An interview with Eric Clemezi

 

 1.  Describe the early years of your musical roots and how your talent was nurtured.

I started playing guitar at the age of eight, taking lessons with a great teacher named Wayne Peabody.  I started off in the traditional manner: learning from method books and playing basic chords and strumming patterns.  When I was about 12 years old, I heard Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover", and my life changed.  I began practicing 3-4 hours a day, trying to learn as much of his style as possible.  Around this time I also started studying classical guitar with Wayne. 

 2.  Were there any events, people or catalysts that were musically influential?

A big breakthrough for me was meeting David Newsam and Nate Comp.  Both were instructors at a small music camp in New Hampshire.  Where I was learning a lot of technique and classical elements from Wayne, they filled in the jazz and theory elements.  The combination of these three instructors shaped my musical development through high school and prepared me for entering Berklee.  During this time I started listening to Steve Morse, Satriani, and Vai, and those influences helped push me in new directions as well.  Dream Theater was also a super-huge influence at this time. 

 3.  How do you describe your sound?

I think I would just say "progressive fill-in-the-blank."  I really like odd-meters and lots of parts, no matter what I do.  I always want to try and do something a little different than just a straight-ahead instrumental track.

 4.  How many CDs have you released as a solo artist?

I currently have one solo album called Basement Tapes.  It is all prog-rock instrumental-type music.  I do have several other groups with releases as well.  Storms Approach(myspace.com/stormsapproach), which is a female-fronted  prog-metal group.  I also have a guitar duo with Steve Belleville called Kangaralien(myspace.com/kangaralien).

 5.  Can you describe the creative process that went into Basement Tapes?

Basement tapes is a collection of music from the past five or six years of my life.  After I left Berklee in 2001, I was looking for some new musical directions, so I took lessons for a while with my good friend Nate Comp.  He gave me so much new stuff, and I picked a few things out from the materials and really tried to utilize it in my writing.  I was also really getting into Swedish guitarist Mattias IA Eklundh at the time, and that helped influence my direction as well.  The first five tracks are the product of some of the new things I learned during this time.  I wrote and arranged these tracks using Cubase recording software.  I played all of the parts and later replaced my programmed drums with my good buddy  Chris Munroe.  He really helped bring the tracks to life.

Track six is a little break in the action on the album.  It is a "jazz" version of a tune called "Major Rip-off" that I play with Kangaralien.  I got two of my former Berklee Professors(Rick Kress on drums and David Newsam on guitar) to come in and lay down some tracks with Steve and I.  We practice the song for about 30 minutes and then hit record.  What you hear on the album is two takes spliced together.  I won't say where though!  The end solos are all improvised and some pretty fun stuff happened! The next four tracks are from my old prog-rock band called Quandary. We wrote four really long tunes, and I didn't want them to disappear. Chris and Steve are also in that group, with the addition of Brian Packer on guitar.

The final track is a song I wrote for my wife's birthday back when we first started dating in 2001.  The original had vocals, but I wanted the album to be all instrumental, so I played all of the vocal melodies as guitar lines.  Also, I used a Nashville tuned acoustic guitar throughout the piece(tuned:  DADGBE, with the bottom four strings up and octave from standard pitch).

 6.  Where did you record your latest CD and who was involved in the recording and production of it?

I recorded the entire album myself in my home studio. I used Cubase recording software for the entire album.  I used PODs for all of the electric stuff, and we miked up all of the acoustic guitars.  The drums are a combination of overhead mics and drum triggers.  This saved lots of time in the editing department.  We didn't fix a lot of hits or anything like that, but it was more useful for getting consistent sounds throughout the recording process.  Also, it ate up way less tracks, making things a little less cluttered at mix down.  The only outside help I had in the production was bouncing mixes off of Steve and getting the album mastered by Thomas Eaton(www.thomaseaton.com).

  7.  Describe some of the highs and lows of your musical career so far?

In all honesty, I haven't really had many lows.  I have been very fortunate to have a lot of great things going on with my music.  First, I think I have the greatest students in the world.  They keep me fired up about teaching, playing, and improving, and I feel so lucky to work with them.  Another big thing for me is that I get to play music with Steve.  Not only is he one of the nicest guys around, he is also one of the most inspired musicians I have ever met.  As of this writing, I am teaching at Berklee College of Music, which is has been one of my dreams since I left in 2001. 

 8.  How do you feel about playing to a live audience? 

Playing for a live audience is the best!  Especially when  they listen!  I don't care if I am playing to 2 people or 200 people, the same energy goes into every set.  It is all about getting up on stage and going for it.  Is it a bummer when there are more people in the band than the audience?  Absolutely.  I never try to let that effect my performance though. 

 9.  What does your live set up consist of?

My main guitar is a Stambaugh Custom 8 string tuned from Low F# to High E.  It also has piezo pickups so I can switch to acoustic sounds with Storms Approach.  I use a Mesa DC5 Head and a Marshall 4x12 cab.  My pedalboard consists of a Boss TU-2 tuner, and three Morley pedals: 2 volume(one for electric and one for the piezo) and a Bad Horsie Wah.  That's it!

 10.  Who does your booking? Are you under management?

I do the majority of the booking for my bands.  No management yet!

 11.  What are your musical ambitions?

My main goal right now is to be the best teacher that I can be.  That is always priority one for me.  I also want to keep getting out and playing my music.  I would love to get some endorsements and play out at the NAMM show someday as well.  It seems like so much fun! 

 12.  What are some of your favorite venues to play?

Kangaralien likes to play Ice Cream Shops and Apple Orchards.  Storms Approach enjoys libraries and  Masonic Temples.  We'll play anywhere that will take us!  I like venues that are all ages too.  Being able to have my students come out to the shows is really important to me too.

 

 

 

© 2008 Yonge Music

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