Matt Cameron | Soundgarden and Pearl Jam's drummer
Matt Cameron played on Superunknown and Ten's successors both. His odd-time grunge, the Keplinger snare, and his Yamaha and Zildjian rig explained.
Two of the four bands that defined Seattle had the same drummer. Not at the same time, exactly — but for a long stretch in the 2010s, very nearly.
Matt Cameron is the reason Soundgarden sound like a prog band that swears, and a large part of why Pearl Jam still sound like a band rather than a heritage act. He has been doing one or the other since 1986.
Here is the most quietly technical drummer the grunge era produced.
Who is Matt Cameron?
Matt Cameron was born on 28 November 1962 in San Diego, California, and moved to Seattle as a young man — arriving at exactly the right moment, though nobody knew it yet.
He joined Soundgarden in 1986, replacing Scott Sundquist, and stayed for the whole run: Ultramega OK, Louder Than Love, Badmotorfinger (1991), Superunknown (1994) and Down on the Upside.
When Soundgarden split in 1997 he went out as a touring drummer with Pearl Jam — and never left. He has been their drummer since 1998, on Binaural, Riot Act, Pearl Jam, Backspacer, Lightning Bolt, Gigaton and Dark Matter (2024).
For a while in the 2010s he did both bands at once, which is a scheduling problem most drummers would decline.
What Matt Cameron actually does
He writes in odd time and makes it sound like rock. This is the Soundgarden trick and it is entirely his and Chris Cornell’s doing. “Spoonman” is in 7. “My Wave” is in 5. “The Day I Tried to Live” moves between 7 and 4. None of them sound like maths — they sound like riffs, because Cameron puts the weight where your body expects it.
He is a heavy hitter with a light touch on the hats. The contrast between his snare — enormous — and his hi-hat work, which is quick and detailed, gives his playing a texture most hard rock drummers do not have.
He is a genuine songwriter. He wrote or co-wrote a significant chunk of the Soundgarden catalogue, including “Fell on Black Days” and “Spoonman”. Drummers who write songs tend to be better arrangers, and it shows.
He plays Pearl Jam’s back catalogue as himself. He did not attempt to copy Dave Abbruzzese or Jack Irons. Pearl Jam songs from before 1998 sound different with him behind them, and better for it.
He is unfussy. Enormous kit, minimal showboating. He is there to hit the thing at the right moment.
The Black Hole Sun snare
Worth its own paragraph. The snare drum on Superunknown — the one on “Black Hole Sun” and “Spoonman” — is a Gregg Keplinger custom cast steel drum, 14”x7”.
Keplinger is a Seattle drum builder, and that raw, huge, slightly ugly cast-steel tone is a big part of why Superunknown still sounds like nothing else. Cameron has kept the drum in his touring rig ever since.
Dark Matter, and 2024
Drumeo’s voters gave him Rock Drummer Of The Year in 2024, on the strength of Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter — a record made fast, live in a room, and the best-reviewed thing the band have done in twenty years.
He has since stepped back from the Pearl Jam touring chair, and the band’s drum stool has become a story of its own — which we covered in Pearl Jam’s mystery drummer and in the wider Drummergeddon round-up of the 2026 line-up changes.
Matt Cameron’s drum kit
His gear has moved through three phases.
- DW, early on — a Gray Slate kit with a 22”x18” kick, 12”x8” and 13”x9” toms and a 15”x13” floating floor tom.
- Yamaha since the 2000s. He moved to Yamaha and has stayed: Birch Custom Absolute first — higher-pitched than maple with fewer overtones, which suits a loud band — then Oak Custom from around 2009, and a custom Maple Hybrid in flat black as his road kit.
- The snares. The Keplinger cast steel 14”x7” is the famous one. A 14”x6” sits alongside it.
- Cymbals — Zildjian. A dark, dynamic setup rather than a bright rock one: 14” K Light hats, a 17” K Custom Dark crash, an 18” K Crash Ride, a 19” Projection crash, a 20” Rezo crash and a 22” A Medium ride, with K Sweet and Paper Thin models in the mix.
- Hardware — Yamaha, including the FP9500C double-chain single pedal. One pedal, no double kick.
- Heads — Remo, coated Controlled Sound on the snare.
Every era, with buy links, is on Matt Cameron’s Rig Vault page.
Want the sound without the rig?
Two things, and one of them is free.
Get a deep metal snare. 14”x7” in steel or brass. That is 60% of the Superunknown sound, and a good used one costs less than a cymbal. Our snare buying guide covers what shell material actually changes.
Then stop double-kicking. Cameron plays this entire catalogue on one pedal, and the restraint is why the heavy parts land. Try a whole rehearsal with the second pedal unbolted.
The Gear Guru will spec the rest to a budget.
Where to start listening
- Soundgarden — “Spoonman” (1994). 7/4 that grooves so hard nobody noticed.
- Soundgarden — “Jesus Christ Pose” (1991). Relentless, and the best argument for his stamina.
- Soundgarden — “The Day I Tried to Live” (1994). Shifting metre used as songwriting.
- Pearl Jam — “Wreckage” / Dark Matter (2024). Live-in-a-room, sixty-one years old, still enormous.
- Pearl Jam — “Life Wasted” (2006). Him playing straight rock, extremely well.
Final thoughts
Cameron is a technical drummer whom almost nobody calls a technical drummer, which is the highest compliment available. The odd time signatures on those Soundgarden records are as adventurous as anything in nineties rock, and they went straight onto daytime radio because he made them feel normal.
Two of the biggest bands of a generation, thirty-eight years, one bass drum pedal.
See Matt Cameron’s full rig in the Rig Vault, read about Pearl Jam’s drum chair, or have a look at Dave Grohl — the other Seattle drummer who took over a very large band.