Twenty-seven years is a long time to share a drum kit — long enough that losing the person behind it feels less like a lineup change and more like a renegotiation of identity. Matt Cameron’s 2025 departure from Pearl Jam closed the longest chapter in the band’s percussion history. Cameron had been signaling for years that he wanted to slow down, pursuing other interests and winding down his touring commitments. Ament has said that Chris Cornell’s death was a major emotional blow — hitting Cameron particularly hard — and cast a long shadow over whatever came next. Ament described the split as deeply sad, though not entirely unexpected given how long these conversations had been building.
Pearl Jam has not named a replacement. No publicly announced shortlist has surfaced. Ament confirmed in a recent interview that the band is “still having those conversations.” One of rock’s last remaining arena-level institutions is currently operating without a permanent drummer — which is either a testament to their patience or a preview of how deliberate this decision will be.
On Loan, Not Signed
The Ohana Festival confirmed Pearl Jam is still very much alive — just not yet fully assembled.
At the 2026 Ohana Festival — Pearl Jam’s first live appearance since Cameron’s exit — Abe Laboriel Jr. sat behind the kit. If that name sounds familiar, it should: he’s spent more than two decades as Paul McCartney’s touring drummer, logging time at the highest level of arena rock. Eddie Vedder described the arrangement by saying McCartney had allowed the band to borrow Laboriel, reinforcing that the Ohana appearance was a performance arrangement, not an announcement. His existing McCartney commitments make any assumption of permanent availability premature, at best.
Ament says the band is “not in any massive rush” — but that calm has an edge to it. He’s also acknowledged a growing urgency to keep performing while the members can still do it at the level Pearl Jam demands from itself. That forward momentum coexists with a deliberate look back: Ament recently published Since Forever, a photography book collecting more than 250 black-and-white images from Pearl Jam’s formative years, many previously unpublished. That’s not panic or nostalgia for its own sake. That’s a legacy band members doing honest math about time.
Whoever eventually fills Cameron’s seat won’t just be taking a job. They’ll be deciding what Pearl Jam’s next chapter actually sounds like. That’s worth getting right.
