by Jason Riggs for MUSICMATCH
“We hate each other. It’s pure black-hearted hate for all. I can’t stand those guys,” jokes former Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron when discussing his ex-bandmates. In a more genuine tone he adds, “I’m so glad we broke up when we did. We’re so much more bros now than we ever really were. It’s way more fun to hang out with them now.”
by Chris Middleman for Soberhead.com (site no longer active)
With their third installment of sonic mayhem entitled The Scroll and its Combinations (TVT) released in late May, the shadowy figures known as the Wellwater Conspiracy have crafted eleven fine songs intended to set the human ear ablaze with psychedelic fever. Matt Cameron (ex-Soundgarden, Pearl Jam) and John McBain (ex-Monster Magnet) returned after 1998’s Brotherhood of Electric: Operational Directives to release what will probably be 2001’s most underrated album. The Scroll’s millennial psychedelic garage rock features guests such as Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil and Ben Shepherd, the Walkabouts’ Glen Slater, and the Wardencliffe Trio Project.
Jennifer Maerz for Spin.com
Former Soundgarden/current Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron and Monster Magnet founder John McBain are no strangers to alt rock, but that doesn’t make them great fans of the stuff. Sick of mainstream mediocrity, in 1992 the two formed the Wellwater Conspiracy, a band that takes leave of the stale present, and brings rock back to the more experimental days of ’60s psychedelic garage. McBain spoke with Spin.com last week all about the Wellwater genesis, evolution, and what the future holds.
from The GW Hatchet
Drummer Matt Cameron, fresh off a tour with Pearl Jam after appearing on the band’s Live on Two Legs live CD and more than 70 live albums, has managed to make some studio time of his own. Wellwater Conspiracy, Cameron’s collaboration with Monster Magnet founder John McBain will release its third album, The Scroll and Its Combinations (TVT) later this month.
by Adrian Gregory Glover
Check it out, most musicians have idiosyncrasies that define their style to the point where it’s damn near impossible for them to break out of certain patterns. In most cases that’s not a bad thing since it gives we the people a benchmark to hold onto when we hear new material on the radio or the street.
by Kathleen Richards, Music Research Editor, Gavin
Two members of the Seattle music scene have come together in the form of a sonically skewing dynamic duo called Wellwater Conspiracy.
by Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
Even after a grueling 75-date tour of Europe and North America, Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron wasted no time getting back into the studio. He and cohort John McBain (ex-Monster Magnet) wrapped “The Scroll And Its Combinations,” their third full-length under the moniker Wellwater Conspiracy, and are already working another new album. “Scroll,” the band’s first set for TVT, drops May 22.
Wellwater Conspiracy’s Matt Cameron and John McBain were preparing for another evening in their studio in Seattle after the city was rocked by an earthquake Wednesday (February 28) morning.
Former Soundgarden and fill-in Pearl Jam drummer Cameron told LAUNCH about the quake. “I was out for a walk with my son and my dog and didn’t feel a darn thing. Pretty soon after that my wife, she drove up in the car to where we were walking to and said, ‘Didn’t you feel the earthquake?’ So I missed out and I’m bummed, man! Because it sounded like it was a huge one. But we lucked out because it could have been a lot worse. We’ve got a lot of hazardous, old, crumbling structures here in Seattle that are resting on a fault line.”
He added, “At least there’s no tidal wave.” As for his blown opportunity, he lamented, “It rolled for almost a minute. I missed it!”
Cameron and McBain’s Wellwater Conspiracy is releasing The Scroll & Its Combinations through TVT Records on May 29, and Cameron said the band is also seven songs into the next album.
by Jessica Letkemann
(Reprinted as an edited version of the interview with permission from Tickle My Nausea.)
It’s just not every day that an interview with a member of Pearl Jam comes your way, so when it came to light that Matt Cameron, PJ’s extraordinary drummer, was into having another conversation with TMN (see TMN #14 for the first TMN Matt Cameron interview), I jumped at it. You might have noticed that a band called Wellwater Conspiracy was mentioned quite a bit during last year’s Pearl Jam tour. Wellwater is Matt’s other musical family and with a really cool new album (late 60s sounding garagey psych-rock) called The Scroll and it’s Combinations, he and co-Conspirator John McBain pulled up a chair to talk on a warm, bustling May afternoon in the comfortable confines of a lounge in the downtown Manhattan offices of TVT records.
by Andrew Shal Feb 2001 for Nodzine.com
First, thank you very much for agreeing to do the interview and for responding so promptly. Please feel free to elaborate as much as you wish, as space is not an issue, and if you would like I could ask follow-up questions / redirections. Finally, neither Don nor myself are under any sort of time crunch, so please don’t feel rushed. On with the show…