Jason Hartless

Personal life

Jason Michael Hartless was born on November 5, 1994, in Detroit, Michigan and was the first child of Jason and Shelly Hartless. Hartless grew up in Fraser, Michigan, where he graduated high school from Fraser High School in 2013. He started to play drums at 6 months old and grew up listening mainly to bands such as The Who, T-Rex, The Sweet, Kiss and Styx. Hartless cites Corky Laing, Eric Singer, Mick Tucker and Buddy Rich as early influences to his playing style.

Career

At a very early age, Jason was always intrigued by the drums and was born into a musical environment. His father, Jason was a professional drummer in the Detroit area. By five, Hartless began playing cover gigs with an all-adult band around Metro Detroit. A videotape of Jason playing the Mountain (band) song, “Nantucket Sleighride” caught the eye of Mountain drummer, Corky Laing, who then contacted Jason’s family inquiring to work with him. In 2002, Laing began mentoring Hartless and by that summer they began recording Hartless’ solo album entitled, First Division. For two years, Laing commuted from Toronto to Detroit to work and record with Jason until the record was released in the summer of 2004. First Division included Hartless on drums and vocals, Laing on guitar and vocals and Richie Scarlet from the Ace Frehley Band on guitar and bass.

In 2005, Hartless was asked to come to Millbrook Recording Studios in Millbrook, New York to record a track on Richie Scarlet’s release, Revelation Supreme. During this session, Jason met legendary drummer, Anton Fig; Fig was cutting a track on Scarlets’ record as well. During Figs session, Anton showed Hartless some of his techniques for charting music and recording drums in the studio. In late 2005, Hartless joined forces with the Toys for Tots foundation and began a yearly Rockin' 4 Tots drive outside a Toys R US in Suburban Detroit. Various musicians from the Detroit area participated every year for this daylong event, such as Vinnie Dombroski from Sponge and Joey Gaydos from the film, School of Rock.

In early 2007, Hartless got a call from Brian Schram, ex-lead guitar player for Uncle Kracker, to come to Toronto and record a track on his 2007 release, Disturbing The Peace because their drummer had a family emergency and had to cancel last minute. A few months later, Jason received another call from Schram to fill in on drums with his band, The Brian Schram Band, who was opening for Les Claypool the next night at the Rave Ballroom in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Hartless was offered the full-time seat after the show. Hartless toured across the east coast of the US in the summer of 2007 with the Schram Band supporting the release of, Disturbing The Peace at the age of 12. In October 2007, Hartless and the band flew to Winnipeg, Manitoba and recorded some demos with former Nickelback producer, Dale Penner. During a run of shows in Toronto, Corky Laing suggested that the name of the band be changed from The Brian Schram Band to Shram.

During January 2008, Shram began the 2 month long, Loco Tour with The Dreaming as direct support. Throughout the year, Hartless and the band recorded the theme songs for The Next Bite and John Gillespie’s Woods and Water fishing television shows on Versus TV.

At 14 years old, Hartless and Shram toured on Mötley Crüe’s Crue Fest 2 North American tour in the summer of 2009 in support of the band's release, Shut Up and Press Play.

In April 2011, Jason released his debut educational DVD, Learn To Rock Drums With Jason Hartless And Friends, partnered with Drumfun and distributed through Hal Leonard.

In the summer of 2012, Jason studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA and received a full tuition scholarship for the Berklee summer program. During his time studying there, Hartless studied with percussion education legend, Kim Plainfield.

In late 2012, Hartless joined Pistol Day Parade. With the band riding off of high popularity in the Michigan/Mid-West region, Goomba Music signed the band to a record deal. The band’s debut release, BURN was released in the summer of 2013. The first single off of BURN entitled, Not Today charted at #34 on the Mainstream Rock Charts in October of 2013. During the summer of 2014, Pistol Day Parade toured with fellow Detroit native, Ted Nugent on the Shut Up and Jam tour. Rockstars Girlfriend, the last single off of the band's release, charted at #19 on Mainstream Rock charts in Fall of 2014.

In Spring of 2016, Hartless replaced Dokken drummer, Mick Brown on drums for Ted Nugent. Hartless is also the in-house session drummer at Pearl Sound Studios in Canton, MI for producer Chuck Alkazian.

Selected Discography

Equipment

Pearl Drums: Wood-Fiberglass Series

Sabian Cymbals

Remo Drumheads

Jason Hartless Signature Vater Drumsticks 5A model