Jay Weinberg
Encyclopedia
Jay Weinberg is an American
drummer
and the son of drummer Max Weinberg
. He has played with the punk
band The Reveling and toured in 2009 as a drummer with Bruce Springsteen
's E Street Band
, substituting for his father. During 2010, he was briefly the drummer for Madball
. During 2011, Weinberg has been playing with Against Me!
.
, who joined the E Street Band in 1974; his mother Becky is a former teacher. He grew up in Middletown Township
, New Jersey
. As a child, he played travel team ice hockey
as a goaltender
. At age 9 he first saw the E Street Band on their 1999–2000 Reunion Tour
, and saw shows on this and subsequent tours, especially in Europe. Around the same time his father took him to Ozzfest
to see Slipknot
, which gave him a strong affinity for heavy metal
and other intense music genres; his father also exposed him to a wide variety of other music. He began playing guitar at age 9, bass at age 12 or 13. He then started playing drums at age 14, mostly self-taught and without much instruction from his father but using his father's old gear. By the next year he had performed a guest appearance on stage with band The Used
and subsequently with punk rock
ers The Bouncing Souls
. He played in the New Jersey metal band Chaosis. He attended Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School
where he played on the hockey team for a time, played in a band called Sadie Mae, and graduated in 2008.
He attends Stevens Institute of Technology
in New Jersey
as a student in the Wesley J. Howe School of Technology Management. He aspires to marry a music career with a solid business knowledge. He joined the New York punk band The Reveling in August 2008, which plays before small audiences in venues such as the Ace of Clubs nightspot in Manhattan, various spots in Brooklyn, and elsewhere. With them he does some of the band's songwriting and arranging.
" at Giants Stadium
after having watched many other performances during the Magic Tour
. Springsteen's 2009 Working on a Dream Tour
posed a problem for Max Weinberg, as The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
in Los Angeles
– for which he was The Max Weinberg 7 bandleader – was starting at the same time that the tour would be in progress. Springsteen's manager Jon Landau
viewed Weinberg was the "secret weapon" to substitute for his father without losing fan satisfaction. Both Landau and E Street guitarist Steve Van Zandt attributed Jay Weinberg's skills to a genetic gift.
Once the initial portion of the tour began in early April 2009, Weinberg played from several songs to half the show on most of the dates. His playing with Springsteen integrated a polyrhythm
ic approach influenced by metal bands such as Lamb of God
, Mastodon
, and Slipknot
with the E Street drumming style derived from big band
s and early rock and roll
. He received a very positive reaction from both audiences and reviewers as a re-energizing "spark plug" for the much-older band, with his vigorous, long-hair-flying style inviting comparisons to Dave Grohl
and his potential for replacing his father drawing allusions to Wally Pipp
. He began playing complete shows in mid-May 2009 during the tour's American first leg, as his father went to California to prepare test runs for the Tonight Show start. Modern Drummer
magazine's editor said that a college freshman playing on one of the year's biggest rock tours is "certainly a unique story". Weinberg played a number of dates early on in the European second leg of the tour, including at the Dutch Pinkpop festival in Landgraaf
, the Netherlands
in addition to Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee
. He also played during a few dates of the American third and final leg. When not needed for the Springsteen tour, he continued to play for The Reveling, often before audiences that were three orders of magnitude smaller; he said of the difference, "I liked the duality of it all ... I like doing this just as much as I like doing that."
, a legendary hardcore band based out of New York City. In June of that year, it was announced that he would become the drummer for their upcoming album Empire
and a tour. However, in September 2010 the group discharged him, with Madball vocalist Freddy Cricien
saying, "I'm letting Jay go [mid-tour] in Canada because I just feel he doesn't represent this band well on a character level." In response, Weinberg said that he had already quit the group by that time, and that "while I really enjoyed playing the music, I do not subscribe to their choice of habits and lifestyle. This past August while on tour in Europe, disturbing events within the band indicated to me that it was time for me to move on." In any case, Weinberg said both he and the group should be proud of Empire.
In November 2010, it was announced that Weinberg would be playing drums with punk rock band Against Me!
for their upcoming 2011 shows, covering for regular drummer George Rebelo while he tours with his other band, Hot Water Music
. As 2011 unfolded, the arrangement looked to possibly be more permanent. Weinberg also sat in a bit with the band Fences
during 2011.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
and the son of drummer Max Weinberg
Max Weinberg
Max Weinberg is an American drummer and television personality, most widely known as the longtime drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and as the bandleader for Conan O'Brien on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.Weinberg grew up in suburban New Jersey...
. He has played with the punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band The Reveling and toured in 2009 as a drummer with Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
's E Street Band
E Street Band
The E Street Band has been rock musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972.The band has also recorded with a wide range of other artists including Bob Dylan, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Nicks, Tom Morello, Sting, Ian...
, substituting for his father. During 2010, he was briefly the drummer for Madball
Madball
Madball is a New York-based hardcore band that originated in the late 1980s, as a side-project of Agnostic Front .- History :Madball was founded in 1988 and featured most of Agnostic Front's members...
. During 2011, Weinberg has been playing with Against Me!
Against Me!
Against Me! is an American punk rock band formed in 1997 in Naples, Florida and relocated to Gainesville, Florida in 1999. Their first full-length album, released on No Idea Records in 2002, was Against Me! Is Reinventing Axl Rose. They have released music on Misanthrope Records, Crasshole Records,...
.
Early life and education
Weinberg is the son of drummer Max WeinbergMax Weinberg
Max Weinberg is an American drummer and television personality, most widely known as the longtime drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and as the bandleader for Conan O'Brien on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.Weinberg grew up in suburban New Jersey...
, who joined the E Street Band in 1974; his mother Becky is a former teacher. He grew up in Middletown Township
Middletown Township, New Jersey
Middletown Township is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township had a total population of 66,522...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. As a child, he played travel team ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
as a goaltender
Goaltender
In ice hockey, the goaltender is the player who defends his team's goal net by stopping shots of the puck from entering his team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring...
. At age 9 he first saw the E Street Band on their 1999–2000 Reunion Tour
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour
The Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour was a lengthy, top-grossing concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place over 1999 and 2000....
, and saw shows on this and subsequent tours, especially in Europe. Around the same time his father took him to Ozzfest
Ozzfest
Ozzfest is an annual festival tour of the United States featuring performances by many heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon Osbourne, both of whom also organize each yearly tour with their son Jack Osbourne...
to see Slipknot
Slipknot (band)
Slipknot is an American heavy metal band from Des Moines, Iowa. Formed in 1995, the group was founded by percussionist Shawn Crahan and bassist Paul Gray...
, which gave him a strong affinity for heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
and other intense music genres; his father also exposed him to a wide variety of other music. He began playing guitar at age 9, bass at age 12 or 13. He then started playing drums at age 14, mostly self-taught and without much instruction from his father but using his father's old gear. By the next year he had performed a guest appearance on stage with band The Used
The Used
The Used is an American rock band from Orem, Utah. The band was founded in 2001 and signed to Reprise Records the same year. They rose to fame in June 2002 after releasing their self-titled debut album. They followed up with their second album, In Love and Death, in September 2004 and their third...
and subsequently with punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
ers The Bouncing Souls
The Bouncing Souls
The Bouncing Souls are a punk rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey, formed in 1987. By the time of their acknowledgment by the national punk rock scene, they had reignited a "pogo" element to New Jersey punk rock by playing fast light-hearted songs, a model followed by various other local...
. He played in the New Jersey metal band Chaosis. He attended Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School
Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School
The Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School is a regional, four-year comprehensive public high school and school district, serving students in grades 9 through 12 from the suburban Monmouth County, New Jersey, communities of Fair Haven and Rumson...
where he played on the hockey team for a time, played in a band called Sadie Mae, and graduated in 2008.
He attends Stevens Institute of Technology
Stevens Institute of Technology
Stevens Institute of Technology is a technological university located on a campus in Hoboken, New Jersey, USA – founded in 1870 with an 1868 bequest from Edwin A. Stevens. It is known for its engineering, science, and technological management curricula.The institute has produced leading...
in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
as a student in the Wesley J. Howe School of Technology Management. He aspires to marry a music career with a solid business knowledge. He joined the New York punk band The Reveling in August 2008, which plays before small audiences in venues such as the Ace of Clubs nightspot in Manhattan, various spots in Brooklyn, and elsewhere. With them he does some of the band's songwriting and arranging.
Appearances with Springsteen
Jay Weinberg's first appearance with Springsteen was in the summer of 2008, filling in for his father on "Born to RunBorn to Run (song)
"Born to Run" is a song by American singer songwriter Bruce Springsteen, and the title song of his album Born to Run.- Songwriting :Written at in Long Branch, New Jersey in early 1974, the song was Bruce Springsteen's last-ditch effort to make it big. The prior year, Springsteen had released two...
" at Giants Stadium
Giants Stadium
Giants Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium, located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Maximum seating capacity was 80,242. The building itself was 230.5 m long, 180.5 m wide and 44 m high from service level to the top of the seating bowl and 54 m high to...
after having watched many other performances during the Magic Tour
Magic Tour (Bruce Springsteen)
The Magic Tour was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's 2007–2008 concert tour of North America and Western Europe.The tour began October 2, 2007, in Hartford, Connecticut, and concluded August 30, 2008 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin...
. Springsteen's 2009 Working on a Dream Tour
Working on a Dream Tour
The Working on a Dream Tour was a concert tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which began in April 2009 and ended in November 2009...
posed a problem for Max Weinberg, as The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show that featured Conan O'Brien as host from June 1, 2009 to January 22, 2010 as part of NBC's long-running Tonight Show franchise...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
– for which he was The Max Weinberg 7 bandleader – was starting at the same time that the tour would be in progress. Springsteen's manager Jon Landau
Jon Landau
Jon Landau is an American music critic, manager and record producer, most known for his association in all three capacities with Bruce Springsteen.He is currently the head of the nominating committee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame....
viewed Weinberg was the "secret weapon" to substitute for his father without losing fan satisfaction. Both Landau and E Street guitarist Steve Van Zandt attributed Jay Weinberg's skills to a genetic gift.
Once the initial portion of the tour began in early April 2009, Weinberg played from several songs to half the show on most of the dates. His playing with Springsteen integrated a polyrhythm
Polyrhythm
Polyrhythm is the simultaneous sounding of two or more independent rhythms.Polyrhythm in general is a nonspecific term for the simultaneous occurrence of two or more conflicting rhythms, of which cross-rhythm is a specific and definable subset.—Novotney Polyrhythms can be distinguished from...
ic approach influenced by metal bands such as Lamb of God
Lamb of God (band)
Lamb of God is an American heavy metal band from Richmond, Virginia. Formed in 1994, the group consists of vocalist Randy Blythe, guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler, bassist John Campbell, and drummer Chris Adler...
, Mastodon
Mastodon (band)
Mastodon is an American heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1999. The band is composed of bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, guitarist Bill Kelliher and drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor...
, and Slipknot
Slipknot (band)
Slipknot is an American heavy metal band from Des Moines, Iowa. Formed in 1995, the group was founded by percussionist Shawn Crahan and bassist Paul Gray...
with the E Street drumming style derived from big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
s and early rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
. He received a very positive reaction from both audiences and reviewers as a re-energizing "spark plug" for the much-older band, with his vigorous, long-hair-flying style inviting comparisons to Dave Grohl
Dave Grohl
David Eric "Dave" Grohl is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter for Foo Fighters; the former drummer for Nirvana and Scream; and the current drummer for Them Crooked Vultures...
and his potential for replacing his father drawing allusions to Wally Pipp
Wally Pipp
Walter Clement Pipp was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball, now best remembered as the man who lost his starting role to Lou Gehrig at the beginning of Gehrig's streak of 2,130 consecutive games....
. He began playing complete shows in mid-May 2009 during the tour's American first leg, as his father went to California to prepare test runs for the Tonight Show start. Modern Drummer
Modern Drummer
Modern Drummer is a monthly publication targeting the interests of on drummers and percussionists. The magazine features interviews, equipment reviews, and columns offering advice on technique, as well as information for the general public...
magazine's editor said that a college freshman playing on one of the year's biggest rock tours is "certainly a unique story". Weinberg played a number of dates early on in the European second leg of the tour, including at the Dutch Pinkpop festival in Landgraaf
Landgraaf
Landgraaf is a municipality in southeastern Limburg.- Special information :A pop music festival called Pinkpop is held annually on the Pentecost weekend in the vicinity of Landgraaf....
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
in addition to Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee
Manchester, Tennessee
Manchester is a city in Coffee County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 10,102 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Coffee County...
. He also played during a few dates of the American third and final leg. When not needed for the Springsteen tour, he continued to play for The Reveling, often before audiences that were three orders of magnitude smaller; he said of the difference, "I liked the duality of it all ... I like doing this just as much as I like doing that."
Subsequent career
In 2010, Weinberg began playing with MadballMadball
Madball is a New York-based hardcore band that originated in the late 1980s, as a side-project of Agnostic Front .- History :Madball was founded in 1988 and featured most of Agnostic Front's members...
, a legendary hardcore band based out of New York City. In June of that year, it was announced that he would become the drummer for their upcoming album Empire
Empire (Madball album)
Empire is an album by New York hardcore punk band Madball. Recorded in Florida during the Summer 2010 and entirely produced by Erik Rutan, it was released on October 10, 2010.-Track listing:-Personnel:* Freddy Cricien - vocals* Mitts - guitar...
and a tour. However, in September 2010 the group discharged him, with Madball vocalist Freddy Cricien
Freddy Cricien
Freddy Cricien [also known as Freddy Madball] is an American Emcee and vocalist for the hardcore band Madball as well as one of the vocalists for Hazen Street....
saying, "I'm letting Jay go [mid-tour] in Canada because I just feel he doesn't represent this band well on a character level." In response, Weinberg said that he had already quit the group by that time, and that "while I really enjoyed playing the music, I do not subscribe to their choice of habits and lifestyle. This past August while on tour in Europe, disturbing events within the band indicated to me that it was time for me to move on." In any case, Weinberg said both he and the group should be proud of Empire.
In November 2010, it was announced that Weinberg would be playing drums with punk rock band Against Me!
Against Me!
Against Me! is an American punk rock band formed in 1997 in Naples, Florida and relocated to Gainesville, Florida in 1999. Their first full-length album, released on No Idea Records in 2002, was Against Me! Is Reinventing Axl Rose. They have released music on Misanthrope Records, Crasshole Records,...
for their upcoming 2011 shows, covering for regular drummer George Rebelo while he tours with his other band, Hot Water Music
Hot Water Music
Hot Water Music is a punk rock band from Gainesville, Florida. The members of the band are Chuck Ragan, Chris Wollard, Jason Black, and George Rebelo. HWM first formed in 1993...
. As 2011 unfolded, the arrangement looked to possibly be more permanent. Weinberg also sat in a bit with the band Fences
Fences (band)
Fences is a 4-piece indie rock band from Seattle, Washington.- History :Fences is the creation of singer/songwriter Christopher Mansfield, Seattle native and graduate of Berklee College of Music. In 2009, his EP was discovered via MySpace by Sara Quin of the popular Canadian indie band Tegan &...
during 2011.