Erik Holsinger
Keyboards, Lead & Backing Vocals
How long have you been playing?
I play keyboards, guitar, and bass. About 100 years ago I started on guitar,
but switched over in 1980 to synthesizers/keyboards. The fact that I was one
of 75,000 guitar majors at Berklee also was a major factor in that decision!
Who are your biggest influences?
My musical influences are all over the map - from concept albums (The Alan
Parsons Project, Pink Floyd) to fusion (Weather Report) to Classical
(Debussy, Copeland, Mussorgsky, Bach, many others) to Electronic (William
Orbit and Goldfrapp) to film score composers (especially Jerry Goldsmith and
John Williams).
One thing I've always enjoyed is adding in orchestration into rock tunes.
Adding into the already cool sound of guitars, bass and drums with
unexpected, but tasty brass, string or synth lines.
What bands have you played in?
In San Francisco I played in a few original bands (including a stint in the
80's new wave band Moscow), a lot of Motown cover bands, later did some work
in Seattle with some indie rock bands. I also did music for theater, both
sound designs and as a performer/musical director for a lot of musicals
(Jesus Christ Superstar, Pippin, Rocky Horror, and others). Since moving to
Phoenix from Sunny Seattle, I've also played keyboards and guitars for
several Mesa Arts Center musicals, including Godspell, Footloose, and Rent.
What equipment do you use (or is your favorite)?
These days I'm a Roland man. My main keyboards are a Roland JX-90 and a
Roland XP-80 (each stuffed with additional sound cards), all running through
a Roland KC-500 keyboard amp.
For guitars I use the Line 6 Variax guitars, which can digitially
approximate the sound of many classic guitars. I use a Variax 700 Acoustic
for the softer stuff, and a Variax 600 Electric for the rockin' cool Vintage
material. Both guitars are digitally fed into a Line 6 Pod XP Live
pedalboard for processing.
When recording, I also use a lot of software synths, especially the software
emulation programs you find in Propellerhead Reason, and with MOTU's Digital
Performer program.
Who is your favorite band right now? Whats in your cd player?
These days (thanks to my Vintage influence), I am becoming quite the
Collective Soul junkie! I am also a big fan of the british pop duo
Goldfrapp, singer Suzanne Vega (especially the Nine Objects of Desire CD),
and an acid jazz group called Fragile State.
Of course, I also have a resonably unhealthy amount of classic rock groups
that I listen to on a regular basis....
What is one interesting thing that most people don't know about you (musically)?
Actually two things: 1) My original college major was as a music composition
major, with an ultimate goal to become a film composer. At one point I went
to the Berkelee School of Music to make this happen. After scoring my first
film, I decided that I enjoyed producing videos better. 2) I wrote several
pieces of music that were used in a ride at Disneyland.
What is your favorite thing about playing in Vintage?
Playing with they guys is a blast in general (we tend to laugh as much as we
play in rehearsal), but I really enjoy tackling tunes that other bands can't
or won't touch. The band attitude towards new tunes has always been "Sure -
let's try it!" Consequently we'll add in big orchestra ELO tunes or tackle
Styx three part harmonies or ...pretty much anything that we'd like to play.
This makes being in the band really exciting and I think fun for the
audience as well.
What has been your favorite gig so far?
My favorite gig? Probably Bon Vivant, only because we had so much room on
stage that I could be along side Jim and Brian!
