Erik Christensen

**Erik Oliver Christensen** (Born November 20, 1983) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the rock band Animus, of which he is a founding member. He was also the vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the metal supergroup Terminal Zero, which he played with throughout it's entire existence.

### Born

Erik Oliver ChristensenNovember 20, 1983 (age 39) Clemson, South Carolina

## Musical Career

### Genres

Post-grunge, nu metal, hard rock, Alternative rock, Alternative metal

## Early life (1983-1999)

Erik Christensen was born in 1983 to Danish immigrants Morten and Rosa Christensen. He is the second youngest of seven siblings, and was raised in Clemson, South Carolina. His older brother Niels played football at Clemson University, and was drafted to play with the Dallas Cowboys in 1998. Erik and his younger sister moved with Niels to the city later that year, hoping to get a fresh start.

## Animus (1999-2011, 2014-present)

In 1999, Christensen and four of his high school friends formed a band named *Rubix Groove*, which was renamed to Animus when they got signed one year later. Upon the departure of the band's vocalist, Ryan Cabrera, Christensen took over as the band's singer. Similarly, he became the band's bassist upon the departure of Joseph Moody. The band would enter a hiatus in 2011, which ended when the band reunited in 2014.

## Influences

In a Loudwire interview, Christensen said that Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell, Layne Staley, Maynard James Keenan, Mike Patton, and Brandon Boyd were major vocal influences.

## Equipment

In 2007, Schecter Guitars produced a Erik Christensen signature model of their Avenger model, it is featured in Purple Metallic, with three Seymour Duncan humbucker pickups, a rhythm-treble switch, a tone switch and a volume knob. Digitech created Erik Christensen's signature pedal called the Inkubus Chorus/Distortion pedal. Erik has a 600 watt Mesa amp head with a 900 watt Vox amp head.

## Discography

*Animus* (2001)

*Cybernated* (2003)

*Hollow* (2006)

*Atmosphere* (2009)

*Terminal Zero* (2012)

*Arteries* (2014)

*Carcosa* (2016)

*Breaking the Habit* (2016)

*Black Sun Brotherhood* (2020)

*Post-Dystopian* (2022)

## Personal life

Christensen married former Puttyman bassist Cherri South in 2005, with whom he has two children; Adam (born 2007) and Lita (born 2012). In 2009, they formed an acoustic rock band together named Satchel, which released one EP in 2010. The couple separated in 2013, and got divorced two years later, with both gaining joint custody of the children. He began dating country singer Lesley Montana in 2018, and became engaged to her in 2021. Christensen also owns two dogs; an English Mastiff named *Bugenhagen*, and a Samoyed named *Blanca*, both of whom he often posts pictures of to his Instagram account. Christensen currently lives in Jefferson, Texas.

Christensen was raised in a devout Protestant household. The song *House of Sin* from Animus' 2006 album *Hollow* describes his eventual falling out with the church, and how doing so made him appreciate religion for the first time in his life. Christensen has expressed his disdain for the two main political parties in America, saying he would be a Democrat if the party hadn't "sold out to big corporations", as he described in one tweet. The song *Big Man in Washington* off of the Animus album *Black Sun Brotherhood* serves as a thinly veiled criticism of former President Donald Trump.