It was the 60's when we were growing up as regular kids in the middle class, suburban town of Massapequa New York. Elliot was a fixture in my house as the "quiet boy with the guitar". His signature outfit? A pair of overalls, and John Lennon style spectacles. He was an unassuming High School senior, invited over to hang with friends by my teenage sister who always had a house full of High School friends, along with Elliot who was part of the gang. Elliot's M.O. was to gravitate upstairs to sit in a quiet room and play guitar. I vividly remember him being open to jam along with me, though I was a scrappy middle school kid. I was mesmerized by his conversation about becoming a rock star while his peers downstairs payed him no mind.
Years later, that quiet High School guitar playing kid's dream did come true of course, when he pursued his musical career by attending the prestigious Berkeley School of Music in Boston, and destined to become the lead guitarist for a new music group called The Cars.
Elliot , a unique left handed guitar player, changed his last name from Steinberg to the more slick -stage name of Easton, when The Cars, an American rock band emerged from the new wave scene in the late 1970s. The band originated in Boston Massachusetts in 1976, with singer, rhythm guitarist and songwriter Ric Ocasek, singer and bassist Benjamin Orr, and of course.... and my childhood guitar companion, Elliot Easton, along with keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson.
Over the years, this award winning guitarist from my hometown has been associated with incredible, high profile music groups; The Cars, The New Cars, Creedence Clearwater Revisted. Elliot also founded his own group, Elliot Easton's Tikki Gods, with most recently spearheading a new group of musical colleagues named, The Empty Hearts Band, which features members of Blondie, THe Cars, Chesterfield Kings, and The Romantics.
Rock and Roll ame Drummer , Clem Burke, two time Grammy nominee and MTV Video of the Year Bassist Andy Babiuk, and lead singer/rhythm guitarist Wally Palmar. With their similar eclectic musical tastes, this signature band style is a meld of what influenced each of their own musical careers from the start, with tapping into the sound of the 50s' American roots rock "n" roll, 60s British Invasion, and 70s' Garage Punk.
On the new band's home page, Elliot states, " The whole idea is to have a blask playing with friends. We were just laughing and in high spirits all the time. No drama. It was just a lot of fun, and you can hear that in the grooves". "We're the last rock band standing."
Kudos to Elliot for pursuing and attaining his dream of becoming a "rock Star" and venturing out with his new band.
