McGerr was previously in the bands Krusters Kronomid and Eureka Farm, as well as the jazz trio Rockin' Teenage Combo. In the documentary, McGerr identified drummer Neil Peart as his hero.
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 brought Death Cab for Cutie mainstream success. Speaking in 2003, Benjamin Gibbard notes that he "definitely believe 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 musiccomputer software company Propellerhead Software, on an expansion pack for their software programReason 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.
His former Paistecymbal setup was as follows: 14" Formula 602 Classic Sounds Medium Hi-hats; 18" Formula 602 Classic Sounds Thin Crash; 20" Formula 602 Classic Sounds Thin Crash; 21" Masters Medium Ride. Mcgerr previously played Craviotto drums and Ludwig Drums.
