Press | The Post-Standard - ''Eric Sardinas Interprets The Blues His Own Way'' - October 5, 2003

As much as California guitarist Eric Sardinas likes where he's at with the late August release of his disc "Black Pearls," he knows it's an ever-changing journey.

"I think definitely I've grown musically," says Sardinas during a recent phone conversation. "I think I'll always continue to grow. I always felt that I had my own voice that I'd found within the context of what blues and rock are to me."

Sardinas brings that voice - the hot guitar and the steamy vocals - for a show at 10 p.m. Tuesday at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, 246 W. Willow St., Syracuse. He's sure to showcase some of the 12 songs from "Black Pearls." That's the Heavy Mojo Records disc that was produced by Eddie Kramer, a studio wizard whose resume includes sessions with Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles and Led Zeppelin.

"Eric Sardinas has a completely unique vision," Kramer says in a Sardinas biographical news release. "He interprets the blues with a gutsy, rock 'n' roll approach."

Sardinas says one of his guitar-hero pals, Steve Vai, suggested he send his music to Kramer for comments.

"He called me up and said he fell in love with it," Sardinas says. "We talked about music and how we feel about music in general. He came to a show in New York, and after that, that was it. We decided what to get involved with for the album."

Sardinas says he wanted Kramer to recapture a feel he had with his early work, "a really organic capturing of energy."

So they went directly live in the studio, right to analog tape with no overdubbing. "A raw, live situation," Sardinas says.

Sardinas likes his place in the music continuum. He knows he's not the next pop star. Playing in front of a couple hundred people in the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que is just fine.

"Fifty or 50,000, it's all the same to me," says Sardinas, 41. "I'm not trendy. I do my own thing. The 4,000-plus shows under my belt doing things my way without any handouts, it's real. The other side of music, where there are people created by major labels and they're called blues this and blues that, that has nothing to do with what I'm doing.

"What I'm doing has to do with the blues spirit, the rock-infused power is all about Rory Gallagher, Johnny Winter, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan. There's a spirit that's powerful," Sardinas says. "To have those guitar players, to have what they contributed to what music is, is immeasurable."