Why Pearl Jam Fired Dave Krusen & Whatever Happened to Him?

Why Pearl Jam fired Dave Krusen & Whatever happened to the band's first drummer.

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I cite my sources and they may differ than other people's accounts, so I don't guarantee the actual accuracy of my videos.

Formed in the aftermath of Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam would go through five drummers in just an eight year span. While I’ve previously talked about Dave Abbruzzese in my videos and included a link to that story down below, some of you have requested me to do a story on whatever happened to the Pearl Jam’s first drummer Dave Krusen who played on the group’s landmark debut record Ten. Let’s explore the full story in today’s video and if you guys have requests for me use the link in the description box below and put as many requests as you guys like.

Pearl Jam members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament would be members of influential Seattle bands Green River and Mother Love Bone prior to forming Pearl Jam. It was following the death of Mother Love Bone frontman Andrew Wood the pair soon turned their attention to a new project and enlisted guitarist Mike McCready. Prior to finding a frontman they started jamming with drummer Dave Krusen. Krusen would recall to Rolling Stone how he joined the early incarnation of Pearl Jam stating

A friend of mine, was in a band called Son of Man. They played a lot of shows with Mother Love Bone and Soundgarden. He actually told me that Jeff Ament said they were looking for drummers to jam with and they mentioned me. Jeff said, “Tell him to call me. I’m in the phone book.” So I looked them up in the phone book and called Jeff and he said, “Do you want come down and jam and bring drums?” I was like, “Definitely.” I was a huge Mother Love Bone fan. …I went down there and we played for about a couple of hours. I thought it sounded great. In the same interview Krusen admitted he wasn’t sure what was going on with the singer situation and two days after that initial jam Eddie Vedder showed up to audition recalling to Rolling Stone They asked me if I wanted to come back the next day and I was like, “Of course.” Then Ed came up a couple of days after that. I had never heard of him, never met him, knew nothing about him. I met him at the rehearsal space and he just started singing off the bat.

By this point in Pearl Jam’s early career they were using the monicker Mookie Blaylock named after then current NBA Player and the band already had demos of the songs ‘Black’ and ‘Alive.’ Soundgarden and Temple of the Dog drummer Matt Cameron had played on the demos but was already committed to Soundgarden and Jack Irons who helped the band find Eddie Vedder was initially offered teh drumming spot but declined at the time. Krusen recalled to Rolling Stone working on the drum parts for the songs from Ten:

I tried to approach them like he did (referring to Matt Cameron), but obviously I can’t play as good as him, so I tried to turn them into my own thing. But yeah, those songs just came together really easily. Stone would start in on a riff, whether it was song he had going or one where he just started on a riff, even if it just an idea, and ten minutes later we’d pretty much worked it into something we could work with.In late 1990 the band played their first set of shows and soon became the opening act for Alice in Chains during a west coast tour when they were promoting their debut record Facelift. Soon enough they got signed to Epic Records and renamed themselves Pearl Jam.

Krusen would play drums on the band’s debut album Ten and it was following the recording of the record he played a few more shows with the band before e was ultimately fired. He would admit in the book everybody loves our town that his final gig with the group would be the wrap party for the Cameron Crowe film singles. Krusen’s drinking had became so out of control with him admitting “i just wanted to party & get fucked up. When we did the photo shoot for the album, i got some beer & halfway through the shoot, i started to fall asleep.” He would recall not remembering the shoot after seeing photos of it and the band had to put sunglasses on Krusen and prop him up against the wall. In addition to struggling with alcohol Krusen would admit in the same book that he had gotten his girlfriend (or as he referred to and i quote “my kind of girlfriend” and he had gotten her pregnant and tried to do the right thing and stick around and help raise the kid. Admittin

[danielleal]

My sister got a copy of “Ten” in Oct.-Nov. 1992. I’ve got to be thankful to Kruse and everyone else from PJ for making it possible for the great tunes from that album to rock that time of my teenage years...

[JoshGordonGuitar]

Krusen will always be legendary for his work on Ten. And it's a crime that Abbruzzese was not inducted into the RnR HOF.

[ozlopez]

He helped Pearl Kam sound. I still love listening to all thier music. I feel the sorrow and ok im happy vibes. It was darker than anything on radio but with a message

[leafbelly]

I've always thought that Krusen played a big part in Pearl Jam's early success. The drum grooves he came up with on songs like "Why Go, " "Jeremy" and "Even Flow" were pretty unique for that time period. Just about everything on the radio back then was full of straight 4/4 beats with the kick on beats 1 or 1 and 2, and snare on 3. The laid back feel with the kick drum being on the off-beats gave that album such a unique feel and it really stood out among the crowded rock scene back then.

[indamaking]

Ten is such a special album, it’s transcendent, you can hear the mother love bone but also leaning towards pillars of innovation

[craigrock]

What I love and what inspires me about Eddie was his emotions he expressed while singing. The way he just let go and let his body go in response was just incredible!

[jackjdolan]

I owned a music store called Sluggo Music in Tacoma, Wa.. We had a rehearsal space in the back and Dave would rehearse there with a band I believe called Tin Drum. I played in a classic rock cover band and Dave filled in on drums a few times. Excellent drummer and nice guy. He had to quit subbing for us as Mookie Blaylock was starting to take off. Wherever he is I hope he's happy and doing well. He's a good guy !

[MKYeahBuddy]

Awesome story!! Glad they’re amicable!

[Player-]

Krusen was the perfect drummer for the band. Ten is their greatest record.

[stanleyphillips]

How about a video about why pat smear left foo fighters ? Why Franz stahl left?

[TheKevinNewsom]

What a ride! Glad that DK turned his life around.

[lesflynn]

It sounds like Dave's problems involved a bit more than just booze. If he was blitzed enough to fall asleep while drumming then usually there's something else going on. Whatever it was, I'm glad he's sorted his life out. But on another matter, it's f-ing rude that the other drummer Dave wasn't indicted into the R&R Hall of Fame.

[jackcalebo]

Dude for the love of God. Please do dada. 90s band with a one hit wonder dizz knee land. But also puzzle which is such a lost gem of the 90s.

[debonaire_nerd]

It's always a tough decision when a band needs to find...a Better Man.

[daBEAGLE]

It must have been tough being a drummer in the Seattle scene.

[curtislindsey]

I know they aren't everyone's cup of tea but I love Pearl Jam. They all seem like genuinely decent people. I snuck into their sound check once and they didn't say anything. I expected to be kicked out but they just did their thing and let me watch.

[marshall]

I saw him drum for Hovercraft at Sit N Spin in Seattle. He was the most intense drummer I've ever seen! They didn't play songs, they would just play one, single set-long jam. He rocked out HARD with not one single pause!! Just as they ended he walked from the stage to the bathroom where I saw him throw his guts up. I was shocked he was standing! Thar must've been like running a marathon!

[stevenfunderburg]

Actually I didn't realize that Dave and Eddie's joining PJ overlapped each other like that. Interesting. Plus I live in Fresno. Horrible, horrible place. Under no circumstances should anyone ever come here.

[RichardFriendartist]

sounds like a somewhat positive end to the story. good one!!

[KurbzGarage]

They didn't fire him he quit because he didn't want to tour and was a radio DJ also he joined a super group Unified Theory