'ere - Improvisational Jazz You Can Groove To
Web: http://ere.digi-one.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/eretheband
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/eretheband
Tommy's Blog: http://eretheband.blogspot.com

 Shh, Don't Tell Them It's Jazz

Tommy said once at rehearsal, "I just like the way we sound together. I've played in a lot of bands, but none of them ever sounded like this. Something about the different backgrounds of everyone involved creates a unique musical experience."

Tommy Jones caught the music bug early in life. He started playing keyboards as a kid, bashing around on the old family organ. Though the keyboard is his favorite, he's an accomplished musician and can make any instrument sound good. Tommy's been a part of the Atlanta music scene for over twenty years, both as a musician and a producer. He's got lots of great stories to tell, which the band will listen to only after he's put a dollar in the Story Jar!

The Electric Recording Ensemble (ERE) started as a side project, a musical outlet and stress reliever. At the time, Sebastian and Tommy had alter-egos who were involved in subversive politics on internet radio. The show had always benefited from the musicianship of the hosts, and ERE was a venue where they could stretch out musically. The idea was to take some chord patterns or riffs and build upon them organically, input coming from all sides, and never play the same thing twice.

Enter JT Alessi. Tommy and JT go way back. They jammed together as JT was growing up, comedy songs, parodies, musical jokes; stuff that makes music fun. JT developed by leaps and bounds over the years and is an accomplished guitar player, especially on the classical guitar.

JT was doing an acoustic thing at the time with a guy named Mike, who could also play drums. So the initial line-up was Tommy (keys), JT (guitar), Sebastian (bass) and Mike (drums). They called themselves jazz even though the music they were creating didn't follow any rules, not even the jazz rules. Honestly, they were more like a jam band with enough discipline to stay away from thirty minute gel-songs. The more they rehearsed, the themes started morphing into songs, and before long Tommy started recording each take, hoping for perfection but satisfied with generally good results.

They rehearsed at least twice a week for months and months. Slowly but surely, the songs that appeared on "Get the White Out" (a direct reference to Sebastian's confounding inability to find the groove, or possibly a sick love for office supplies) were recorded. Sebastian moved to Atlanta in the late 1990's and was introduced to Tommy the first weekend he was in town. He's been playing bass since junior high, and after twenty-five years of playing, he's finally figured out the bass is the one with four strings!

As usual, things started to fall apart. Sebastian's car disintegrated, so getting to practice became problematic, and tension was running a bit high as all four members struggled with family crises, work, and the usual hullaballoo of life. There's no solid date for the break up, everyone just drifted on to other things. Tommy never stopped writing or recording music, and occasionally Sebastian would contribute a bass line or bad advice… which resulted in the spectacular freak show that was Groove Thirty and Half-Past Funk, which put out the very rare "Groovin' Thunder Machine" e.p.

Luckily for ERE, the digital revolution was well under way. Maneuvering for position in the crowded internets, "Get the White Out" proved to be popular enough to convince Tommy that perhaps what the world needed was less fighting and politicking and more ERE. JT had apparently been thinking along the same lines, and knew a drummer with a keen sense of pounding the hot fresh daylights out of things. Sebastian was easily convinced with the promise of big money, English ales, and an endless supply of hairy fishnuts. And so the Electric Recording Ensemble was shocked back to life!

No one in the band has ever seen anyone hit the drums as hard as Andy does. Andy Hill was born to beat things to submission. Lucky for us, he became a drummer instead of a schoolteacher or a hammer. He's been playing professionally for years and may be in as many as seven bands at once, it's hard to tell. But he shows up for rehearsals on time, which is good enough for ERE!

Playing with Andy has been a treat for everyone involved. As Sebastian has said, "Sometimes I almost forget to play I'm so involved with watching Andy work… he's an ever flowing fountain of beats, riffs, and rolls and little things that go ping."

The new album is progressing at all possible speed. ERE is looking forward to getting back on stage; with a new album in the works and the previous album available on Amazon and iTunes, they can't wait to hit the lights again and let the music flow. In a live setting these jams take off, twisting and weaving into frenetic energy as all four musicians connect with the almighty groove. Live shows will be announced soon on this very corner of the internet, so sign up to receive info when it becomes available!