eric sarmiento - ProfilesArchive

About Me

things i've done that might give some idea of the weird results of my musical pursuits: performed with several bands (the new tribe, a suncrush for sweethearts, the pistol arrows, the candles), as well as numerous solo performances; recorded 6 full-length albums and 3 EPs for several labels (engine shed records, remorseless records, nub records, alchemist records); with several friends/musical comrades formed the musician's collective alchemist records; had great song ideas in the middle of the night, thought "oh, i'll remember this tomorrow," didn't; played in front of several hundred thousand people at an NOW rally in washington, d.c.; taught many a guitar lesson, through which i had the privilege of meeting scores of interesting and amazing people; played (very) free form improvisational music with ray clemens and was surprised to see that people actually appeared to be into it; won first prize in the woody guthrie songwriting contest; played in wretched dive bars in places i don't care to mention; was one of ten finalists in mary-kate and ashley olsen's battle of the bands; gave away over 30,000 downloads on various websites like besonic.com; had a couple of songs featured on independent film soundtracks; played for a couple of noodling tournaments, in which grown men (and maybe a few women) compete to see who can catch the largest catfish with their bare hands; did a sex pistols tribute show (the sex pistol arrows); was featured on entertainment mothers TV, a japanese musical talent show of sorts; played shows from coast to coast in the US; played for change in the new york subways so as to be able to eat and pay for the metro to get to work; performed some spoken word pieces with the cluster chord string quartet; played in an amazing old theater in paris; had an album in the CMJ top 200 for six weeks or so; was a finalist in the asakusa jazz contest; spent hours in a van in the middle of a blizzard, waiting outside some guy's house who was supposed to let us sleep on his floor; sang beatles songs in a karaoke booth with kenzo saeki; etcetera.beyond all this, however, many of the experiences that have meant the most to me have been too ephemeral to mean much when written down in a form like this, in a place like this....that's where the music itself comes in -- hopefully it says everything i can't get across here.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 4/28/2006
Band Website: alchemistrecords.com
Influences: antony and cleopatra, belle and sebastian, caetano veloso, dead kennedys, elfquest, french horse shamans, georg groddeck, moby dick, i and i, nepalese sauce makers, kings of convenience, lawrence durrell, minutemen, new order, youssou n'door, the dodo, ranking ranqueen, smiths, rumi, tsuki no wa, leonard cohen, velvet underground, lorca, yo la tengo, the zombies. tino, zadie smith, borges, the wide sargasso sea, grand lake, the awakening. george michael, frank sinatra, chef henri, and somewhere way back there, galicia.
Record Label: Alchemist Records
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

thunderstorm casino blitz

first, thanks to all who came to the rather surreal show at the speakeasy on friday night. it was nice to look out the window and see an oklahoma thunderstorm coming down, and to look back into ...
Posted by eric sarmiento on Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:18:00 PST

viento, calor, espacio

wind, wind and more wind. that's the theme of late, around here. if it's at your back, it's great. if you're going into it, it's a good challenge. even if you coat yourself with dirt, leaves, gras...
Posted by eric sarmiento on Sun, 08 Jun 2008 11:39:00 PST

remixed songs are making their way in

As promised, dear friends, i've been diligently working on remixing the tunes from "the declaration of interdependence," and have just posted a few of the new (and i think) improved versions. i suspe...
Posted by eric sarmiento on Thu, 22 May 2008 02:10:00 PST

lots of new things

Time continues to fly along, and in doing so finds me back in the States after a wonderful stay in Spain through the fall and winter. Oddly enough, i didn't seek out any shows while i was there, as i...
Posted by eric sarmiento on Tue, 06 May 2008 02:00:00 PST

"the declaration" is online

okay, friends, the aforementioned date has arrived and my new record is available at www.alchemistrecords.com, where the entire recording and artwork can be downloaded for free. i hope you'll give it...
Posted by eric sarmiento on Fri, 19 Oct 2007 05:09:00 PST

new album this wednesday 10/17

okay friends, i am glad to say that this coming wednesday, 10/17, my new record, "the declaration of interdependence," will be available, should all go well, at www.alchemistrecords.com. we'll be pos...
Posted by eric sarmiento on Sat, 13 Oct 2007 02:09:00 PST

q&a over "the declaration of interdependence"

Questions and answers about "the declaration of interdependence," Eric's new album, downloadable for free at www.alchemistrecords.com beginning 10/17Q: Every album has a story, sometimes it's just "W...
Posted by eric sarmiento on Wed, 10 Oct 2007 10:45:00 PST

interdependence and all that

Odd to think that it's been more than three years since the release of my last full-length album, but it has indeed. i suppose that many bands these days wait several years in between album...
Posted by eric sarmiento on Sun, 16 Sep 2007 07:50:00 PST

Excerpt from Bob Waldrop's speech

Here's a brief bit from Bob Waldrop's speech at the recent Oklahoma Sustainability Network (OSN) Conference. Bob is the president of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative (www.oklahomafood.coop.)"Modern cons...
Posted by eric sarmiento on Mon, 23 Apr 2007 09:03:00 PST