Longtime Pearl Jam Member Foreshadowed His Departure From the Band With a Seemingly Innocent Joke - VICE
Founding Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament has revealed that he and longtime drummer Matt Cameron used to joke about when they would leave the band. Often, the jokes centered on having “three more years left” with the group, leaving after turning 60. For Ament, these were simply jokes, and he thought Cameron was on the same page.
But in 2025, those jokes turned out to be serious for Matt Cameron. After 27 years as Pearl Jam’s longest-running drummer, Cameron announced his departure. His bandmates thanked him for almost three decades of service to the band, which began in 1998. Cameron was on drums for every Pearl Jam album and countless tours since then.
Meanwhile, on September 25, 2026, Jeff Ament released a photography book titled Since Forever, presenting a collection of his black-and-white photographs paired with written passages. Of course, there are images and tales of his years with Pearl Jam, and Ament described some background details of those moments while speaking with the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast. There, he revealed a joke he shared with Cameron about when they would leave Pearl Jam.
“[Matt Cameron] and I even joked sometimes, like we would say, like, ‘So what we got, like three more years left …?’ 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 began. “And I think it would maybe make the other guys a little bit nervous. But I was joking, and then it turns out that he wasn’t.”
Matt Cameron publicly announced his departure from Pearl Jam with a post on the band’s Instagram, thanking bandmates Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, and Stone Gossard. He concluded with, “It’s been an incredible journey. More to follow. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.”
A year later, Jeff Ament said that he understands where Cameron was coming from. “I get it, man,” he told Rolling Stone. “You get to be 60, and we’re lucky to be here at 60 still. But you also have, like, maybe some unrealized dreams and other things you wanna do, and maybe the unrealized dream is like you just wanna sit at home with your wife. Could be just as simple as that.”
So, while the joke about leaving Pearl Jam wasn’t really a joke for Matt Cameron, it remained pretty light-hearted for Jeff Ament. He added that he’s not ready to stop performing any time soon, and a lot of that comes down to how much he loves being in the band.
“Every once in a while we have a show where I’m like, ‘Ah, f**k, man. I’ll put that up against any 25-year-old band,’” he said. “I just f***ing love hanging out with these guys so much.”
