Skate Punk Funk
At first glance Eric Lindell seems an unlikely candidate for music stardom. With his multiple tattoos (including one on his throat that reads "Mercy") and shy, bemused countenance, the 37-year-old guitarist and singer bears all the markings of the one-time "skate punk" touted in his press kit.
"When I first started playing," he explains, "it was myself and a group of friends. We were all skaters, and we wanted to start a skate rock band. It was a big part of my life, skateboarding. I still do it."
But then Lindell discovered the funky blues of Ray Charles and Junior Wells. His life-and music-was never the same.
"All the way back," Lindell recalls of his early years playing in California, "guys our age were doing other kinds of music. We used to get a lot of people come out and say, 'Oh, we thought you all were old guys.'"
Lindell punctuates this with a laugh that is neither edgy nor self-deprecating. Like his music, it's direct and sincere. If the man's happy, it's for good reason: His new CD, Change in the Weather, has landed near the top of the Billboard blues charts, and after struggling for more than a decade, he's finally getting a shot at wider recognition.
The West Coast native met his current band in New Orleans, where he moved in 1999 after spending a year in New York. The Big Easy was where everything came together, thanks in part to the collaborative spirit that has always existed among Crescent City performers.
"My most noticeable growth as a musician has been over the last few years. Any night that you're playing, guaranteed, is gonna turn into an awesome jam session. New Orleans is kind of one big band." In keeping with this ethic, Change in the Weather boasts guests including Harold Brown (of the influential '70s group, War) and the legendary Ivan Neville. But it's Lindell who holds it together, guiding the band through a series of heart-tugging numbers that recall a young Van Morrison. Loose, danceable R&B alternates with swampy ballads like "It Won't Be Long," an ode to perseverance that boasts lilting, Caribbean-inspired horns.
After years of working as a burrito chef by day and gigging nights, he's thankful. "It's just been a lot better," he confesses with gratitude. However successful Eric Lindell becomes, a part of him will always remain that humble skate punk.