E.R.I.E. is an indie-rock quartet that was dreamt up in a hospital bed. After emergency heart surgery in the Fall of 2018, TJ Foster spent the following year writing and recording an album that would eventually serve as the band's debut, released just before a pandemic-induced shutdown. Three years later, the group's second LP 'Suburban Mayhem' (due April 7th via Mint 400 Records), turns its focus externally, commenting vividly on the outside forces burrowing into our brains on a daily basis. It’s a resplendent examination of the world around us, rife with equal parts cynicism, wit and hope.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Kamil) Hey E.R.I.E., super nice to have the chance to chat with you. What first got you into music?
[Levi Jennes, bass]: Music has been around me my whole life, but my uncle was a major influence. When I was younger, we would take an annual trip to Connecticut to visit him. He was an early adopter of all audio formats, and housed his collection in a little closet. He was always playing his newest acquisitions for us (most of which flew over my head at the time). That whole reverence and mystique really shaped my love of music!
[Matt Delgado, guitar]: There has always been some pull there, for as long as I can remember. The radio was always on at my house, Glenn Miller records on at my grandparents’. I picked up the violin at 8 and continued playing in ensembles through college. But it was getting a guitar at 15 that really super charged my exposure to rock. Haven’t really looked back since.
How do you balance your time in the studio with other commitments such as a part-time job, family, admin?
[LJ]: Working full-time, having a family, and playing in a band is a massive balancing act. I’m not even sure if we’re particularly successful at it, but we make it work. Fortunately my wife is a huge music advocate, so she understands my need to play! With E.R.I.E., we’ve made smart time commitments, which also makes things easier.
[TJ Foster, vocals/guitar]: The biggest thing is that we’re all in the same position in the sense that we all have full-time jobs and at least one other human life we’re responsible for, and because of that, we’re quite cognizant of the many different directions we’re each being pulled in at any given time. So even though we can’t necessarily carve out as much time as we would like for our musical endeavors, we make the time we do spend together as purposeful as possible.
[Chad Flewwelling, drums]: It’s all about balance. Giving your 100% in all aspects makes things easier. Being prepared to go when we have the time to play is also important.
Your latest song is 'World is on Fire'. Can you tell us more about the making of it and if there were any unusual things happening during the process?
[CF]: A lot of what happens on this song was not planned out. I sat down, TJ hit record and the rest just kind of happened. We did a few takes, listened and discussed the general direction/feeling we were looking for and then finished it up on the next take.
[TJ]: I wrote the chorus of the song before anything else - it started out as just a short voice memo on my phone that I hadn’t attached a lot of meaning to. The rest sort of fell into place when the lyric “We could find another planet for our kids but we’d probably fuck that one up too…” came to me one day, and the message spiraled from there. I knew I wanted Sydney [Worthley] to lend her voice to one of our new songs, and because this song is in my lower range, I thought it perfectly called for a brighter element like that - thankfully she agreed and helped steer the song in a really cool direction.
[LJ]: It’s not necessarily unusual, but I recorded the bass one morning on our first mini-tour last year. I brought my signal chain with me on tour, which is the same set-up I used on most of the other tracks on our forthcoming album. We had a couple of hours in the morning at our air-b’n’b, and I knocked it out while finishing my coffee!
[MD]: I ended up banging my head into a wall repeatedly when writing my guitar part. Stepped out of the zone and put my Reverend Trickshot into an alternate tuning, and the song ended up flowing out in one sitting. Now the guys make fun of me for the alternate tuning, so I’m learning it in standard, haha!
How do you find yourself in the music business? When you started out in music, did you know it would be like this?
[TJ]: When I first started writing music, I was only 12 years old. It was kind of amidst the CD boom, which transitioned pretty quickly into the Napster/et al era. All that’s to say, I don’t think anyone starting out then could have foreseen where the music business stands today, having every song you could ever imagine right at your fingertips. It’s a blessing and a curse.
[LJ]: This is the career I wish I had when I was 18, and if anyone told me I would finally be doing cool things at this stage in life, I would have called them a liar! My whole goal was to be part of music I am proud of, and to get it out to whoever wants to listen. It has taken a long time, but I am happy to have been given the opportunity!
[MD]: Similarly, this was the plan from 18-23, and it never materialized. I had fully transitioned to full-time suburban Dad when this project got off the ground. It’s all gravy at this point!
What would you be doing right now, if it wasn’t for your music career?
[CF]: I would be somewhere doing something, not having any fun whatsoever.
[LJ]: We are still at a stage where this is not a full time career, so I’d still be playing music in some capacity while having a “normal” life.
[MD]: My house would be cleaner, that’s for sure, haha! And I’d still be playing and writing for myself.
[TJ]: I’d probably be dead in a ditch somewhere.
How do you know when a work is finished?
[TJ]: This is probably a really cliche answer, but I don’t know if a work is ever truly finished. For me, in the studio, a song or record gets to the point of being done when I find myself slaving away over the most minute details, which 99.9% of listeners will never even notice. But then there’s the process of taking that song or record to the live performance setting, where it continues to morph organically. I think there’s something beautiful about that.
[LJ]: I think timelines really help, because they force you to declare that your art is finished, and it needs to be released into the world for others to experience. You almost need that artificial constraint, to make you realize your work is done.
Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of music?
[LJ]: On top of having a family, I’ve always been a nerd. So I’m pretty big into video games, reading, comic books, etc.
[TJ]: I’m a pretty boring dude. My younger brother got me really into Legos about five years ago, though. So between that and trying to win as many “Dad Points” as possible every day, I don’t have time for anything else anyways!
[MD]: Kids + Band + day job pretty much accounts for all the waking hours (and some that I should probably be asleep during). Anything cool I’m doing is with/for the kids.
[CF]: Just being with my family. I sometimes go fishing.
What is it about music that makes you feel passionate?
[TJ]: The best way I can describe it is that it’s just such a natural antidepressant. That feeling I get when we nail a take in the studio, or get up on stage in front of an enthusiastic crowd is one I chase in my everyday life, there’s just nothing like it.
[LJ]: My band teacher in high school really summed it up for me: “If you feel emotion both listening and playing music, then you should be a musician.” When it’s working, it just hits you; there’s that little nervous, excited pit in your stomach, and you feel like you can take on the world. When it’s all locked in the pocket, you know it, and you just want to take that as far as it can go.
Who is your favourite musician?
[TJ]: Matt Delgado on guitar, everybody! (And Ben Gibbard is a close second.)
[LJ]: Chad Flewwelling. Geddy Lee. Michael McDonald.
[CF]: This band rules, and they’re my favorite collaborators to date.
[MD]: Hard to argue… these dudes are some of my favorite people on and off the stage.
What are your plans for the future?
[TJ]: For fear of sounding old and jaded, at this point in my career, I’m so focused on the little victories. When I was younger, like every other “aspiring rockstar”, there were those grand visions of achieving the impossible dream of touring constantly and playing MSG or something. I think that’s more unattainable (and unrealistic) now than ever, and so for me, my goals are more wrapped up in taking the time to stop and smell the roses or whatever. I don’t know that I’ll ever stop making music - if one day, it feels like more of an uninspiring chore, sure, but until then, my plans are just to keep writing and releasing songs with integrity, connecting with as many bands and audiences as possible, and above all else having a goddamn blast with these guys while doing so.