Former drummer Dave Abbruzzese reflects on the tour cancellation

mace1229 said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

mrussel1 said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

mrussel1 said:

heartofadog said:

mrussel1 said:

heartofadog said:

nautical_disaster said:

These Dave threads make me curious about royalties. Since pearl jam was in the golden age of CD sales, am I naïve to think that Dave would be set for life? I know these boards aren't about gossiping, and I don't want to speculate - I just remember a thread a while back where Mike mentioned that decades later he was still getting a few grand of royalty payments from ten.

Dave is a millionaire. Not to the extent that the other guys in the band are but, unless he's been extremely careless with his finances, he is not going to be "serving us fries" (as another poster put it) at any point in his life.

There's zero chance he's a millionaire.  I bet he's been broke for decades.  I know for a fact he has sold some of his original tapes (Stuffins) to fans.  These are tapes of either versions of Alone, Wash, etc.  You wouldn't do that if you were a millionaire. 

There is not, in fact, "zero chance" he's a millionaire. There are plenty of reasons a person harboring a decades-long grudge would sell those tapes. 

There was not a GoFundMe for his daughter. There was a FB "birthday fundraiser" in which he asked folks to contribute, on his birthday, to his daughter's ongoing education. 

That said, being a millionaire and being extremely wealthy are two different things, so absolutely, his life is nowhere near the same as the rest of the guys in the band, but Dave is not broke, has not "been broke for decades." 

Sorry, no one is going to convince me that Dave A is wealthy today for drumming on two records.  

Yeah two records that combined to sell like 15 million copies. And he's credited as songwriter on every song except for Nothingman, Better Man, Satan's Bed, and Stupid Mop. That wouldn't make him "wealthy." As Chris Rock said once, "Shaq is rich, the white man that signs his check....he's wealthy." But "zero chance he's a millionaire" isn't correct either. There's a good chance he's a millionaire. Or at least he certainly once was one. Who knows about these days. 

I 100% agree that he was a millionaire at some point.  There is no doubt.  I am talking specifically about today.  What has he done with his life for the past 25 years?  Anything of note?  Does he have a job?  Does he gig?  If he had 2MM tax free 25 years ago, that's only 80k per year as of today, and he would be wiped out.  Does anyone think he invested 2MM?  Negative. 

Your guess is as good as mine. All I know that he's done since leaving the band is....

-Something called "Green Romance Orchestra." I've never checked it out.
-Some sessions for Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy record
-Played Rearviewmirror virtually with a bunch of fans for the band's 30th anniversary

That's all I got. 

You can add “stopped paying rent on a storage shed” to that list.

mace1229 said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

mrussel1 said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

mrussel1 said:

heartofadog said:

mrussel1 said:

heartofadog said:

nautical_disaster said:

These Dave threads make me curious about royalties. Since pearl jam was in the golden age of CD sales, am I naïve to think that Dave would be set for life? I know these boards aren't about gossiping, and I don't want to speculate - I just remember a thread a while back where Mike mentioned that decades later he was still getting a few grand of royalty payments from ten.

Dave is a millionaire. Not to the extent that the other guys in the band are but, unless he's been extremely careless with his finances, he is not going to be "serving us fries" (as another poster put it) at any point in his life.

There's zero chance he's a millionaire.  I bet he's been broke for decades.  I know for a fact he has sold some of his original tapes (Stuffins) to fans.  These are tapes of either versions of Alone, Wash, etc.  You wouldn't do that if you were a millionaire. 

There is not, in fact, "zero chance" he's a millionaire. There are plenty of reasons a person harboring a decades-long grudge would sell those tapes. 

There was not a GoFundMe for his daughter. There was a FB "birthday fundraiser" in which he asked folks to contribute, on his birthday, to his daughter's ongoing education. 

That said, being a millionaire and being extremely wealthy are two different things, so absolutely, his life is nowhere near the same as the rest of the guys in the band, but Dave is not broke, has not "been broke for decades." 

Sorry, no one is going to convince me that Dave A is wealthy today for drumming on two records.  

Yeah two records that combined to sell like 15 million copies. And he's credited as songwriter on every song except for Nothingman, Better Man, Satan's Bed, and Stupid Mop. That wouldn't make him "wealthy." As Chris Rock said once, "Shaq is rich, the white man that signs his check....he's wealthy." But "zero chance he's a millionaire" isn't correct either. There's a good chance he's a millionaire. Or at least he certainly once was one. Who knows about these days. 

I 100% agree that he was a millionaire at some point.  There is no doubt.  I am talking specifically about today.  What has he done with his life for the past 25 years?  Anything of note?  Does he have a job?  Does he gig?  If he had 2MM tax free 25 years ago, that's only 80k per year as of today, and he would be wiped out.  Does anyone think he invested 2MM?  Negative. 

Your guess is as good as mine. All I know that he's done since leaving the band is....

-Something called "Green Romance Orchestra." I've never checked it out.
-Some sessions for Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy record
-Played Rearviewmirror virtually with a bunch of fans for the band's 30th anniversary

That's all I got. 

You can add “stopped paying rent on a storage shed” to that list.

cp3iverson said:

BF25394 said:

According to Ed, Matt remained in Arizona after testing positive.  That implies that he tested positive on Tuesday.  The first Oakland show was Friday.  They had time to scramble to figure out how to replace him.  In all likelihood, they found out about Jeff's positive test late Wednesday morning (or Jeff had tested negative but started feeling poorly on Wednesday morning).  That did not give them much time to figure out how to replace him.

One thing I want to point out here, and I do intend to imply any disrespect to Matt, whose absence was clearly felt in Oakland and Fresno as exciting as those shows were, but there are four things that every Pearl Jam show in history have in common: Eddie Vedder, Mike McCready, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament.  Even the infamous San Francisco show in 1995 had Eddie for seven songs.  They have played many shows without Matt.  They have never played a show without Jeff.  If there were a show without Jeff, would it be a Pearl Jam show?

They played a show without Stone

Cropduster-80 said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

mrussel1 said:

heartofadog said:

mrussel1 said:

heartofadog said:

nautical_disaster said:

These Dave threads make me curious about royalties. Since pearl jam was in the golden age of CD sales, am I naïve to think that Dave would be set for life? I know these boards aren't about gossiping, and I don't want to speculate - I just remember a thread a while back where Mike mentioned that decades later he was still getting a few grand of royalty payments from ten.

Dave is a millionaire. Not to the extent that the other guys in the band are but, unless he's been extremely careless with his finances, he is not going to be "serving us fries" (as another poster put it) at any point in his life.

There's zero chance he's a millionaire.  I bet he's been broke for decades.  I know for a fact he has sold some of his original tapes (Stuffins) to fans.  These are tapes of either versions of Alone, Wash, etc.  You wouldn't do that if you were a millionaire. 

There is not, in fact, "zero chance" he's a millionaire. There are plenty of reasons a person harboring a decades-long grudge would sell those tapes. 

There was not a GoFundMe for his daughter. There was a FB "birthday fundraiser" in which he asked folks to contribute, on his birthday, to his daughter's ongoing education. 

That said, being a millionaire and being extremely wealthy are two different things, so absolutely, his life is nowhere near the same as the rest of the guys in the band, but Dave is not broke, has not "been broke for decades." 

Sorry, no one is going to convince me that Dave A is wealthy today for drumming on two records.  

Yeah two records that combined to sell like 15 million copies. And he's credited as songwriter on every song except for Nothingman, Better Man, Satan's Bed, and Stupid Mop. That wouldn't make him "wealthy." As Chris Rock said once, "Shaq is rich, the white man that signs his check....he's wealthy." But "zero chance he's a millionaire" isn't correct either. There's a good chance he's a millionaire. Or at least he certainly once was one. Who knows about these days. 

Even if he is a millionaire you absolutely can’t retire on that  at age 27 or whenever it was. It’s next to impossible at 65 if that’s your entire retirement portfolio as I bet his social security wages for the last 30 years were sporadic at best.

plug 1 million into a retirement draw down calculator. It’s not a lot so whatever the number is doesn’t matter, it’s not wealthy or set for life 

mace1229 said:

Cropduster-80 said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

mrussel1 said:

heartofadog said:

mrussel1 said:

heartofadog said:

nautical_disaster said:

These Dave threads make me curious about royalties. Since pearl jam was in the golden age of CD sales, am I naïve to think that Dave would be set for life? I know these boards aren't about gossiping, and I don't want to speculate - I just remember a thread a while back where Mike mentioned that decades later he was still getting a few grand of royalty payments from ten.

Dave is a millionaire. Not to the extent that the other guys in the band are but, unless he's been extremely careless with his finances, he is not going to be "serving us fries" (as another poster put it) at any point in his life.

There's zero chance he's a millionaire.  I bet he's been broke for decades.  I know for a fact he has sold some of his original tapes (Stuffins) to fans.  These are tapes of either versions of Alone, Wash, etc.  You wouldn't do that if you were a millionaire. 

There is not, in fact, "zero chance" he's a millionaire. There are plenty of reasons a person harboring a decades-long grudge would sell those tapes. 

There was not a GoFundMe for his daughter. There was a FB "birthday fundraiser" in which he asked folks to contribute, on his birthday, to his daughter's ongoing education. 

That said, being a millionaire and being extremely wealthy are two different things, so absolutely, his life is nowhere near the same as the rest of the guys in the band, but Dave is not broke, has not "been broke for decades." 

Sorry, no one is going to convince me that Dave A is wealthy today for drumming on two records.  

Yeah two records that combined to sell like 15 million copies. And he's credited as songwriter on every song except for Nothingman, Better Man, Satan's Bed, and Stupid Mop. That wouldn't make him "wealthy." As Chris Rock said once, "Shaq is rich, the white man that signs his check....he's wealthy." But "zero chance he's a millionaire" isn't correct either. There's a good chance he's a millionaire. Or at least he certainly once was one. Who knows about these days. 

Even if he is a millionaire you absolutely can’t retire on that  at age 27 or whenever it was. It’s next to impossible at 65 if that’s your entire retirement portfolio as I bet his social security wages for the last 30 years were sporadic at best.

plug 1 million into a retirement draw down calculator. It’s not a lot so whatever the number is doesn’t matter, it’s not wealthy or set for life 

If you’re smart about it you totally can. I don’t know how royalties work or the details of their contract, but if he just got 10 cents a record that 1.5 million just from album sales. Add touring in their heyday, even though were cheap they were still selling out and playing a lot. $3 million dollars and you are careful and invest, if you get a 3% return you’re getting 90k a year without touching the original investment.
Thats not a wealthy lifestyle, but it certainly isn’t broke.
Now do I think he didn’t spend his money and invested it instead? Probably not. Especially since he probably expected to be in the band longer.
 But a couple million dollars in your 20s, you can definitely make that work if you plan ahead. Most people probably don’t if they fall into it though.

Merkin Baller said:

mrussel1 said:

Merkin Baller said:

PJammer4life said:

The reason his is missed by us old timers was because was a fucking beast on that kit. I never met the guy, but heard most of the boots.

https://youtu.be/60jhpgpU-JE

Speak for yourself, this old timer is glad the band moved on from him. 

Me too.  I love MFC's drumming.  I think he's amazing.  He's not just a cement mixer, he's technical, he has jazz root (which I love) and the band is so tight with him.  That's the thing that stood out most in Oakland.  They were all over the place and loose.  It was cool for a show or two, but I wouldn't want that all the time.  

Yup... I prefer MFC's Soundgarden work over his PJ work, as i think he was just a more dynamic drummer w/ SG, but that's also a whole different animal than PJ.

I agree with everything you said about the band being tight around him. The guys is a f'ing machine behind the kit, a true joy to watch. 

For my money though, the Jack Irons albums are my runaway favorites, so by default, he's my favorite PJ drummer. 

BF25394 said:

cp3iverson said:

BF25394 said:

According to Ed, Matt remained in Arizona after testing positive.  That implies that he tested positive on Tuesday.  The first Oakland show was Friday.  They had time to scramble to figure out how to replace him.  In all likelihood, they found out about Jeff's positive test late Wednesday morning (or Jeff had tested negative but started feeling poorly on Wednesday morning).  That did not give them much time to figure out how to replace him.

One thing I want to point out here, and I do intend to imply any disrespect to Matt, whose absence was clearly felt in Oakland and Fresno as exciting as those shows were, but there are four things that every Pearl Jam show in history have in common: Eddie Vedder, Mike McCready, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament.  Even the infamous San Francisco show in 1995 had Eddie for seven songs.  They have played many shows without Matt.  They have never played a show without Jeff.  If there were a show without Jeff, would it be a Pearl Jam show?

They played a show without Stone

I stand corrected.  What were the circumstances?  I don't remember this.

Spiritual_Chaos said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

mrussel1 said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

mrussel1 said:

heartofadog said:

mrussel1 said:

heartofadog said:

nautical_disaster said:

These Dave threads make me curious about royalties. Since pearl jam was in the golden age of CD sales, am I naïve to think that Dave would be set for life? I know these boards aren't about gossiping, and I don't want to speculate - I just remember a thread a while back where Mike mentioned that decades later he was still getting a few grand of royalty payments from ten.

Dave is a millionaire. Not to the extent that the other guys in the band are but, unless he's been extremely careless with his finances, he is not going to be "serving us fries" (as another poster put it) at any point in his life.

There's zero chance he's a millionaire.  I bet he's been broke for decades.  I know for a fact he has sold some of his original tapes (Stuffins) to fans.  These are tapes of either versions of Alone, Wash, etc.  You wouldn't do that if you were a millionaire. 

There is not, in fact, "zero chance" he's a millionaire. There are plenty of reasons a person harboring a decades-long grudge would sell those tapes. 

There was not a GoFundMe for his daughter. There was a FB "birthday fundraiser" in which he asked folks to contribute, on his birthday, to his daughter's ongoing education. 

That said, being a millionaire and being extremely wealthy are two different things, so absolutely, his life is nowhere near the same as the rest of the guys in the band, but Dave is not broke, has not "been broke for decades." 

Sorry, no one is going to convince me that Dave A is wealthy today for drumming on two records.  

Yeah two records that combined to sell like 15 million copies. And he's credited as songwriter on every song except for Nothingman, Better Man, Satan's Bed, and Stupid Mop. That wouldn't make him "wealthy." As Chris Rock said once, "Shaq is rich, the white man that signs his check....he's wealthy." But "zero chance he's a millionaire" isn't correct either. There's a good chance he's a millionaire. Or at least he certainly once was one. Who knows about these days. 

I 100% agree that he was a millionaire at some point.  There is no doubt.  I am talking specifically about today.  What has he done with his life for the past 25 years?  Anything of note?  Does he have a job?  Does he gig?  If he had 2MM tax free 25 years ago, that's only 80k per year as of today, and he would be wiped out.  Does anyone think he invested 2MM?  Negative. 

Your guess is as good as mine. All I know that he's done since leaving the band is....

-Something called "Green Romance Orchestra." I've never checked it out.
-Some sessions for Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy record
-Played Rearviewmirror virtually with a bunch of fans for the band's 30th anniversary

That's all I got. 

His time with GnG predates anything considered ”Chinese Democracy” I think. He was there when Duff was still in the band. But maybe some jam that is CD connected happened at that time. 

I am no GnR expert. 

And the best drummer Pearl Jam has ever had is Matt Chamberlain. On the live disc that came with the To Venus and Back album. No contest. 

BF25394 said:

cp3iverson said:

BF25394 said:

According to Ed, Matt remained in Arizona after testing positive.  That implies that he tested positive on Tuesday.  The first Oakland show was Friday.  They had time to scramble to figure out how to replace him.  In all likelihood, they found out about Jeff's positive test late Wednesday morning (or Jeff had tested negative but started feeling poorly on Wednesday morning).  That did not give them much time to figure out how to replace him.

One thing I want to point out here, and I do intend to imply any disrespect to Matt, whose absence was clearly felt in Oakland and Fresno as exciting as those shows were, but there are four things that every Pearl Jam show in history have in common: Eddie Vedder, Mike McCready, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament.  Even the infamous San Francisco show in 1995 had Eddie for seven songs.  They have played many shows without Matt.  They have never played a show without Jeff.  If there were a show without Jeff, would it be a Pearl Jam show?

They played a show without Stone

I stand corrected.  What were the circumstances?  I don't remember this.