Hailing from Alcoa, Tennessee, near the Great Smoky Mountains, Eric began teaching himself to play piano when he was "knee high to a grasshopper," and he learned bass guitar using a stand-up acoustic bass to practice Rush tunes when he was in high school. He played bass guitar for a Knoxville-based band in his senior year of high school and freshman year of college, and bass and keyboards for a comedy performance group (Quack with a Q) while in grad school.
After moving to Boston in 1992, Eric tried to join other bands a couple of times, but neither stuck. In Dirigible Ego, he's found a great bunch of guys for having fun and making good music!
Eric brings the bottom end to Dirigible Ego's sound with his fluid bass lines. He also plays occasional keyboards, which have been described as the "special sauce" in DE's sound. Listen to "Is This Heaven," especially, and you'll hear Eric adding great rhythm and harmony down in the lower ranges.
It's also accurate to say that Dirigible Ego wouldn't be what it is without Eric. Eric came to Pete's second solo show a couple of years back and was enthusiastic about what he heard; that motivated Pete to get off his butt and take it more seriously. They started working together a few months later and that was the nucleus of the group.
Eric's the one who keeps us honest about making sure we get the bones of a song right, pulling us back from whatever flights of musical fancy or studio-hijinks tangents we've gotten off on to the here-and-now and the need to settle down and do it right. If Doug's the timekeeper, Eric's the one who knows where we should be going and what time we ought to get there.
At Dodge Street, August 2009. Photo by Ian Lekus
Eric at Dodge Street Bar and Grill, Salem, MA, January 2009. Photo by Mark L Saperstein
