Jay Lane

Jay Lane is an American drummer, born 5 December 1964 in San Francisco, who has spent four decades near the centre of the Bay Area's jam, funk and improvised-rock scene. He started playing at nine and cites Weather Report as a formative influence, and came up through local bands including Ice Age, the ska-punk group The Uptones from 1983 to 1985, and the Freaky Executives, who signed to Warner Bros. He was the fifth drummer in Primus in 1988 and returned to the band from 2010 to 2013, played in Sausage with Les Claypool and Todd Huth, and held the drum chair in the Charlie Hunter Trio in the mid-1990s. He co-founded the hip-hop and jazz group Alphabet Soup, which released Layin' Low in the Cut in 1995 and Strivin' in 1996. In April 1995 he became a founding member of RatDog with Bob Weir and Rob Wasserman, staying until the band stopped touring in July 2014 and appearing on Evening Moods in 2000 and Live at Roseland in 2001. He was a charter member of Furthur from 2009 to 2010, and in November 2014 joined Golden Gate Wingmen with Jeff Chimenti, John Kadlecik and Reed Mathis, a band that records and releases every show it plays. In 2018 he formed Wolf Bros with Weir and producer Don Was, a trio that later expanded with the Wolfpack horn and string section and issued Live in Colorado and Live in Colorado Vol. 2 through Third Man Records in 2022. He stood in with Dead & Company from 2021 and was its regular drummer for the 2023 farewell tour. Since 2023 he has also led his own group, Jay Lane and the Mayhem.

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