Primer 55 - Hiatus and Reformation

Hiatus and Reformation

In 2003, the band went on hiatus after struggles with record labels and internal issues among bandmates. Burns joined Soulfly, a band he'd met while touring with Ozzfest 2000. He toured the world and released four albums as the band's bass player. J-Sin would unfortunately battle alcohol and drug addiction, with Burns later describing him as not "in any shape to tour or anything like that for a really long time."

When Soufly went on hiatus in 2007, Crash Music contacted Burns, inspiring him to reform Primer 55 with J-Sin and join fellow Crash Music band Love Said No. The "Crash Music Metal Crusade Tour" took both bands out on the road together in late 2007 and the band released the EP Family for Life, a collection of previously unreleased tracks recorded between 1998–2002, on November 6.

At an early 2008 performance, rapper Donny "The DRP" Polinske attended a Primer 55 performance in hopes of interesting Burns and J-Sin to guest on a track for his solo album. After only three weeks of touring, however, J-Sin was forced to exit the band due to poor performances and costly antics caused by continued drug and alcohol addictions that would eventually land him in rehab. While J-Sin was replaced temporarily by Heath Joyce, a longtime friend of Burns, officially The DRP would become Primer 55's next vocalist, performing with the band at the 2008 Gathering of the Juggalos alongside 2 Live Crew, Ice-T, and Twiztid.

In 2009, Primer 55 released the song "Flexin'" with an accompanying music video. A full-length album titled New American Gangsters was in the works until January 2010 when Burns fired all of the other band members. Later that year, the band's MySpace page announced that J-Sin had returned to the band, yet the band also resumed recording and performing with The DRP.

In early 2012, Primer 55 began playing acoustic sets through the midwestern and southeastern United States after Burns was inspired by watching old MTV Unplugged performances by bands like Nirvana and Korn. The band anticipates releasing an album titled The Big Fuck You on Rocket Science Ventures, featuring old recordings of both J-Sin and The DRP, and an album of new material featuring The DRP on vocals tenatively titled Free To Be on the Sony/THC/Nuclear Blast imprint.