Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament recently spoke about the exit pact he made with drummer Matt Cameron, which he later backed out of. He discussed it in an interview with Rolling Stone about Cameron’s departure from the band last year. Ament said the two had joked about leaving after three more years, and that Cameron took the idea seriously.
Ament described how the two bandmates discussed the timeline.
“[Matt Cameron] and I even joked sometimes, like we would say, like, ‘So what we got, like three more years left …?'” Ament said. “And he’d be like, ‘Yeah, yeah. That sounds about right. Three more years.’ Like, ‘So we’ll both be 60. Yeah, that’ll be perfect.'”
Ament then explained how the other band members might have reacted to the conversation.
“And I think it would maybe make the other guys a little bit nervous,” he continued. “But I was joking, and then it turns out that he wasn’t.”
The comments come as Pearl Jam moves into a new chapter without one of its longest-serving members. Cameron’s exit ended a run of nearly three decades, and the band has now taken its first public steps toward a new lineup.
Cameron joined Pearl Jam in 1998 after Soundgarden broke up. He took over the drum seat from Jack Irons and first played with the band on the Yield Tour. Over the next 27 years, he played on every Pearl Jam studio album from Binaural through last year’s Dark Matter.
Cameron announced his departure on Instagram in July 2025, shortly after the band wrapped up a tour. He thanked Ament, Eddie Vedder, Mike McCready and Stone Gossard for inviting him into the band and giving him “the opportunity of a lifetime.”
Pearl Jam has since revealed who is sitting behind the kit. Abe Laboriel Jr., a longtime touring drummer for Paul McCartney, joined the band at a surprise appearance during Vedder’s solo set at the Ohana Festival in California. Laboriel played with the band again during its headlining set two days later. Those shows were the band’s first since Cameron left. Laboriel had previously recorded with Vedder on “Picture,” which features Elton John, on Vedder’s 2022 album Earthling.
Ament said the search for a replacement moved quickly because Laboriel stood out right away.
“He’s the first name that came up,” Ament said, adding, “I hope he’s our full-time drummer, but I don’t know if he will be.”
The band has not yet named Laboriel as Cameron’s permanent replacement. Its plans for the future remain open.
