November 23, 2008
Eric Hutchinson

Cathy: How would you describe your music to someone who’s never heard it before?
Eric: I’d call my music pop-soul. It’s a mixture of the soul people that I like – Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson – but also a mixture of the singer songwriters that I like – Paul Simon, The Beatles, and Billy Joel.

C: When did you first get interested in music?
E: I’ve always liked music. I’ve always liked singing. Some of my earliest memories are my mother taking us to dinner theaters where we’d watch musicals. I liked musicals early on. There was a large emphasis placed on the writers, too. Like Cole Porter and the Gershwin Brothers. They were the important people.
C: What were some of your favorite musicals?
E: I liked Oklahoma and I loved The Whiz – I had a movie version of it that was Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.

C: How has this tour been going? What’s been your favorite city so far? Why?
E: The tour’s been good! I guess this is our sixth week or so… We spent about three weeks opening for Jack’s Mannequin, and now we’re headlining. I like all kinds of cities… Mainly cities that people come out to see us in. Those are my favorite.
C: Not the empty venue ones.
E: Yea! –laughs- I like cities all over the country, but I like cities where you can get out and walk around and stuff.
C: Have you gotten to explore Nashville at all?
E: A little bit! I really like Robert’s… At least, I think it’s called Robert’s, down on Broadway. From what I can tell, most of Broadway is kind of crappy bar rock, but this place plays authentic country music. It’s pretty cool.

C: What are your plans for after this tour is over with?
E: I’m going to take a couple weeks off and work on writing some new songs, and then I’m going out on tour in January with O.A.R. and opening for them. After that I think we’re going overseas to Japan and Europe, which will be pretty cool. I look forward to it.
C: When do you think you’re going to record a new album?
E: A new album probably won’t get recorded until late next year, at the earliest. There’s still a lot of people who have yet to find out about me. Also, I just want to make sure I have the best songs possible written. I’ve been writing a lot of songs, but sometimes I just need time to build up the good stuff.

C: In your bio on your website, I read that you have a goal of playing a show in every state. How many states do you have left to go, and of them, which are you most excited for?
E: I think we just played 42, if I’m not mistaken. Nebraska, which we played last week, became number 42. I’m probably the most excited about playing Hawaii, that will be a good one to play… Hard to get a tour bus there, though. Alaska will be cool, too. We haven’t even played Montana or Wyoming, which I think show wise, may be a little rough, but it’s beautiful over there, scenic wise.

C: Each month, on your website, you list your seven favorite things of that month. When are you going to put November’s up? Can we get a sneak peak of what might make it on that list?
E: Hmm, what is on November? I can’t remember.
C: This interview.
E: Riiight. Hmm. Christmas songs.
C: In November, though?
E: Yea! It’s never too early.
C: I have an “anti Christmas music before Thanksgiving” rule.
E: It’s a fine line. I wouldn’t want to hear Christmas songs in July. But, they’re good songs! The problem is they get overplayed, and there’s a lot of bad ones out there. And a lot of bad versions. Other than that, I can’t remember what else is on there. It should be up any day, though. I sent it to a person who runs my website so it should go up soon.
C: So it’s already been completed?
E: Yea, I’m sorry. Maybe we can get Suburban Roads for December.
C: That’s the goal!

C: One of your songs made it on to the soundtrack for the new Sisterhood of The Travelling Pants movie. How did that opportunity come about?
E: The producer’s of the movie found my song and were interested in it. They liked it and put it in the movie. It was doing well when they were testing it, so they wanted to put it in the trailer. Then they did that, and it was testing well, so they put it in the commercial. It was a lot of different ways of exposure, and it was good. I got a lot of emails from people saying that they found out about me that way, so it’s cool.
C: That’s awesome. I’ve always wondered about the process of getting artists for soundtracks…
E: Yea! A lot of the time it’s very specific – they need an upbeat song that’s about pants, and it needs to be two minutes long. Sometimes it’s not your fault that the song’s in there.

C: We all know that Perez Hilton is widely accredited for launching you into popularity. I was wondering where you think you would be right now if he hadn’t started pimping you on his website.
E: That’s a good question. No one’s ever asked me that, which is good. I don’t know exactly. I’ve spent a lot of time and effort making this album - I did it independently - that by the time I was finished, I didn’t know what to do with it. Luckily, I got hooked up with a good manager. I think at this point, I’d probably be doing the same stuff, just with less people interested. –laughs- I like the quote that “luck is preparation meets opportunity.” That’s how I felt everything went. It’s been a lot of work. So, I guess I’d be doing the same thing… But, wanting to quit right now. –laughs-
C: Did you have any other jobs before all of this?
E: Yea! I’ve been lucky though, for the last six years I’ve been doing this full-time, which I think is important if you really want to succeed as a musician. But I had the normal kind of jobs, waiting tables. I got hooked up pretty early with playing colleges which paid well enough. They were usually horrible, horrible shows but they paid enough that I could get by on that.

C: If you could change any one thing about the current music industry, what would it be?
E: That’s kind of two-sided. I think what’s going on right now is that the labels haven’t really respected the people who are buying the music and as a result, the people who are buying it have given up on it. They just download everything. We have to purge the gap. The labels need to be fairer and keep the prices more realistic, to give the fans what they want. But also, I wish more fans out there would actually buy the albums. They don’t realize that when they download an album, they’re not just stealing from that artist, but they’re stealing from the label. The label needs the money to go out and find more artists, like me, who are up and coming, and without that money coming in, they will just continue to have those high level artists that people are always complaining about… with formulaic pop music that’s written by guys in a room somewhere. I’m not like a nazi about it, but I try to educate people about why I don’t really like burning music. People will come up to me after shows and be like, “I like your songs! I’m going to go download them when I get home off of Limewire.”
C: Why would you tell that to the artist?!
E: I know! It’s like if I walked up to you and was like, “Hey! I just stole ten dollars out of your pocket! I hope that’s cool!”
C: Yet at the same time, at least more people will know you and get to hear you.
E: Yea! At my level it’s really important for the music to get out there no matter what. But, I work really hard and make a lot of sacrifices. I’ve done a lot to keep the prices low and fair, so I hope people respect what I’m doing enough to buy my music.
C: Well… I have it legally.
E: -laughs- Yes!
C: That would be really awkward if I was like, “Well, I downloaded it, too.”
E: I used to download a lot of music too, until I really got into it all and realized how it all worked and everything. Sorry, I didn’t mean to go off on a rant.

C: If you were stuck on a deserted island and could only take 3 things with you, what would they be?
E: Follow up question for you: Do they have a wi-fi connection?
C: Sure.
E: Alright. It’s sad, but I’d probably take my computer with me. It would be a good way to stay in touch with everybody while I’m stuck. I don’t know what else. Maybe a piano or something. How long am I going to be stuck there for?
C: A while.
E: And I’m the only person there?
C: You’re the only person that has ever asked me so many details to the question! Yes, you’re the only one there.
E: Well this is important! What do other people say on this question?
C: Things for entertainment, like a guitar, pen and paper…
E: Well these aren’t very practical.
C: An iPod…
E: These are boring things! What am I going to do on day 4?! I’m thinking like, big picture. If I’m going to be there for 6 months I want to make sure I’m picking the right things… I have no idea what I would bring, I’m sorry. This is why I hope I’ll never be stuck on a desert island.
C: When the situation comes and you’re stuck, you’re going to wish you had paid more attention to this question.
E: One thing I’ve learned, being on the road, is how few things you actually need on a day to day basis. Most of my stuff at my house I never use, so it’s like… besides my computer, there’s very little I actually use on a daily basis. Maybe a suitcase full of clothes? But that wouldn’t really matter, because nobody would be there. Most of the things I like to do, I’d need someone else for. Like Scattergories. That would be great for a desert island.

C: If you could have any animal as a mascot for yourself, what would it be and why?
E: I guess tigers are nice. I don’t know. What would you have?
C: That’s a tough one, because I have three favorite animals. It would either be a gorilla, because I have an odd obsession with wanting a gorilla as a pet…
E: They’re very dangerous.
C: Well if you got it when it was young, you could totally tame it.
E: … I don’t know.
C: I just imagine they would be very loving.
E: I mean, they are, it’s weird! They are huge and vegetarian, so… But at the same time, I went to this zoo once and saw gorillas and even the zoo keepers that grew up with them don’t go in their cages because they have the ability to kill you. I’m sorry.
C: But if they really love you, they’ll totally protect you.
E: And the one time they think you’re going after their kid, they’ll just *makes large slapping motion*
C: Stop crushing my dreams.
E: -laughs- Alright. What else do you have?
C: After gorilla, we have a sloth, because they’re awesome.
E: Right.
C: And the last one, the one I’d probably go with, would be a narwhal.
E: Oh, nice! That’s a mixture of a…
C: They’re whales with unicorn-like horns.
E: A pig would be a fun pet to have. A pot bellied pig.
C: But what would it really do besides roll around in the mud?
E: They wouldn’t though! I think that’s a misconception.
C: I still think a gorilla would be a better pet…
E: That would be a great pet! Until it –
C: Assuming it didn’t try to kill me.
E: Go home, rent the movie King Kong. They tried to keep that guy as a pet, too.
C: Okay, he’s a lot bigger than the average gorilla.
E: They grow up fast. –laughs-

C: Okay, well that was my last question. Any closing statements?
E: I still feel bad about going on that rant about downloading. I ruin a lot of first dates because of that. I used to go on dates, and every time I would manage to bring up downloading and get real preachy. Yep, ruined a lot of first dates. But, I think what I was trying to get at was that I really do appreciate everything. I’ve learned a lot about how the internet can really help someone. Obviously, like with Perez. It’s been really great. Every day I get emails from people who have found out about my music in all different kinds of ways. It’s an exciting time. I don’t know how people would have done it even 15 years ago.