By Mark E. Waterbury

ES: I'm primarily a guitarist. Playing bass was really a fluke. My band Man on Fire used to be called Session 8 in the nineties, and our bassist moved to California. We couldn't find anyone to replace him and we decided to record a CD. So I learned to play his parts and I really took to the fretless bass. It's a really unique style on bass so it stands out on the recording and the reviewers always seemed to mention the bass parts. They never really mention the guitar playing, (laughs) go figure! I really do enjoy playing both bass and guitar, it depends on what style I am playing. When I'm playing rock I enjoy playing guitar more. I only like certain guitar sounds, like the big, fat, heavy guitars. Bass doesn't really dictate so much the style of the music, so I can be a lot more versatile on bass.

MM: Have you always been a rock musician?

ES: Yes, I'm a rocker. I'm influenced by Black Sabbath and Zeppelin in their early days, Judas Priest, heavy rock. I have also been influenced by more esoteric material like Peter Gabriel and Japan.

MM: Man on Fire is a progressive rock band and prog still seems to be a sort of underground genre in the U.S. What did you have to do in the early days of Man on Fire just to get the band noticed?

ES: A radio station Album 88 in Atlanta was a big help. They had it in rotation for about a year. They had been known to do remotes to get people out and it really helped the shows. Then there was our label Prog Rock Records which is becoming a top progressive rock label. One of our band members Steve Carroll who was acting sort of as the manager and mouthpiece at the time found this posting on the web of a label looking for artists. At the time we had been talking to other labels but after a conversation with Prog Rock it seemed like a really good match. They gave us a lot of freedom. They released our latest album "The Undefined Design" about a year ago and also re-released our debut.

MM: Some people think when you get signed that the hard work is over. That is not true, is it?

ES: That's when it starts. Labels are mainly a platform to work from for musical credibility. You really do have to get out there and gig a lot and it can be tough. Prog rock is a small community but if they are looking for it they know who you are. We have been advertising in Progression Magazine and there are certain webzines that you have to make sure that you get reviewed in. We do a good job at working to make that happen. We are also looking to do some touring over in Germany in February, and right now we are in the studio working on our next album to be called "Habitat."

MM: You have another band called Strangeworld. Tell us how that came about.

ES: Strangeworld is more of a metal band. With Man on Fire, it was a great album, but it really focused on my bass playing and my guitar work was more esoteric. In Strangeworld, I get to shred and do my thing more. My guitar style does not actually fit Man on Fire at all. It's more effects and soundscapes and washes of sound. Strangeworld is more in your face with really heavy seven string guitar. We are shopping our debut Strangeworld album right now and we are doing live shows with them as well. We had actually started a few years ago while on hiatus from other projects.

MM: You also do a lot of projects such as your work on tribute CDs for Jason Becker and Uli John Roth.

ES: It really gives me a chance to do something I can't do otherwise like collaborating with other musicians. We did a version of the Scorpions song "Polar Nights" on the Uli John Roth tribute, and Ian Haugland of the band Europe played drums on it. It was great to collaborate with people like that.

MM: Do you feel the more work you do, collaborations and projects and such, that this also helps get your name out more, thus helping Man on Fire and Strangeworld?

ES: I'm sure that does help. I also have an Ibanez endorsement and I think that helps. too, because plenty of people out of curiosity go to my web site to see what I am doing. I also produced a CD called "Generation Ibanez Project" in 1998 that is still the top seller with Guitar 9 Records. It featured all sorts of shredders whom mostly you never heard of, and the proceeds all went to Steve Vai's charity foundation so it was a good thing to do. There is also a seven string guitarist named Guy Pople whose project I just did some fretless bass on. It's interesting because you have musicians from all over the world on it.

MM: Do you write lyrics too, or just the music?

ES: It's rare that I do lyrics, I usually like to leave that up to the vocalist of whatever project I am doing unless I have a chorus or something I may want to run by him. I hear hooks real good in my head and I feel it's best to leave it up to everyone to do what they are the best at. Inspiration strikes me at odd times. I keep a simple tape recorder with me so if I have an idea I can get the basics down until I get to my studio where I can fire up ProTools and flesh it out.

MM: What level of success would you like to see with your music career?

ES: I've seen musicians at all levels come and go, and there are no guarantees in this business. It's a rare thing nowadays that someone reaches a huge level of stardom. I want to just be able to create music and share it with as many people as possible. That is success to me.