Eric McFadden
Encyclopedia
Eric Byron McFadden is an American guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

, vocalist and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 from San Francisco Bay Area, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, at times described as "an authentic old-west troubadour and an absolutely wicked 6-string maestro."

Reviews note McFadden's guitar virtuosity, distinctly melodic songwriting and "rich, deep" vocal tone. His recordings and performances are cross genre and his lyrics are often characteristically dark with an interest in the macabre side of life and love.

He spent his formative years in Albuquerque, NM, receiving lessons from Stanton Hirsch among others. During his mid-teens, he moved to Syracuse, NY where he acquired a considerable amount of knowledge in jazz guitar techniques. McFadden has also spent time in Spain studying flamenco techniques and in interviews has expressed interest in Gypsy music.

He played in a number of influential bands in the Albuquerque area, most notably the Angry Babies, a punk rock/heavy metal three piece band that toured along the west coast and released three albums in limited runs.

After relocating to San Francisco, he gained notoriety as lead singer and guitarist for the band Liar, which originated in 1994 with its original members Eric, Paula O'Rourke, Paulo Baldi
Paulo Baldi
Paulo Baldi is an American rock drummer and percussionist from the San Francisco Bay Area. He is currently a member of Cake, Les Claypool's Fancy Band, Deadweight, The Faraway Brothers, and the Eric McFadden Experience....

, and Marisa Martinez Mead. In 1997 Marisa left and was replaced with Sheila Schat on violin. Liar's debut release Devil Dog Road and follow up album Gone Too Far received much acclaim among both fans and critics. Liar won the SF Weekly Music Award (Wammie)
SF Weekly Music Awards
The SF Weekly Music Awards are a music award for San Francisco Bay Area performers, issued by the SF Weekly alternative weekly newspaper....

 in 1997 and Bam Magazine's California Music Awards in 1998.

Baldi also joined him, alongside Anton Kozikowski on rhythm guitar and vocals, and Charles Gasper on bass in Alien Lovestock self-described as "chili-powered, hard rockin', avant-funk, Latin, surreal-desert groove."

Eric continued working with the members of Liar in other incarnations, such as the Eric McFadden Experience with Baldi on drums, Paula O'Rourke on bass, Sam Bass on cello, Ben Barnes on violin, Shaunna Hall on steel string acoustic guitar and Eric on guitars and mandolin. Barnes, Bass and Baldi also performed as a trio, Deadweight
Deadweight (U.S. band)
Deadweight is an alternative rock trio from San Francisco, California. Members include Ben Barnes ,Sam Bass and Paulo Baldi . Deadweight began as a duo of Barnes and Bass who were graduates of San Francisco Conservatory of Music later joined by Baldi. Their first demo was produced by Jason...

.
Other credits include three years as guitarist and mandolinist for George Clinton
George Clinton (funk musician)
George Clinton is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost...

 and the P-Funk All-Stars
Parliament-Funkadelic
Parliament-Funkadelic is a funk, soul and rock music collective headed by George Clinton. Their style has been dubbed P-Funk. Collectively the group has existed under various names since the 1960s and has been known for top-notch musicianship, politically charged lyrics, outlandish concept albums...

. In 2004 he joined Stockholm Syndrome
Stockholm Syndrome (band)
Stockholm Syndrome is an American Rock music band formed in Athens, Georgia as a collaboration between Dave Schools of Widespread Panic and Jerry Joseph of Jerry Joseph and the Jackmormons...

 with bassist Dave Schools
Dave Schools
Dave Schools aka "Dave Smalls", is the bassist for the band Widespread Panic , and hails from Richmond, Virginia. In addition to playing with Panic, he has had numerous side projects with Jerry Joseph, The Stockholm Syndrome, J Mascis and the Fog, Slang, and Acetate...

 (Widespread Panic), singer-guitarist, Jerry Joseph and drummer Wally Ingram
Wally Ingram
Wally Ingram is an American drummer and musician. He is most famous as a member of the band, Timbuk 3.In recent years, he has toured with the multi-instrumentalist David Lindley, and released several records with him :* 2000 : Twango Bango Deluxe...

 (Cheryl Crow, Jackson Browne).

In 2005-2007, along with Wally Ingram and Paula O'Rourke, Eric joined Eric Burdon
Eric Burdon
Eric Victor Burdon is an English singer-songwriter best known as a founding member and vocalist of rock band The Animals, and the funk rock band War and for his aggressive stage performance...

 and the Animals, and toured Europe, Canada, The USA and Australia. In addition, Eric has performed and recorded with a variety of renowned musicians over the years including, Les Claypool, Joe Strummer, The Reverend Horton Heat, Keb Mo, Bernie Worrell, Pat MacDonald and Jackson Browne.

Eric has been touring extensively since 2002 with his trio, EMT, which features bassist, James Whiton (Tom Waits) and such drummers as Paulo Baldi (Cake, Les Claypool), Jeff Anthony, Kevin Carnes, Doug Port and Jeff Cohen.

McFadden has released several albums through the French label, Bad Reputation, including "Dementia" in 2006 and Let's Die Forever... Together
Let's Die Forever... Together
Let's Die Forever... Together is a studio album by guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Eric McFadden released 2007. Though recorded mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area the original release was through Bad Reputation of France.- Track listing :...

May 2007. In 2009, also on Bad Reputation, McFadden released "Delicate Thing" and "Train To Salvation." His latest release, "Bluebird on Fire" was released in 2011 by both Bad Reputation in Europe and by Phyne, in the USA. This release features such players as Norwood Fisher (Fishbone), Dave Catching (Queens of the Stone Age, EODM), Dave Schools, Paulo Baldi, Victor DeLorenzo (Violent Femmes), Abby Travis and other greats. Eric continues to tour extensively throughout Europe, the USA and other territories.

External links

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