Here’s track three off my Hammers & Strings EP!
Shot and edited by Nick Stathis
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Hey, what’s 2 + 2 equal? 4?! AGAIN?!
As I sip my giant coffee mug, holding my second mammoth-sized cup of coffee, and prepare to switch gears, the shift is non-detectable. I carefully handle my ludicrously-sized mug to take another sip and realize how odd it is to be a DIY musician. I’m essentially running my career from my computer in my studio apartment.
I wake up and I’m checking emails and getting caught up on the goings on from my multitude of social networking sites. I genuinely enjoy interacting with anyone that has commented or reached out. I may then seamlessly transition into promotion mode, as I check an email regarding booking a gig. Immediately, the business casual attitude slips into place and I’m transacting some good opportunities for myself. Then I’m hungry, so I go to the kitchen and cut up a pear to eat.
Walking back to my computer, finishing the last piece of a delicious pear, I remember that I’m in the middle of reaching out to music blogs regarding my new album, “Hammers & Strings EP.” So, I open my bookmark toolbar and go through a handful of music blogs and e-mags looking for contact info so I can send them some semblance of an electronic press kit, messaging with hopes of future promotional ventures (i.e. interviews, album reviews, feature, etc.).
Sending one of the emails, I catch sight of my “to do” list poking out of a folder in front of me. I see that I have some website adjustments to attend to and I head over to edit and improve my website design I just made featuring my “H&S EP” release. And eventually I get to click the “publish” button and I’m done editing my website.
ah. breath. I feel inspired.
I walk over to my guitar and work on a chorus I have been tossing around in my head for a while. Then I look at some new lyrics and mess around with those for a bit to see if anything catches. Nothing really does. Some cool ideas here and there, but overall, nothing is impressing me; I’m a harsh critic.
So far today I’ve been a social media intern, booking agent, PR team, regular person, graphic & web designer, and musician…and it’s only 2:30pm. Doing it all yourself takes a lot these days, and I wonder what it was like back in like, the 60’s for trying to gain popularity in music. I know one day I’ll have teams of people doing most of these aspects of my career, but until then I need to maintain my management/promotional/booking/design/creative team as a well-oiled machine. There’s still way too many people who haven’t heard my music.
Love always,
rocknroll.
Eric
Excuse me, is that your EP you just dropped?
So yesterday my second album, much like the testicles of Adam Levine have yet to do, dropped. This is just fancy music biz lingo for “it is now available for mass consumption,” or if you’re an indie and widely unknown artist such as myself it means something more along the lines of “it is now on the internet and available for accidental click-throughs from the 27 people still listening to Eric Hutchinson.” Ah, a little self-deprecating humor never hurt nobody…speaking of, where is Jim Gaffigan nowadays? Wow, I digress…and I just gave you wayyy too many things to click before I got tell you what I wanted to in the first place….
So, my sophomore solo-music effort, graced the interwebs yesterday. “Hammers & Strings EP“ is now available for digital download from anywhere with an internet connection. The fact that I can sit on my computer in a studio apartment in Silverlake and potentially deliver my six-song EP to someone in Japan is a fantastic truth about our world. Though I prefer that person be from China, for the record. No offense Japan, China just has so much of the US’s money…gimme some.
I worked very hard on this album for the greater part of 2011. Between my time writing these songs and sketching out my ideas before heading into the studio, studio time recording all the music and mixing and mastering, and designing the album art and putting together a video or two five, I was ready to release it already.
I’m excited about H&S EP mostly because I truly played and produced everything on the album. I sang every note, strummed every guitar, played every piano part, crashed every cymbal, yelled every gang vocal, etc. etc. all with the engineering expertise of the extremely talented and perpetually-Kiwi Tim Moore @ Mas Music Productions. I definitely did strive to make the most dynamic songs I’ve created thus far in my career while staying true to my organic sound. I just love the feeling of real drums, real guitars, and a piano.
So if you haven’t taken my bait yet, I would absolutely love to share my creation with you, even if you don’t intend to buy it. Just head on over to my fancy bandcamp site and take a listen or 47 and share my site with ten or 800 of your facebook acquaintances. Music is made for listening, and there isn’t a mindless idea on the entire EP and genuinely want the world to take notice and enjoy. We all need this.
And hey, not all of these new songs are about girls, so just suck it up and open your earballs. I’d love to hear what you think, so give me a shout on here or on facebook or any of the other sites I’ve indulged in to keep in touch with you all.
Love always,
Rocknroll.
Eric
N-why-C? Because.
So I’ve made this decision to change my life pretty drastically and relatively abruptly. I’m moving to NYC…before November.
While the decision technically happened almost over night, it came with a lot of difficulty and Beautiful Mind-type 3D forethought. Ultimately, after 4 long and arduous years in LA exploring my various artistic endeavors, I feel like I’d rather continue to plug away in NYC. This decision obviously comes with the realization that despite the apparent fresh start and opportunity in NYC, I’d be departing from an amazing life I’ve built in LA including an irreplaceable family of friends, enjoyable gigs, and vast knowledge of the LA parking system.
Honestly, I never loved LA. I liked it a lot, and had to be here to pursue what my dreams had in store for me. I moved 3,000 from FL to LA 4 years ago, and I have always believed in my decisions. There are many things I loved about LA though and will dearly miss, moving 3,000 miles back east.
The only thing I know for sure, is that I’ll have an extremely difficult time being a gigging piano player in NYC. The week tour I did last year was an interesting challenge as I powered through the crowded and bustling subway system toting gear and an 88-key keyboard (and also inadvertently becoming one of the most polite people in NYC, saying sorry every couple minutes).
I want to have one last gig before leaving LA, so please stay tuned for that, as I may even get to book it at a rather amazing venue (details coming so damn soon). And you can expect there to be a great music coming out of this move.
Rocknroll.
Eric
PS: Regardless, I still have my Hammers & Strings EP coming (at least in part) before I leave for heavy-jacket weather. I want you to love this new music as much as I do.
Longest yet
This weekend was a whirlwind. A busy, artsy whirlwind filled with lots of music. A busy, artsy whirlwhind culminating with an amazing and neverending Sunday. On the day that people like Deion Sanders, Jimmy Carter, Mary Lou Retton might be known to rest, I was busy running from gig to gig. And, not just seamlessly from show to show. These were pretty different gigs in and of themselves. Let’s just start from the beginnning.
Friday night was the “soft open” for Dreams in Variation, a musical I’ve been lending my synth/keyboard skills to, and will continue to for the next 4 weekends. Saturday was met with apartment hunting for the good part of the day, followed by the official opening night of Dreams in Variation. While the show is an amazing production filled with solid delivery on singing, dancing, and acting, it’s still a 3-ish-hour long show… Regardless, I was excited for Sunday because my mom was in town for a day layover on her way to Dubai. Why Dubai, you ask? Ask her, she has a facebook 🙂 I’m just jealous because I’d love to travel to some more exotic places.
So, Sunday arrives and I wake up to put some good effort into apartment hunting before meeting up with my mom to do lunch. PS: In LA we don’t eat lunch, we do it. Anyhow… after doing a great lunch, I’m off to a 2pm call for the 3pm musical.
Cut to 3-ish hours later, and I’m on my way to my solo-acoustic gig at Room 5. After 3-ish hours of reading sheet music and playing string and keyboard parts for musical theatre tunes (theatre with an “re” because we’re sophisticated), I’m switching gears into my singer/songwriter self. You know that guy who likes to pour his heart out on the stage by way of emo piano-driven pop-rock.
The Room 5 show was so much fun. I think that show was one of my best performances ever. Not only did my voice feel amazing, but I sort of wing-ed my set and felt some of the most comfortable i’ve ever felt in front of an audience (awkward jokes aside). Plus a handful of the cast and producers from the musical came over to see me play, which was great because they got to see a completely different side to the sort-of-quiet synth/keyboardist in the pit band. After hanging out with everyone who came to the show, it was time to head to me third and final show of the night, an improv comedy show.
The only improv group I currently perform with, ELAINE, is comprised of good friends (and a lot of screwing around on stage). We now host an hour of improv on the third Sunday of the month aptly called “theELAINEhour.” We host two teams and perform a set ourselves. Both teams we invited to play really brought their A game and a great crowd, and because of some absences, ELAINE performed a three-person show. Three person shows can be a lot of fun because if you’re not in a scene, you’re waiting anxiously to make a move (mostly because the move is yours to make!). This was maybe one of my favorite improv shows i’ve ever been a part of.
Not only did I get to see my mom, who’s usually 3,000 miles away, but she got to see me perform in two shows where I performed in two very different ways. I had a paying show, an amazing solo gig, and a fun improv show with a ton of laughs.
So, the next time you think about taking that day of rest, you crazy christians, let me tell you that a Sunday can truly be a funday 🙂 But seriously folks, I’m not that interested in a religious debate…it’s just an honest joke.
L’Chaim
Eric
PS: I didn’t arbitrarily come up with those three random christians. I googled “famous christians” and the first result was a website with a hilarious list of famous christians. check it out.
PPS: rocknroll.
Eric Schackne 