The year was 1984 around the ides of October, October 16th to be exact when a small child was born. Berkeley California was were he saw his first light. This blonde haired, brown eyed child was born into an era of great rock music. Heavy metal was still in its heyday and the advent of grunge would open new doors to musicians within the next few years.This child's name was Eric. As Eric grew he was immersed in music, watching his grandpa play banjo and guitar and listening to his mother and father sing. Music became an integral part of his existence. At the age of six, Eric and his older sister were signed up for ballet lessons. Laugh if you must, but this exposure to dance introduced Eric to his sense of rhythm and gave him a foundation for his future interests. Not only was he able to listen to music but he was also able to throw his entire body into it, becoming an extension of the music himself. Eric's tastes varied throughout elementary school. His friends at school mostly liked rap but when he would go home he enjoyed rocking out and dancing to rock music with his sister. When the fifth grade approached, due to perfect attendance, good grades, and overall kindness (something Eric has always been known for) he was asked if he would like to join the band class. He gladly accepted and he was overjoyed and enthusiastic to start the class. The class only had a limited amount of instruments for him to choose from. The trumpet became his first weapon of choice.He practiced daily until he could finally play his first whole song, the Christmas carol Good King Wenceslaus. His parents were starting to notice his quick learning and keen sense of passion towards his music. So for Christmas the following year they bought him a miniature drum set. This was a new challenge for Eric because not only was he able to listen, dance and play melodies now he would be learning how to keep a tempo and beats. Trumpet remained his preference until the end of his 6th grade year when he had get braces. An instrument with a bigger mouth piece was his only option, so he switched to euphonium/baritone. Eric quickly adjusted to this new musical device and began to love it even more than the trumpet. He continued to play baritone into high school and continued to practice drums in his spare time outside of school. Backtracking a little in the 8th grade Eric was introduced to a hip hop dance class. This was a great transition from the ballet he had taken in his younger years and it inspired him to start break dancing his sophomore year in high school with a ninja he had met named Alfonso.Early in high school, Eric was almost sure that hip hop and rap was his number one type of music until he was invited to his first high school party were he got to watch a local band called Bitter Punk. Their primitive but effective pop-punk sound instantly threw Eric's mind into a maze. Something clicked. Something about the energy of live guitar, drums, and impassioned vocals struck a chord with young Eric. The guitar in particular grabbed him. The attitude, the freedom, and the versatility of the instrument was exactly what he wanted. Eric began to save up enough money so he could buy a guitar and learn to play. It took him the whole rest of his freshman year to make enough money. In the meantime he stayed involved in music and kept himself busy by taking concert band and marching band as electives, and staying active in the local break dancing scene.Finally Eric got his first electric guitar, a black and white Squier Fat Strat. It was cheap and basic but it got the job done. Learning guitar was much more difficult than the other weapons of choice he had already acquired, but by this time he already knew that practice makes perfect and this was a must if he wanted to pursue his passion further. The summer of Eric's sophomore year he began to play guitar with a few friends and formed a band called Mulch. All of the members were just beginning to learn their instruments, and the band’s incredibly basic compositions showed this. Their name couldn’t have been more appropriate, as they tried to rip off as many of their influences as possible and combine the results into something that was their own. The songs were simple, derivative, and for the most part, poorly executed, but Eric wouldn’t be discouraged. Eric wanted to become a rock star.A year or so went by with Mulch and the members went their separate ways after a particularly embarrassing show. After the break up Eric still pushed on towards his goal and a few months later he rejoined some of the other former members of Mulch, this time handling lead vocals as well as some of the guitar work. This band became No Resolution, and with its tighter, harder sound and better musicianship it was a definite step in the right direction…so to speak. The band recorded a five song demo with Eric on vocals.As the end of high school approached the members of the band spoke about going their separate ways and pursuing their own goals. This left Eric in the dark and not knowing what to do; so in a last minute decision, he joined the United States Marine Corps.After auditioning on drums and baritone for the Marine Corps band, Eric had failed and his passion for music was at an all-time low. Then one day while in engineer school he met a fellow marine in his class named Mat. Mat also played guitar and sang, but Mat wielded a weapon that Eric had always stayed away from. This weapon was an acoustic guitar. Acoustic guitar was amazing to Eric. No more carrying heavy guitar amps and getting tangled up in cords. Eric could simply pick up his acoustic guitar and be ready to go sing and play anywhere. The three-chords-and-the-truth mentality had great appeal to him. This was a new beginning for Eric and it revamped him to focus on his main goal again of becoming a rock star. Now the only thing holding him back from his goal was a military contract. Eventually though Eric was medically discharged two years into his contract (feel free to ask him how…it’s kind of a long story).So now Eric was a free man back in beautiful California with one thing on his mind: to play and write music for people that makes them happy, and that's were you can find him today, still on the pursuit of his goal to become a rock star and to make music for the world to enjoy.-Edited by Joseph A. Clerici
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