I could spend a lot of time on this artist. A singer/songwriter from somewhere near Chicago, Eric has a way of weaving a tale in lyrics that will make you want to cry in your beer, or throw your glass at the wall. He has a finely developed sense of the power of lyrical imagery and with a voice that is fully able to gently rip your heart apart one moment, and in the next moment he will scream at you driving you into a fetal position, catatonic state, riddled with angst. Such are the extremes in Eric's songs.
I met up with Eric on mp3unsigned, a music hosting site in the UK and after a few years of listening to his gut-wrenching, soul-searching, dark melodies, I learned to appreciate the craft in his music. He spends a lot time wrestling with the devil, and the details of his craft. He may not be quite the perfectionist his music seems to demonstrate, but his hard work and relentless quest for the better song (better words, phrasings, performances, mixes and masters) is always observable in his tunes.
He is like a fine wine, at this stage in his life, no longer searching desperately for the Nashville dream, he has settled into his own stride and walks through album after album with a determination to be true to his own sense of musical style and an awareness of what stories need to be told.
Eric has offered his music for free via downloads on several music hosting platforms, but he informed me that he does that only as the songs are being created, and that once an album has been assembled, he offers the songs for sale on i-tunes, spotify and other music sites.
He has a modest recording studio in his home, and I believe he has recently acquired a new DAW (Digital Audio Workstation - software to record your own music) and a new computer rig to produce his music at a new level of excellence.
What's next? I purchased the most recent Bad Love Junkie album a little over a year ago, and Eric was already working on the next album. It may be released in 2019, he said. However, Eric also cautioned me not to hold my breath. It is a goal, not a commitment, so stay tuned.
For me, Eric is part enigma and part idol. He represents something I would have aspired to be at one point in my life - the traveling troubadour. He keeps it real by taking his music to the people for testing with audiences, at small clubs and open-mics wherever, and whenever he can. I admire that. As for the enigmatic persona? Well, and I mean that literally: Eric is a deep thinker who loves philosophy, and he also likes to keep to himself a fair bit. I guess he lets a bucket down to tap into the well of his heart and soul every so often, and that bucketful of whatever he found comes out in the diverse and richly textured Indie sound that I enjoy. If you're feeling a little out of sorts with life, Eric may have a few tunes to send your way. He has a way of relating to each of us in our struggles, and that is something I also enjoy in Bad Love Junkie's many tunes. There is a part of me that relates to his take on life - the darker, less-traveled alleys off the main street of life.
Bad Love Junkie is on mp3unsigned, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Mixposure among other sites.
http://www.mp3unsigned.com/ArtistPage.aspx?bandid=25153&trackid=158144
https://soundcloud.com/bad-love-junkie
look for his music for purchase on i-=tunes - https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/bad-love-junkie/1247602660
And on SPOTIFY https://open.spotify.com/artist/6rw3v3mgGfoYS6uIFq1XrY
