Eric Mitchell has found solace in the power of music going back to his childhood. "I began exploring music as a child, self-taught, and found my way into playing heavy music as a means of venting/coping with a difficult childhood in regards to being picked on a lot at school," says the muscian, audio engineer, and songwriter who is currently a member of Head Automatica, and recently launched a solo project called ANOMALY82.
But let's get back to his hardcore credentials. In the mid-'90s and early '00s, Mitchell played in the Massachusetts band At Will. "We disbanded in 2001/2002 IIRC, which lead to me doing a few other random bands. Most notably was probably the band Hepburn out of Boston, but none of these lasted as long.
"After these bands, I had really dove more into writing and recording material on my own which then around 2010, I formed a new band called Sleep Alive with the singer and drummer from At Will where I was writing everything except the vocals," he tells No Echo.
More musical adventures followed, eventually leading to Mitchell connecting with Justin Beck of Glassjaw. "What started as just a technical role quickly expanded to much more including becoming the band's live playback engineer, FOH [Front of House] engineer (not consistently because I'm primarily needed on stage for playback; but there was one wild tour where I was a 1-man show running playback on stage and manning FOH!) tone designer, and studio engineer for anything the band has recorded since 2018. I also remastered the records for the 20th anniversary boxed set release, and re-mixed/remastered Coloring Book for the Revolver Playable Collection release."
The Glassjaw connection then opened up another opportunity for Mitchell with Head Automatica. "I'm filling a multi-faceted role there, including live playback/electronics, as well as co-producing, mixing and mastering all the new music we've released ("Bear the Cross," "Annulment").
Clearly busy, Mitchell still felt a musical void that needed to be filled. "With the current state of the world and being a super emo boi at heart and hyper-affected by the world's energy, I found my mental health struggling greatly for some time now, and decided it best to pursue therapy," he says. "Within that therapy, we uncovered/I was reminded that music was something that I only first ever dove this hard into as a means of therapy in and of itself; as a vent, as medicine for the mind. Yet, it had been over 20 years since I went back to those roots and used it as a tool for those reasons."
Those "roots" can be traced back to EDM duo he was part of back in the day called NU.F.O. (Newly Formed Objective). The electronic music style is in the wheelhouse of his new solo project, ANOMALY82.
"Anomaly because that's what I feel like/have been called in regards to being someone who can play every instrument well, sing, write songs, record, mix, master, etc. etc. but not a jack of all trades master of none; I've devoted my entire life and sacrificed immensely to be a master of them all. And 82 because I was born in 1982."
The first single for the ANOMALY82 project is called "Unsafe Boundaries," and Mitchell offers this about its lyrics: "The song is essentially about repeatedly allowing bad actors to take advantage of me and not ever learning the lesson of setting safer boundaries for myself, which ultimately culminated in one of if not the most traumatic experiences of my life where I was long-conned and hacked and lost my life savings."
Mitchell also talks a bit about the new music's direction, though with some trepidation. "Describing the project is hard because I listen to and am influenced by just about everything except country music. I’ve always been someone who attempts to translate things I’m feeling into sound, so I sort of just sit down and let that come out of me which does so naturally and is never forced; I never run into writers block or any of that kind of stuff. I also never try to show off instrumentally; the goal is always to serve the song.
"Some of my all-time favorite influential music would be Deftones (particularly their earlier material), Glassjaw, Thrice, He Is Legend, and most recently, Johnny Booth.
"But the listening catalog and musical influence over my lifetime is truly expansive and covers everything from dashboard confessional to pantera to deadmau5 to Vision of Disorder to dido, sneaker pimps, Nirvana, hopesfall, Dead Poetic, Portishead, even early Korn and Limp Bizkit back in the day…it’s vast," laughs Mitchell.
***
ANOMALY82 on social media: Instagram
Tagged: anomaly82, at will, head automatica
