Matt Cameron Clarifies That He’s Not Retiring After Pearl Jam Exit

Matt Cameron isn’t done making music. After the drummer shocked fans by announcing his exit from Pearl Jam, he took to his Instagram Story to clarify that his departure wasn’t a retirement announcement.

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“Thank you for the kind words of support,” he wrote, “and for the record, I’m still an active musician.”

In his initial post announcing the Pearl Jam news, Cameron offered “much love and respect to Jeff [Ament], Ed [Vedder], Mike [McCready] and Stone [Gossard] for inviting me into the band in 1998 and for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime, filled with friendships, artistry, challenges and laughter.”

“I am forever grateful to the crew, staff and fans the world over,” Cameron added. “It’s been an incredible journey. More to follow. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.”

What Will Matt Cameron Do Next?

How Cameron will use his musicality remains to be seen. He joined Pearl Jam in ’98 after his former band, Soundgarden, broke up.

Soundgarden’s frontman, Chris Cornell, died in 2017. Since then, the surviving members have come into possession of Cornell’s final vocal tracks.

They’ve often floated the possibility of using them to create Soundgarden’s final album. Now that Cameron is out of Pearl Jam, fans are hoping that possibility may be more likely than ever.

Back in May, guitarist Kim Thayil discussed the idea in an interview with Rolling Stone.

“Our objective and goal was always to complete that [album],” Thayil said. “I probably have OCD enough to not want to leave something unfinished or incomplete like that, so I think the more we can attend to our body of work and our catalog.”

Thayil noted that he believes “everyone in the band feels that way,” before sharing that he has “pride for what I did and I want to see that come out.”

“It is us collectively. We want to do it proud. And that part of us is certainly one of the most intimate components of what Soundgarden has been since 1984,” he said. “It would be a great gift to the fans. And I do think about this, and I don’t know how strange this sounds, but I feel like it’s a gift to Chris too.”

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