Interview with Eric McConnell
Ran into Eric McConnell over there on MySpace and he was kind
enough to agree to do an interview with me, so here it is!
OK, let's start with the basics. Tell me about your music.
Haha...you say "the basics" and hit me with the hardest question
first....I'm a Blues, Funk and old R&B guy with a guilty
pleasure for Rock..haha. During a live show we play a mix of
everything. From Stevie Wonder and Al Green to modern rock and
my original stuff. When I write, it's a bit different. I'm very
aware of song structures and the importance of getting your
point across quickly. My first solo album that's in the works
now is actually more Rock based with some Blues highlights. I'm
actually planning on covering two songs on it also: 'Old Love'
by Eric Clapton and 'I Wish' by Stevie Wonder.
As for influences? Well I'm never too far from one of these
guys/bands CD's: Philip Sayce, Richie Kotzen, Joe Bonamassa,
Gov't Mule and Jeff Buckley.
You started playing in public at a young age, 14. At what
age did you pick up the guitar and what influenced you to do
so?
I picked up my first guitar when I was 13. I remember answering
this question once when I doing an interview when I was 17 and
I'm gonna answer it the same way yet, updated...I started
playing for the girls! And if any other musician says that they
didn't start playing for attracting the opposite sex (or same
sex...gotta be PC nowadays..) they are lying to you. It wasn't
untill later that I realized I had something to say and that it
takes more than a guitar to get a date...haha.
By the time you were 18, you were in the finals of The
National Jimi Hendrix Electric Guitar Competition. How did that
happen?
My brother and I used to make trips to the big chain CD store in
Buffalo NY (my old hometown) and it was always the same thing.
We'd split up at the door and meet up at the cashiers with our
spoils. I had seen an ad for The Hendrix Competition in Guitar
Player magazine and just knew that I had to do it. There was
only something like 2 weeks till the deadline so I was making
phone calls as soon as I got home. This is actually where I met
the members of the Project R&B Revue. I made the recording with
some of them and they liked my playing so much they asked me to
join the band.
Almost a year after the semi-finals in Cleveland, the finals
happened in Seattle. A huge chunk of my family flew out there, I
bought leather pants...haha...and I felt like a rockstar. There
I was with Slash (I got a great story about him getting ID'd in
the hotel bar) Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains) Kim Thyall
(soundgarden) Gary Hoey, Keb'Mo, Chris Duarte and Hendrix's Band
of Gypsies. It was night I won't ever forget. Getting
compliments from my idols and having breakfast with some of them
before they left that afternoon...Very cool for me.
With Buffalo-based Project R&B Revue, you opened for some
pretty big acts, including Robert Cray and Kenny Wayne Shepherd.
That must have been pretty amazing to find yourself playing
along with the blues guitar gods so early in your career. Did
you find it humbling or ego-boosting?
I was scared shitless! I know I shouldn't curse but to look out
and have a sea of people in front of you, dancing and singing
your songs let alone having Kenny Wayne and Robert Cray watching
and listening to you? That to me was both ego boosting, humbling
and the biggest thrill I've had. I consider myself blessed to
have it the times that I did.
When you were 21, you left Buffalo and moved to DC to study
music. How did your education and the change of location
influence your musical style?
This is a great question. I can't lie but going from clubs and
venues to early morning classes and homework, sucked...haha.
Yet, it was the best thing I've ever done. I went from this
blues rocker guitar guy to a much more educated...blues rocker
guitar guy...haha..seriously though, I found out that music
wasn't all about the rippin guitar solo. Don't get me wrong, a
rippin solo still gets me off but when you hear guys like Jeff
Buckley or Nick Drake just craft a song...it hits you in a
different place. Though I can only pray for that kind of
ability, the thought wouldnt have even occured to me if I hadn't
changed the path I was on.
How did you end up here in San Antonio?
When I was in The Hendrix Competition I met Jake Owen. Those of
you that don't know Jake, you're missing out. He does some great
improv/new Jazz. Anyway, he and I hit it off and have been
friends ever since. I had visited the area a few times over the
years. When things kinda dwindled in DC, Jake made the
suggestion I move here...so I did.
San Antonio, sitting in the shadows of Austin, often gets
overlooked as a great town for music. As something of a newcomer
here, what is your impression of the local music scene and what
do you think SA needs to put it on the musical map?
More Original Music! And more reception for original music. San
Antonio has some of the best musicians I've heard. If it was
possible for all of us to just say "screw covers" and go all
original, we'd have an extremely powerful 'Tiny Mecca' on our
hands.
What are your plans for the future? And tell me more about
these interesting side projects of yours...a novel and a video
game?
Well, I mentioned before my first solo album which is gonna have
a few friends on it. But the side projects kinda just happened.
The novel is a suspense/thriller about a serial killer. A
twisted "whodunit" and when I say twisted..let's just say due to
fear of being disowned, I wont let my Mom read it.
The videogame is really cool. My brother had a job for
Playstation and made some good connections there. I had told him
about an idea for a Zombie game (I'm a B-movie and Romero fan).
After a few different pitches about it and trying to find a way
to stick with that genre, while still being fresh, we came up
with a great idea. Once again, I can't get too much into it but
it's not your normal cliche themed zombie tale. I'm really
excited about both these projects.
Ok, bonus fun question: If you could organize the ultimate
jam session, with musicians local or world-renowned, live or
dead, who would you pick to play that jam?
Hmm...Well I'd take my good friend, Ron Bryant of local band
Inertia (killer guitarist), Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan,
Dimebag Darrell, Keith Moon, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Cliff
Burton, Allen Woody, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin and jam on
Sweet Home Alabama (Okay bad inside joke on the song between Ron
and I..haha)..but honestly I think if it were possible to take
all of the people that influenced me that have passed on and
sit'em down to just talk over a few beers, coffee,
cigarettes...that would be cool.
That would be very cool. Thanks for the interview, Eric, and
I've got to hear that Slash story sometime!
You can catch Eric McConnell live:
Thursday, Nov 3rd with Dave Fennley at Stone Werks Caf