Elliot Easton

Elliot Easton
Background information
Born (1953-12-18) December 18, 1953 Brooklyn, New York
Genres Rock, new wave, blues rock, hard rock, rockabilly
Instruments Guitar, vocals, bass
Years active 1976–present
Associated acts The Cars, The New Cars, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, Elliot Easton's Tiki Gods, The Empty Hearts
Notable instruments
Gibson SG
Gibson Firebird
Gibson Les Paul
Gretsch Custom Model Duo Jet
Dean Custom ML Guitar
Kramer Guitars
Fender Telecaster

Elliot Easton (born Elliot Steinberg, December 18, 1953,[1] in Brooklyn, New York) is an American musician. He played lead guitar and sings backing vocals for The Cars. His guitar solos are an integral part of the band's hit singles.[2] He studied music at the Berklee College of Music. He plays guitar left-handed. Upon the collapse of The Cars in 1988, Easton played in bands such as The New Cars and the roots rock group Creedence Clearwater Revisited.[2] He has also played in songs by newer artists such as the power pop band the Click Five, whose guitarist Joe Guese referred to him as "the Boston connection".[3]

Solo career

Easton released one solo album in 1985, Change No Change, featuring songs co-written with Jules Shear.[4] One single"(Wearing Down)Like a Wheel" was released and became a moderate hit on the rock charts. A later band project, Band of Angels, was formed with singer Danny Malone, and recorded one album, Band of Angels, which was not released, but selections from which were included in the 1996 CD release of Change No Change.

In the mid-1990s, Easton produced and played on the first two albums by Amy Rigby. He was also the lead guitarist on Jules Shear's 1994 album 'Healing Bones'.[5]

In 1998, Easton's playing was featured on No Cats, an album from bassist Lee Rocker of Stray Cats. He contributed guitar parts for "Rumblin' Bass" and "One Way or Another." According to both Easton and Rocker, the two have known each other since they were young boys growing up in New York.

Easton then joined Creedence Clearwater Revisited.

He has also played with Ric Ocasek as a solo artist. Easton was a member of The New Cars, along with original Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes, singer/songwriter Todd Rundgren, former Utopia bassist/vocalist Kasim Sulton, and Tubes drummer Prairie Prince.[6] In June 2006, the band released a live album, It's Alive!, that includes three new studio tracks.[7]

He was featured and played the solo in the Click Five song "Angel To You (Devil To Me)".

In 2010, Easton reunited with the surviving original members of The Cars to record their first album in 24 years, entitled Move Like This, which was released on May 10, 2011.

Easton resurfaced in 2013 with his Tiki Gods project. On February, 13th, 2013, Easton's Tiki Gods released the album "Easton Island" as a mp3 download album only. It was made available through the Amazon and iTunes store. A physical CD was released in May 2013. Easton next became a founding member of The Empty Hearts supergroup formed in 2014. The band also included The Chesterfield Kings bassist Andy Babiuk, Blondie drummer Clem Burke, The Romantics guitarist and vocalist Wally Palmar, and Faces pianist Ian McLagan.[8] The band's self-titled first album was released 5 August 2014 and produced by The Ramones producer Ed Stasium.

Gibson Guitars Signature Model

In 2013, the Gibson Guitar Company launched the Elliot Easton "Tikibird" Firebird guitar, which is a modified version of their Firebird model. Notable differences from the original model would be the use of lightweight Steinberger gearless locking tuners; a factory-fitted Bigsby tremolo system, full size humbuckers instead of mini-humbuckers[9] and an upgraded switching system, which allows the player to split either of the humbuckers, to run the pickups out of phase and to cut to a direct feed from the bridge humbucker to output jack, bypassing all of the other controls. The guitar also features a Tikibird design on the scratchplate, in place of the classic Firebird insignia, and comes in an attractive gold-mist finish.

Personal life

Elliot Easton married twice and is now married to his second wife Jill Easton. He has a daughter Sydney from his first marriage. He also has two siblings, a brother Les and a sister Lisa.

Legacy

Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash has cited Easton as one of his musical influences.[10]

Solo discography

  1. "(Wearing Down) Like a Wheel" (1985)
  2. "Shayla" (1985)
  3. "Tools of Your Labor" (1985)
  4. "Monte Carlo Nights" (1995 Elliot Easton's Tiki Gods)

References

  1. ↑ John Bush. Allmusic biography of Elliot Easton
  2. 1 2 White, Dave. "Elliot Easton Interview". About.com. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  3. ↑ Jacobs, Jay S. (September 15, 2005). "The Click Five Interview about 'Welcome to Imrie House'". popentertainment.com. Retrieved July 21, 2010. External link in |publisher= (help)
  4. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/change-no-change-mw0000182729
  5. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/healing-bones-mw0000626051/credits
  6. ↑ http://www.guitarplayer.com/miscellaneous/1139/elliot-eastons-new-moves/21696
  7. ↑ http://m.pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/9109-its-alive/
  8. ↑ "Meet the Empty Hearts," Billboard, 8 May 2014 accessed online at http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6084531/empty-hearts-blondie-cars-romantics-chesterfield-kings-album-song-listen
  9. ↑ http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/elliot-easton-talks-guitars-twang-and-the-tiki-gods-easton-island-576073
  10. ↑
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