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<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0><script> (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-47423994-1', 'fortunecity.ws'); ga('send', 'pageview'); </script> <center> <br> <div> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="http://ad.broadcaststation.net/ads/show_ad.php?width=728&height=90"></script> </div> </center> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="040a11c3.png"> <div> <B>"...then i realized on a summer night that all the sky’s a stage..."</B></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#99CC00" FACE="Arial" ><B>Erno : The Psychedelic Folk Experience</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFCC99" FACE="Arial" >     </FONT>|   <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Erno : The Psychedelic Folk Experience"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>bio</B><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="lyrics"><U>lyrics</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id72.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="sights"><U>sights</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id80.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="sounds"><U>sounds</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id99.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="albums"><U>albums</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id105.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="anecdotes"><U>anecdotes</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id122.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="setlists"><U>setlists</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id162.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="current events"><U>current events</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id130.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="reviews"><U>reviews</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id145.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="store"><U>store</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id154.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="email"><U>e-mail</U></A></div> <div> <IMG SRC="2ecf4010.png" border=0 width="500" height="1" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <img src="HTMLobj-586/aniGif.gif" border="0" align="bottom" width="234" height="59">  </div> <bR> <div> 1968-2000</div> <bR> <div>      phyllis and thomas erno had a boy on 7/10/68, and they named him tom. tom grew up in upstate new york, near albany and saratoga. it was in the suburbs of upstate new york that tom’s father introduced him to the acoustic guitar. tom was able to teach himself guitar chords by mimicking the tablature notation in songbooks. together, tom and his dad would strum and sing mostly john denver, beatles, and songs from the 70’s. in 4th grade, tom performed 3 songs in a talent contest. from what he tells me, they were "the letter" and "fly away," and "i can see clearly now." in the early to mid-80's, tom collaborated with mike taggart, his neighbor and great friend. together, they recorded under the moniker "jus' 2 people."  the songs were very funny and adventurous. a couple of years later, tom met mike pope through taggart. it was with mike pope that tom continued to evolve musically, especially as a guitarist. mike was a virtuoso on the guitar, way ahead of tom, and he was into bands like king crimson, pink floyd, soft machine, and led zeppelin. king crimson, in particular, really bewildered and interested tom. it was with this relationship with mike, that he would be dubbed erno.    </div> <bR> <div>      the two of them made a deep musical connection, collaborating for many years. erno discovered he had the gift of writing and arranging music, not just playing guitar. his earliest recordings with mike resulted in mostly in-joke songs for and about his circle of friends. a lot of bathroom humor. one of erno’s earliest songs was "bitch," which was about taggart’s insane aunt. that song contained a lot of erno songwriting staples: repetitive, short, rhythmic, and melodic. erno and mike pope, in the early 90’s, wrote and recorded songs together that weren’t in-jokes. these songs were even more adventurous, challenging, and rather unique. they recorded together as the jambots. at this point, mike lived in burlington, vt, so erno had to drive with all of his equipment for about 6 hours. a few of these songs were used by erno on his professional releases. the songs tree, electrocution, stuck in the ocean, and robot idyot all came from these sessions.    </div> <bR> <div>      mike got married, and had a kid...(or was that had a kid and got married??) erno was dating a girl from suny albany. after she graduated, erno followed her to westchester, near nyc. she broke up with him, and erno was now stranded in armonk, ny. his next six months in armonk were hellish. he was unemployed, and sharing a house with 4 lunatics. he would compose only one song there, "when i walk into the night," a piece about his initial fear of the people on the #4 train in the bronx. one day when he had enough, erno got a job and an apartment in queens in less than a week. here, in a basement apartment in richmond hill, erno would compose 8 songs in a 24hr period. from this productive period came "kryst," "i still love you," "tarot," and "music for a video game." the songs were composed by erno himself, not in any sort of collaboration. he was now a self-sufficient writing, arranging, and recording unit. he didn’t know how close he was living to his best friend from college, kevin fox, who would work with erno after he learned some hard lessons about forming a band.    </div> <bR> <div>      at erno’s new job, a friend named renee told him to put a band together to perform his songs. this resulted in the ill-fated "jaws of life/laws of jive" performance unit. erno wanted to teach a band his songs, but another songwriter in the band persuaded everyone to do his songs. a typical set included only 1 or 2 erno songs. the band was all over the map. they sounded dangerously close to the talking heads. the band would last about 2 years. when the band broke up, erno was very relieved, and made a pact with himself that he would never let others persuade him not to do his music. this is where kevin comes into the picture.    </div> <bR> <div>      in 1996, kevin got a job at a production house that had a wonderful recording studio that was hardly being used. kevin suggested that they record a record. this resulted in satellite parade. during these important sessions, kevin would teach himself drums and studio craft, as erno was blown away with the options the 24-track studio gave him. the trick was to have the music feel simple even though there are a lot of tracks being used. they were successful, because satellite parade still remains to be the most eclectic collection of songs on a record. you could hear and feel that the record was made by people who were unsure of their direction(s) and sound(s). very exciting. from this record are erno live staples such as "satellite parade" and "submarine." it also has other vocalists and performers. it’s all over the map stylistically, and that is one of its greatest strengths.    </div> <bR> <div>      from 1997-1999, they recorded the follow-ups "musical saw," and "plastic sun/crazy moon," both showing growth in the sound and vision that was lacking on the "satellite parade" release. all the records have gotten great reviews, yet erno still didn’t have a record deal. his concept was to have a "career in a can," so to speak, with a record company feeling security with 3-4 really strong records. it doesn’t matter anyway, since erno and kevin are working on their latest creation, "the end of the may." from what i’ve heard, this could be the most important record so far. they are getting heavily into lush vocals and string arrangements.    </div> <bR> <div>      as for performing, erno has adopted robert fripp’s idea of a small, intelligent mobile unit. the act consists of just erno and kevin. kevin plays percussion and keyboards, while erno plays guitar and sings. it all fits nicely into a car, letting them go on tour wherever and whenever they feel. their shows have got to be seen to be believed. the sound of those two guys on-stage is a lot fuller and emotional than most "bands" i’ve seen. great.</div> <bR> <div> to be continued...</div> <div> lelend pinquayne</div> </td> </tr></table></body>