By BISS List Contributing Editor, Josh Danson
For the last few years, we at the BISS List have been
fortunate enough to interview a literal A-Z of our favorite musicians. From
Anders Osborne to Zigaboo Modeliste, Chris Wood to Karl Denson, and many more.
This week we’re kicking off a new feature that will focus the spotlight on some
of the many excellent local and up-and-coming artists that give the vibrant Bay
Area music scene its daily (nightly?) lifeblood. If it weren’t for these guys and
gals hustling, playing gigs across the city and around the Bay, there would be
no BISS List. If you haven’t seen or heard of any of these folks yet, be sure to
catch them while you can because they may be the next star to shoot out of the
local scene and onto the national circuit.
Eric DiBerardino is a bassist/guitarist currently residing
in San Francisco, CA. Born and raised in Connecticut, with a 6 year stint in
Colorado, Eric’s been playing music since he was 16. He currently plays
electric bass in Go By Ocean, The Loyal Scam (where he is a founding member),
Fred Torphy & The Spirits, Guitarmageddon, and more! He is truly one of the
hardest working men in the Bay Area music scene and he’s also a great guy.
I sat down with Eric, widely known as “DiBar,” on one of his
rare nights off and discussed music, the local scene, what it’s like to quit
your day job and dedicate yourself to music full time – and even talked a
little baseball.
You can catch Eric
this Thursday evening, June 30th, at the Bottom of the Hill where he
will be playing with his band Go By Ocean as part of an excellent triple bill.
BISS List: How
long have you been working as a professional musician in San Francisco, playing
out live?
Eric DiBerardino
[DiBar]: I moved here at the end of March 2010 and I believe my first gig
was April 2010 – with Go By Ocean, who at the time were calling themselves
Acacia Collective – so it didn’t take long for me to get in the flow and start
playing out with other musicians.
BL: Right on. And
did you know those guys beforehand? Or did you meet them when you moved here?
DiBar: I’ve known
Ryan McCaffrey, the principal songwriter for the band, since I was 18. I went
to college in Colorado with someone he grew up with down in Southern California.
So we met in the summer of 1998.
BL: Was he the
one who said, “Come on out, there’s lots of gigs out here and opportunities for
musicians,” or were you already set on coming out here?
DiBar: No,
actually. I moved out here and then we caught wind of each other and linked up.
And it just so happened that right around the same time their bass player left
the band.
BL: Oh nice, how
fortuitous.
DiBar: Yeah!
BL: So you
mentioned Go By Ocean… What other bands are you currently gigging with? Because
you are one of, if not the, hardest
working men in Bay Area show business.
DiBar: [Laughs]
Thanks man. Well, in addition to Go By Ocean, there’s The Loyal Scam, which is
an instrumental trio with Jeremy Korpas [guitar] and Corey Sheridan [drums].
Then there’s Cold and In the Bay – which is a tribute to Old and In the Way.
That’s the bluegrass band that I play guitar in [along with members of Hot
Buttered Rum, Steep Ravine and The Grateful Bluegrass Boys]. And I also play
with Guitarmageddon,
which is going to be playing up at High Sierra in a couple weeks.
BL: And that’s with
kind of changing cast of cast of characters, right?
DiBar: Yeah,
exactly. Guitarmageddon has lot of different guitarists and a handful of
drummers that play depending on availability. And for the most part I hold down
the bass and we usually have a few guest bass players as well.
BL: Nice. And how
did you get looped into that?
DiBar: Through Sean Leahy. I became good friends
with him and we started gigging together about three years ago. We work
together all the time, on and off, in different projects. In fact I just played
a gig at the Sweetwater with him recently as part of the Sean Leahy trio. So
I’ll be doing Guitarmageddon with him up at High Sierra and then he’ll be playing
with me next month. We play a lot of different side projects and one-off gigs
together, whether it’s up at Terrapin Crossroads, or the Boom Boom Room, or the
Sweetwater.
BL: Yeah, he’s
definitely another one who we’re fortunate to be able to see playing all over
the Bay Area all the time.
DiBar: Oh man
yeah, he works so hard.
BL: OK, so we
have Go By Ocean, The Loyal Scam, Cold and in the Bay, Guitarmageddon and you
have a couple other solo things that you do as well, right? I know I’m missing
one or two others…
DiBar: Yep,
exactly. There’s also Fred Torphy and the Spirits, which is a trio consisting
of Fred Torphy from Big Light,
me on bass, and Cochrane McMillan on drums. That’s another band and we’re
currently in the process of recording an album together. As far as the solo
things go, I do a thing called Under the Covers, which is where I play covers
from the 60’s through the 90’s and I just do hours and hours of cover songs. It’s
a really fun little solo act with just me and an acoustic guitar. And I just
recently formed another group called DiBar and Friends, which is a group of
musicians from around the Bay Area and we’ve been doing a monthly gig at The Ivy Room which is in Albany, basically
in Berkeley.
BL: Yeah, of
course, The Ivy Room; opened towards the end of last year by the former bar
manager at the Independent, Lani Torres, right?
DiBar: Yeah, she
and Summer are running a great club and they’re trying to restore what used to
be a great local scene there.
BL: That’s
awesome. Love Lani. So you mentioned a bunch of different local venues and it
sounds like you’ve pretty much played them all, at least the small to medium
sized ones. Not to put you on the spot, but what’s your favorite place to play?
Or maybe one place that really suits you and you just love the vibe there. What
would be at the top of your list?
DiBar: Well, I
have two current favorites in San Francisco and those would be The Independent
and The Great American Music Hall. Of course I haven’t played the Warfield of
the Fillmore yet, but those two are my two favorites that I’ve played in,
mostly due to the acoustics, the sound; but it also has to do a lot with the
staff and the vibe, and the history – especially when it comes to the Great
American.
In Marin, I play a lot at Terrapin Crossroads and the Grate
Room there is an incredible sounding room. They did a great job with their
Meyer Sound system and it’s also very intimate. It holds about 375 or something
like that. The way they set it up, I just really enjoy it. Another of my favorite
venues in the whole Bay Area is the Sweetwater
Music Hall. Aaron Kayce and from the top down, all the people who work
there and what they’ve done there I really admire. The sound is incredible and
the stage always feels really great. I’ve played there with my bluegrass band,
as well as with rock and funk outfits, and no matter what style of music I
bring in they just always do a great job.
BL: So speaking
of Marin and Terrapin Crossroads, how did you first get the call to play there?
You’re not necessarily in residency there, but you are among the cast of
characters that definitely play there very regularly. So how did that
association first come about?
DiBar: That
happened roughly in March of 2013 when Acacia [now Go By Ocean] got an
opportunity to play there and we started doing a residency, once a month. So
that provided us with the opportunity to meet everyone up there and those guys
gave us a great chance to come in and hone our craft and build our audience
among some new fans that may not have heard our music if we hadn’t been given
that opportunity. Since then, we’ve been doing fewer shows with Go By Ocean up
there, but I’ve maintained about five or six gigs a month, with either the Terrapin
AllStars or doing happy hours there. My band Cold and In the Bay is obviously a
good fit for the venue since we’re doing a tribute to Jerry’s bluegrass band.
And I’ve had the chance to play in the Grate Room with some of the
collaborative shows they’ve done there. Jason’s Crosby’s birthday being the
most recent one. The Ramble on Bangladesh, George Harrison tributes that were
put together by Steve Pile of Lazyman, and
I’ve also done a Bread and Roses benefit with Tea Leaf Green, filling in for
Reed Mathis on bass. So the opportunities I’ve gotten in both rooms there have
really pushed me to work harder on my craft and have opened a lot of doors for
me around the Bay Area, and for the bands I play in.
BL: That’s great.
I love that there’s such a thriving scene up in Marin these days, but I’m also
kind of pissed. It used to be one of the things we could hold over people’s
heads who moved out of the city and got big houses with backyards and stuff, “At
least we’ve got all the good music venues over here in the city!” But not so
much anymore. Oh well…
DiBar: Yeah and
now they’ve got the new outdoor stage that they opened up out back too. I’m
really excited to play out there sometime soon.
BL: For sure. So
with all the music you’re playing and all the different projects you’re
involved in, do you have time for a day job? If so, what is your day job? Or
are you just living the dream and making it work?
DiBar: No, day
job at the moment. Kind of just scraping by, living the starving artist
lifestyle. Believe it or not, I spend a lot of time during the day preparing
for these shows. Whether it’s by charting out songs, or with a cup of coffee –
or two – and spending an hour or two on e-mails, getting musicians together for
the multiple projects we have going on, or reaching out to venues. So it can be
a pretty all-consuming day job just to keep all of this in order and prep the
shows so that we’re doing interesting things and not just the same old stuff
every time.
BL: Yeah, well I
know you’ve got quite a repertoire and to be able to keep all those songs
straight and have time to rehearse them with the extensive cast of characters
that you play with, that has to keep you busy.
DiBar: Yeah, it sure
does. I pretty much have no time for a day job. So, hopefully I can continue
along like this, because it is pretty enjoyable.
BL: Yeah,
exactly. Who wants a day job anyway?? Alright, we’ll start to wrap it up here
with a couple fun ones. I know that you did a Beatles tribute a little while
back, so I gotta’ ask you the age-old question… Stones or Beatles?
DiBar: Beatles!
BL: That’s what I
figured. Alright, in one minute or less, what is it that you love about the
Beatles?
DiBar: I think
it’s the song writing… Wow, they’re such a huge influence on me, it’s tough to
break down in one minute. But there’s a certain quirkiness to their
songwriting, especially on the Lennon songs. I do love all of their
contributions, but with Lennon in particular there’s a certain darkness and
melancholy, along with beauty and humor, and they just have a certain way of
writing chord progressions that set them apart from other musicians, other
songwriters in my opinion.
BL: Perfect. In a
similar vein… I know you’re from back East. In fact, I know that you’re from
the Tri-State area. So much like the classic Beatles vs Stones rivalry, where
do you stand with regards to the Mets and Yankees?
DiBar: Oh Mets,
for sure Mets!
BL: Yeah, I
thought you might say that too [laughing], and that’s where we differ.
DiBar: Yeah, my
first game was in 1983. Expos versus Mets. I was four years old and I have very
faint memories of it. But my father kept the ticket stubs, so that was
something I was always able to look back upon. Really I grew up going to both
Mets and Yankees games growing up, but through it all I stuck with the Mets.
BL: Well that’s
awesome and I had a similar experience imprinting on the Yankees at an early
age. Eric, it was a pleasure getting to know a little more about you. Thanks
for taking the time out of your busy schedule to chat with me and I look
forward to seeing you out at one of your many local gigs in the near future.
You can see Eric
DiBerardino with his band Go By Ocean playing at the Bottom of the Hill on
Thursday, June 30th as part of a great triple bill along with Big
Light, featuring Fred Torphy, Steve Adams and Bradley BiFulco, and the Santa
Cruz-based Scary Little Friends. Doors
open at 8:30 pm, show starts at 9:00. Tickets are $10 at the door. The classic
SF venue, Bottom of the Hill, is located at 1233 17th Street (17th @
Missouri).
For additional show
details and to purchase advance tickets, click here.