RR: Are you listening to anything in particular lately?
Eric: Lately I’ve been into writing my own stuff. Definitely stuff with the band. I like writing on acoustic guitar. I can’t say I’ve been listening to one artist that much. I think it’s good that I’m into my own thing because sometimes I won’t be as motivated to write as other times and now seems like a good time. I feel creative.
RR: It seems like bands and artists do a lot of their writing on the road do you find that to be the case?
Eric: I think so. There’s a lot of down time. For me, I like to be in a quiet spot when I’m thinking about song writing. You do see a lot of things. There’s constantly a lot of action going on when on tour. Your witnessing a lot of things going on. I think you’re right. A lot of song writing happens either on tour or relates to being on tour.
RR: Are you surprised at all with the albums’ reception – Bright Side of Life?
Eric: I think there was a little bit of pressure coming off of ‘Courage to Grow’ because it did so well and we’ve always had high expectations for anything that we put out. We feel confident in it and we love playing it and we feel like it’s music people like. I thought that it was going to do good. I enjoy listening to it myself. I think we did a really good project. It’s definitely a progression of the band. I think people have witnessed that. I feel like they see the progression in the song writing and instrumentation so when I hear people say that I feel really stoked that they can say that about the album.
RR: I agree. When I first heard it, yeah, it was Rebelution but you did a lot of different things with the instruments and I noticed a lot of characteristics of Dub. The more I listen to it, the more I enjoy it. Coming off of Courage to grow I wondered 'How are they going to top that?' because, in my opinion, that was one of the best Reggae albums to come out in the last 5/10 years.
Eric: There was that sort of pressure but I think each album’s going to be a little bit different from each other. I think people will end up liking it. It might take them a few listens to get used to it, but by the time they get used to it, they’ll appreciate it.
RR: I hear you’re going to be doing an i-Tunes exclusive release. Is that true?
Eric: Yeah. A few months ago we went to Las Vegas to record an I-Tunes exclusive in the Palms Hotel. Sometimes they do these live exclusive albums. We went in and recorded about eight tracks some acoustic and some are electric – our live sound. That should come out in the next couple of months.
RR: Where do you see yourselves in the next 5/10 years?
Eric: I see us in the studio and on the road, doing what we’re doing right now. Seeing the crowds getting bigger and the positivity getting spread around. All that goodness.
RR: Thank you so much for your time Eric!
Eric: Thank you. Great questions!
