Jason McCaslin

Jason McCaslin
Background information
Birth name	Jason Paul McCaslin
Also known as	Cone, Sniper, Thurston
Born	(1980-09-03) September 3, 1980 North York, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Pop punk, punk rock, alternative rock, garage rock, melodic hardcore
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter, producer
Instruments	Bass guitar, vocals, Guitar
Years active	1998–present
Labels	Island
Associated acts	Sum 41, The Operation M.D., Iggy Pop, Gob, Shelter With Thieves, The Strumbellas
Notable instruments
Fender Precision Bass

Jason Paul "Cone" McCaslin (born September 3, 1980) is a Canadian musician. He is the bassist and backing vocalist of the band Sum 41 and Music Producer. He joined the band in November 1998/February 1999. Sum 41 was signed by Island Records in December 1999.

Early life

McCaslin began playing bass at the age of 14, as a member of a grunge garage band. He is of half-Irish, half-Swedish descent.^[1]

He was born in North York, Toronto.

He acquired the nickname "Cone" from fellow band member Deryck Whibley in high school, because he frequently ate ice cream cones at lunch.^[2][3]

Professional career

He co-created the Garage punk/rock side project The Operation M.D., with Todd Morse (of H2O), in which he is known under the name Dr. Dynamite. He plays bass and a bunch of other random instruments on the songs including lead vocals on a few tracks on both albums. The 1st album "We Have An Emergency" was released in Canada and Japan only in 2007. Operation M.D. then released their second album "Birds + Bee Stings" worldwide in late 2010 on their own label "Mouth To Mouth Music". He has also acted in many Sum 41 short films. For example, in "Basketball Butcher", he gets beaten up, killed and eaten by Steve Jocz due to beating him at basketball. He also played Dante the drug dealer in "1-800-Justice". He recently helped produce an album with Shelter With Thieves, a Canadian band from Halifax.^[4][5] The EP, entitled Confessions of a Toxic Generation, was nominated for 2 Nova Scotia Music Awards, for Group Recording and also Loud Recording.^[6] The band eventually won the Loud Recording award for the EP.^[7]

In December 2009, McCaslin was also producing 5 songs for a new album by Canadian piano rock band The Greatest Invention (Formally – Credible Witness), which eventually got released under Walter Senko.^[8] Then in 2010 he began producing 3 songs for 7 Piece Blue grass/Folk/Indie band The Strumbellas. In Sept. 2011 he was asked to produce the rest of the album. The album is now completed and called "My Father and the Hunter". It was released on February 21, 2012 and received a Juno Award Nomination for Best Root/Traditional Album. In October 2013 McCaslin made a cameo playing bass in The Strumbellas music video for End of an Era. In 2013 McCaslin began working with Toronto band Sun K. and produced their 7" (2 songs) which is out now and will also produce their upcoming EP and LP over the next year. In 2014 McCaslin began producing 2 songs for the band "LeBarons" which will be released in 2015.

Sum 41

In 1999, the band signed an international record deal with Island Records. The band released their debut album, All Killer No Filler in 2001. The band achieved mainstream success with their first single from the album, "Fat Lip", which reached number-one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and remains the band's most successful single to date.^[9] All Killer No Filler' was certified platinum in the United States, Canada and in the UK.^[10] The band has since released four more studio albums: Does This Look Infected? (2002), Chuck (2004) Underclass Hero (2007) and Screaming Bloody Murder (2011). The three albums before Screaming Bloody Murder have been certified platinum in Canada.

The band often performs more than 300 times each year and holds long global tours, most of which last more than a year.^[11] They have been nominated for seven Juno Awards and have won twice (Group of the Year in 2002 and Rock Album of the Year for Chuck in 2005). Their fifth studio album, Screaming Bloody Murder, was released on March 29, 2011 and is nominated for Grammy at the 2012 Grammy's for the song "Blood in My Eyes" in the Hard Rock/Metal category.

Producing (P)/Mixing (M) Discography

• The Operation M.D. – We Have an Emergency (co-produced with Todd Morse) 2007 – Nominated for Casby 2 Awards (Best New Artist + Best Indie Release) (P)
• Shelter With Thieves – Someday Is Never Soon Enough (Co-Produced 6 songs with band) Released April 19, 2011 – ECMA Award for "Loud" Recording of the Year (P)
• The Operation M.D. – Birds + Bee Stings (co-produced with Todd Morse) 2010 (P)
• Operation M.D. + Itorero – "We Stand" Song from the charity album "Rwanda Rises Up" Released June 22, 2010 (P)
• The Strumbellas – My Father and the Hunter – Released February 21, 2012 – Juno Award Nomination for "Best Roots/Traditional Album" (P)
• Walter Senko – From A Liar – Released 2013 (P)
• Sun K – Sweet Marie 7" – Released 2014 (P)
• Operation MD – Shake Your Cage (Single) – Released January 13, 2015 (P,M)
• Sun K – Northern Lies – Released March 10, 2015 (P)
• Anna Toth – Feeling Lost, Feeling Seen – Released July 2, 2015 (P)
• LeBarons – Trains 7" – Released Sept. 11, 2015 (P,M)
• Operation MD – Like Everyone Else (Single) – Released September 25, 2015 (P,M)

Instruments

McCaslin uses Fender '59 Re-Issue Precision Basses live and a Fender American Vintage '62 Re-Issue Precision Bass to record with. His personal favorite is an Olympic white Fender Precision Bass, since he was a fan of Dee Dee Ramone.

Personal life

He married on September 5, 2008. During the wedding, McCaslin's fellow band members Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 and Toby Morse of H₂O and The Operation M.D. performed "One" by U2 and "Pieces" by Sum 41.

McCaslin has two sisters and no brothers. On December 22, 2014, his first son was born.

Discography

See also

• Sum 41
• The Operation M.D.
• List of bass guitarists

References

External links

• official personal web site
• Sum 41 official website
• The Operation M.D. official website
• Fender Artist Cone's Fender Artist Profile