Jack was interviewed for the new issue of DRUM magazine, plenty of great Vedder quotes in there too - he's put the interview up for download on his website:
http://www.jackirons.com/publicfiles/Irons.pdfHere's some of the choice quotes:
EV: "So there was this kind of hour-and-fifteen-minutes in the dark where I really got to know Jack...and then we became friends and that ended up being pretty fortunate for both of us, but probably more so for me."
JI: "When I left Pearl Jam in '98, I wasn't in a good place. Honestly, the way I felt, the last thing on my mind was music. Music is, I believe, something you do when you're feeling strong. I pretty much had to kind of give up my career to get my life together."
EV: "No one plays like him. There's some kind of wild card, the way he hears things and the way he plays things that's completely his own."
JI: (on leaving Pearl Jam) "I just wasn't well enough to carry on. You've got to be fairly healthy go play for 15, 20, 30,000 people four or five times a week. You can't start to come unglued. There's thousands and thousands of people counting on you to do your job and to do it well. I just couldn't at the time."
JI: "When I was diagnosed [with bi-polar disorder] back in my twenties they said, 'when you get to your forties you might be able to turn a corner with this kind of thing.' And I think that's very accurate. I had to learn to decipher sort of what was real and what was in my head. And that took time."
EV: (on what might've happened if Jack never gave him Stone's demo) "I probably would have been the assistant manager at Longs Drugs, or a folk singer. I just don't know. But when I look back on my life, that was the critical juncture."
EV: (on Jack's input into Pearl Jam) "It is a very kind of democratic gang, so his input was not just rhythms and drums, but songwriting and arrangements and all kinds of things."
JI: (on Who You Are) "That beat was inspired by something I heard from a Max Roach performance. I don't recall the tune, but he could play with so much independence that it was amazing. So I tried to come up with something that I could do based on that inspiration."
EV: "Jack's ability to push and pull on either side of the beat - he could make it a little more extreme than it almost seemed possible."
EV: (on Jack leaving Pearl Jam suddenly) "As upsetting as it was at the time - it's not like I could have more respect for the guy - but I've always respected that decision. Because it's one thing to be completely devoted to music and feel it in an organic way and to be pure about it. And then it's another to be in a big band playing big shows and big tours and big records. And working with the machinery of rock and roll, and keeping a big band afloat business-wise, and all that. It's a balancing act, those two things. And it's completely understandable if it seems difficult for someone who's so purely dedicated to the art to have a hard time with the other side."
Dave Krusen: "Whatever's he's doing, he puts his stamp on it, which to me is the sign of not only a great drummer, but a true artist."
EV: (on the Vedder, Flea & Irons show in 2007) "It was beyond the beyond. It was completely invigorating. And we actually talked about doing some more later on that year. Physically, I couldn't do it. Otherwise, I would've. So maybe that door is still open."