Pearl Jam hopes to play shows next year as drummer search continues

Pearl Jam is still looking for a drummer after Matt Cameron left the band, but bassist Jeff Ament says the group hopes to play some shows next year.

“There’s no hurry” to find a replacement, Ament told music magazine Under the Radar. But, at 63, he said he felt some urgency to perform while the band members were still physically fit. “I think I can behave like a young idiot on stage for a few more years,” he said.

Cameron joined Pearl Jam in 1998 and announced last year that he was leaving. Ament said Cameron had begun questioning his future in the band after the 2017 death of Chris Cornell, his Soundgarden bandmate. Cornell died by suicide, Ament said. He described Cornell’s death as a major shock, particularly for Cameron, and said Cameron had at one point been unsure whether he wanted to continue playing at all.

Cameron has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with both Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.