Dave Abbruzzese Says Pearl Jam Reunion Is “Too Icy” To Happen

With Matt Cameron officially stepping away from Pearl Jam after nearly three decades, fans were quick to fire up the reunion wishlist — and right at the top of it? Dave Abbruzzese.

But according to the former drummer himself, a return is highly unlikely. Not because he’s not up for it, but because the band isn’t picking up the phone.

Abbruzzese, who played on Vs. and Vitalogy during PJ’s most feral and commercially volcanic era, took to Facebook to set the record straight after being bombarded with messages from hopeful die-hards. And while he kept things classy, there was no sugar-coating it.

“I have nothing to reconcile with them about,” he wrote, while acknowledging the bitter taste left by his firing in 1994 and what followed — management fallout, label friction, industry shade. “The water under the bridge runs too deep and too icy,” he added. “It’s a shame and saddens me greatly.”

For fans still stuck on the dream of Abbruzzese sliding back behind the kit, the message was pretty clear: stop asking. But not without a twinge of “what if.”

“I know I could and would have much to contribute if the call came,” he said. “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t curious, also.”

Abbruzzese has kept busy in the decades since (not just drumming in the shadows of nostalgia), but his legacy with Pearl Jam remains a sore spot. Despite being a critical part of the band’s early DNA, he’s never been invited back into the fold — even when the band was inducted into the Rock Hall in 2017, he was left out.

With no official replacement for Cameron named yet, fans are still speculating. OG drummer Dave Krusen is a frontrunner. So are Richard Stuverud and Josh Klinghoffer. But for now, don’t expect a return of the thunderous fills that made Go and Animal slap so hard.

Too much time. Too many ghosts. And too much frost on that bridge.