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!!!!