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.

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

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.

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.

The music has had a certain quality that people like just because it's a real true expression of how we are as musicians.

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.

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.

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

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

I've always liked to be the kind of drummer and musician who likes to go outside of what's expected of me.

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

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

I think it's really important these days to be able to relate to how the music flows and be able to speak the same language as your bandmates and the producer, rather than just talking drums.

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.