Thank you for visting the music page of Eric J. Machens! Having a strong passion for music his entire life, Eric began to play music by taking piano lessons at age five. He quit taking lessons a few years later and began playing the euphonium in the grade school band at age ten.
Despite his joy in both instruments, it was at age eleven that Eric began playing electric guitar and found his niche in music. He developed a liking for popular heavy metal bands at the time, mainly Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax. In high school, he continued to enjoy heavy metal but began to explore classic rock bands, especially the Doors, Jethro Tull, and Led Zeppelin.
Eric's musical tastes expanded further while attending college at Western Illinois University, where he developed a strong appreciation for jazz music and became a fan of guitarists Pat Metheny, Wes Montgomery, and Kenny Burrell. Eric has performed at many venues throughout the Midwest as well as in Western Europe, including at the University of Lyon, the University of Barcelona, and on the streets of Lloret de Mar. He has played with several renowned jazz artists, including Jon Faddis, Bobby Shew, Rick Simerly and Gunnar Mossblad.
While jazz music became a major part of Eric's life during his college years, he has since gone back to his roots in many ways. His music reflects all of the tastes above, as he takes many of the colors that can be heard in jazz and classic rock and combines them with a hard rock feel. The recordings on this page were produced in the summer of 2006 by Eric himself; all the instrumentation and vocals were done by him as well. Eric did this in order to show others the intent behind his material and as a means to find like-minded musicians who are serious about advancing with their music. Eric is recording his next batch of material, which will be ready for the public ear in the spring of 2009.I edited my profile at Freeweblayouts.net , check out these Myspace Layouts!
