Eric Theodore Erlandson (born January 9, 1963) is an American musician, guitarist, and writer, primarily known as founding member, songwriter and lead guitarist of alternative rock band Hole from 1989 to 2002. He has also had several musical side projects, including Rodney & the Tube Tops, which he formed with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, and RRIICCEE with Vincent Gallo.
While studying creative writing, Erlandson published a book titled Letters to Kurt in 2012, consisting of free-form and stream-of-consciousness poetry.
Early life
Erlandson was born January 9, 1963 in Los Angeles, one of seven children in a Roman Catholic family. He is of Swedish, German, and Irish descent. Erlandson and his siblings were raised in the Los Angeles community of San Pedro.
Erlandson studied economics with a minor in marketing at Loyola Marymount University, where his father, Theodore Erlandson, served as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree. During his college years, he worked for the now-defunct Licorice Pizza record store chain.
In the late-1980s, Erlandson was working as an accountant for Capitol Records, where he managed Paul McCartney's, Tina Turner's, and various other artists' royalties. In 1988, Erlandson traveled Europe for a number of months "trying to decide what he wanted to do with his life."
Career
1989–2002: Hole
In 1989, Erlandson responded to an advertisement placed by Courtney Love in Recycler, a local classified ad paper. Erlandson describes the band's first rehearsal session, which featured original bassist Lisa Roberts, as: These two girls show up dressed completely crazy, we set up and they said, "okay, just start playing something." I started playing and they started screaming at the top of their lungs for two or three hours. Crazy lyrics and screaming. I said to myself, "most people would just run away from this really fast." But I heard something in Courtney's voice and lyrics.
Love, Erlandson and Roberts were later joined by drummer Caroline Rue and third guitarist Mike Geisbrecht, and this line-up performed Hole's first live performances. A new line-up, with new bassist Jill Emery and without Geisbrecht, recorded their debut album, Pretty on the Inside, in 1991. After achieving underground success in the United Kingdom, Emery left the band in February and Rue in April 1992. With new members Patty Schemel and Kristen Pfaff, Hole signed a contract with their new label DGC in 1992 and, a year later, began touring and recording for their sophomore and major label debut, Live Through This. The album, ranked by Time magazine as one of the top 100 albums of all time, received unanimous critical acclaim and is Hole's most successful record to date.
During Hole's hiatus in 1996, Erlandson formed a short-lived side project, Rodney & the Tube Tops, with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, various other musicians and DJ Rodney Bingenheimer. The project dissolved shortly after releasing the single "I Hate the '90's". He also co-produced the Sympathy for the Record Industry release "Milk Carton" by The Grown Ups, a raw riot of an album by a group of 14-year-old girls from Santa Monica, California.
Hole released their third studio album, Celebrity Skin, in 1998, with Erlandson co-producing the record. More pop-oriented than their previous albums, the album was a commercial success and was the last material by Hole to feature Erlandson. Auf der Maur left the group in 1999 to pursue other musical projects and on May 22, 2002, Erlandson and Love disbanded Hole through their official website noting that they would "no longer record or tour together".
2003–2008: White Flag and RRIICCEE
Following Hole's disbandment, Erlandson contributed to Melissa Auf der Maur's debut solo album Auf der Maur, playing guitar on the track "Would If I Could". He toured with his friend Bill Bartell's band, White Flag, and wrote, produced and performed two shows with a group including singer/songwriter John Wolfington and drummer Blackie Onassis from Urge Overkill.
In 2007, Erlandson formed an improvisational music project, RRIICCEE, with Corey Lee Granet, and Vincent Gallo. The band toured the United States and Canada between 2007 and 2008, and performed at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan before its dissolution.