Chicago-born drummer and composer Dylan Ryan began taking guitar lessons in 1985, but due to the ever present distractions of a mesmerizing season of Hunter and a Super Bowl bound Chicago Bears, focus was lacking and he soon switched to piano, and eventually the drums. 

The initial courtship of the instrument revolved largely around hours spent figuring out the drum parts of Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. After some lessons at nearby Northwestern University, Dylan started studying with some infamous figures from the Chicago jazz community, among them Paul Wertico, Gerry Coleman, and David Bloom.  Balancing the assorted influence of British Heavy Metal, Avant-garde jazz, and 20th Century Classical have since come to define Ryan’s style.

While studying literature and film at DePaul University, Ryan played in jazz combos everywhere from tiki bar cocktail parties to beer-soaked dives.  It was during these years that he met the musicians who would eventually form Herculaneum, his longest running project.  Ryan soon began recording and touring with bands Orso, Icy Demons, and Michael Columbia, playing drums, vibraphone, and makeshift kits of his own design based on a combination of John “Drumbo” French’s Magic Band kit and traditional homemade instruments of 1930’s jug bands. 

During this same period Ryan became known in the vibrant, decades-old Free-Jazz communities, playing with New-Music luminaries Jason Stein, Josh Berman, Dave Rempis, Fred Lonberg-Holm, et.al. 

After moving to Los Angeles in 2011 Ryan toured substantially, drumming throughout the next several years for Cursive and Rainbow Arabia. In 2012 he started an instrumental trio featuring Tim Young and Devin Hoff called Dylan Ryan SAND, and the group released two albums for Cuneiform Records. During the writing of the third album Ryan added vocals to the increasingly heavy direction the songs were heading and changed the name to Ether Feather.

Ryan still resides in Los Angeles where in addition to recording for TV and film, he performs and records with Man Man, Ether Feather, Marjorie Fair, Bronze, and Fatal Jamz.