Up-and-coming singer/songwriter Eric Dash stopped by the J-14 offices to chat about his sound, his musical influences, and his upcoming music video. To find out how music helped him win back a girlfriend, check out our exclusive Q&A below:
J-14: Can you describe your sound for us?
Eric Dash: I would say it's a pop-rock kind of sound. I get my influences from blues-rock but also pop-rock, so John Mayer and Stevie Ray Vaughan influences. When it's my music it sticks to pop love songs. I'm kind of sappy like that.
J-14: Who are your musical influences?
ED: I've always loved Fleetwood Mac, and I love Sting and Eric Clapton.
J-14: Can you tell us about your single, "One More Love Song?" Is there a story behind it?
ED: Yeah, there's a story behind every song! "One More Love Song," I wrote when I was 19. It was about this girl that I was on and off with for a while. I'd written so many songs about her, countless songs. I don't think she really paid attention in any of the songs that I wrote about her. I tried to play for her but she just wouldn't have it. The relationship had just ended and I had been trying to get over her for forever. The chorus starts out, "I don't want to say goodbye, it makes me feel hopeless sometimes." My parents and my friends kept saying, "Don't worry it'll go away." So I said, "And they say they know it hurts, that it's just at first."
J-14: Does she know that all of these songs are about her?
ED: Yes, yes she knew about it. I was not good at hiding it. I'm not a good liar.
J-14: What would our readers love about your music?
ED: I think they would be able to relate to the music. 9-15 year old girls are more mature than guys are at that age, that's for sure. I feel like everyone dreams about love and this is what you long for. When I was little I wanted to be in a boy band, so I started a boy band at that age. You know, "God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You?" by 'N Sync? I listened to that over and over again. So I think the readers can understand what I'm coming from and the whole love theme.
J-14: Do you write all of your own songs? Can you give any advice to our readers about songwriting?
ED: Yeah. I do write my songs, I write all of them. About songwriting, I think that when you try to push it, it helps you get started. If you keep pushing through sooner or later something will come out of you that's organic. But if you just write just to write and there's nothing, you don't have any emotion or any feeling, a lot of the time it doesn't turn out the way you want it to. I would make sure the emotion's there.
J-14: What's next for you?
ED: "One More Love Song" was released April 10th. We're going to work on a tour, we have another single coming out later, and we also have the music video coming out. We want to see how this song is received and how the fans like it because what we do next is really dependent on whether people like it, and I think that they will. I think it's great.
Listen to "One More Love Song" HERE.