Ian Erix 'For Conformity' album

"I'm the revolution," wails Ian Erix on the emotionally charged anthem entitled "For Conformity." "I'm chaos and confusion. Your problem, your solution," Erix declares in the title track to his debut album. "No product of a nation or overnight sensation," he quips in witty reference to the trials and tribulations he has encountered along his path. His story goes something like this.

Born and bred on New York's suburban Long Island, Ian got his start in the music scene as a DJ/MC at age nine. Yes, nine. There, he nurtured his musical skills into his teens and claims his DJ days as invaluable training ground.

From those days of spinning music and performing daily in front of the crowds, came the offers to join in the boyband explosion. "It was a real struggle for me," Erix says. "Because by that point I was writing my own music and I had my own look and ideas about what I wanted to do. But, I had no contacts whatsoever in the recording industry except for this one producer that I had met while DJ'ing. He kept pushing me to join one of his groups but they wanted to dress me and shape me and have me sing other peoples songs and I just couldn't go along with that."

"I had to bang down a lot of doors," he reflects. "I had to build up my own network of connections from scratch and it wasn't easy. Eventually, I ended up getting myself stuck in a really bad management situation. I was working with a hugely successful and notorious company but I didn't fit into their cookie cutter mold and they didn't really get me. It was so frustrating because they strung me along for a long time until I was able to move on."

After that, Erix reveals, "I had a lot of negative people in my life who were really coming down on me in a hurtful way. They thought I should give it up, go back to school or get a 'normal' job. There was no way in hell that was gonna happen!"

So with a boyband craze in full swing in The States, Ian headed overseas to "bang down some more doors." Goran Lykke, a promoter from The Netherlands, saw his potential as a solo star and he was booked as a presenter on the PopStop Tour, which took him to over 40 cities in 15 countries across Europe. He also appeared at The World Music Awards in Monaco.

While on tour in Germany, Ian was approached by TV executives who were enticed by his eccentric look and the overwhelming reaction to his appearances in Deutschland. They signed him on to star in a television series documenting the life of an up'n'coming American rock star on the European music scene, "PopLife".

A few months later, during a promotional trip for the show, Erix made contact with representatives from a Nordic publishing company. After a successful meeting with one of their reps in London, it wasn't long until Ian was off to meet their producers. He hit it off instantly with Danish producer Dan Zak and over the course of several visits to Denmark, they began recording what was to become Ian's debut album. The city of Elsinore which was once made famous by William Shakespeare as the inspiration for "Hamlet" served as Ian's temporary home through the creative process.

The result was extraordinary. An eclectic mix of pop, rock, hip hop and punk came together to create a sound that is distinctively, Ian Erix. Consisting of 11 tracks each penned by the artist himself, the album contains infectious rockers such as "Confessions of a Killer" and "Indecision," hip hop flavored hybrids "Ghost To You" and "Down With Love" plus striking ballad-esque gems like "Angel In Disguise". Every song is chocked full of contagious melodies, intriguing lyrics, and raw energy.

Under the banner of the Scandinavian label, I.D. Records, where his producer pulls double duty as A&R, 2005 saw the onslaught of promo trips for Erix to such places as South East Asia, Japan and South Africa. With support internationally from powerhouses such as MTV, who added the video for "Confessions Of A Killer" to their rotations, Ian scored his first top ten single abroad.

With a hit under his belt overseas, he has now turned his attention back to his homeland, where a North American launch is currently in the works.

"I'm no shrinking violet. On this journey I'm the pilot," Ian Erix pronounces in song. With an attitude like that and talent to match, there is no telling the heights to which his journey will lead.

Do you also would like to share your opinion? If so, please register or login here.

Tags

Details

Tracklisting

Ian Erix - For Conformity