In this week’s Local Music Monday report, WUKY’s DeBraun Thomas sits down with guitarist Eric Cummins.
10 years ago Eric Cummins was a journeyman guitarist in the Lexington music scene. Cummins was constantly writing songs and was looking to form a new band. As Cummins says, what started out as a group of guys just wanting to jam, has become one of the mainstays in the central Kentucky area for a decade.
“I knew so many players that I would just assemble like whoever wasn’t gigging that weekend and we would go and play Stones covers and I just called it The Eric Cummins band and I thought ‘if I show up then it is that right?’, no matter who else is playing. This went on in that kinda loose form for about a year and after about a year the same guys started showing up at all the gigs and I thought ‘this really is kinda a band now.’”
Cummins says that the band can best be described as Americana, but has influences ranging from Blues to Rock to Honky Tonk. The Eric Cummins Band has released a new CD titled Brand New Heartache. Cummins says playing live and laying down tracks in the studio can be a difficult translation, but that this album honestly represents the identity of the band.
“I think in the studio there’s a temptation because there’s so much stuff available to you, you think ‘I’ll use all this’ then the disc comes out and then it doesn’t sound like the band. So if you buy Brand New Heartache and then you come to wherever we’re playing and see us, it’ll sound like that. That’s the important thing I think is to honestly represent where you are as a band at a particular time.”
The Eric Cummins Band’s new album Brand New Heartache is available at local music stores and at online retailers. More information about the Eric Cummins Band including a schedule of shows is available at facebook.com/the Eric Cummins Band.
