Creativity Quote by Matt Cameron

It reads like band diplomacy, but there’s real aesthetic friction underneath. Matt Cameron isn’t just contrasting two players; he’s sketching two philosophies of what bass is supposed to do in rock. Calling Ben “a guitarist who switched to bass” is praise with an edge: it signals agility, melodic instinct, and risk-taking, but also hints at a tendency to roam, to treat the low end as another lead voice rather than the song’s load-bearing wall. “Improvisational” and “less on methodology” frames Ben as feel-first, spontaneous, maybe even willfully untidy in a way that can be thrilling live and messy in the pocket.

Jeff, by contrast, gets the language of craft and stewardship. “Traditional approach” doesn’t mean boring; it means structural. Cameron’s key compliment isn’t about chops but about systems thinking: Jeff “has a great sense of what his band sounds like.” That’s a producer’s ear inside the lineup, someone who understands arrangement, frequencies, space, and how the bass can glue rhythm and harmony without demanding attention. The phrase “we lock up nicely” is drummer code for trust. It’s about the pocket as a relationship, not a skill.

Contextually, it’s also a subtle narrative of evolution. Cameron, a veteran of bands where groove has to coexist with guitar density, is affirming why a more anchored bass approach matters when the songs need weight, clarity, and repeatable power night after night. The subtext: bands don’t just hire musicians; they hire solutions to their own chaos.