Jack Irons

Drummer Jack Irons has played with some of rock's biggest names over the years, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, and Neil Young. Born on July 18, 1962, Irons was raised in Los Angeles, and it was while as a student at Fairfax High School that he befriended Hillel Slovak, Anthony Kiedis, and Michael Balzary. Soonafter, Irons and Slovak (who played guitar) formed a band called Anthym, while the pair eventually began to jam with Kiedis on vocals and Balzary on bass (the later of which had adopted the nickname Flea). The group merged punk and funk, and added their colorful sense of humor, as evidenced by their original name, Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem. By their first show however in 1983, the quartet was re-christened the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Although the group caused a major stir in the overcrowded L.A. music scene with their outrageous and high energy stage show, Irons and Slovak refused to take the group seriously, as they jumped ship (on the eve of the Peppers signing a record contract) to record with another local group, What Is ThisNULL.