New Columnist: Eric Rinker

Here is another guest columnist that will be making appearances on this site. He is musician extraordinaire Eric Rinker. Eric is a shy guy. We have been running in the same circles now for 8 years and are just now starting to get to know each other. What really put me over for seeing what he could contribute here are two things as of recently. 1. Listen to the new Suns Collide songs (one band he is in). They recorded this at their house and the sounds, mix and song quality are just inspiring. 2. Artemia invited me to jam with them and Eric was on bass. He handled Megadeth's Holy Wars with the same ease that I did. Watching and listening to the projects he has been in over the years helped me decide that he would be a good fit here. I watch and listen to alot of local guys. Doesn't matter if i know them, they know me, like me or I like them. If they have talent, I am intrigued. So here is a little bit of what Eric wrote to introduce himself to the readers.


I was asked by Mr.JohnJohn if I would contribute to his blog columns and I was, to say the least, very honored!
A little history shall we? My name is Eric Rinker, a musician here in town for ~16 years. I play drums, guitar, and anything that can make a semi-pleasant noise. Through learning different instruments and writing music, I’ve also acquired a taste for producing/mixing/engineering recordings. I never took lessons, but I’ve picked up a decent amount of music theory by playing with some amazing musicians in bands, and taking away what I could.
I began playing drums at the age of 4 with my father. He played guitar and needed someone to keep a rhythm to all that skynyrd, allman brothers, and marshall tucker he seemed to need to get out of his system from the 60’s and 70’s.
At the age of 12 I joined my first band. Gearbox. We played here in Augusta for about 9 years, promoting 1 EP and 1 full-length album. During our tenure as a band, I also joined numerous side projects, all the names of which have escaped me….. After gearbox, I played in a band named Cycle, which I knew from sharing shows and mutual friends in gearbox. We recorded a full-length (unreleased). After cycle, I formed the group Distal. We recorded 1 EP and a full length.
Bored yet?
After distal came my most recent projects, all of which are currently active and/or recording. These include suns collide, artemia, and secret swim. In suns collide I play drums, in secret swim I play guitar, and I play whatever I can get my hands on in artemia. I am also continually writing and recording new ideas.
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here are some places youcan check Eric out at:
www.sunscollide.com
for suns collide
www.myspace.com/artemiamusic
for artemia
www.myspace.com/distalmusic
for secret swim
The band he plays drums for, Suns Collide, will be apart ofthe big metal show at the Jesse Norman Ampitheatre on July 9th. It is an ALL AGES SHOW with beer sold to those with I.D. Make sure you check Eric out on hisband sites and in person when he plays. You will not be disappointed!!!!

New Columnist: Micheal "DORK" Dinkins

I have asked several regional musicians to contribute to this site. Because it is based on helping aspiring up and comer musicians, learning from seasoned,extraordinary and experienced musicians is of great benefit. I strongly believe learning from as many different musicians as possible and hearing as many different points of view as possible will allow them to bloom into something great. The first of the new columnist is multi instrumental, musician extraordinaire,Micheal "DORK" Dinkins. In each of the new columnist first column I asked them to tell of their accomplishments and doings. Here is what Micheal had to say:

Greetings. I was invited by the fantabulous Mr. John Berret to contribute to his blog and asked to first make an introductory post and say a little about what I’m involved in and enjoy. My name is Michael Dinkins, one of the many resident musicians in Augusta. I am primarily a drummer and currently play drums for two bands- L.i.E. and Artemia, but also play some keys/synth and am willing to lend my voice.

I began playing drums at age 13 … on a whim really … just from watching bands on MTV. For all intents and purposes, I am self-taught but did receive a couple of years of vocal performance training at Davidson Fine Arts (class of 1994 to show my age). For some reason, they put me in mixed chorus and would not let me drop. So I learned to read music and sing and do choreography and how to put on a show. I played drums for about 2 years before playing in a band that went out to perform for other people, which was with my cousin who had been basically teaching himself to play guitar (and who I still play with today, oddly enough). My main original project in high school was a metal band called ‘Heir To Ruin’ that was pretty much relegated to playing the Augusta all-ages venues and hangouts around the time and even a handful out of town gigs while it lasted. I played with a couple of other bands in college- and only did one gig with each band. I was never really serious about either one of them as far as trying to get out in public. Jamming was more for personal satisfaction. After college and marriage, I pretty much gave up playing drums for a few years and eventually got back into playing again but only sporadically at home for my own pleasure.

It wasn’t until 2007 that my cousin and I decided to start jamming together again. We started an 80s cover band called The Haeighties that played everything from Madonna to Bobby Brown to Def Leppard to Slayer in the same show. It was during the time we were doing The Haeighties that I realized how much I really missed playing music. After that project ran its course, I joined a band called L.i.E. with a group of musicians that had played in several other popular local bands in past years. I have been with them for the last two years. I also continue to play with my cousin in a band called Artemia, which has recently collaborated with Mr. JohnJohn Berret for a few covers. It has been quite a personally rewarding experience playing with both bands in these last few years, and I was honored to have been voted “favorite lokal drummer” in the Lokal Loudness online poll for 2009 with L.i.E. receiving the “favorite lokal band” award and more recently, invitations to play a big show at Riverwalk with the band Otep and to be the first metal band to appear on one of the 12 Bands of Christmas shows in 2010.
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As you can see Micheal is a lover to music. He will have loads of good advice and information for ANYONE who wants to learn. Here are some website where you can check out Micheal's bands. For L.I.E. go to

www.discoverthelie.com .. For his band Artemia go to:www.reverbnation.com/artemiamusic
.... you can also find L.I.E. on myspace music and on facebook. You can also find Artemis on myspace music and on facebook. Find out when their shows are ( i will post them on here when i can) at ALL AGES venues and in 21+ clubs. L.I.E. has the honor of opening up for the monster metal band OTEP on JULY 9th at the Jesse Norman Amphitheatre in downtown Augusta GA. It is an ALL AGES show that will serve alcohol.You can purchase tickets at www.etix.com ..
Hope you enjoy his columns in the future.