Erik Sanden

Erik Sanden is a musician and artist currently living in Texas. The son of a singer with perfect pitch, he began his musical work at an early age forming his first band, Sychronized Idiocy, when he was 13 in Glendale, California. After majoring in English at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, he toured North America three times with his popular Texas group Evergreen, including a stint opening up for Canada’s Tragically Hip. The band dissolved in 1997 and Sanden began his first major music/art project, The Unables, in which members were challenged to play instruments outside of their abilities and comfort zone. The result was a musically gifted, but feeble “band” that had over 50 different revolving members, including Hunt Sales, one time drummer for Iggy Pop and David Bowie. In 1998, Sanden created Dial-a-Song. Using an old tape answering machine, he wrote and recorded a new song each week, releasing it over the phone. People from around the country became regular callers and in 1999, Sanden twice performed a live Dial-a-Song where he played the same song live, singing directly into the phone to whomever called over a 24 hour period. The scores of songs generated through the Dial-a-Song project became the basis for Buttercup, a band Sanden formed in November 2000. NPR called Buttercup’s sound “jangly art rock for the left side of the brain” and audience members soon came to expect the unexpected. Buttercup constructed unpredictable performances, including a live talk show and an“Audience of One” where individual audience members were therapeutically prescribed songs depending on their musical needs. Buttercup went on to form Bedlamb Records and played extensively across the US, selling over 15,000 records. Erik Sanden has written over 300 original songs. He has played with Jonathan Richman, Elliott Smith, Rhett Miller (the Old 97s), Ian Moore, Jad Fair, The Apples in Stereo, Salim Nourallah, and Willie Nelson. This year he sang on the John Singer Sargent record (Kirtland Records) alongside Ben Kweller, Sarah Jaffe, and Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie. He also performed for the third time at the Fusebox Contemporary arts festival in Austin Texas -- this time collaborating with artist Julia Barbossa Landois. Sanden is currently trying to write the saddest song in the world. Erik Sanden is a Texas based musician and artist.