{"id":863113,"date":"2026-09-28T03:38:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T03:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/863113\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T03:38:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T03:38:19","slug":"jeff-ament-interview-new-photo-book-pearl-jams-new-drummer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/863113\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Ament Interview: New Photo Book, Pearl Jam’s New Drummer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tPearl Jam<\/a> bassist Jeff Ament<\/a> is also a photographer, and you already know his work: He shot the sheep close-up on the cover of 1993\u2019s Vs., as well as the covers of 1998\u2019s Yield, 2002\u2019s Riot Act, and the 2003 rarities collection Lost Dogs. He\u2019s also been turning his camera on his bandmates since the early Nineties. His excellent new book, Since Forever<\/a> \u2014\u00a0created with his brother, designer Barry Ament \u2014 collects more than 250 of those black-and-white photos, along with his written reflections. <\/p>\n

\n

The book came out Sept. 25, the same night Pearl Jam played<\/a> their first show since Matt Cameron left, a surprise appearance at the Ohana Festival \u2014 with longtime Paul McCartney drummer Abe Laboriel Jr<\/a>. behind the kit. Vedder told the crowd Laboriel was helping out for the night, and the band hasn\u2019t said whether he\u2019s joined for good. Pearl Jam headline the festival tonight.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now<\/a>, Ament breaks down the stories behind the photos in Since Forever, and goes deep on Pearl Jam\u2019s early days, touring with Neil Young, the band\u2019s next chapter, and much more. To hear the whole episode, listen on Apple Podcasts<\/a> or Spotify<\/a>, or just press play above. Here are some highlights from the discussion:<\/p>\n

\n\tAment sold his camera to move to Seattle in 1983, and only got a new one when the Singles production told him to charge it to the movie. \u201cThose first two, three years that I lived in Seattle, there\u2019s literally, like, five pictures,\u201d Ament says. \u201cThat was the sacrifice I had to make. I had to sell my camera to move to Seattle. That was the high-dollar item. I think I got 100 bucks for it or something, which was a lot of money in 1983.\u201d That changed when Cameron Crowe brought him into the art department for Singles. \u201cThey needed pictures of something, and I said, \u2018I don\u2019t have a camera,\u2019 and they were like, \u2018Go get a camera.\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018What do you mean?\u2019 And they\u2019re like, \u2018Dude, just go get a camera and charge it to the movie.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018I can do that?’\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tAment\u2019s DIY streak kicked in when he learned that a photographer hired by the label might charge $8,000 for an hour, and that Pearl Jam was footing at least half the bill. \u201cThe funny thing is, a lot of that early stuff, I wasn\u2019t trying to document,\u201d Ament says. \u201cI was trying to come up with content for albums we were making, or at some point pretty early on, we were putting out newsletters, and we needed content for those newsletters. And even with album covers, it became apparent early on, like, you know, the label would hire a photographer, and then you\u2019d find out that we were paying for it or we were paying for half of it, and a photographer charged like $8,000 or something for an hour. And there was like that frugal DIY part of me that was like, \u2018That\u2019s ridiculous, man. Like, that\u2019s four times more than my camera equipment\u2019s worth. Like, I can do this shit.’\u201d <\/p>\n

Ament was surprised to see he had shot photos of a shirtless Eddie Vedder<\/a> in the vocal booth during the recording sessions for Ten. \u201cLooking at the contact sheets, I didn\u2019t know what those photos were,\u201d Ament says. \u201cYou\u2019re just going like, \u2018Man, that\u2019s weird. There\u2019s three photos in a row of, like, just the dark side of the studio.\u2019 And then when we digitize them and you put them on the screen, all of a sudden it\u2019s like, oh, he\u2019s singing in the booth there.\u201d He didn\u2019t clear the shots with the band. \u201cHopefully he\u2019s cool with me,\u201d he says. \u201cI didn\u2019t run any of this [by them].\u201d As for the missing shirt: \u201c\u2018Cause it was fucking hot, man. Those isolation rooms, they didn\u2019t have any air in them, so I\u2019m surprised he didn\u2019t have his Speedo on. Not that he has a Speedo, but\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe sheep on the cover of Vs. was following Ament along a fence on a Montana farm. He had no idea he was shooting an album cover. \u201cI could tell that this one sheep was following me along the fence, so I just started taking pictures of it, and it just kept trying to get through the fence,\u201d Ament says. \u201cIt was only when I got the contact sheet back, I was like, \u2018Wow, that\u2019d be a great cover,\u2019 \u2019cause we\u2019d already written \u2018Animal,\u2019 and there was a little bit of feeling of us against the world at that time, and us against the record company, us against, you know, whatever the machine. And so it sort of felt \u2026 so much more natural than the first album cover that was, you know, very literal. \u2026 It was cool to put the whole contact sheet, or most of the contact sheet, in there just to show people that I wasted a whole roll of film on that.\u201d For the record, Ament thinks it\u2019s a sheep, not an Angora goat, as some accounts have it.<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Pearl Jam backed Neil Young on the 1995 Mirror Ball tour, Young would spring songs on them 20 minutes before showtime. \u201cAlmost every show he\u2019d come back like 20 minutes before the show and he\u2019d be like, \u2018Hey, think we\u2019re gonna do \u201cMr. Soul\u201d tonight,’\u201d Ament says. \u201cAnd we\u2019d be scrambling around, like, pulling out a cassette of Decade. \u2026 Luckily Brendan [O\u2019Brien] had played a lot of those songs in bands when he was a kid, so he sort of knew what was going on. But we would literally be back there with our instruments, learning the song, and then we\u2019d go out in Berlin and play the song for the first time ever. Just hanging on by the seat of our pants.\u201d Young took the same approach onstage: \u201cHe would just decide, like, \u2018We\u2019re doing a 15-minute version of this song tonight,\u2019 and sort of, like, hit a couple of his pedals and his amps would get really loud, and you just have to come along.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAment and Matt Cameron used to joke that they had about three years left in Pearl Jam. Ament was kidding. Cameron, it turned out, wasn\u2019t. \u201cHe and I even joked sometimes, like we would say, like, \u2018So what we got, like three more years left \u2026?\u2019 And he\u2019d be like, \u2018Yeah, yeah. That sounds about right. Three more years.\u2019 Like, \u2018So we\u2019ll both be 60. Yeah, that\u2019ll be perfect,’\u201d Ament says. \u201cAnd 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\u2019t. \u2026 And I get it, man. You get to be 60 and we\u2019re 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.\u201d Still, Ament isn\u2019t ready to stop. \u201cEvery once in a while we have a show where I\u2019m like, \u2018Ah, fuck, man. I\u2019ll put that up against any 25-year-old band,’\u201d he says. \u201cI just fucking love hanging out with these guys so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPearl Jam\u2019s new drummer was everyone\u2019s first choice. \u201cIt was the first name that came up. \u2026 In our minds, let\u2019s start at the top,\u201d Ament says. \u201cAnd all of us have, like, really good friends who are drummers. \u2026 The hardest part was, like, telling \u2026 my friends who are, like, killer drummers that we had a guy.\u201d Speaking before the reveal, Ament wasn\u2019t ready to call it permanent: \u201cI hope this is our guy, but I don\u2019t know if it is. We haven\u2019t played a show yet, so it\u2019s pretty hard to be fully committed.\u201d When it\u2019s suggested the new drummer might turn out to be a robot, Ament plays along, referring to the band\u2019s endless takes of \u201cEven Flow\u201d: \u201cWe finally got the \u2018Even Flow\u2019 thing figured out. It really sits back on the choruses. We programmed it into this drum machine. It\u2019s amazing. You\u2019re gonna love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAment wants Pearl Jam to make a new album and tour next year. \u201cI would love that,\u201d he says of the possibility. \u201cWe\u2019re sort of due. \u2026 It\u2019s like we have some new energy, and like, we just have an opportunity to use that energy to the fullest and turn it into something different and something great.\u201d The band has only just started writing new music. \u201cI think everybody\u2019s writing, but we haven\u2019t really written a whole bunch of stuff together, but a couple of things that we have done are really good. So I think we understand the potential. \u2026 The time apart, you sort of sit with, like, \u2018Oh, shit, I can\u2019t wait to do this.\u2019 I\u2019m chomping at the bit. \u2026 But it\u2019s gonna take a little bit of time, at least a few months.\u201d He and Stone Gossard have been talking it through. \u201cIt\u2019s the same as it\u2019s always been with Stone,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have these conversations every week or two where it\u2019s like, \u2018Ah, we could do this, we could do this.\u2019 And it\u2019s like, \u2018Let\u2019s not get ahead of ourselves.’\u201d <\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tA former White House staff photographer reminded Ament that she\u2019d tried to stop him from taking pictures during Pearl Jam\u2019s Clinton-era visit. He\u2019d shot two rolls. \u201cMy friend Pat Williams, who was a congressman here in Montana, he passed away, and there was a funeral, and this lady came up to me,\u201d Ament says. \u201cShe\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, I was the White House staff photographer.\u2019 And she goes, \u2018I have a great photo of you guys.\u2019 And I said, \u2018Oh, yeah, I have a bunch of photos, too.\u2019 She goes, \u2018Yeah, \u2026 we were telling you you can\u2019t take photos in here.\u2019 I don\u2019t really remember that, but I do remember at that time being like, \u2018You invited us here. We didn\u2019t ask to come here. So I\u2019m gonna do whatever the fuck I want.\u2019 And so, yeah, I have two rolls of film from that trip, and a bunch of great pictures of us with Mudhoney before we got split up. \u2026 Bill didn\u2019t care, man. Bill was like, \u2018Where do you wanna go? I\u2019ll take you wherever you wanna go.\u2019 \u2018Can we go to the war room?\u2019 \u2018Yeah, sure. Let\u2019s go to the war room.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDownload and subscribe to Rolling Stone Music Now, hosted by Brian Hiatt, on Apple Podcasts<\/a> or Spotify<\/a>, (or wherever you get your podcasts). Check out 10 years worth of episodes in the archive, including in-depth interviews with Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, Questlove, Halsey, Neil Young, Snoop Dogg, Brandi Carlile, Phoebe Bridgers, Rick Ross, Alicia Keys, the National, Ice Cube, Taylor Hawkins, Willow, Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Dua Lipa, Killer Mike, Julian Casablancas, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Marr, Scott Weiland, Liam Gallagher, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Donald Fagen, Charlie Puth, Phil Collins, Justin Townes Earle, Stephen Malkmus, Sebastian Bach, Tom Petty, Eddie Van Halen, Kelly Clarkson, Pete Townshend, Bob Seger, the Zombies, and Gary Clark Jr. And look for dozens of episodes featuring genre-spanning discussions, debates, and explainers with Rolling Stone\u2019s critics and reporters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament is also a photographer, and you already know his work: He shot the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":863114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[364220,75109,88,364221,9612,8247],"class_list":["post-863113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-abe-laboriel-jr","tag-eddie-vedder","tag-entertainment","tag-jeff-ament","tag-pearl-jam","tag-rolling-stone-music-now"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=863113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}