Eric's Trip is a Canadianindie rock band fromMoncton, New Brunswick. Eric's Trip achieved prominence as the first Canadian band to be signed toSeattle's flagshipgrunge labelSub Pop in the early 1990s.[2]
The band had a minor hit in alternative circles with the single "View Master", from the 1994 albumForever Again.
Eric's Trip formed in 1990 when musiciansRick White andChris Thompson joinedJulie Doiron and Ed Vaughan (who was later replaced by Mark Gaudet). They took their name from aSonic Youth song[3] and developed a unique sound which fused elements of the distorted guitar ofDinosaur Jr., vocal elements ofMy Bloody Valentine, the folk leanings ofNeil Young, and thelo-fi aesthetic ofSebadoh. White described their sound as "sappy melodic pop music on top of thick distortion." Gaudet's description was more succinct: "dreamy punk".[citation needed]
Julie Doiron plays with Eric's Trip in Saskatoon, 2001
Eric's Trip broke up in 1996, in the middle of their US tour[6] and played a final hometown show in June, 1996[7] prior to reuniting in 2001. In 1997, as part of their contract with Sub Pop, they released the rarities compilation CD,Long Days Ride 'Til Tomorrow, which was being discussed at their final show in 1996.[8] They also played a series of shows between 2006 and 2009. These included a show at the 2007Halifax Pop Explosion and the 2008 edition ofPrimavera Sound inBarcelona, Spain and the SP20, a 20th anniversary concert forSub Pop Records that took place inRedmond, Washington.[9][10][11]
They played at theSappy Records Festival inSackville, New Brunswick from 2006 to 2009, with their final performance as a band occurring at the 2009 edition of the festival.[12][13] In 2010, both White and Doiron played separate sets at SappyFest.[14][15]
White began working on an Eric's Trip documentary movie, titledEric's Trip: 1990-1996[17] in 2004,[18] with initial screenings of the documentary video being shown in 2008 at that years' Sappyfest.[19] While a DVD version of the movie was originally planned, it didn't materialize,[20] andEric's Trip: 1990-1996 was instead eventually released for viewing free online in December 2012 on Vimeo.[21] In 2021, White re-edited & remastered the movie, and released the updated version on Vimeo. The 2021 version also excised some parts that were in the originally released version.[22]
White and Gaudet played inElevator until 2009, when White announced the band's dissolution at that year's SappyFest.[23] Since then, White has also released three solo albums under the name Rick White Album,The Rick White Album,Memoreaper and137 during, and after Elevator. Gaudet currently plays in the heavy metal band Funeral Fog.[24] Thompson enjoyed some fame asMoon Socket, and currently plays inThe Memories Attack with Ron Bates of Moncton band Orange Glass, as well as the band Diamondtown.[25]
White produced Doiron's solo albumsWoke Myself Up (2007) andI Can Wonder What You Did with Your Day (2009).Woke Myself Up features three tracks on which the entire Eric's Trip lineup contributed to the recording, their first studio collaboration since the band's 1996 breakup, whileI Can Wonder has been described by critics as directly revisiting the sound and style of Eric's Trip for the first time in Doiron's solo career.
A cassette tribute album titledThe Eric's Trip Show was released by Paper Heart Records in 2000.[26] A two-disc CD tribute album titledSongs For Eric: A Tribute to Eric's Trip was released by Gooseberry Records in April 2009.[27]
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