Erik Mongrain
Erik Mongrain (born April 12, 1980 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is a Canadian composer and guitarist. He has a unique and dark acoustic style, with a wide array of different techniques, approaches and textures reminiscent of Michael Hedges. Biography. Erik Mongrain taught himself guitar from the age of 14. As a boy, he was mostly interested in sports but picked up an interest in the guitar and began to teach himself to play by ear. Erik started out playing the electric guitar, but developed an interest in classical and acoustic guitar after hearing the work of Johann Sebastian  Bach. He taught himself to read music and began composing. Mongrain was inspired early on by the work of Metallica, Jimi Hendrix, and Kurt Cobain. When he was 18, he heard the work of guitarist Don Ross and he thought: "This was a new revelation to me. I finally found my niche." After that, he was heavily influenced by the work of Michael Hedges, and also began to experiment with a technique known as lap tapping. Mongrain plays live shows in the United States, Japan, Germany, Canada, and England. He started out busking in the streets, before he was discovered  in Spain; His music is featured in a documentary produced by Lance Trumbull for the Everest Peace Project. He was featured on the cover of Guild Guitar Company Magazine. Erik was featured in Le Journal de Montréal and many other acoustic guitar magazines. His first full-length album, "Fates", was released in December 2006 on his website as a series of individually buyable/downloadable songs. The physical CD was released in June 2007 (May for Japan). In 2007, Mongrain went on a tour around the world, particularly in Europe, Asia and America. He performed also at the famous Montreal International  Jazz Festival and at the "Studio-théâtre" of the Place des Arts of Montreal where the live performance was recorded. Mongrain was invited for the premiere of the « World Music Heritage », a drive by Gontiti on the national Japanese network (NHK). The iVideosongs company have filmed four clips including "Equilibrium". The clips are tutorials of Mongrain's lap tapping style, downloadable on the company's Web site. His "AirTap!" video has been viewed over 7 million times on YouTube. On October 21, 2008, Mongrain launched his second album "Equilibrium" which contained nine new compositions.. The album was recorded in July  2008 in "The Dragon Crossing studios" owned by Paul Reed Smith (PRS Guitars) and located in Annapolis, Maryland. Musicians such as Michael Manring on fretless bass and Bill Plummer on synthesizers contributed to the album. The album was launched live on Mongrain's official website (streamed broadcast) on 21 October 2008. In August 2012, he released a 10-track album called Forward.