Shillong, Oct. 7: The autumnal Shillong gig just got bigger with Mr Big.
Eric Martin, the voice of Mr Big — the American hard rock band that stormed international music charts with To Be With You — will perform for the first time in India at an exclusive one-off concert in the Meghalaya capital this month.
The show, “Festival of Rock: Shillong”, is slated for October 27, a Sunday, and the organisers are sure it will be the biggest in terms of the variety of talent that will be on display. The concert will be a part of the autumn festival extravaganza that will begin at the Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex the previous day.
The opening act will be Magdalene of Mizoram, winners of the Great Indian Rock 2006, and Meghalaya’s leading band Snowhite.
“World-class concerts featuring famous international musical acts and at the same time providing the finest bands from the northeastern region with a common platform to interact and perform with internationally renowned musicians” — this is how the promo describes the event.
Eric himself appears in one of the promotional video, singing “Hold on Shillong, I will be at the J.N. Sports complex for the festival of rock” in his famous baritone.
One of the finest vocalists to emerge in the international rock scene in the early nineties, Eric Martin will arrive here with his four-member band on October 24.
“To have Eric playing a day after the guitar ensemble will be special and it will certainly keep the vibrations going,” said a spokesperson on behalf of the organisers — Centre Point Entertainment Network and the Royal Tripura Foundation.
He however, would not answer queries on whether Eric would attend the guitar ensemble. “Let see, now I cannot say anything,” he said.
The organisers are hopeful that the Mr. Big concert will “become the biggest show ever,” perhaps even bigger than the pervious concerts.
Shillong, which has been identified as the “Music Destination of the East,” by event management firms all over the world, has played host to Michael Learns to Rock, Fire House, Petra and Paul Diano (of the Iron maiden fame) in the last couple of years.
“People are already making queries about the show,” said the spokesperson.
Eric began playing for the rock group Kid Courage in San Francisco, California, and then for Stark Raving Mad in Santa Rosa, California.
With Walter (Herbie) Herbert (from Journey) and Sandy Einstein as managers, the band, 415, was formed in the late 1970s.
It recorded one album under The Eric Martin Band, titled Sucker for a Pretty Face. The LP received a gold disc.
“EMB” broke up in 1985, after which Martin recorded two solo albums, Eric Martin and I’m Only Fooling Myself. In 1988, Martin, Billy Sheehan, Pat Torpey and Paul Gilbert formed Mr. Big, which achieved great commercial success.
After Mr. Big finally broke up in 2001, Eric released another solo album, I’m Goin’ Sane, in 2002.
He has since released two more albums, Pure and his latest, Destroy All Monsters. He is also the lead singer and songwriter for the Tak Matsumoto Group, which released their first album, titled TMG1 in 2004.
In 2007, Eric joined hands with Gunnar Nelson, Matthew Nelson, Kelly Keagy (Nightranger) and Mark Slaughter (Slaughter) to perform their music, calling themselves Scrap Metal.
