it) cause Matt is the drummer and there is no way PJ is getting rid of him. We all have to look at it in terms of embracing the music. Makes much more sense to live in the present tense.

StuffnJunk

the one place i feel matt hits way too hard is the middle of betterman, right before "she loved him"......he goes way overboard, its a ballad for gods sake

enharmonic

gluten919 wrote:

from the liner notes of lost dogs:

ED: matt cameron writes songs and we run to find step stools in order to reach his level...what comes naturally to him leaves us with our heads cocked like the confused dogs that we are....eventually getting it. did we mention HE's THE GREATEST DRUMMER ON THE PLANET?

i think that says it all!

Matt Cameron is a musical genius. Ed is 100% correct in his observation and statements about Matt as a writer. Y'all owe it to yourselves to checkout some Wellwater Conspiracy

The Kids Are Alright

Milestone wrote:

My only complaint about Matt, is how PJ had to change "In My Tree" to fit his style of drumming. The new version of this song is just a shadow of what it used to be. I miss it. Jack was incredible on No Code/Yield.

boston 00 matt can play jacks part very well

MissYouAllDay

I once hit a pot with a spoon to the beat of La bamba.
I can say with authority, that I am a much better drummer than all 3. You guys should hear my animal drumming. You'd never go back.

Guitarhero27

I'd like to add my opinion to this:

Favorite Drummer in terms of syncopation/accents on certain parts of songs - Matt (example, Hail Hail, corduroy)

Favorite Album as a whole: Yield (with jack)

Best performer of Fuckin Up: Dave A

Best Riffs: Ten

Best Mood: No Code

I'm all over the place hehe

-Seth

Thumbing My Way

gluten919 wrote:

from the liner notes of lost dogs:

ED: matt cameron writes songs and we run to find step stools in order to reach his level...what comes naturally to him leaves us with our heads cocked like the confused dogs that we are....eventually getting it. did we mention HE's THE GREATEST DRUMMER ON THE PLANET?

i think that says it all!

Good call!!