Eric McFadden (born December 1, 1965) is an American guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter from San Francisco. He spent his formative years in Albuquerque, New Mexico, receiving lessons from Stanton Hirsch. During his mid-teens, he moved to Syracuse, New York, where he studied jazz guitar. He spent time in Spain studying flamenco and in interviews has expressed interest in Gypsy music. McFadden played in a number of bands in Albuquerque, most notably the Angry Babies, a punk rock/heavy metal three-piece band that toured along the West coast and released three albums in limited runs. After moving to San Francisco, he gained notoriety as lead singer and guitarist for the band Liar, which originated in 1994. Liar's debut album ''Devil Dog Road'' and follow-up album ''Gone Too Far'' received acclaim with both fans and critics. Liar won the SF Weekly Music Award (Wammie) in 1997 and ''BAM'' magazine's California Music Awards in 1998. Paulo Baldi, who was the drummer for Liar, also joined McFadden in the band Alien Lovestock, which was self-described as "chili-powered, hard rockin', avant-funk, Latin, surreal-desert groove." McFadden toured extensively between 2002-2010 with his trio, EMT, which features bassist, James Whiton and a revolving cast of drummers such as Jeff Cohen, Paulo Baldi, and Kevin Carnes. Other credits include three years as guitarist and mandolinist for George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars. In 2004, McFadden joined

Stockholm Syndrome Stockholm syndrome is a proposed condition or theory that tries to explain why hostages sometimes develop a psychological bond with their captors. Emotional bonds can possibly form between captors and captives, during intimate time together, ...

with Widespread Panic bassist

Dave Schools David Allen Schools (born December 11, 1964) is a bass player and founding member of American rock band Widespread Panic. He is also a record producer, songwriter and journalist with articles published in a wide variety of music magazines. Schoo ...

, singer-guitarist Jerry Joseph and drummer

Wally Ingram Wally Ingram is an American drummer and musician. He is most famous as a member of the band Timbuk 3. In recent years, he has toured with the multi-instrumentalist David Lindley, and released several records with him: * 2000 : ''Twango Bango De ...

. In 2005–2007, with Wally Ingram he joined

Eric Burdon Eric Victor Burdon (born 11 May 1941) is an English singer and songwriter. He was previously the lead vocalist of the rhythm and blues, R&B and Rock music, rock band The Animals and the funk band War (band), War. He is regarded as one of the Br ...

and the Animals and toured Europe, Canada, the U.S., and Australia. In January 2013, he was again on tour with Eric Burdon through the summer of 2014. Since 2015, McFadden has been primary guitarist for New Orlean's artist, Anders Osborne. McFadden is also touring and recording with his new supergroup, T.E.N. (Thomas Pridgen, Eric McFadden, Norwood Fisher), and Tasty Face (with Fishbone frontman, Angelo Moore). McFadden has worked with

Les Claypool Leslie Edward Claypool (born September 29, 1963) is an American rock music, rock musician. He is the founder, lead singer, bassist, and primary songwriter of the band Primus (band), Primus. Listed as one of the greatest bassists of all time by ...

Joe Strummer John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British musician. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist, and lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, formed in 1976. The Clash' ...

The Reverend Horton Heat The Reverend Horton Heat is the stage name of American musician James C. Heath (born 1959) as well as the name of his psychobilly trio from Dallas. Heath is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist. A reviewer for the magazine Prick (magazine), ''Pr ...

The Coup The Coup is an American hip hop band from Oakland, California. Their music is an amalgamation of influences, including funk, punk, hip hop, and soul. Frontman Boots Riley's revolutionarily-charged lyrics rank The Coup as a renowned politica ...

Galactic Galactic is an American funk band from New Orleans, Louisiana. Origins and background Formed in 1994 as an octet (under the name Galactic Prophylactic) and including singer Chris Lane and guitarist Rob Gowen, the group was soon pared down to a ...

Keb' Mo Kevin Roosevelt Moore (born October 3, 1951), known as Keb' Mo', is an American blues musician. He is a singer, guitarist and songwriter, living in Nashville, Tennessee. He has been described as "a living link to the seminal Delta blues that tra ...

Bernie Worrell George Bernard Worrell, Jr. (April 19, 1944 – June 24, 2016) was an American Keyboard instrument, keyboardist and record producer best known as a founding member of the Parliament-Funkadelic collective. In later years, he also worked with ...

, Pat MacDonald,

Fishbone Fishbone is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1979, the band plays a fusion of ska, punk, funk, metal, reggae, and soul. AllMusic has described the group as "one of the most distinctive and eclectic alternative ...

Widespread Panic Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell (musician), John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Duane Trucks, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJ ...

Jackson Browne Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American rock musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 30 million albums in the United States. Emerging as a teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he had his ...

Nels Cline Nels Courtney Cline (born January 4, 1956) is an American guitarist and composer. He has been a guitarist for the band Wilco since 2004. In the 1980s he played jazz, often in collaboration with his twin brother Alex, a percussionist. He has wor ...

, and

Mike Watt Michael David Watt (born December 20, 1957) is an American bassist, vocalist and songwriter. He co-founded and played bass guitar for the rock bands Minutemen (1980–1985), Dos (1985–present), and Firehose (1986–1994). He began a solo ca ...

, among many others. He has released several albums through the French label Bad Reputation, including ''Dementia'' and ''Pull a Rabbit Out Of His Hat, Tribute Vol 2'' on which McFadden pays homage to his favorite artists. In 2009, he released ''Delicate Thing'' and ''Train to Salvation'', also on Bad Reputation and on Terminus in the U.S. His album, ''Bluebird on Fire'', was released in 2011 by both Bad Reputation in Europe. This release features Norwood Fisher, Dave Catching, Dave Schools, Paulo Baldi, Victor DeLorenzo, Abby Travis, and Wally Ingram. McFadden's Faraway Brothers album, ''Hand Me That Cow'', was released in 2012. Eric Released the acoustic album, "The Light Ahead" in 2015. In 2018, McFadden also collaborated with Omar Torrez with the album entitled, ''Cholula Sessions''. In 2018, McFadden signed to Tab Benoit's label, Whiskey Bayou records who released "Pain By Numbers" which features Doug Wimbish (Living Colour), Terence Higgins (Ani DiFranco, Warren Haynes) and Tab Benoit. McFadden has been recently working with Junkyard Folk singer/songwriter, Kate Vargas, and will be featured on her upcoming release, "Rum Pum Po". McFadden and Vargas have been doing a Facebook livestream on Mondays called "Live From The Red Couch".

Selected discography

* ''Who's Laughing Now?'' (1996) * ''Eric McFadden'' (2000) * ''Devil Moon'' (2003) * ''Diamonds to Coal'' (2003) * ''Alektorophobia'' (with

, 2005) * ''Joy of Suffering'' (2005) * ''Dementia'' (compilation, 2006) * '' Let's Die Forever... Together'' (2007) * ''Delicate Thing'' (2008) * ''Train to Salvation'' (2009) * ''Pull A Rabbit Out Of His Hat - Tribute Vol. 2'' (2010) * ''Bluebird of Fire'' (2011) * ''Inside Out'' (2012) * ''The Light Ahead'' (2015) * ''Pain by Numbers'' (2018) * ''Hail to Hell (Acoustic Tribute to Alice Cooper)'' (2021)

References

Eric McFadden’s Multi-Colored Iconoclastic Gypsy Soul
Jimmy Leslie, ''GuitarPlayer.com'', May 2006 Retrieved July 26, 2007 *"INTERVIEW: Funky trio suffers the joy of music," Abel Horwitz, ''Daily Lobo'', Albuquerque, N.M., October 20, 2005
Eric McFadden Trio Joy of Suffering
Dave Pehling, ''SFWeekly.com'', January 18, 2006 July 26, 2007
Eric McFadden's got an ax to grind.
Silke Tudor, ''SFWeekly.com'', August 11, 2004 Retrieved July 26, 2007

External links

Eric McFadden's Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:McFadden, Eric Living people American alternative rock musicians American funk guitarists American male guitarists American rock guitarists Songwriters from New York (state) P-Funk members American alternative rock guitarists Guitarists from New York City 1965 births 20th-century American guitarists Stockholm Syndrome (band) members