Early years McGerr was born and raised in
Bellingham, Washington. At age ten, he began learning to play the drums in order to get into his middle school band. By 16, he was playing paid gigs at local bars. In a 2018 interview with
KEXP, he stated that he knew he wanted to do drumming professionally when he heard
Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog" for the first time at 14. He was an avid fisher growing up, and worked at H&H Sporting Goods, a local fly shop, throughout high school. McGerr was previously in the bands Krusters Kronomid and
Eureka Farm, as well as the
jazz trio Rockin' Teenage Combo. In the
Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage documentary, McGerr identified drummer
Neil Peart as his hero.
Death Cab for Cutie McGerr joined the
Bellingham, Washington-based indie rock band
Death Cab for Cutie in early 2003, to replace drummer Michael Schorr. Two members of the band,
Ben Gibbard and Nick Harmer, had previously played in Eureka Farm, where McGerr was Gibbard's replacement. McGerr debuted on Death Cab for Cutie's fourth album,
Transatlanticism, released in October 2003, featuring two songs co-written by McGerr. The release of
Transatlanticism to critical acclaim and strong commercial performance (and eventual
gold certification by the
Recording Industry Association of America) brought Death Cab for Cutie mainstream success. Speaking in 2003,
Benjamin Gibbard notes that he "definitely believe[s] this will be the last drummer we'll ever have. It's kind of come full circle. It makes more sense having him than it has anyone else that's ever played with us."
Other projects McGerr was a guest performer on
Tegan and Sara's album
The Con, released in July 2007, and can be seen recording in studio with them on the DVD entitled
The Con DVD by Tegan and Sara. He also played drums for their next album,
Sainthood, released in October 2009. McGerr played drums on half of the tracks on
Matt Nathanson's 2007 album,
Some Mad Hope, and was a guest drummer on Nathanson's 2009 album,
Modern Love. McGerr also performed drums on three songs for his Death Cab for Cutie bandmate
Chris Walla's debut solo album,
Field Manual, released in 2008. In June 2007, McGerr opened his own recording studio, Two Sticks Audio, located in
Seattle. Various act have recorded there, including
Smoosh,
Barcelona, Only Human,
Moros Eros,
Grand Archives,
David Bazan,
Mark Kozelek,
Matt Cameron of
Pearl Jam,
Tegan and Sara, Alligators and Death Cab for Cutie. After the opening of his studio, McGerr began working with
Swedish music computer software company
Propellerhead Software, on an expansion pack for their software program
Reason 4. The pack was "The Jason McGerr Sessions", and it is available as a "ReFill" from the Propellerhead website, and as a stand-alone from the Drummerheads website. McGerr is an instructor at the Seattle Drum School and has also helped and mentored teen indie-pop group Smoosh (
Chaos Chaos). ==Equipment==