Sponsor: My Thanks to E.R.I.E

Erie

My thanks to E.R.I.E for sponsoring the website this week. E.R.I.E recently released their new album, Don’t Wanna Live, Don’t Wanna Die, on Bandcamp and it’s the kind of album that so many of the readers of this website are gonna love. It’s for fans of The Gaslight Anthem, Frank Turner, and Frightened Rabbit and is lush with addictive progressions and alternative undertones. Looking for something to check out this weekend? Take a listen on Bandcamp.

”E.R.I.E. has brought me back to my roots, in a way. Growing up, I played in scrappy punk bands and as I got through college, my interests and writing styles began moving in different directions. I started taking myself more seriously, sometimes to a fault,” songwriter TJ Foster recalls. “While recording this record, my main goal was to have a positive and fun studio experience. I paid a lot more attention to what I was doing instead of how I was doing it, which ultimately yielded a far less stressful experience. Listening to the record now, I can feel that sense of lightness in my performances – it feels like the best thing I’ve ever produced due largely to that.”

The Upstate New York based songwriter/producer birthed the project out of a tumultuous experience which resulted in an unexpected three-day stint at the hospital. Late one night, after Foster’s heart stopped for 15 seconds on his bathroom floor, he found himself on a hospital bed preparing for emergency surgery. Both before and after his surgery, the artist fought through existential thoughts and difficult questions. Though he left with many of them unanswered, there was one thing he knew for sure – a burning desire to play music again had returned.

Taking things into his own hands, Foster began writing for his new project, dubbed E.R.I.E. after the last letters of his daughters’ first and middle names. The moniker also stands for ‘Everything Resides In Everyone,’ something he believes truly.

“It’s a reminder that we all have a full spectrum of emotions and capabilities inside of us,” Foster explains. “The good, the bad, the pretty, the ugly – more often than not, it’s up to us to channel those accordingly.”

Diving into this new project, Foster refined his songwriting and lyrical approach to focus on healing oneself instead of wallowing in self-cynicism. Don’t Wanna Live, Don’t Wanna Die serves as a testament to where he is at with music, life and his own, constant struggles with mental health right now.

E.R.I.E can also be found on Instagram and Twitter.

Our thanks to E.R.I.E for sponsoring Chorus this week. More information about sponsored posts and purchasing advertisements on this website can be found here.