In my last band, Soundgarden, I had a couple of different drummers sit in on some stuff and it was fun for me to kind of take a break and watch the band.

Creatively, I thought we were still viable and could do more records. But our working relationship just wasn’t happening at all, and our chemistry as people broke down because of that.

No matter how much success you’re having, you can’t continue working together if you can’t communicate.

I guess by taking lessons early on, and really trying to play all the rudimentary stuff, and try to have it sound as good as my teacher. It took a lot of practice, which I enjoyed, and still do.

I show up ready to play, so I normally try and fit the situation.

But I’ve always liked to be the kind of drummer and musician who likes to go outside of what’s expected of me, and I’ve always been able to do more than you necessarily hear with every band I’ve ever played in.

In my last band, Soundgarden, I had a couple of different drummers sit in on some stuff and it was fun for me to kind of take a break and watch the band.

I would never want to live in L.A., and I made that decision years ago, so I never chose that path for myself, although I have much respect for those that do it at a high level.

When I first went on tour with PJ in ’98, I was still in shock having gone through the Soundgarden break up.

I try and stay limber, swim, run, ride motorcycles.

So, I just kind of played the way I played and then eventually we kind of figured out what worked best for the band. So, I definitely changed my stuff up and I think we’re playing really tight now.

Like I’m in San Diego today and this is my hometown so I’ve got a lot of my friends coming and I definitely want to put on the best show that I can.

I’ve talked to some drummers who seem to have a very hard time staying in shape on the road, including some drummers touring with high-profile acts that don’t have to live on fast food every night.

I’m always going to get more of a charge playing Chicago than I will Duluth or some place like that. Just because of the history and the people there are way more knowledgeable than a lot of other cities. It’s an amazing music scene with some great bands and great musicians.

Whenever Elvin Jones comes to Seattle I try to go catch him.

Live life to the fullest, and focus on the positive.

I still felt we had some really good music on that record, but it’s a shame that we couldn’t make it better. And the tour was a total mess. We just had no life, no energy, and I felt we were going through the motions.

Ben was more improvisational, and relied less on methodology, and basically is a guitarist who switched to bass, whereas Jeff has a more traditional approach to playing bass in a band, and has a great sense of what his band sounds like, and we lock up nicely.

The fact that Eddie Vedder likes to play 3 hour plus shows a night, I have to be ready for that.

I think every band is a little cautious when the drummer starts to write tunes.

I always loose a little weight on the road, so I constantly have to be on top of my nutrition and hydration.

For me, I just try to make sure I eat enough and drink enough water and that’s about it.

A lot of times, when a band finds success with a certain style or sound, they have a really hard time breaking away from that to grow as artists.

I love the way Pharell is laying down great drum tracks. He is a great drummer.

My recording career has luckily run the gamut of recording environments.

Little things can make such a big difference during recording.

If PJ Harvey ever came to town I’d definitely go try to go see her.

Joining another big time rock band was the last thing I was looking for, but as the tour went on, I really dug playing to a lot of people, the band sounded great, and just being out there again, got me over my depression and so I decided to hop on board.