Eric Mantel

"I love my LEGEND speakers! My 1967 Black Face Fender Twin Reverb - never sounded better! I used these speakers to record my entire album "The Unstruck Melody". Eric Mantel has had International attention by being featured in Guitar Player and Guitar world magazines, among many other publications. He has 5 solos CDs under his belt and has opened for many famous guitar players. Allan Holdsworth, Danny Gatton, Robben Ford, Stu Hamm (Joe Satriani), Vinnie Moore, John Campbell, Scott Henderson, Michael Angelo, etc. Eric has done many guitar clinics through out the Midwest and owns and operates The Midwest's Premier Guitar Instruction Service with over 3,500 students taught since 1979! Mantel's influences reflect the eclectic diversity that defines him: Fans and critics alike compare his songwriting skills to those of Todd Rundgren, The Beatles, Sting (the Police), Greg Lake of ELP, among others. And compare his guitar playing expertise to that of Jeff Beck, Eric Johnson, Allan Holdsworth, Steve Morse, Danny Gatton, Jimi Hendrix, Chet Atkins, Albert Lee, Wes Montgomery, Andres Segovia, Phil Keaggy, Michael Hedges, Pat Metheny, Lenny Breau, and others. Eric's approach, a plethora of styles weaved from all his influences and combined with his own innovative touch, is a beautiful kaleidoscopic fabric of rock, jazz, melodic fusion, country, blues, R&B, funk, pop, classical, ragtime, and more. In early 1983, at the age of 19, Eric independently released his first solo album, Montage, featuring Marc Levinson on drums and Eric Levinson on keyboards with Ron Hansen on bass. This record showcased Eric's prolific songwriting skills and his virtuosi guitar playing ability. Montage could be described as progressive pop/jazzy songwriting with fusion guitar playing - imagine Allan Holdsworth meets Todd Rundgren meets the Police. Montage released in 1983 preceded Steve Vai's "Flexable" (1984), Joe Satriani's "Not of This Earth" (1986) and Eric Johnson's "Tones" (1986) etc. In 1986, after listening to Eric Johnson's "TONES" LP Eric Mantel became inspired by Eric's artistry and he felt a strong spiritual connection to EJ and his music. Both Erics shared the same musical vision - combining many styles of music with vocals. That same year Eric studied finger style acoustic ragtime guitar with the late Dan DeVries. Eric also played in the rock band "Ring" and in 1987 put together his own private recording studio. In 1988 Eric joined the Alternative Rock Band "The Escape", which filmed a video and recorded a 5 song EP. In the late 80's Eric established Holistic Music Entertainment (so named because Eric believes in the healing and spiritually uplifting quality of music). In 1990, with his new band, "The Eric Mantel Trio," Eric released a 12 song LP, The Politics Of Experience, an electric sizzle of sound that received rave reviews from local and national critics. As a result of this release Guitar Player magazine featured Eric in its "Spot Light" column by Mike Varney (April 1991). Guitar World magazine also featured Eric in its "Hometown Heroes" column (May 1991). The publicity gave Eric overnight international attention and fan mail from around the globe. Eric Mantel, singer/songwriter/teacher, a musician of extraordinary talent, maneuvers through his day like a man plugged into an electrical socket. He has discovered a chord within the universe that, when tapped into, generates enough electricity to form a bolt of lightening. He not only plays the music, he is the music, providing voltage and amps from his own reservoir of energy. Plug into the electric energy of the only hurricane to hit Chicago, Eric Mantel. For more information, please visit ericmantel.com.