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Erik plays percussion in two bands: Meditropic© (he and his brother Kristian) and Shots Ahm Cenema (a trio which includes Don Puglisi). These projects were officially born in the summer of 2002 (up until December 2005, the band went by Laynfaroh. For a number of reasons, it was changed to Meditropic.) Kristian, a guitarist for 16 years, and Erik had been playing together since high school in various cover bands, Erik was a singer at the time- at least he thought he was. It had been some years since then, tastes changed and expanded, and now they found themselves living together again in New York. The impetus was to score films they'd already made, intended to make, or felt should be made. To provide a soundtrack to art they loved, to flesh out the experience of the improv-based jam that travels as far as it can. Unhindered by lyric-writing, Meditropic songs are purely instrumental journeys. Good friend Don Puglisi (a musician since Nixon was President) shared a similar vision and direction and joined the fold under another name, Shots Ahm Cenema. Don't ask them what it means. Erik plays the dumbek, djembe, tablas, frame drum, bougarabou, gypsy tambourine, sand eggs, and the didjeridoo. All string duties are performed by Kristian and Don. The former largely plays the Indian sitar, Les Paul, & Danelectro, and the latter handles Ampeg bass, acoustic guitar and the occasional harmonica, though the two switch-up often. Erik is constantly amazed at the skill and tasteful harmonies they coax from their instruments. Fully embracing the improv approach, they allow a song to slowly take shape, gradually evolve, and shift subtly over anywhere from ten to forty-five minutes. And the music has never been created in a studio with multi-tracking and layering. It's all one track, all live, all in the moment. Only some of the songs in either project are based on pre-written riffs or ideas. They are most entirely created spontaneously, working off one another in the present, letting the music unfold as it wants to. These long improvs draw upon numerous influences from minimalism and meditative to middle-eastern & world traditional, to psychedelic and progressive rock. The overall feel is more that of a film score that tells a story- rather than the confining boundaries of a pop record. Their sounds have been described as 'avant-garde, eclectic world-groove.' While Erik was living in New York, Shots Ahm Cenema played a small handful of apartment performances for friends. Their first club date was a benefit concert in Chelsea's Siberia Bar in December 2003. That gig gave birth to one of their personal favorites, Altered March Through The Mojave. Since relocating to Los Angeles in 2004, Erik has been maintaining his playing. He's played drums in a motion-capture suit for Vincent Argentine's animated short film Land of Life. He's lent his live rhythms to comedienne Dava Krause's stand-up, and the one-act street musical Danny & Tha Peeps. His two studio songs featured on the 'Danny' soundtrack were Meltdown and So Feelings Don't Subside, both penned by director Tom DeMar. Based on the success of that collaboration, Tom asked Erik to lay down drums for his 'classical dirge' La La La. This song is featured on the Del Oro Music Publishing/ Alchemy Records Compilation of New Artists. This was released by record producer and virtuoso trumpet player David Longoria for promotion at the 2005 Midem World Music Market in Cannes, France. A real highlight however was a trip Kristian took in October '04 to visit him and brought his Picador flamenco guitar. The brothers drove out to Joshua Tree for a two-day Meditropic recording session deep in the majesty of the desert. Those 'Southwest Sessions' yielded some of Erik's favorite compositions including the epic half-hour Monzogranite. The appeal and inspiration of playing in an environment like that is endless. Shots Ahm Cenema sort of unofficially disbanded after Erik moved out west. Logistically it just couldn’t be maintained anymore. Keeping up with only Meditropic has been challenging in itself… Shots Ahm Cenema did play a final session together in November 2004. Erik had the great pleasure of briefly studying with world-renowned tabla master Aloke Dutta in 2005. In 2006, he was honored to be invited to play percussion in the progressive desert fusion band Echo Friendly Approach. Comprised of master players from Yawning Man, Fatso Jetson, the Chuck Dukowski Sextet, and Didjworks to name a few, they will be recording their first full-length studio album in spring 2007. Erik has been jamming with Echo drummer Bill Stinson on and off for ten months as they prepare for the album. It will be very unique when all is said and done… Presently
he continues to play and record new Meditropic songs with Kristian
whenever they can and will be scoring their film Untitled
Laynfaroh Project. They hope to have the movie out in late 2007. Site contents © 2007 Erik Davies |
