|
|
eric fontana Music Player
Avg 3.03 / 5
Total of 86 votes
|
Last update: 04 Nov 2009 12:31 AM
Account: AltBasic
Location: Providence, RI, USA
Signed up: 11/23/04 21:25:29
Members: 1
Genre: paul westerburg, jeff buckley, neil finn
Influences: beck, beatles, elvis costello, tom waits, bruce springsteen
AltSounds URL:http://www.altsounds.com/eric_fontana
Website: http://www.cdbaby.com/ericfontana2
|
|
Biography
Having gained invaluable experience as a touring/studio musician, Eric's first performance as a solo singer-songwriter was opening for Kristen Hirsh of The Throwing Muses.
Since then, he has performed with such notables as Ben Folds, Tanya Donelly, They Might Be Giants, Erin Mckeown, Josh Ritter, Mellissa Ferrick, John Wesley Harding, Howie Day, Jen Chapin and Soul Coughing lead singer Doughty.
Nominated for Best Male Vocal category in the 2001 Providence Phoenix Music Poll, Eric has also performed on the Local Stage at the Newport Folk Festival and the Northampton Music Festival, in addition to live radio broadcasts on WBRU, WRIU, WXIN(R.I.), WICN(Worcester,Ma.), WSMU(Dartmouth,Ma.), WERS and radioboston.com(Boston,Ma.).
A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Eric recorded HATS AND SHOES, his second CD and follow up to SOUND STATION SEVEN, over the course of 2002 with a small but varied group of musicians, including drummer Joe Sirios(Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Frank Black), cellist Margie Wienk(Stringbuilder, Iditarod, Fern Knight) and pedal steel player Chris Cook(Thee Hydrogen Terrors, The Deterrents). HATS AND SHOES is a ten song trip through, and about, the glorious mutt that is pop culture/art, post-modern life and the emotional confusion yet attainable clarity that comes with it.
Nashville's Catamount Records has included "Don't", off HATS AND SHOES, on their HUAC2 (HOT UNSIGNED ARTISTS OF AMERICANA 2) compilation CD, featured at the 2003 SXSW and Folk Alliance conferences. They have also recently included "Hill of Fire", a previously unreleased track, on their HUAC3 CD, featured at the 2004 AMA conference in Nashville, TN.
Showing influences such as Beck, Bruce Springsteen, Lucinda Williams, Tom Waits, The Beatles, Billy Joel, Aimee Mann and Elvis Costello, Eric wrote, sang and co-produced all ten tracks, as well as playing all guitar, bass and keyboard parts.
Eric's music combines the elements of rock, folk, country/americana, rhythm and blues, and Brit-pop to explore the subject of the personal politics of human life. Equally important is his hope of connecting to as many people possible with a message of faith and the outsider's stance of his heroes; lyrically and musically trying to link everyday chaos with everyday calm.
SOUND STATION SEVEN available at cdbaby.com/ericfontana
PRESS:
"HATS and SHOES sounds zesty and fresh...the simple strum on 'Saturday Song' has a quality as sung by, say, Jeff Tweedy...'Wake Up' is folk music breaking free of its self-absorption and busting into the daylight. There are intriguing nuggets all across the record..."
"Fontana's sound contains echoes of work by Graham Parker, Marc Bolan and Graham Parsons, which puts him in good company...a bold sort of resolution in knowing that what he says and how he says it is worth hearing...full of resonant images, rich melodies and potent performances...
Fontana sings with an emphatic romanticism, a relatable intimacy that has made his shows a success. Rare is the singer-songwriter who can write and sing songs actually worth listening to. Eric Fontana is just that: rare."
-Bob Gulla, The Providence Phoenix
"...an energetic mixture of stripped down folk, blues, rock, Brit-pop and a tad of that insurgent country...Fontana exhibits a diversified writing skill that permeates...his vocal action emits like both a lion and a lamb, forging sweeping melodies with songs that touch upon those who leave and are left behind..."
-Anthony Loffredio, Providence Monthly
"Eric's songs are about those mundane things and events in one's life that one would hardly consider writing songs about, and yet Eric manages to make these songs compelling...it just works. Cool stuff!"
-Joel Simches, The Noise Boston
"...high energy, addictive music...Fontana could do his entire show with just his voice...sings with such inflection that his vocal ability competes with the lyrics...Fontana writes about ordinary topics,such as love, life and growing up, but his word choice makes the messages run even deeper...an energy that makes the ordinary seem suddenly more colorful...lyrics have a subtle melancholy feel that is typical of country, but his sound is more upbeat, with it's roots unmistakably rock and roll."
-Alysa Phillips, The Northampton Gazette
"...soulful...discreet...americana tinted...lively/nutty...in our opinion, the most beautiful moments of an amazingly varied(pop) record of a special multi-talented fellow..."
-Benny Metton, Ctrl Altcountry E-Zine, Belgium
Recent entries for eric fontana
Comments (0)
|
No entries yet - be the first to post one!
|
Would you like to comment?
Join
Altsounds.com for a free account, or
Login if your already a member.
