ERIC'S TRIP INTERVIEW ARCHIVE January, 1996 - Julie Doiron's Residence, Moncton, New Brunswick

Interviewer(s)
Unknown Chart Reporter
Interviewee(s)
Julie Doiron
Publisher Title Transcript
Chart Magazine The long-awaited Eric's Trip live album...sort of Yes

The long-awaited Eric's Trip live album...sort of

...O.k., it's not a live album. But Purple Blue, the new disc from Moncton, Brunswick noise-popsters Eric's Trip, is an attempt to capture the essence of the band's energetic live shows.

What we wanted to do this time was to try and make it sound more like we do when we play live, so that's why we recorded it all at the same time, and that's something never we've never done before," explains bassist, singer and new Mommy Julie Doiron (the rest of the band includes Mark Gaudet, drums, Chris Thompson, guitar, and Rick White, vocals and guitar).

Despite the way it was recorded, Purple Blue is probably the best-sounding album the band has ever made; its fuzzy, ragged, sonic edges intact are augmented by the full-ness of its sound. Hell, you don't even have to turn down the treble knob on your stereo this time. Musically aggressive -- more so than 1994's Forever Again — the songs on Purple Blue continue the band's tradition of offering intimate glances into their lives, without being too specific. On "Eyes Closed," for instance, Julie sings "I feel so tired. I feel so tired, I feel so tired of everything/ It's nothing new, nothing new, nothing new, it's all the same." So, to what extent are their songs autobiographical?

Basically I'm a happy person, but I guess you end up writing things that say how you feel at that particular hour," she admits, adding, "There was a time when everyone I was hanging around with were always down on themselves and just super pathetic all the time and they felt like they were the only ones who were gong through that, but I got sick of that because everyone feels that way now and then.

And though she scoffs at being lumped in with so-called 'Generation X" bands, she acknowledges that some of their songs reflect a restlessness that a lot of young people today seem to be feeling. "Yeah, it's kind of the feeling that we're sick of a lot of the situations that we're going through; sort of like we're tired of the same old thing but yet comfortable and secure with the same old thing," she says.

© Chart Magazine, 1996