eric sarmiento once broke his arm by falling off of a rain-soaked slide. deterred from skateboarding for several weeks, he began tormenting those around him by playing left-handed songs on an antique pump organ. when his right arm healed, he returned to skating, but only for a little while, until he got a driver's license and a bass guitar. he drove, he played bass in a punk band.
later, he played guitar and sang in what was called by a local writer a "new hippie disco" band, the new tribe. in this period, he often drove an old vandura for touring purposes. once he slept on the roof of a handmade trailer full of gear at a desolate lake near lawrence, KS in the summertime.
later still, he started a band called a suncrush for sweethearts, with whom he played guitar and sang some more. with this band he moved to NY for a spell, played around there and got acquainted with many nice and interesting people. there he did little driving, aside from the occasions when someone needed help moving and couldn't drive a moving van.
this band broke up, and eric eventually started another one, the pistol arrows, who recorded some albums for small indie labels. one of them was called "look!" and was played on the radio around the country, but eric never heard it on the radio while he was actually driving.
yet later still, the pistol arrows became the candles, and this band started their own microlabel, alchemist records, based on the idea that anyone who produces surplus should get to keep it, unless they choose to part with it for some greater good. after making one EP, the candles disbanded and eric moved to tokyo, where he definitely did no driving. before leaving, he recorded, with stalwart friends, a mostly acoustic album called "moonlight is sunlight." this record has a song on it called 'senseless things,' which eric was later to play on a surreal tokyo TV show. but that's getting ahead a bit.
in tokyo, he played many shows, met many nice and interesting folks, and in general had a swell, transformative time. he ate good food, visited many public baths and hot springs, watched penguins and monkeys in the zoo across the street, wrote many songs, read many books, and watched what he called the dancing elvises of yoyogi koen. among other things.
at some point, he returned to the united states and started working on recording the many songs he had written in japan. this took quite some time, but the final product, "the declaration of interdependence", was ready in 2008 and is now being distributed to many online purveyors of music. alongside this record, alchemist records is releasing an internet-only single, 'alejandra told me,' consisting of a song by the same name and another song, called 'hypnosis.'
to purchase these recordings, or to listen to other very cool artists, please visit: www.alchemistrecords.com.
eric is now at work on new recordings, living in new brunswick, nj, and planning to start playing live again soon.
