Published: August 24, 2026 · 1:17 AM EDT
The classic rock veterans reconnect with their past at Sausalito’s former Record Plant as Cathy Richardson and Jude Gold introduce new music during Jefferson Starship’s 2026 tour with Deep Purple
Jefferson Starship have released “Jetpack”, a new single that connects the band’s current lineup with several different chapters of its more than five-decade history.
Released through Primary Wave Music on August 21, 2026 and accompanied by an official lyric video, “Jetpack” arrives while Jefferson Starship are touring North America with Deep Purple before returning to their own Runaway Again Tour.
But one of the most interesting details surrounding the recording happened away from the road.
“Jetpack” was recorded at 2200 Studios in Sausalito, California, the recording facility formerly known as the Record Plant and later Plant Studios. Jefferson Starship have history inside those walls, and the new song brings the band back to a location used during earlier periods of its catalog. The connection becomes even stronger through Pete Sears, the longtime Jefferson Starship musician who returned to play bass on the new recording.
The song developed from an idea by current Jefferson Starship guitarist Jude Gold. According to vocalist and guitarist Cathy Richardson, Gold initially had a song built around the chorus and the idea of disappearing into the cosmos with another person. He then asked Richardson to approach the lyrics differently.
“I loved the music and the ‘Jetpack’ hook was really strong,” Richardson said.
Instead of continuing purely as a love song, she began thinking about what might make someone want to strap on a rocket and leave the planet entirely. Richardson said the words came quickly once she began working from that idea.
The song also changed after its initial recording. Jefferson Starship had originally completed “Jetpack” with a different ending before Richardson imagined another possibility for the outro. She wanted to give the musicians more room to play over the final chord progression and, as she described it, allow the band to “go to space musically.” That idea became part of the finished version now released as the single.
The location where “Jetpack” was recorded gives the song an additional layer of history. Today the Sausalito facility is called 2200 Studios, taking its name from its address at 2200 Bridgeway. For decades, however, musicians knew the building as the Record Plant and later Plant Studios.
Jefferson Starship were among the artists who worked there during the band’s original era. The studio’s historical archive documents Jefferson Starship sessions connected with Freedom at Point Zero in 1979, Modern Times in 1981 and Nuclear Furniture in 1984.
Those albums span an important period in the evolution of Jefferson Starship.
Freedom at Point Zero introduced Mickey Thomas as lead vocalist and included “Jane,” one of the band’s best-known songs. Modern Times followed in 1981, while Nuclear Furniture became the final Jefferson Starship studio album of the original 1974–1984 run before the subsequent Starship era. The Sausalito studio itself eventually closed in 2008 after operating for years as Plant Studios.
Following more than a decade without regular operation, the historic facility was restored and returned to recording activity in 2025 as 2200 Studios, operated by the nonprofit 2200 Music Foundation. Jefferson Starship recording “Jetpack” there therefore represents more than the use of a famous studio name. The band has returned to a physical space connected with recordings made several decades earlier.
The appearance of Pete Sears provides another bridge between those periods. Sears was a key multi-instrumentalist during Jefferson Starship’s original era, contributing bass, keyboards and other instrumentation across a substantial part of the band’s 1970s and 1980s catalog. His work extended through albums including Dragon Fly, Red Octopus, Spitfire, Earth, Freedom at Point Zero, Modern Times, Winds of Change and Nuclear Furniture.
He was therefore part of the band during both its mid-1970s commercial breakthrough and the harder-rock direction that developed around the turn of the following decade. Sears is not part of Jefferson Starship’s current touring lineup, making his bass appearance on “Jetpack” a specific studio reunion rather than simply another performance by a current member.
That distinction gives the recording historical continuity without pretending the modern Jefferson Starship is the same lineup that occupied the Record Plant decades ago.
Jefferson Starship’s current touring lineup consists of David Freiberg, Donny Baldwin, Chris Smith, Cathy Richardson and Jude Gold. The musicians represent several different generations of the band.
Freiberg was part of Jefferson Starship’s original 1970s history, while Baldwin first joined during the early 1980s. Smith has been part of the group since the late 1990s, Richardson joined in 2008, and Gold became the band’s guitarist in 2012.
That gradual evolution is important to understanding a release like “Jetpack.” Rather than attempting to reconstruct one historical Jefferson Starship lineup, the current group combines musicians who entered the story at very different moments while continuing to perform material from across the broader Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship legacy. “Jetpack” adds new music to that continuing history.
The single arrives while Jefferson Starship are performing across North America with Deep Purple. The tour places two bands whose histories reach deep into the development of classic rock on the same bill while both remain active with current material. Deep Purple entered the tour following the July 2026 release of their new studio album SPLAT!, while Jefferson Starship are now introducing “Jetpack” during the same run.
After completing their dates with Deep Purple, Jefferson Starship are scheduled to return to their Runaway Again Tour for additional headlining performances. The timing gives “Jetpack” an immediate live context rather than releasing the track during a period of inactivity.
What makes “Jetpack” particularly useful as a document of Jefferson Starship in 2026 is the way several parts of the band’s history intersect within one recording. The song was developed by current members Jude Gold and Cathy Richardson. It features longtime former member Pete Sears. And it was recorded inside the same Sausalito building where Jefferson Starship worked during important periods of the band’s original run. That does not make “Jetpack” an attempt to recreate 1979 or 1981.
The musicians involved are instead using part of Jefferson Starship’s history as the setting for something new. It is a subtle distinction, but an important one for a band carrying a name with more than 50 years of history.
Legacy bands eventually face a choice between functioning entirely as touring archives or continuing to create music under a name built decades earlier.
With “Jetpack,” Jefferson Starship are choosing the latter while maintaining a tangible connection with the former. Pete Sears reconnects the recording with musicians who shaped the original catalog. 2200 Studios reconnects it with the physical space where Jefferson Starship once worked as the Record Plant. Cathy Richardson and Jude Gold, meanwhile, bring the song firmly into the present. The result is a new Jefferson Starship recording made inside part of Jefferson Starship’s own history.
For a band whose imagery has always looked toward flight, space and exploration, returning to an old launch site to create something new feels particularly appropriate.
Written by Gino Alache – Music Journalist
IMAGE CREDIT: Courtesy of Primary Wave Music
Watch Jefferson Starship’s official “Jetpack” lyric video below:
