Eric's Trip INTERVIEW ARCHIVE April, 1996 - Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
Personnel
- Interviewer(s)
- Mike Campbell
- Interviewee(s)
- Julie Doiron
- Chris Thompson
- Mark Gaudet
- Rick White
Sources
| Publisher | Title | Transcript |
|---|---|---|
| MuchEast | Yes |
Transcript
Mike: So this is the infamous basement?
Rick: Yeah, this is a new one. We..um... This is just kind of new to Eric's Trip, but, uh...
Chris: The third basement...
Mike: The third one?
Rick: Yeah, we started in Chris' parents' basement for quite a while, for years. For like three years or something..
Chris: Yeah...
Rick: Then we moved to my Dad's basement for a while, cause Chris' sister moved into our old practice room. And uh, now we have this place so we practice here.
Mike: Well I can't think of too many other bands where all the various individuals also have their side-projects that are also clearly defined.
Julie: It seems to work well with us. I think that everybody, everything they do on their own is all really good so, I mean... I don't want that to sound the wrong way but I think that we're all able to get away with doing our side projects as well as Eric's Trip and I think it works well. Like, I don't think it takes away from anything.
Rick: When we started writing songs kind of for Eric's Trip, we started all writing songs in general and then we kind of bring our best ones to the band. Then we'd always have these other tapes of all these other songs that we didn't bring to the band. It just accumulates after a while, and you start realizing they're good too the way they are. Then you start putting them out on 7-inches, cassettes... And then people start liking them as much as the original band that you all broke off from.
Mike: So, just for posterities sake, why doesn't everybody rhyme off the name of their side project, just for people that don't know?
Mark: No Explanation. Well, Purple Knight was my first band from '74, and then I formed No Explanation in '83.
Rick: Elevator To Hell, I guess is what it's coming out now, but I put it out as Stereo Mountain before, as a comic book. But, that's about all I've been called, since the By Myself tapes.
Chris: I'm Moon Socket, and I have lots of little things, and hopefully there will be more coming out...
Rick: ..He's got a full CD.
Chris: A full CD on Derivative Records.
Julie: My name is Julie, and I sort of go by "Broken Girl", but I'm trying to think of a name, a different name, to change it to.
Mike: Why don't you like that one?
Julie: I don't know... It seemed appropriate, like, three years ago, but now...
Mike: You're feeling less broken?
Julie: Yeah..., a little bit.
Mike: Now, how do you think the band has changed over the years? From the first releases to the new CD, which sounds pretty accomplished?
Mark: It's like a scrapbook.
Rick: It's the final...
Mark: It's almost as if there's a few pages left, and I wonder if there could be a book too? That's the question right now. Could there be a second book out of the chapters that made it up.
Rick: You mean if Eric's Trip is a book?...
Mark: Yeah...
Julie: Huh...
Rick: We always put out our records kind of as a document of events, like, of a biography... a piece of a big story. The first record, the first EP, they all led into each other, to us.
Mark: ...And right now...
Rick: We'd release small chapters on a single or something. A big part on a record, and...
Mark: ...And right now the books sort of set up...
Rick: It's pretty...
Mark: ...sort of, what would you call it? So we don't know where we could go? A cliffhanger, that's it! It's a cliffhanger, right about now.
Rick: I think we went through the first climax, and now we're kinda going for the, y'know, last one, before the nice ending.
Mark: The thing is, y'know, about rumours, is that this is the first time there's been a thread to truth to the rumour of if we break up and stuff, but it's weird...
Rick: There's so much more to do.
Mark: We're still together right now, and that's right important.
Mike: So you're still, as far as you're concerned, you're still...
Mark: We still have plans for the future, y'know, so that's cool.
Chris: We'll always be together, anyhow...
Mike: Well you don't want a really good record to die on the vine, either.
Mark: That's not really the way we're taking it.
Chris: Yeah...
Rick: 'Cause the records out, and it's documented. It's a separate thing from shows, I guess. So, if people can still see us live, I guess that's a good thing.
Mark: ...Yeah...
Rick: As far as that record, I never thought you had to tour to support a record. 'Cause once the records out, twenty years from now it'll still be there - the three vinyls, or the three main albums from Eric's Trip.
Mike: Judging by the amount of questions I get about this band and the emails, faxes and whenever we do request shows, its always like tons of people want to see Eric's Trip stuff, I figured it's probably got to be a reasonably frustrating thing to be a fan of the band because you just don't do that much road work.
Rick:Yeah,
Julie: Yeah.
Rick: Maybe that's what's better about it.
Mike: Do you think so? Or is it?...
Rick: I don't know.
Mike: Do you guys hate it or is it just a matter of logistically it's just very difficult to do?
Rick: No, it's just more the part that it reminds you that it is work. The show parts the great part, like we don't mind playing, it's the travelling and it's tough.
Julie: Yeah. I love playing.
Mike: It's tough to keep you from strangling them after two weeks.
Rick: I don't know.
Julie: It's the driving that makes me a nervous wreck!
© Mike Campbell, 1996