Local Musician Profile: Scott Erich

By Nate Storey

What instruments do you play?

Guitar, bass, drums, violin, a wee bit of piano.

When did you start performing or playing?
I started playing music in the fourth grade with the trumpet, which I can’t play any more and doesn’t count. I started guitar after fifth. I’ve wanted to play trumpet in a show but never done it.

Tell me about the bands you’ve been in.
I’ve been in six or so bands, no just flings, two of which have cut CD’s. There’s this guy, must be 40 or 50, who I went to church with, he must’ve been having a midlife crisis and we played country guitar on the CD, though I haven’t seen the results yet. That was in January. Then there’s Eleven West, which is the band I’ve been in the longest.

I started Eleven West in fifth grade with the drummer, Kevin Kohart, who is at the University of Richmond now. In eighth grade, the lineup became what it is today. I moved to London and was replaced and when I moved back I went from being lead singer to guitar backup and the lead singer while I was gone dropped the guitar. We’ve all been best friends since middle school.

We jokingly refer to the style of our songs as ” Coswitch and Cambrioath,” a combination of Coheed and Cambria, Killswitch Engage, and Underoath. It came out sounding more like Creed sometimes, but we like to think we are better than that. It’s just in reality more “out-of-date 90′s nu-metal” most of the time.

Did you bring back any musical influences from England ?
I didn’t, and it’s really unfortunate, because I was so focused and obsessed with Incubus at the time