A safe place for discussion and appreciation of Jack Irons.

[Birds in Hell]

Look very closely and you'll see the possibility for a reunion of sorts...

THIS IS GETTING CLOSE.

It's a guarantee that Ed does something with Jack right?

I sure hope so.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[E.H. Ruddock]

Doug doesn't want to get yelled at

[evenslow]

Could see them maybe doing acoustic w/ drums version of Who You Are or Around the Bend or MFC or Low Light.

[swan]

"Hearing It Doubled" is the tits

[evenslow]

[evenslow]

Apparently they played Shine On You Crazy Diamond.

[Birds in Hell]

Apparently they played Shine On You Crazy Diamond.

[Birds in Hell]

[Birds in Hell]

Jack played on Hard Sun and RITFW during Ed's set.

Great to see them playing together again but man, I wish they'd made time to rehearse some other stuff.

[evenslow]

Jack played on Hard Sun and RITFW during Ed's set.

Great to see them playing together again but man, I wish they'd made time to rehearse some other stuff.

Well the most we can hope for is they started to express some illicit thoughts of musical adultery backstage. That old hag Cameron hasn't been treating Eddie right in years.

[Jorge]

I am not 100% clear on the specifics of Jack's departure from PJ. I understand it's something related to health (physical or mental) and not being able to keep up with the band's long shows.

So I guess what I'm asking is, are there any shows where that's noticeable? Like is he sloppy at any point during his final tour? Or is it more a matter of the band having to cut their sets short to accommodate him?

[Birds in Hell]

Well, that's the line the band has adopted, that Jack's issues meant the shows were suffering, but I honestly don't hear it.

Jack's been open about having mental health issues and I think that's really the root of why he left. As far as I understand, he decided to ease himself off whatever medication he was taking in early 1998 and this coincided with the Australian/NZ leg of the Yield tour during which he had a very bad time. I think his playing is fantastic on all of those shows but I gather he was really struggling with the stresses of touring life, no doubt compounded by the knowledge that a lengthy US tour was due to follow shortly thereafter. At some point in the gap between the Australian and US legs of the tour, he told the band he couldn't face the idea of going out on tour again and so they had to find someone to fill in.

Thing is, this arrangement was never announced as Jack leaving the band. Certainly throughout 1998, the official line was that Jack is still the band's drummer and Matt is just temporarily filling in on live shows until Jack's health improved. Obviously it didn't pan out that way - and Matt, even in 2000, still said in interviews that he considers himself to be "filling in" and not really a proper member.

My opinion is that having Matt join the band seemed like a breath of fresh air; he comes across as a very likeable, reliable, no nonsense dude and is seemingly inexhaustible on the drums. Though nominally, Jack was still the drummer, I think once Matt was in the band that their focus shifted towards keeping him, rather than bringing Jack back. I do wonder what level of support they gave Jack during that period and whether there was ever an awkward a conversation where Jack asked if the door was still open to come back (as they were still saying publicly) and they gave him a disappointing answer.

Anyway, out of either perceived respect for Jack's privacy or some kind of post-hoc justification for replacing him, the band seem to have taken the line in recent years that Jack couldn't physically handle the shows and that the music was suffering. In my opinion the recordings don't bear that out; in fact his playing seems particularly great during that run of shows. I think it's become a handy excuse for the band but it doesn't ring true.

[Strat]

I thought he was suffering from severe carpel tunnel syndrome at the time?

[Norah]

Well, that's the line the band has adopted, that Jack's issues meant the shows were suffering, but I honestly don't hear it.

Jack's been open about having mental health issues and I think that's really the root of why he left. As far as I understand, he decided to ease himself off whatever medication he was taking in early 1998 and this coincided with the Australian/NZ leg of the Yield tour during which he had a very bad time. I think his playing is fantastic on all of those shows but I gather he was really struggling with the stresses of touring life, no doubt compounded by the knowledge that a lengthy US tour was due to follow shortly thereafter. At some point in the gap between the Australian and US legs of the tour, he told the band he couldn't face the idea of going out on tour again and so they had to find someone to fill in.

Thing is, this arrangement was never announced as Jack leaving the band. Certainly throughout 1998, the official line was that Jack is still the band's drummer and Matt is just temporarily filling in on live shows until Jack's health improved. Obviously it didn't pan out that way - and Matt, even in 2000, still said in interviews that he considers himself to be "filling in" and not really a proper member.

My opinion is that having Matt join the band seemed like a breath of fresh air; he comes across as a very likeable, reliable, no nonsense dude and is seemingly inexhaustible on the drums. Though nominally, Jack was still the drummer, I think once Matt was in the band that their focus shifted towards keeping him, rather than bringing Jack back. I do wonder what level of support they gave Jack during that period and whether there was ever an awkward a conversation where Jack asked if the door was still open to come back (as they were still saying publicly) and they gave him a disappointing answer.

Anyway, out of either perceived respect for Jack's privacy or some kind of post-hoc justification for replacing him, the band seem to have taken the line in recent years that Jack couldn't physically handle the shows and that the music was suffering. In my opinion the recordings don't bear that out; in fact his playing seems particularly great during that run of shows. I think it's become a handy excuse for the band but it doesn't ring true.

This is how I've always understood it as well.

[evenslow]

I thought he was suffering from severe carpel tunnel syndrome at the time?

There's that clip in Single Video Theory of them dumping ice buckets on his arms.

[Strat]

I thought he was suffering from severe carpel tunnel syndrome at the time?

There's that clip in Single Video Theory of them dumping ice buckets on his arms.

I thought that was also why they had guest drummers for many of their shows together so that jack could take a break.

[Birds in Hell]

I thought he was suffering from severe carpel tunnel syndrome at the time?

There's that clip in Single Video Theory of them dumping ice buckets on his arms.

I thought that was also why they had guest drummers for many of their shows together so that jack could take a break.

I wouldn't say it was many times - Dave Grohl jumped on drums for the last (or next-to-last) song four times on the 1995 Aus/NZ tour and Chad Smith jumped on for Maggot Brain that one time, also in 1995.

Never happened after 1995 and I suspect it was probably an opportunistic thing, like Chad playing on RITFW in New Orleans or when Dave jumped on drums again for one song a few years back.

The idea that Jack couldn't handle the shows is, in my opinion, a bit of an obfuscation the band have willingly encouraged over the years to justify having cut him loose when they landed Matt.

Yes, he had to ice his arms and whatnot, but I've listened to a lot of shows and can't hear that it was affecting the band's performances.

Jack's not the first drummer they've treated as ultimately expendable. Particularly in the early days of the band, I think they've been very single-minded in trying not to let anything derail their career to the extent that they treated some of those guys quite poorly. I'm sure they know it too to some degree and it makes them uncomfortable, hence the half-answers and excuses that don't add up, etc. (speaking in reference to Krusen and Abbruzzese here too)

[wease]

The idea that Jack couldn't handle the shows is, in my opinion, a bit of an obfuscation the band have willingly encouraged over the years to justify having cut him loose when they landed Matt.

Maybe it had less to do with he couldn't handle the shows and more his stamina wouldn't handle the big tour coming up. Keep in mind a US Pearl Jam tour with Jack, up to that point, consisted of, what, 12-15 shows? And those were spread out over a couple of months. Maybe they recognized he physically wouldn't do well with a larger scale tour.

[Birds in Hell]

The idea that Jack couldn't handle the shows is, in my opinion, a bit of an obfuscation the band have willingly encouraged over the years to justify having cut him loose when they landed Matt.

Maybe it had less to do with he couldn't handle the shows and more his stamina wouldn't handle the big tour coming up. Keep in mind a US Pearl Jam tour with Jack, up to that point, consisted of, what, 12-15 shows? And those were spread out over a couple of months. Maybe they recognized he physically wouldn't do well with a larger scale tour.

I think Jack himself was daunted by the idea, but my point is that I think his issues were largely mental, rather than physical.

Jack seems quite comfortable talking about that but the band don't, I think it's easier for them to compartmentalise it as a physical issue than admit that they essentially fired the guy (or let him walk away) because of mental health problems.