Eric Benson

After growing up and hearing AND SEEING Kiss on TV, especially Ace, I knew I wanted to play guitar in a band. The desire grew even stronger after hearing and getting into Van Halen, Ratt, and Dokken. It was really the guitar solos for "Round and Round" and "In Your Direction" from Warren Demartini and "The Hunter" by George Lynch that made me really want to get a guitar and learn to play. I had bugged my mom for a number of years to get a guitar and finally got my first guitar on Christmas Eve 1986. Ironically, I never learned those solos until I had to learn "Round and Round" in June of 2013, which I still don't play very convincing. I still find Warren to be the hardest guitarist to imitate.

My biggest thing in my first few years of playing was to capture the sound and style of George Lynch. I was even challenged by Jason Tremper in 2009 to record Mr. Scary which I have yet to finish. It is about 80% complete. I do hope to finish it soon for you all to hear.

It was around the early 90's with the re-birth of grunge, some of which I liked, some of which I could not stand, so I started listening to Country Music and after hearing the insane things those guys play, I wanted to learn that and incorporate it into my playing, which was hard rock and metal based. That's when I started really getting into Zakk Wylde because he actually did that very thing. That was life changing.

Though I always wrote or co-wrote songs, it wasn't until '94 that I really started crafting songs that had some foundation. I started focusing more on the song instead of just the riff or what people would think. I also started writing everything, for the most part, on an acoustic, or piano, because I felt, "if it's good stripped down, it'll have more a chance at being a quality song." I've been saying ever since, "maybe one of these days I'll have the time to complete something."

It was around '98 or so when I started getting serious about the whole cover band thing, though still fun, now making money and making something from it, including the live experience.

To this day I've been playing in cover bands all over and around NJ, playing from VT to MD and everywhere in between.

....more to follow, please check back soon.