You can still pledge to the campaign here: http://www.pledgemusic.com/erichimanband

IT’S HERE!

A few months ago, I was getting the itch to do a new CD (that happens after my last one has been out for around a year) and I wanted to kick it up a notch. I was working with my band (Ted, Todd, and Erin) on our Queen show with awesome backup singers, Tylisha Oliver and Tina Phillips and started thinking of the original songs I was working on and how great these musicians would be on it. The guys and I have been playing for a while in Tulsa together (and Chicago Market Days this year) but I never had the chance to record with them all together to produce the sound we have live. At the same time as this, I had been writing most of my new songs on piano, an instrument I have been working hard on these past three years to be better at playing. The songs I’ve been writing on the piano are coming out different than the ones on guitar and I felt this musical evolution of mine lends itself, well, to my band but also…a horn section. I have never worked with horn players in the past or added that element to my music, but when I met Ryan Tedder, a sax player in Tulsa (and Eric Noble on trumpet) and talked to him about the project, he joined right away. We packed into Auggy Reed Studios with producer/engineer, Mike Gilliland, and started working on new material (this is also the first time I have ever had the space and time to record in my own town at my own pace!).

I wanted to deliver this new music in a very different way than in the past (write CD/record CD/sell CD/rinse/repeat). I thought since this was a new band/new sound/new studio/recording town, it would be great to have listeners (you!) be a part of this from the beginning. I looked at my options for crowdsourcing sites (Kickstarter, Indie-GoGO) and chose PledgeMusic. They are more tailored for musicians (used by Ben Folds, Rachael Yamagata) than the other sites AND they give you the option of not only raising money to produce a CD, but also a TOUR!:) I have always wanted to tour with my band to the places I travel to solo acoustic and listeners of mine have asked many times “when are you bringing the band?!”). To have a band sound on a CD and be able to perform that music around the country live excites me tremendously. Partnering with PledgeMusic means we can raise funds for BOTH!:) Here is where you come in:

Check out our PledgeMusic page at www.pledgemusic.com/erichimanband and you will find my new announcements. You will hear new recorded music, you will see the video made for the campaign (by the amazing Archimedes Media Lab in Austin, TX), you will see the special exclusives that have never been offered before (my GUITAR?!), and you will have the option of pledging to the campaign helping us to reach our goal. This is a first for me and to have you onboard from the start is gonna be great. In fact, I wanted to offer you something NOW instead of having you wait. We have recorded a few songs from the CD already (mastered by Chris Bellman who has mastered discs for Alanis, Ani, KD, and me!) and  for those who pledge, you will receive a new song from week to week. Some will be brand new, some exclusive songs, alternate versions, etc. The first song, “Keep Connected”, will be available …….NOW! That’s right. No waiting, you get it now (BIG shout out to my awesome graphics guy, Enzo Fiorello at www.graphicenzo.com, for all his hard work on this too!).

The last announcement I have to make (there’s another one!?ha), is that this whole group of musicians who I’ve been recording with will reunite to perform these new songs (and a few surprises) LIVE with me for one night only in Tulsa on Friday, November 2nd at SHRINE at 9pm. I can hear those out of towners groaning and for you all, I am not leaving you out:) We will be web streaming the show so you can be a part too! Tulsa jazz artist, Olivia Duhon, will be opening the show and Oklahoma Magazine has jumped on as a sponsor.

Thank you all for supporting me and my music all these years and SO excited to have you on this journey with me and now the band. You make this worth doing and I really hope you enjoy the new music you are about to get for pledging:)

~Eric (and The Eric Himan Band)

Hey there! Yesterday, I posted in my newsletter (at the very secret top of the page!) that I would be posting a pic of our wedding cake (made by the amazing and lovely, Lia Lewis) and here it is! It was delicious, tasted like lemon (perfectly refreshing for a summertime wedding) and she even utilized the candy that were the centerpieces of the tables.

I never ever thought I would get married in such a big way. I wasn’t the type to daydream growing up about my wedding, it was something I thought as a young gay man that this wasn’t for me. I met Ryan 7 years ago and he lit up my life (cheesy, I know but true) and gave me hope for these things and last Saturday, we got married here in Tulsa, OK. It was overwhelming just how awesome it is to have your family and close friends there to celebrate with you. When we cut the cake, it felt like everyone was cheering us on. It threw me back because I’m used to working hard for applause in the music world. For this applause, all I had to do was love Ryan for the rest of my life and that’s the easy part:).

~Eric

Speaking of things that move me to blog (thanks for asking! ha), I just watched HBO’s documentary series latest installment, “Me @ The Zoo” about Chris Crocker of “Leave Britney Alone” fame. The documentary (using his much of his own footage) follows Chris’ early upbringing, his video-taping of himself, rise to internet fame status, and the aftermath. I have never met Chris and didn’t really follow much that he did other than what I saw posted from time to time, but I found this documentary interesting to watch. It not only tells his story but I feel it tells the story of fame in general. The popularity of his videos didn’t seem to be intentional at first and I got that he was surprised when hits on his YouTube videos rose to the millions. Being sky rocketed to fame, which is assumed to be the dream when in the entertainment field, seems more like a nightmare because it can’t be controlled. The video that brought his name out into the forefront where he defends Britney Spears (“Leave Britney Alone”) was covered in every form of media and led to positive reviews, negative comments, and even death threats.

I am a pretty sensitive person. I fully admit that and I make an effort to be sensitive with others. I don’t like posting negative comments on videos that people post on Facebook and YouTube. That is why I was amazed when I watched this documentary and saw Chris posting his videos on YouTube (that are not directly aimed at anyone individually) and being bombarded with so many hate-filled messages AND death threats. Death threats? Because he dressed up like a girl or defended Britney Spears?

Recently, I heard someone complain about Adele in a “Ugh, please don’t cover any more Adele songs, she is so overplayed.”. Here is an artist that has an amazing voice, great songs, rose to popularity for these reasons, was played on radio, TV, movies, and praised for that. Why does there have to be a fallout? The radio stations might have played her music on the hour every hour, but it wasn’t Adele herself in the radio station hitting the play button. Fame is wierd like that. I get told it’s the price that comes with fame so “get used to it or grow a thicker skin”. What is too far though? Photographers hiding in your backyard spying on you because you wanted a song at the top of the iTunes chart so you can pay your bills without having a day job? Because someone wants to act alongside their idols/heroes, they have to read about how fat they are in the tabloids? How do you ever get used to that?

From time to time, I am reminded that the goal of being in the music world is to be famous. I can be pretty shy so being famous makes me nervous but I do want to be successful in music. I want people to show up to my shows. I would even love to play Madison Square Garden some day if I ever get the chance to perform for that many people at one time in my career. Do I want people hiding in the bushes of my house, do I want to be criticized for everything I do other than my music (my clothes, my hair, my body, etc.), do I want my partner to be harassed on a daily basis for being with me,  do I want to have so many people get to hear my music that later on they beg some other singer to not cover/play my music? No way. I struggle with the hypocrisy of the entertainment business all the time. I do want to get out there more with my music, I do want to perform with/open for the people I have dreamed to work with since I started playing music at 8 years old (Natalie Merchant, Ani DiFranco, and many more) but I have a hard time with the idea of people (who I don’t even know personally) wanting to end my life because they didn’t like what I had to say or worse what I didn’t say at all.

When watching Chris Crocker’s documentary, I became a bit afraid at first of what is out there if by chance you are thrown into the gauntlet of being famous. But should it stop anyone from putting their voice and opinions out there? I say NO. When I sing my “Protest Song” on a Pridefest stage, I know someone in the crowd could get angry if they have a differing opinion than mine on the subject of gay rights. I also am well aware that my life could be in danger by being out there and vulnerable in a time where gay pride festivals are still controversial and draw protestors. Does it stop me from playing Prides or singing my “Protest Song”? It doesn’t. Should the fear of fame’s trappings stop me from getting my voice out there too? Label me a sellout, but at the end of the day, I hope I am fortunate enough to be more successful in this business and if I get to be famous for it, I want it to be for the right reasons. Good luck, Chris Crocker, and I hope Britney Spears thanks you someday for sticking up for her when it could have cost you your life.

~Eric

Buy Queen Show Ticket

Buy Queen Show Ticket + Tshirt

1. I got lazy   2. I got busy  3. writing in short spurts on Facebook has ruined me and now I can’t write longer than three sentences

Regardless of the reason, something has brought the idea to do this back in my head and here I am on a Monday morning (as usual) trying to figure out from which angle to break into my work day. I laugh sometimes to myself when I do travel and someone says “I wish I was you and could just go out a play and not work”. I always want to say, “ME FUCKING TOO!” but I usually keep my mouth closed and smile because there is a blessing in doing what you love to do as your profession. I don’t just mean playing music but anyone out there from doctors to artists that a day of work doing what they love is better than a lifetime of something they hate that pays more. I have moments where I would love to pass off the crappy parts of my job to someone else (the booking, the publicity, the ordering, the distribution) but I can’t afford to nor want to. SOOO I must find the things I like about these jobs (even if they are tiny!) and try to make it fun. I have done this for  10+ years and though I get burned out sometimes on the busy work, there are many moments where I remember why I started a career in my music in the first place: to get girls. Just kidding, as you know very well. I wanted to put my voice and opinions out there into the world. I wanted to share my experiences with those who might relate to me in the same way I could relate to them. I learned that from the music I grew up (and still) listen to.

Some days I have to say it is not the easiest job (enter the voice in my head that screams: “you should be LUCKY to be able to do this and blessed that people come out to see your ass play when they could be doing something else, you ungrateful bastard”). I get overwhelmed easily most of the time with scheduling, trying not to take the rejection of this business personally, and….. trying not to take the rejection of this business personally. Yes,  that is in there twice because I need to see it in print how important this part is. I  am a singer/songwriter, our careers are all about putting ourselves out there and being vulnerable. How could someone in this line of work not be a bit hurt by the booking person of a club going, “I listened to your stuff and I don’t think this will be a good fit for us”? I make these calls almost daily and in my favor, I get a lot of great responses but seem to focus my attention on the negative calls. Just recently, I just tried to play a club up in Wichita, Kansas on my way back from my Denver gig last week (where I drove ALL the way to Denver and then drove ALL the way home= 20 hours in my car to reflect on how stupid it was that I only got one booked show in that direction and lost money in the process) and I swear I called them about 20 times within a month where during one call, the booker said, “yeah, this sounds like it would be great. Call you tomorrow!”. Never heard back and couldn’t even get that guy on the phone again. The point of this story is I try really hard to focus on the positive and only show the positive side of my business to people (Facebook, Twitter, past blogs, at shows) but as a singer/songwriter where I write about my life experiences in my songs, I think it best to also show them in my blog. Even if one singer/songwriter (I got to find a new term for what I do) reads this and it makes them think, “thank god, I thought I was the only one struggling with this”, then I will feel a million times better. You know what? After writing this blog, I already feel a million times better. Thanks for reading this:)~Eric