Jack Irons

Jack Irons (born July 18, 1962 in Los Angeles, California, USA) is a drummer who has played for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, What Is This?, Redd Kross, Raging Slab, Joe Strummer and Latino Rockabilly War, Pearl Jam, and Eleven.

(1983-1988) Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Jack was a founding member of, and the original drummer for, the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He attended Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, California alongside Anthony Kiedis, Michael "Flea" Balzary and Hillel Slovak. He left the Red Hot Chili Peppers for What Is This? before the self-titled album was recorded and then came back later to help write and record the Chili Peppers' third album "The Uplift Mofo Party Plan".

When childhood friend and bandmate, Hillel Slovak died of a heroin overdose on June 25, 1988, Irons left Red Hot Chili Peppers due to the huge shock Slovak's death had on him. He entered therapy to overcome severe clinical depression the same year.

(1992-1993) Raging Stab

In 1992, Raging Slab (a band notorious for having over 25 different drummers over the course of their 18 year career), complete with Jack Irons on drums, began recording the follow-up to their 1989 RCA Records self-titled debut, with producer Michael Beinhorn at the helm. The entire album was recorded, mixed, and mastered; however when RCA Records executives heard the album, they complained that they couldn't hear another "Don't Dog Me" (a popular single on their previous album). The reason for this, the band replied, was "because that song is on our last record." RCA Records shelved the record and asked them to "try again," whereupon producer Rick Rubin bought them out of their RCA contract and asked them to make records on his label, Def American. Jack Irons had left the band by the time they recorded "Dynamite Monster Boogie Concert"; the album they made with him, titled "Freeburden," remains unreleased.

(1990;1994-1998) Pearl Jam

Jack Irons was asked to join Mookie Blaylock, the band that would become Pearl Jam in 1990, when they were first forming and still looking for a singer. Although he didn't join the band at that time because he was committed to his own band, Eleven, he did pass on a cassette of their work to a singer named Eddie Vedder, a respected local musician in San Diego at the time, with whom Irons had formed a friendship. Vedder joined the band and they recorded their debut album Ten, and Irons had no more to do with the project for the time being. Irons became the official drummer for the band in late 1994 following the departure of Dave Abbruzzese. He drummed on the Pearl Jam/Neil Young collaboration Mirror Ball (1995) and on the subsequent Pearl Jam records No Code (1996) and Yield (1998). He toured with the band up until his semi-retirement in 1998 prior to the US tour for Yield. He brought a unique drumming style to the band, particularly in the way he played his fills and using a trash can lid as a cymbal. He sang the Pearl Jam song "Whale Song" which was on their collection of B-sides entitled Lost Dogs. He is generally well respected by Pearl Jam fans for his contribution to their music during a difficult transitional period of their career.

Side projects

Aside from popular music, Jack has also worked as a drumming advisor and teacher for numerous US television projects. Jack has recently released his own album called Attention Dimension with Eddie Vedder singing vocals on Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond".