Here’s track three off my Hammers & Strings EP!
Shot and edited by Nick Stathis
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ahh Drummer roll pleease… (PART TWO)
So I’ve officially assembled a three-piece band and it is glorious. Thanks to a grueling drummer audition process I have met Wyatt, an amazing drummer who totally gets my style and will be bringing his mental mentronome and heavy foot to gigs for now on.
With our first rehearsal under our belt, I’ve already booked our first official band show at the end of February, opening up for my buddies’ band XYZYX @ O’Briens in Santa Monica. If you’re around, it’s a free show on the 28th @ 9:30.
The one thing that would put the cherry on the top of my band cake is a guitarist who sings. Part of the fun of having a band to back me live is that I wouldn’t have to sing and play the whole time. I don’t mind because there is something cool about watching a band go crazy and rocking out non-stop for a half hour. But, I’d like to mingle with the audience and not have to worry about playing the whole time. When am I going to find time to stage dive if I don’t have enough sound going on without me? (the eternal question, I know)
Anyhow, needless to say, so in other words, segway…I’m excited about playing with a full band.
Stay tuned for more exciting updates including but not limited to music video news, finding a guitarist, tour dates, free shows, Danny Devito jokes, etc etc.
rocknroll.
Eric
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
This Classic Romance
The anatomy of a glance, our lives played out in a flash
Accuracy is merely by chance, if it’s good it’s gone too fast
In a glance I forgive your flaws
It’s your smile that caught my eyes
There’s a conjured up purity that I saw, not based in truth but not necessarily lies
I know you’ll walk off or some man will come kiss you on your mouth, like a lover does
But this is primal
This is real
There’s a classic romance to what this was
My finger bookmarks to make time to glance,
You’re the most important thing in this moment
Suspense and potential in our silent dance
If your stare awakens me but for a second it’s a second well-spent
In a glance I forgive your flaws
It’s your smile that caught my eyes
There’s a conjured up purity that I saw not based in truth, but not necessarily lies
I know you’ll walk off and some man will come kiss you on your mouth, like a lover does
But this is primal
This is real
There’s a classic romance to what this was…
“This Classic Romance”
Hammers & Strings EP
Lyrics/music by Eric Schackne
Eric Schackne 