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(Spring 2006) by George Dionne
Chicago guitarist Eric Mantel has been in the business for more than thirty
years. Guitar instructor by day, virtuoso and vocalist by night, Eric recently
released
his self-produced, self funded, self-distributed fifth solo album The
Unstruck Melody (read CD review). On his latest release, Eric runs the gamut of styles
and arrangements throughout his twenty song journey. At one point he's hitting
you with some
Middle Eastern flair, then he's mixing it up with some 70s style prog rock,
and switching it up again with some blues, funk, and soul; proving there's
no limitations to his influence and skill. Mantel is not
just a multifaceted guitarist,
but he is equally as talented as a singer-songwriter. Eric believes in doing
things yourself and never committing the same-old, same old.
RIL: If I knew absolutely nothing about Eric Mantel, how would you describe
your music to me?
EM: A musical rollercoaster ride. I would say the best
way to describe my music would be that there are no boundaries to it. That’s probably
because of my musical upbringing. I have a wide variety of musical influences,
and I think that you’re a product of what you listen to. I think the
reason I tend to put out albums that are very eclectic is because I myself,
as a listener, don’t want to hear an album in which every song sounds
like the last one. The majority of what people put out is pretty much the
same thing. It works really well live too, because you’re giving people
something different every time.
RIL: Who would you site as some of your influences?
EM: I have a huge variety, but I would say my number
one influence was the Beatles. To me the Beatles were the quintessential
band. They were pioneers,
but they themselves were eclectic when you take a look back. They were
doing a little bit of everything. They weren’t doing Jazz or Classical
music, but they were eclectic in their songwriting. Other guys that influenced
me were all the typical guitar guys; Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton,
and Peter Frampton made a huge impact on me.
RIL: Well, that’s the stuff you grew up listening to, correct?
EM: Exactly! I was obsessed with the Beatles growing
up. I still am. Progressive rock artists of the seventies, like ELP, were
also a huge influence on me.
Steve Howe, of all the guitar players, has probably made the biggest impact
on me as a guitar player. Here’s a guy that ad no boundaries. When
I first saw him and listened to those Yes albums, I said to myself, that’s
the kind of player I want to be. I don’t want to be a one trick pony.
RIL: You’re latest album The Unstruck Melody is a collection
of twenty songs split into to acts. What is the significance behind the
act breaks?
EM: The reason I did that was…I had all of these songs and I thought
what’s the best way to break this album up? It was kind of overwhelming,
because if I just left everything as tracks one through twenty, people were
going to get bored. I decided to use act one and act two because I thought
that it was kind of like a play. That’s why I had an intermission track.
It kind of creates the illusion that it’s a double CD, but it’s
really not.
RIL: Is there any significance behind the title The Unstruck
Melody?
EM: The Unstruck Melody could have lots of different
meanings, but the main meaning is more of a spiritual thing. It means
something that has no beginning
or end. Unstruck means it’s a melody that’s constant. It’s
just a constant sound, and you can say that a constant sound is energy.
It’s an energy life force that sustains life, so of speak. Believe
it or not, that energy force is in all things. Creation actually has sound
to it.
RIL: Would you say that you’re a spiritual person?
EM: Yeah, I’m a very spiritual person on different levels. [The album]
does have kind of a spiritual connotation to it. It’s more of a universal
spiritual thing, not so much a Christian spiritual thing. I’m trying
to permeate something that everybody can understand. I think most people
will agree in most spiritual beliefs that someone had to create all this.
That’s pretty much all you need to know.
RIL: How do you come up with the titles of your instrumentals?
EM: Titles come various ways. For instance, “Tribute” is titled
as such because it pays homage to my influences. If you listen to that song
you’ll hear a little of Eric Johnson, Jeff Beck, and Alex Leifson.
Although, I have had people say it sounds like Via and Satriani. What’s
funny is, Via and Satriani really are not a influences at all. I know who
they are, but I’ve never sat down and learned any of their songs. “The
Real You,” that’s an instrumental that’s about your sole,
which is the real you. “Wings of Fire” is a Hendrixy type tune,
but I don’t remember why I came up with that. That song was originally
called “Ring of Fire.” I really haven’t paid much attention
to why or how I come up with the song titles.
RIL: It just feels right?
EM: Exactly! Like the song “Exit 10,” some people think that
it has something to do with the highway, but it could also mean something
else. That song used to be called “Man-O-War” a long time ago,
but I changed it.
RIL: When it comes to the songs with vocals, where do you find the inspiration
for the lyrics?
EM: Most of my songwriting is totally out of inspiration.
I don’t force
myself to write stuff. A lot is from life experience. “Gloria” is
my ex-girlfriend. She was quite dysfunctional and had a lot of problems. “Don’t
Let the Day Go By” is a spiritual and uplifting song. It’s about
not letting life pass you by. “Simple Things” is a politically
driven type thing. It’s about the way the world is right now. I try
to not always sing about boy-meets-girl.
RIL: Do you find it difficult sometimes to play guitar and sing at the same
time?
EM: No. I’ve always been singing and playing guitar. As a matter of
fact, I really started out as a singer-songwriter and guitar player. I was
learning the basic guitar riffs while I had established myself as a singer-songwriter;
then got into the virtuosic players like Allen Holdsworth and Steve Morse.
I’m totally comfortable live singing and playing guitar.
RIL: How long did it take you to put this album together?
EM: Actually the album took about a year, but the reason it took that long
was because we recorded it once already and we redid it. After we put all
the drum tracks on the engineer got newer equipment.
RIL: Did you shop the record around to any major record labels?
EM: We never shopped it to any label. I knew going
into this that I wanted to be my own label. I’m handling the promotion and marketing. I figured
I would be better off. I’m planning on sending a copy to Steve Via
at Favored Nations. Will he sign me? Probably not; only because I’m
unknown. Most of the people on his label are already established.
RIL: I don’t know about that. I’ve reviewed a couple
of artist that I was not familiar with on Favored Nations.
EM: I’ve talked with Steve about four or five times. He knows who I
am, but I don’t think he has the fully packaged version of my album.
I’m going to send that to him soon. I haven’t even sent it to
the major guitar magazines yet, because my strategy is to get them to all
the webzine sites first. You know, get a buzz going first. Then when I go
to the bigger guitar magazines, I’ll have thirty or forty reviews.
It also establishes me and lets them know that the album is selling worldwide.
I’ve sold a bunch in Europe and in Japan just through the Internet.
I figured that I rather have a label pick me up. I would rather have them
say, ‘wow this guy is really marketing himself already.’ ‘He’s
cut out a lot of the leg work for us already.’ That’s why a lot
of labels will sign people.
RIL: Are you touring at least locally in support of the album?
EM: I’m doing some shows in the Chicago area in the upcoming months,
but I run a guitar instruction service, so I’m actually teaching a
lot of students. That’s how I make my living for the most part; that
and studio work. I have a nice recording studio too. I plan on putting out
an instructional DVD later this year. I have lots of endorsements, and one
of the biggest endorsements is one that I just picked up. It’s with
a company called Jellifish.
RIL: The little pick with metal things on it?
EM: The brush pick, yes. It’s very cool. They also make these bridge
pins called Hot Rods, and I’m telling you, I put them in my Taylor
acoustic and it’s like a night and day difference. It makes your guitar
sound a hundred times better.
RIL: I tried the Jellifish. I thought the instructions were very
vague.
EM: You have to know how to use it. I know the owner
of the company that makes it. He lives out in this area. He showed me how
to use it. You have
to hold it the right way. It’s a very cool device once you hone in
on how to use it. I just did some MP3 clips for their website. If you hold
it the right way and you hit single notes, you can sound like you’re
playing using a violin bow. It’s got a chorus effect where you hit
all the strings, and it sounds like a 12 string guitar autoharp. The company
is going to do some national ad campaigns with me. They’re going
to run some full page ads in either Guitar One or Guitar World Magazine.
That’s
going to help promote my album too. They’re developing some new products
too. It’s a really great company to work with.
RIL: What is your guitar of choice?
EM: The Fender Stratocaster is my main guitar, but I also use Telecasters
and sometimes a Jaguar or Jazzmaster. I have a lot of different Fender
guitars. I even have a 72 Fender Mustang. I like a lot of Fender, Gibson,
and Taylor guitars for the most part. I kind of collect guitars.
RIL: Most guitar players do.
EM: I’ve got about twenty five, but I plan on
getting another twenty five in my collection.
RIL: You have been in the music business for some time now what was the
highlight of your career?
EM: The real high point was probably in 1991 when I
was featured in Guitar Player and Guitar World magazines back to back. Mike
Varney put me in his
spotlight column. I got a lot of artist endorsements that year, and I signed
an artist development deal with Peter Kansas. Peter is now part of The Firm
out in L.A.which manages Limp Bizkit and Korn. I had a nine month artist
development thing with him. It fell through after nine months. That same
year I was opening
up for Danny Gatton. I did shows for Robin Ford, Steely Dan, Scott Henderson,
and Vinnie Moore. I was like playing all these opening performances with
all these national acts. 1991 was really the year things were looking up
for me, but then as you know, the grunge scene came in. Here I was getting
ready to go national, but that pretty much wiped away everything.
RIL: Wwould you say that was the lowest point in your career?
EM: That’s was the lowest point. 1991 was great,
but in 1992 it was like I fell off the planet.
RIL: You offer free guitar clinics around the country what would I learn
at one of your clinics?
EM: Basically the main gist at one of my clinics is
about being diverse. It’s not so much being instructional. Most are self-serving, and I’m
there to promote the album.
RIL: You mentioned earlier that you’re a guitar instructor.
Have you taught anyone that went on to become famous?
EM: To this day, not that I know of. I remember there’s
was a big group from Chicago called Mindbomb or Daisy Chain they were signed
to Mercury Records…
RIL: Matt Mercardo?
EM: I used to give him and the other guy in the band guitar lessons back
in the early nineties.
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