Eric Erlandson

Eric Erlandson
Birth name	Eric T. Erlandson
Born	January 9, 1963 (1963-01-09) Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres	Alternative rock, experimental rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, producer, author
Instruments	Guitar, synthesizer
Years active	1989—present
Labels	Sympathy, Caroline, City Slang, DGC/Geffen
Associated acts	Hole, Rodney & the Tube Tops, Melissa Auf der Maur, RRIICCEE, Empty Bird
Notable instruments
Fender Jaguar Fender Telecaster Veleno Turner

Eric Erlandson (born January 9, 1963) is an American musician, primarily known as the co-founder, former songwriter and lead guitarist of alternative rock band Hole from 1989 to 2002.

Early life and career

Erlandson was born and raised in San Pedro, California. He is of Swedish/German/Irish descent and related to Martin Luther. During his college years, he worked for the now-defunct Licorice Pizza record store chain. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in economics with a minor in marketing from Loyola Marymount University, where his father, Theodore Erlandson, served as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

In the early days of Hole, Erlandson worked for Capitol Records, where he managed Paul McCartney's, Tina Turner's, and various other artists' royalties. In 1988, Erlandson travelled Europe for a number of months "trying to decide what he wanted to do with his life." ...

Hole and later disputes

In mid-1989, Erlandson responded to an advertisement placed by Courtney Love in Recycler, a local classified ad paper. Erlandson describes the band's first rehearsal session — which featured original bassist Lisa Roberts — as:

these two girls show up dressed completely crazy, we set up and they said, "okay, just start playing something." I started playing and they started screaming at the top of their lungs for two or three hours. Crazy lyrics and screaming. I said to myself, "most people would just run away from this really fast." But I heard something in Courtney's voice and lyrics.

Love, Erlandson and Roberts were later joined by drummer Caroline Rue and third guitarist Mike Geisbrecht and this line-up performed Hole's first live performances. A new line-up, consisting of new bassist Jill Emery and the departure of Geisbrecht, recorded their debut album, Pretty on the Inside, in 1991. Receiving underground success in the United Kingdom, Rue left the band in April 1992, preceded by Emery who quit in February 1992. Recruiting new members Patty Schemel and Kristen Pfaff, respectively, Hole signed a contract with their new label DGC in 1992 and a year later, began touring and recording for their sophomore and major label debut, Live Through This. The album, ranked by Time magazine as one of the top 100 albums of all time, received unanimous critical acclaim and is Hole's most successful record to date. Erlandson found Pfaff's body after she died of a heroin overdose in 1994 just weeks before the band's appearance at the Reading Festival and Canadian bassist Melissa Auf der Maur was recruited on suggestion of Billy Corgan. After a reported hiatus in 1996, Hole released their third studio album, Celebrity Skin, in 1998. More pop-orientated than their previous albums, the album was a commercial success and was the last material by Hole to feature Erlandson. Auf der Maur left the group in 1999 to pursure other musical projects and on May 22, 2002, Erlandson and Love disbanded Hole through their official website noting that they would "no longer record or tour together."

In 2009, Love announced that her upcoming solo album, Nobody's Daughter, was being released under the name Hole and described the band's reunion, which included Love's guitarist Micko Larkin replacing Erlandson. Auf der Maur was first to respond to the news, describing it as "jeopardis[ing] a real Hole reunion" and Erlandson stated that he and Love "have a contract", which was later revealed to be a contract preventing either from reforming Hole without mutual involvement. In a later interview, just days before the expected release of Hole's Nobody's Daughter, Erlandson explained how "[Courtney's] management convinced me that it was all hot air and that she would never be able to finish her album. Now I'm left in an uncomfortable position." Neither Love nor Erlandson have commented on the reunion further.

Other musical projects

During Hole's reported hiatus in 1996, Erlandson formed a short-lived side project, Rodney & the Tube Tops, in 1996 with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and various other musicians. Releasing one single, "I Hate The '90s", the project dissolved shortly afterwards. Following Hole's disbandment, he wrote songs with actress Bijou Phillips and contributed to Melissa Auf der Maur's debut solo album Auf der Maur, playing guitar on the track, "Would If I Could." He toured with his friend Bill Bartell's band, White Flag, and wrote, produced and performed two shows with a group including singer/songwriter John Wolfington and drummer Blackie Onassis from Urge Overkill. In 2007, Erlandson formed an improvisational music project, RRIICCEE, with his neighbor Vincent Gallo. The band toured the United States and Canada, and performed at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan. Erlandson has since left the group. In 2010, he noted that he has "new musical projects in the works."

On 31 October 2010, Erlandson performed with a new group, Empty Bird, at Show Cave in Los Angeles, California. The group — including Stephen Papke, Erin Broling, Jon Shere, Marie de la Maria and frontwoman Mikie Shioya — performed the show as a tribute to Japanese avant-garde filmmaker J.A. Seazer.

Erlandson has written songs with folk icon Donna Carson of Hedge and Donna fame for her upcoming solo album.

Other endeavours

Erlandson has studied Creative Writing for the last several years, and is set to release a book in 2011. He practices Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism and visits Japan often.