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Want to get to know the Boston Massachusetts, female-fronted rock/metal band Leaving Eden? Brent Faulkner interviews the band’s co-founder, Eric.

Ah, it’s been a while since an interview appeared on The Musical Hype. The last time that I posed some questions to a band was back in June 2018, when English band The Sourheads’ guitarist Mik Crone provided some pretty sweet insight. Finally, three months later, we have the first of multiple interviews on deck (!), courtesy of the Boston, Massachusetts, female-fronted rock/metal band, Leaving Eden.  While I didn’t pose any questions to ‘the empress’ herself (Eve), I got some awesome answers courtesy of the band’s co-founder, guitarist, bassist, and vocalist, Eric Gynan.  Get ready for interview #2 on The Musical Hype – it’s been a long-time coming!

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Brent Faulkner (The Musical Hype): Let’s get this started off right. For those who may not be familiar with you, what would you say makes you/your band distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

Eric Gynan (Leaving Eden): Hi nice to talk to you today I’m Eric Gynan co-founder of the rock band Leaving Eden from the Boston, Massachusetts area USA. I think first and foremost Eve the front woman lead vocalist makes the connection with the crowd by involving them in the party. It’s not about ‘hey look at me I’m up here on stage.’ It’s about we are all here together for the night having a party it’s about all of us. You can expect the band to be tight and ‘on cue.’ Lots of energy exchanged between us and our friends.

BF: Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did your band form and what were some of the goals or the visions you had as a band early on?

EG: Most original bands have dreams of becoming rock stars. It’s no different here. Of course, we had no clear vision and no contacts to speak of. We just had music. Myself and Eve were in a band before Leaving Eden and it was after the first 100 people came up to me and told me how great she was – not me, but her – I knew that I had to do something about it so we formed Leaving Eden. The main thing that helped us was our philosophy that we would play anywhere, anyhow, anytime, no matter what so long as we could. That’s what put us in certain positions of meeting different contacts – long-established contacts now. We simply never would have met anybody if we didn’t get out there and do it as much as possible.

BF: Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

EG: Yes, I think this is a very good question. It’s very easy to become disheartened in this business. If you set your goals too high then you leave yourself open to disappointment. Things never go as planned. The lyrics in our “Tied and Bound” song off our Tied and Bound album go like this:

“We’ve been screwed over charged

Underpaid and abused

We’ve been avoided exploited

And falsely accused

We’ve been cut down let down fucked around

Tied and bound

But nothing could take the music away.”

So now our goals are different.  It’s quite simple now. Just be happy what you’re doing. Shoot for the stars but enjoy every show for what it is. Yes, we’ve played for 20,000 people but we’ve also played for two. So now, it’s more just the love for music and doing the best we can and being happy with that. My goal now is to enjoy every show. To not be stressed about where we’ve been or how far we’ve come or where we are going. just doing what we love and that shall suffice.

BF: Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

EG: I always say the same thing here when we played with Alice Cooper I was just blown away by the theatrics. Second to none.  I must say, playing with Slayer recently, watching their flames igniting on stage was phenomenal.  Real flames and the heat, Wow!!  I remember playing the System of the Down pre-party, then back stage while System was playing and watching the pit Impel. Just so much energy!

BF: Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.

EG: Lots of situations like getting lost in an unknown land or breaking down and having to get to the next show. Ending up on dirt roads. Signing body parts. I remember we were in Europe and our cell phones didn’t work so we were totally dependent on our drivers. On this particular day, we got pulled over and our driver got arrested and they told us to get out with all of our stuff because they were impounding the vehicle. We said, ‘well we don’t know where we’re going and we don’t know how we’re going to get there’ and they said walk. So, we found out where a train station was and we had to walk with all of our stuff.  The other vehicle ahead of us didn’t know that we were pulled over. Then, of course, it starts raining as we’re walking. We finally make it to the train station and all we knew was that we had to get to Nottingham for a concert at the Rock City. I think what pushed me over the edge was the nearly $700 charge for the train for all of us. I expected maybe $70 or $80 not $700. On the way there, I was shooting some video out the window and in the corner of the video was Eve. When we got back home, I was going through the video and it was a long video that I was filming and I noticed Eve’s lips moving so I rewinded it because I was just basically fast-forwarding. So, I caught her saying “And we didn’t even get to go sightseeing,” when directly in the background was just this incredibly beautiful landscape on the train that was breathtaking and I just laughed.  It’s true because of the schedule we didn’t get to see Stonehenge for instance. We were only 10 minutes away but we were always in route.

BF: Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

EG: Our song “Out of the Ashes” off of our Out of the Ashes album is one of the most fun songs for us to play. Expect great melody, harmony – it’s a heavier song and it’s predictable. You can easily sing along with the chorus. Eve, again, really involves the crowd and has them sing along.  We actually do a breakdown in the song live. I think the production of the song is awesome.

 

BF: Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

EG: I think one thing that we’ve always done is benefit concerts to raise money for people in need. Whether it’s a death or a sickness that people have bills to pay, I think giving back in that way is a great thing to do and it really does help. Pouring out my heart here a little bit, I remember one benefit show we were working on trying to get the right date for a little girl who had cancer. We put it together and she died before the show could take place. To this day, it breaks my heart. We played another benefit concert where the woman passed away the day before. These are real life situations that we become involved in and it means something to the families more than we know. If there’s a way to help by playing music to raise money that’s a damn good thing.

BF: Closing this thing out, what is you/your band currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure. 

EG: We released a single from Thin Lizzy called “Jailbreak,” recorded/mixed By Johnny K. (Disturbed, Pop Evil, Staind, 3 Doors Down,) mastered by Brad Blackwood (Sevendust, Dave Mathews, Adelitas Way, Korn), and produced by myself reinterpreted by Leaving Eden. “Jailbreak” is going to be on our new album to be released October 19th 2018, again called Descending, through Dark Star Records/Sony Music Worldwide.

I’m excited about Descending because it was recorded at Leaving Eden’s Studio. We were able to take all the time we needed and really craft this album to be exactly what we wanted it to be. I did a pre-mix on it and sent it off to Bob St. John for the final Mix and mastering. Bob is a Grammy award-winning engineer and has done bands like Duran Duran, Extreme, Collective Soul, Steven Tyler. Such a great guy to work with too.

BF: Thank you so much for sharing taking the time to answer these questions Eric. Best of luck moving forward! 

EG: Thank you man! It’s my pleasure.

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Final Thoughts

Leaving Eden has plenty of awesome things happening, which you can check out on the following page. Also, make sure to follow the band on their socials, linked below.

Leaving Eden Direct Links & Socials:

Website  •  Facebook  •  YouTube •  Instagram • Twitter  • Spotify

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Press

Major Announcements:

• New album, Descending arrives 10.19.18 via Dark Star Records.

 

• Leaving Eden Live Xtreme Rockumentary Blu-ray and DVD released worldwide on 9.7.18 via SGL Entertainment and Dark Star Records (https://sglmoviestore.com/documentaries/leaving-eden-live-xtreme-rockumentary/)

 

Featured Music:

Leaving Eden went to Hollywood and has some music in the movies/TV series coming out in the future.  Here are some links:

“Out of the Ashes” (Leaving Eden exclusive lyric video, over 100,000 views)

Featured in Lockdown [Movie Director: Massimiliano Cerchi]

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“Maniac”

Video from Out of the Ashes album

& From Live DVD, LEAVING EDEN LIVE XTREME ROCKUMENTARY

(Over 100,000 Views)

Dark Star Records in assoc. w/ Sony Music

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“Skies of Grey”

Live in Concert at Wallys Hampton Beach, NH

From Leaving Eden Live (DVD) & Out of the Ashes (album)

Featured in Maday [Movie Director: Massimiliano Cerchi]

(Over 100,000 Views)

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“No Soul” is featured in the movie/TV Series Jezebeth [Written & Directed by Damien Dante]

 

Leaving Eden’s latest album Out of the Ashes on Spotify.

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Leaving Eden Direct Links & Socials:

Website  •  Facebook  •  YouTube •  Instagram • Twitter  • Spotify

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