Aquarian Family

Rob Jones

Yachtley Crew

Some drummers keep time. Rob Jones makes an entrance. Powerful, precise, relentlessly energetic and impossible to ignore behind the kit, Rob Jones, known to YACHTLEY CREW fans around the world by his stage name, “Sailor Hawkins”, has built his career around a simple philosophy: if you're going to walk onto a stage, give people something they'll remember. As co-founder and drummer of Los Angeles-based YACHTLEY CREW, Jones provides the horsepower behind one of the hardest-working and most successful acts in the modern Yacht Rock movement, a band that has taken the sophisticated sounds of the late '70s and early '80s and transformed them into a full-scale, high-energy live experience. And while the music may be smooth, Sailor Hawkins is anything but. BUILT IN LOS ANGELES Born and raised in Burbank, California, just over the hill from the clubs, studios and stages that helped define generations of rock & roll, Jones found the drums at 12 years old. The connection was immediate. Inspired by drummers who understood that musicianship and showmanship didn't have to be mutually exclusive, Jones gravitated toward players with enormous personalities behind the kit: Tommy Lee, Jon Farriss, Taylor Hawkins, Robert Sweet and Tommy Aldridge. Different players. Different eras. One common denominator: They played like they meant it. That philosophy became part of Jones' musical DNA. The combination of power and precision, groove and dynamics, discipline and controlled chaos that continues to define his playing today. His first band, Zythum, gave Jones an early taste of the spotlight when they won his high school talent show. But while most teenage bands end when the diploma arrives, Jones was only getting started. Still in his teens, he began working his way through the legendary Los Angeles music scene, performing on stages that have become part of rock & roll history: The Whisky a Go Go. The Roxy Theatre. The Viper Room. House of Blues. Those rooms became his education. Long before international tours and thousands of miles on the road, Jones learned the craft the old-fashioned way... one rehearsal, one soundcheck, one recording session and one stage at a time. FROM HOLLYWOOD CLUBS TO THE ROAD The years that followed brought countless hours behind the drums, numerous recording sessions and touring work with The Flys and Jetliner. It was the kind of experience that can't be taught. How to lock into a band. How to serve a song. How to command a stage without overpowering it. How to deliver night after night when the lights go down and there are no second takes. Jones developed into the kind of drummer who could bring studio discipline to the stage and live-show electricity into the studio. A player equally comfortable sitting deep in the pocket or unleashing the power that first drew him to rock drumming. Then came the band that would change everything. BECOMING SAILOR HAWKINS As co-founder and drummer of YACHTLEY CREW, Rob Jones became Sailor Hawkins. The larger-than-life drummer behind the band's unmistakable live sound and personality. What began in Southern California grew into an internationally touring phenomenon. The concept may celebrate Yacht Rock, but YACHTLEY CREW has never approached the music like background music at a cocktail party. This is Yacht Rock at concert volume. Behind the kit, Sailor Hawkins is the engine room. His playing brings muscle to the melodies, weight to the grooves and a distinctly rock & roll heartbeat to songs famous for their polish and sophistication. It's an approach that respects the records while recognizing an essential truth about live music: A concert has to move people. Today, YACHTLEY CREW performs more than 130 dates annually throughout the United States and internationally, bringing its unmistakable combination of musicianship, entertainment, nostalgia and spectacle to audiences around the world. With three albums recorded and years of relentless touring behind them, Jones and