Eric James and The New Century- Pop Without Pretense -
Comparisons to Death Cab For Cutie, Pete Yorn, and the would-be 'yupster' movement aside, Philadelphia's Eric James is in many ways a throw back. Melding the earthy, rock n' roll aesthetic of Bruce and his E Street Band with the progressive college pop of Coldplay and Badly Drawn Boy, James gains a somewhat unique dichotomy: arty pop music without shoe gazing pretensions. "While I get a lot of comparisons to Coldplay, which these days seems to go hand in hand with touching a piano at any point in the set, I have a lot of respect for Springsteen,' says James. 'He's had a lot of things to say and has always found an artful way of saying them."
An element of heart-on-his-sleeve honestly is a fundamental part of James' music. In many ways reminiscent of both early and recent U2, this openness allows Eric to explore deeply resonating subjects from an artful but non-posturing attitude. "I'm a fan of a lot of bands out there who would be labeled as pretentious. I honestly don't really have a problem with them - I just choose not to approach my music that way."
James' first gained national recognition as the principle member and guitarist for The Cool Grand, the sunny Pittsburgh pop outfit who broke out regionally in 2002, earning significant regional airplay, and moved 5,000 copies of their indie releases before disbanding in mid-2003. "You know how it is with bands,' Eric recounts, 'you feel like you have your whole life in order, more and more people are coming to shows, things are working...then the singer quits. Perfect. Of course, these are things that make you push yourself into something better."
Better indeed. Before TCG had even played their last gig Eric was already off and running. "The day of our last show, I had already booked studio time and requested more credit on my Visa," he recalls. "Rushing into the solo thing was a purging for me. In many ways I'd been hiding behind the band a bit - this forced me to take center stage with my music. It has been a daunting but exhilarating experience."
The resulting self-titled EP, hailed by Pulp as "poetically moving and candid", sold out its initial pressing in less than a month and served to affirm James' as a notable artist is his own right. Pittsburgh radio trendsetter WYEP began spinning the disc and gave Eric feature highlights in its Year-In-Review programs. In February '04, James recorded a version of The Velvet Underground's "I Found A Reason" for MTV's Lit Riffs, a soundtrack and collection of short stories inspired by lyrics from notable songs.
On the strength of these successes, Eric enjoyed mounting A R attention in early 2004, with both major and independent record companies expressing interest. Eric was invited to perform for hit-maker Pete Ganbarg (Santana, Run-DMC), and eventually entered a production agreement as the flagship artist for Ganbarg's Pure Tone Music development project. "The day I did that particular showcase I was ridiculously sick,' Eric remembers with a wince. 'It was the sort of colossal debacle that makes for a good 'Behind-the-Music' episode. The amazing thing was that Pete heard through that. I decided he'd make a great partner for the next step."
In the meantime, James released the long awaited follow-up to his solo debut in November '04, appropriately title "The C-Sides". The new material went the Paul-McCartney-Ram route of self-produced exploration, giving James' a relaxed, lo-fi canvas to expand both lyrically and musically. "The relaxed, lo-fi approach of The C-Sides gave me a sense of license to expand lyrically and raise bigger questions,' recalls James. 'I was also right in the middle of learning how to love someone, which can make things wonderfully complicated."
James hit the ground running in early 2005, crisscrossing the country, and meeting with a number of notable arrangers and producers. In the fall Eric entered the studio with producer John Fields (Wheat, Switchfoot, Evan Jaron, Sheryl Crowe). The initial batch of recordings feature Eric performing on all tracks save a few contributions, most notably Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello) on drums. "The whole scene was pretty surreal," James says. "Over dinner one night, Pete Thomas was recounting stories about recording with Jimmy Page and Greg Allman or something. I felt pretty small - it was fantastic." Eric reentered the studio for additional recordings in spring '06, this time with producers Christopher Thorn and Brad Smith (Blind Melon, Anna Nalick) and drummer Pete McNeil (Cake). Both pairings proved excellent and both sessions nimbly captured the scope of Eric's developing song craft and musical vision.
Buzz around the new recordings has grown quickly. Fans' first taste came via the launch of Eric's MySpace page in late 2005. Bolstered by new favorites "Long Road For The Lonely", "Trust", and "It's Ok", the new page drew over 22,000 fans in less than 6 months. With a show and iTunes exclusive EP scheduled for release in September '06, look for Eric and The New Century to tour extensively in support of the new release through the end of the year.
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