Eric's Trip is a Canadian indie rock band from Moncton, New Brunswick. Eric's Trip achieved prominence as the first Canadian band to be signed to Seattle's flagship grunge label Sub Pop in the early 1990s.[2]
The band had a minor hit in alternative circles with the single "View Master", from the 1994 album Forever Again.
History
Eric's Trip formed in 1990 when musicians Rick White and Chris Thompson joined Julie Doiron and Ed Vaughan (who was later replaced by Mark Gaudet). They took their name from a Sonic Youth song[3] and developed a unique sound which fused elements of the distorted guitar of Dinosaur Jr., vocal elements of My Bloody Valentine, the folk leanings of Neil Young, and the lo-fi aesthetic of Sebadoh. White described their sound as "sappy melodic pop music on top of thick distortion." Gaudet's description was more succinct: "dreamy punk".[citation needed]
Julie Doiron plays with Eric's Trip in Saskatoon, 2001
Eric's Trip broke up in 1996, in the middle of their US tour[6] and played a final hometown show in June, 1996[7] prior to reuniting in 2001. In 1997, as part of their contract with Sub Pop, they released the rarities compilation CD, Long Days Ride 'Til Tomorrow, which was being discussed at their final show in 1996.[8]They also played a series of shows between 2006 and 2009. These included a show at the 2007 Halifax Pop Explosion and the 2008 edition of Primavera Sound in Barcelona, Spain and the SP20, a 20th anniversary concert for Sub Pop Records that took place in Redmond, Washington.[9][10][11]
They played at the Sappy Records Festival in Sackville, New Brunswick from 2006 to 2009, with their final performance as a band occurring at the 2009 edition of the festival.[12][13] In 2010 both White and Doiron played separate sets at SappyFest.[14][15]
White began working on an Eric's Trip documentary movie, titled Eric's Trip: 1990-1996[17] in 2004[18], with initial screenings of the documentary video being shown in 2008 at that years' Sappyfest.[19] While a DVD version of the movie was originally planned, it didn't materialize[20], and Eric's Trip: 1990-1996 was instead eventually released for viewing free online in December 2012 on Vimeo.[21] In 2021, White re-edited & remastered the movie, and released the updated version on Vimeo. The 2021 version also excised some parts that were in the originally released version.[22]
White and Gaudet played in Elevator until 2009, when White announced the band's dissolution at that year's SappyFest.[23] Since then, White has also released three solo albums under the name Rick White Album, The Rick White Album, Memoreaper and 137 during, and after Elevator. Gaudet currently plays in the heavy metal band Funeral Fog.[24] Thompson enjoyed some fame as Moon Socket, and currently plays in The Memories Attack with Ron Bates of Moncton band Orange Glass, as well as the band Diamondtown.[25]
White produced Doiron's solo albums Woke Myself Up (2007) and I Can Wonder What You Did with Your Day (2009). Woke Myself Up features three tracks on which the entire Eric's Trip lineup contributed to the recording, their first studio collaboration since the band's 1996 breakup, while I Can Wonder has been described by critics as directly revisiting the sound and style of Eric's Trip for the first time in Doiron's solo career.
A cassette tribute album titled The Eric's Trip Show was released by Paper Heart Records in 2000.[26] A two-disc CD tribute album titled Songs For Eric: A Tribute to Eric's Trip was released by Gooseberry Records in April 2009.[27]
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