Jack Steven Irons (born July 18, 1962) is an American drummer. He is the founding drummer of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers and is a former member of Pearl Jam and Eleven.
Alongside his work with Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam, Irons has been a member of Eleven, The Wallflowers and Mark Lanegan Band. He has worked with Joe Strummer and The Latino Rockabilly War, Redd Kross, Raging Slab, Spinnerette and The Les Claypool Frog Brigade. In 1995 Irons and the other members of Pearl Jam recorded and toured the Mirror Ball album with Neil Young. Irons has released two solo albums, Attention Dimension (2004) and No Heads Are Better Than One (2010).
Irons was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2012. Irons, along with former drummer Cliff Martinez, joined the band onstage for the first time in 24 years for a performance of their 1991 hit "Give It Away". Irons was an opening act in 2017 for the Chili Peppers on The Getaway World Tour.
Biography
Early life
Jack Irons was born and raised in Los Angeles. He is from a Jewish background. Irons grew up using his family's cutlery as drumsticks, playing along to whatever was on the radio. He talked his parents into buying him a drum set, and took a drum class. Irons attended Bancroft Jr. High School in Hollywood, where he met future bandmates Michael "Flea" Balzary and Hillel Slovak. He then went on to attend Fairfax High School in Los Angeles alongside Balzary and Slovak, as well as future bandmates Anthony Kiedis and Alain Johannes. He and Slovak were both fans of Kiss, and they formed a tribute act. Irons was influenced by Jack DeJohnette, Stewart Copeland, and Keith Moon.
What Is This? and The Red Hot Chili Peppers
As teenagers, Irons, Johannes, Slovak, and schoolmate Todd Strassman formed the band Chain Reaction in 1976. After its first gig, the band renamed itself Anthym. Slovak, dissatisfied with Strassman's bass playing, taught friend Michael "Flea" Balzary to play then replaced Strassman with Flea. After graduating high school, the band changed its name to What Is This? after a question often asked by people who heard the band play. Flea soon departed to play bass in the prominent Los Angeles punk band Fear. What Is This? continued, performing many shows along the California coast.
In 1983, Flea formed a "one-off" band, Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem, with Kiedis, Slovak and Irons. Their performance was a hit and, after deciding to continue past the single concert, they changed their name to Red Hot Chili Peppers, quickly gaining popularity around Los Angeles. After six months, they earned a record deal with EMI and prepared to record its first album. Since What Is This? had signed a record deal two weeks earlier and Slovak and Irons considered the Red Hot Chili Peppers a side project, they quit. With What Is This?, Irons recorded 1984's Squeezed (EP), 1985's 3 Out of 5 Live EP, and a full-length self-titled album that same year. The band broke up following the album's recording as Slovak became frustrated with the band and rejoined the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In the meantime, Irons played on several recordings by Walk the Moon, a duo made up of Johannes and Natasha Shneider. In 1986, after learning that drummer Cliff Martinez had resigned, Irons returned to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Irons played drums on the Red Hot Chili Peppers' first demo tape and their third album, 1987's The Uplift Mofo Party Plan. When Slovak died of a heroin overdose on June 25, 1988, Irons again quit the band because he did not want to be part of a group where his friends were dying. In 2006, Irons said Slovak's death had been such a huge shock that he had been suffering from depression ever since.
On August 12, 2012, Irons and Martinez performed "Give It Away" with the Red Hot Chili Peppers at a Los Angeles concert. In 2017, Irons was an opening act for several dates on The Getaway World Tour.