Tell us about yourself and your music
I was born in 1962 to two eighteen year-old parents. At two years old, Beatle Mania and The British Invasion were on the cusp of changing the world, in all aspects of society. Although I was a mere two, I vividly recall having access to my parents’ record collection. I was specifically drawn to the album cover art, and a few in particular captured my eyes and fascinated an infant, who was literally born loving music and photography. It’s no wonder I eventually made those specific disciplines a major part of my artistic career. Two LPs in particular caught my attention, first, due to the otherworldly album covers. One was the American release of MEET THE BEATLES, with those four, strangely shadowed heads floating in the darkness. The other two were both Elvis Presley LPs. ELVIS’S GREATEST HITS, VOLUME I, and a film soundtrack called LOVING YOU, featuring a close-up of The Hillbilly Cat, complete with greasy kid stuff flowing through his died, jet-black pompadour, sky blue backdrop and a soft, beige suede jacket. His eyes burning at me, under heavy, almost feminine, Tupelo lids, and lips seemingly awaiting the kiss of some crazed young girl. My parents, having noticed my on-going obsessive fascination with these album covers, brought out a Play & Tell record player with the teakwood needle, and when they slid that needle onto those crackling vinyl platters, my reaction was to immediately go into a sudden, frozen, infant trance, imagining that slightly dangerous lullaby vocal of Elvis, coming right out of that LOVING YOU portrait. I was also aware of that sound, that ‘Tupelo honey,’ made by a tiny ensemble, injecting my infant soul with a beat and rhythm from the adult world. Another world. And the next LP, MEET THE BEATLES. Well, that was the sound from another GALAXY!!! A different space; a foreign, intergalactic, raving, melancholy shot of weirdly joyous, yet sometimes dark, avant-garde echoes that had me racing around the room, in my diaper, imagining I was one of those mops, being chased by a gaggle of crazed boppers. I had seen the Sullivan debut and A HARD DAY’S NIGHT. At 16, I met a like-minded budding rocker in school, and our lives were so similar and connected by the same experiences, and the fascination with the same music (The Doors, Hendrix, Clapton, Paul & Wings, solo Lennon; and on and on). We joined up everyday after school, and would sit on his bed and play our guitars; learning chords from songbooks, and covering our favorite tunes by our pioneering idols. Soon, we were throwing bands together, jamming and playing local pubs and house parties. Players came and went, but Glenn and I remained connected at the hip, and determined to follow our dreams of rock stardom, eventually found a drummer and bassist, which led to the typical teenage life of doing what we thought we had to, in order to progress and evolve. By-passing a million details that could make a book about how two kids jamming on a mattress led to constructing a band that became local legends, the insanity and arguing and brotherhood (and a million rehearsals) eventually had four Framingham, MA twenty year olds considered by a loyal coterie of friends and fans, as genuine, budding rock stars. I think this was mainly to do with going from being strictly a cover band, to writing forty or so of some of the cheekiest original “new wave” pop tunes the Boston area had ever heard. There evolved a chemistry between Glenn Otenti, Eric Scott Bloom (me), bassist Craig Hurlbut, and bona fide sex symbol Joey Willis, and so the New England quartet THE PICTURES, armed with a crazy-quilt of original, freaky pop tunes, spent the end of the 70s, into the early 80s, tearing it up in all the small clubs Boston and the New England area had to offer. For all the typical reasons bands break up, THE PICTURES did, in ’81, as well. The drummer extraordinaire, Joey Willis and I spent the next two years writing HUNDREDS of songs, including many instrumentals, in a style reminiscent of classic themes from Rock’s earliest yeas, and tapping every genre and movement thereafter, until we went our separate ways in ’84. The band/project we created, known as GENTLE MEN, was particularly special, as we wrote and performed as a TWO-PIECE unit, featuring drums and electric guitar only! I spent the next three decades in and out of different projects, with some of the finest musicians around, writing and arranging most of the material that was produced. By 2005, finding I could use computer technology to compose, arrange and produce all my own material, completely my way, totally un-censored or influenced by anyone else, but relying strictly on my own aesthetically musical and lyrical visions, I wrote about 300 songs, as well as returning to tunes I wrote, and/or co-wrote, with several of the players I had worked with through the years, using the original recorded tracks, and enhancing them by adding a multitude of new instrumentation and re-mixes. Since I began this solo project, which included writing a formidable catalogue of brand new material, hugely influenced by the work of Dylan, The Beatles, Hendrix, Patti Smith Group, and so many more, I currently have and on-line stream of 258 original songs, filtered through all the styles and mannerisms of the artists I listened to obsessively through my entire life. Performances from the vocal, acoustic guitar and mouth harp approach, to the ‘wall of sound’ orchestrations I learned to love and admire, via Jimi, The Doors, Derek & The Dominoes, and so many others. However, as much as the importance of using what I learned from my study of those artists who inspired me to write and produce my own material, it is MY OWN, inner psyche, and ability to transform creative vision into authentic audio tracks, that most emerges in the sound, atmosphere and eclectic style that runs through my songwriting and producing.
Talk to us more about your latest release
“Innocent Stroll” is available as a free download through my home base, ReverbNation. It was an attempt at that wall o’ sound, multi-layered rocker that I feel is best enjoyed and appreciated with the use of headphones. I think using headphones can literally put the listener’s brain INSIDE MY brain, and the atmospheric space created by the nuances of the production and mix down:
{ONE day taking an innocent stroll, I bumped into demons, carrying stockings of burned-out coal.
Assuming I was dreaming, as I’m known to do, I took a step back, awaiting on you….
I plucked up my courage, and I doffed my cap; something I thought you’d admire. One of the demons began to laugh;
His tears of joy put out his fire. All he had left was desire…
Devils and Angels swim-the same waters. Realizing this had me deep in a shiver. Silver moon possesses no Light!
It can only reflect the Sun, when it’s out of sight.
The tides rushed in like a salty prayer; From whence it came, I knew not where. The brides wore black, with purple-green hair,
Betrothed with not a single care. Just a love they could share. The howling rain and-the wind had me pinned,
But of course it was only a dream. It turned so cold, I felt I’d been skinned, as the Moon began to Gleam. Oh, what a scream!!!!!}
This song, like most of my tunes, I consider a “tone-poem.” Without trying to be histrionic and purposefully cryptic, I can honestly say that I don’t exactly know WHAT this lyric MEANS. The tunes I write I rarely begin with any particular idea or concept. I’m sort of on auto-pilot, and just let my imagination meld with a basic foundation of a song in progress, and allow the atmosphere of the chord progressions lead me to jotting down the thoughts the song inspires. Being profoundly inspired by Dylan’s infamous trilogy; BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME, HIGHWAY 61, and BLONDE ON BLONDE, I believe that words don”t necessarily have to MEAN anything. They can be perceived as just another instrument, whose purpose is to complement the ambience of the music.
What inspired you to write this release?
Writing music, like any art form, is a way to purge myself of deeply psychological feelings of dread and joy. I cannot sublimate my feelings, emotions, opinions or imagination. When I do attempt to ignore my spiritual and intellectual visions, and the ongoing search for the meaning and purpose of my life, I feel as though I am being eaten alive. I sense an impending implosion. I’m inspired to write songs to spit in the face of our terrifying mortality. I desire to leave something of value, beauty and meaning behind. Perhaps I want my music to prove to future generations that I was actually here, and had something uncommon to share with others, who find art, especially music, to possess definite, mystical qualities, and can serve as a means to a path to personal Salvation.
Describe the writing and recording process
I play the acoustic guitar, searching for interesting chord progressions. During this process, I’m consciously arranging the song, like putting together a puzzle. As this action takes its course, I stop at periods when lyrical notions come to the surface. The more the song develops a foundation as a format for a rhyme-based poem, the closer I come to creating a piece that at least appears to relate a specific theme or literary concept, symbolically, or straight-forward statement or story. Like a novelist constructs his scenario through the method of constant and continuous re-writing, I constantly search for the most memorable chord, verse, chorus, melody, and how to best arrange these elements in combination with the lyric. Recording begins with a basic percussion track, followed by a foundational acoustic guitar track. If the tune will not utilize percussion, I start with the rhythm guitar track. Using either method, I follow up by adding each individual instrument, in concert with the basic initial beat and/or guitar, and usually compose each instrument’s part through improvisation. I play it the way I feel it. It’s like laying bricks to build an art deco staircase. The mixing is, for me, like painting. It’s all about choosing particular colors, textures, angles; choice of brush. I’m painting a picture with sounds, and making decisions on how best to combine them. Painters want to capture the eye. I try and capture the ear (and the heart).
Any plans to hit the road?
I rarely perform. I am dedicating my life now to taking care of two elderly and very ill parents. I’ve come to the point in my artistic life where fame and acclaim, and the ego’s need for applause and praise have taken a back seat to loving and caring for my Mom and Dad; especially my Mom, who is living a life of constant agony and stress. That’s our reality. She is, by nature, an extremely optimistic person, but she recently confided to me that she’s “living a nightmare.” If she has to endure that, she damn well isn’t going to do it without her son by her side. I love performing, but dealing with my current domestic situations, performing is something I couldn’t give a damn about.
As an indie artist, how do you brand yourself and your music to stand out from the rest of the artists out there?
I’m just another songwriter. Everyone has something special about them and their talent, and everyone who makes music has something inside them that no one else has. I don’t go for this new trend of gaining success through branding. My brand is me, and there’s only one me.
Who have you been listening to lately?
Dylan, every day. Hendrix, Patti Smith Group, Fiona Apple, The Boxtops, Adam & The Ants, The Beatles, solo George Harrison and John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, The Band, Elvis, The Doors (and everything else!).
Who are your biggest influences?
Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Doors, Patti Smith Group, Elvis, John Lennon, The Band
Tell us about your passions
Painting, Photography, Music (listening to others and making my own), Writing, Cooking for my friends and family, Reading, Watching film footage of Bobby Orr, Experimental Video-making, watching movies I know are great, Driving to nowhere, The Beaches of South Florida, Eating at Diners and Delicatessens, Existing, My Son Kyle; the greatest love of my life
What else is happening next in your world?
The loss of my parents hangs over my head like a demonic, black rain cloud, should I outlive them. As The Inevitable approaches, I will continue creating my art, in all its forms, and making music that I hope touches people in their hearts and minds.
Thanks for an awesome interview, EricScottBloom aka MODARTIST
Connect with EricScottBloom aka MODARTIST
Website: http://EricScottBloomAKAmodartist.comFacebook: http://facebook.com/modartistInstagram: http://instagram.com/ericscottbloomTwitter: http://twitter.com/TheModartistYoutube: http://youtube.com/fullblowngeniusSoundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/modartistReverbnation: http://reverbnation.com/EpiGothicSINGLES
