Jon Sortland (born September 12, 1973) is an American musician, record producer and video director, currently playing the drums for

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band The Shins. Sortland has also played drums, bass, keyboards and backing vocals in the band

Broken Bells Broken Bells is an American indie rock band composed of artist-producer Brian Burton (better known as Danger Mouse) and James Mercer, the lead vocalist and guitarist for the indie rock band The Shins. Broken Bells compose and create as a duo ...

. Sortland also writes and performs in his own bands, EV Kain and

Cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and Fermentation, fermented tobacco leaves made to be Tobacco smoking, smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct comp ...

. Sortland is endorsed by

Paiste Paiste (English pronunciation: , ) is a Switzerland, Swiss musical instrument manufacturing company. It is the world's third largest manufacturer of cymbals, gongs, and metal percussion. is an Estonian language, Estonian and Finnish language, ...

and C&C Drums.

History

In the late 1980s, Sortland started The Circus Tents, a northern California skate punk band with Matt Wedgley (The Force, Dirty Filthy Mugs, Viva Hate), Scot Pickering, Jeff Jones and Chad Cox. The band self-released their 12-song cassette tape in 1991, followed by their EP (''Hard Up'') in 1992. Both releases had songs featured in several skateboarding videos ('' Powell'', '' Toy Machine''). In 1996, Sortland formed

with Rami Krayem on guitar and lead vocals, and Jason Torbert on bass. Cigar, produced by

Fletcher Dragge Pennywise is an American punk rock band from Hermosa Beach, California, formed in 1988. The band took its name from the antagonist in Stephen King's horror novel '' It'' known as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Between their 1991 self-titled de ...

of Pennywise, released their debut album, ''Speed is Relative'', in 1999 on Theologian Records. Throughout the 2000s, Sortland performed and recorded with several other bands and producers until starting his current band E V Kain. E V Kain released their "Clear" 7-inch in late 2012 and is currently active. The most recent release from E V Kain is a split 7-inch record with Mike Watt and The Secondmen. In 2022, Cigar released their debut Fat Wreck Chords release, The Visitor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sortland, Jon 1973 births Living people American rock drummers American rock singers American multi-instrumentalists People from Vancouver, Washington Musicians from Washington (state) The Shins members Broken Bells members Record producers from Washington (state) Songwriters from Washington (state)