Jason Hartless has performed with legendary artists such as Ted Nugent, Joe Lynn Turner & Mitch Ryder. Jason started drumming at the age of 6 months old. He created a buzz in the music industry and at 8 years old he recorded his first album with rock legends Corky Laing (Mountain), Richie Scarlet (Ace Frehley) and Jim McCarty (Cactus, The Rockets, Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels).
He started touring at 12 years old and has toured as the support act for Motley Crue, GodSmack, Ted Nugent, Theory of a Deadman, Drowning Pool, Rev Theory, Mountain and Warrior Soul just to name a few. From a young age he has been mentored by drummers such as Corky Laing (Mountain), Tommy Clufetos (Black Sabbath, Rob Zombie), Eric Singer (Kiss, Alice Cooper), Todd Sucherman (Styx), Anton Fig (Renown Session Drummer) and many more.
Jason has established himself as a first call session musician in the recording scene in Detroit and has played on countless albums and singles, as well as jingles that have been featured in commercials for Chevy, Art Van Furniture and many more. Jason is currently a student at the renowned Berklee College of Music working towards a masters degree in Music Business.
Music Madness sat down with Jason prior to his set with Ted Nugent.
Music Madness: What’s new in your world?
Jason: Well it’s crazy, because my life is always ever changing. I’m always going nonstop and this just another annual Ted Nugent tour, different cities, the same thing, just continuing the madness with him. I’m still in the process of finishing my degree at Berkeley. I actually graduate in May so it’s getting closer. But as soon as I graduate, I most likely will be going into the Master’s program just because it’s there. Just continuing that and just try to continue to build the resume.
Music Madness: You always seem to have your hand on the pulse of something exciting.
Jason: Yeah, this past record store day, we released a project that I was very, very, near and dear to my heart. I’m a big Jeff Porcaro and Vinnie Colaiuta fan. And there was a record that was recorded back in the late eighties…The Baked Potato, in Los Angeles, was a big jam spot for all the LA session musician and there was a band that consisted of just an all-star group of studio guys, Jeff Pocaro, Lenny Castro, Steve Lukather from Toto, Will Lee, David Garfield, Vinnie Colaiuta, Carlos Vega, and a bunch of other legendary studio LA guys.
They called the band, Los Lobotomys, and it just was a jam band that happened at The Baked Potato. Now there’s a record that was recorded in ’89 and it was released on CD and was seeing some good distribution in Japan. But it was still kind of somewhat under the radar here in the States. It’d never been released on vinyl so I’ve known about the record for a long time. As soon as I got in contact with David Garfield through my drum tech, Randy, who grew up with all those guys. The special thing about this record was all the releases of it, it featured weird different versions or different artwork of Jeff Porcaro’s painting that he did of the Los Lobotomys’ logo. So, I oversaw the entire project on top of the restoration of Jeff’s original artwork. We had it remastered from the original tapes, it sounds unbelievable on vinyl, that project was very, very special for me.
Music Madness: Very cool. Was the vinyl done through Jack for that project?
Jason: Yeah. We’ve got a great relationship with Third Man Pressing in Detroit. Being a Detroit company, it’s so easy and convenient for us.
Music Madness: So you finished that project, the summer tour with Ted will be wrapping up and then…
Jason: Yeah, I’ve been spending a lot of my time in Nashville playing a lot of different sessions, and the thing with studio work, it’s like you’re working on something different every day. And most of the time you have no idea what you’re working on. It’s funny because I’ve been in the car listening to the radio and a commercial came on for Two Men and a Truck, or Chevy, or something like that, and I think I played on that.
Music Madness: You’re like wait a minute.
Jason: Yeah, so it’s weird like that because you just never know, a lot of times, who you’re working for. Because sometimes it’s publishing material for somebody, and then it ends up turning into being on record or something.
Music Madness: Right.
Jason: Always, always doing that is really what keeps me busy. And, I’ve got a couple other things in the works that I can’t just talk about just yet. But, it’s all about staying busy and being in front of everybody’s face as much as possible.
Music Madness: Absolutely. So what is the ultimate goal? To create your own band?
Jason: I never in my entire career had a desire to be a solo artist. I’ve been in bands where, even though I was a member of the band, I was still technically just a musician in the band. I look at it like this, my job is, whether the artist is making money or not, I’m still making a paycheck.
Being a hired gun musician. I’ve never written a song in my life, I’ve never really had a desire to write a song in my life and I’ve gotten songwriting credits, but again, that’s why being more focused on the music business end of things is the best solution for myself. Because honestly, I’m a guy that takes every day one day at a time.
I can get a call tomorrow that’ll change my next six months, or next year, or whatever, because you never know what’s going to happen. So just kind of being in the moment and putting 110% in, on that gig, on your job, coming in being as professional as possible. And that’s kind of the way of my life.
Music Madness: It keeps it exciting.
Jason: Absolutely and that’s the thing about being a studio musician, again, you never know what you’re working on. In the last year alone, I played on a big band Christmas album, a hip hop record, a funk record, a metal record, and the new Ted Nugent record.
Music Madness: Who are you endorsing these days?
Jason: Pretty much every company. I’ve been at Pearl Drums and Vater Drumstick Artists since I was 10 years old so 15 years next year, I’ve been with them for a long time. It’s a family thing. Now I’ve been with Sabian for five years, I was with another company for a minute. But it’s all about relationships with these people because you’re using their product, you’re using the brand, and they’re out there to help you just as much as I’m out there to help them. It’s more or less for promotional things. Like today, they had me use some cymbals for some video that’s about a line that’s not even out yet.
Every musician’s got their own tastes, so they’re not going to force their artists to use something that maybe they’re not totally into.
There’s artists, not so much these days because the budgets just aren’t there anymore, but back in back in the ’70s,’80s, and ’90s, these companies would pay these artists a shit ton of money. It still happens in the sports world. It doesn’t happen so much in the music world anymore. It’s more or less about exposure and using the gear that you want to use. But there’s still a lot of people out there that are going to wear themselves out just for the free gear. I’ve never been one to use a certain brand because I’m getting free gear.
I’m using that brand because I know that’s the sound that I want, that’s the look I want, and all that stuff.
For additional information please visit:
https://www.facebook.com/jasonhartlessofficial/
The full list of tour dates can be found at https://tour.tednugent.com/