User talk:CadillacRockBox

The Past- Cadillac Rock Box, a four piece heavy rock band out of Alexandria, Va. is the brain child of Jeff Erickson - Vocals and Matt Wilde - Guitars and Backing Vocals.

Cadillac Rock Box began it's quest for Rock and Roll stardom in September 2005.

But before these two formed Cadillac Rock Box, their story is one that would make a good episode of Behind the Music.

Backpedal now if you will to November 2002.

Jeff formed GONE MISSING in late 2002, early 2003 with local musicians American Dave, Mike Robinson, Frank Pavlocic and Michael "Saint" St. Pierre who wanted to play heavy rock songs.

Jeff was in a couple of local bands that weren't his cup of tea, one being a horrible cover band and then a stint in Above the Fray.

He missed being in a band since his medical discharge from the Army. His need to be onstage to offset the adrenaline rush of exiting high performance aircraft three times a month drove him to be in any band that he could into.

Upon departing from the now defunct Above the Fray, he met "American Dave", a guitarist and then former member of Left Unsaid, a local hardcore/metal act out of Washington D.C./Northern Virginia while Dave was contracted to the then Military Surface and Distribution Command. (Now (SDDC)Surface Deployment and Distribution Command)

Dave had heard Jeff playing a Helmet CD and came over and the two struck up a conversation about music and eventually started jamming together.

While looking for a drummer, they found Army Captain and clinical pyschologist Frank Pavlocic through a local internet musician finder.

They went over to Frank's basement and jammed for a good two hours, finally deciding that this was a good trio.

Enter guitarist Mike Robinson, a local guitarist (leech) who Jeff thought at the time was a good addition to GONE MISSING, added him to the line up and Dave left the band because Mike's attitude forced him out and a friendship was lost over bringing the wrong element into the band.

A search for a bass player to round out the quartet landed bassist/vocalist Michael "Saint" St. Pierre into the rhythm section. "Saint" as he liked to be called, came over from Backslider, a highly successful local band that had been looked at by Virgin Records (England), upon the departure of their guitarist; he was in the US Air Force and was reassigned stateside, Mike and his wife moved to Bolling AFB, Md.

The four started working together, writing songs and learning as some would put it WAY TOO MANY covers.

Mike Robinson began feeding the band a load of horseshit to the band about getting his "industry contacts" to look at GONE MISSING and get them a record contract.

Jeff decided to name the band GONE MISSING, after watching the History Channel about the Chugach Mountain Range's "Artic Triangle".

The band was finally named, but something was missing, a second guitarist.

Jeff started to see the weakness in Mike's ability to carry the lead and rhythm guitar section and sing backing vocals.

He spoke to Mike about bringing in a new guitarist and Mike recruited Matt for the job.

Matt came into his audition and began to play, when Mike heard him playing, his neck snapped around and Jeff, thinking out loud said "Well, I think I just found your replacement."

The cold look from Mike was enough to stop a truck "Sorry dude, he's fuckin good!"

During a talk during a smoke break (Matt doesn't smoke anymore), Matt and Jeff learned that they were stationed in Germany within 10 miles of each other and the brotherhood that carried them through a lot of shit to come was forged!

Saint left the band shortly after losing interest, his reason, Mike Robinson's writing style and controlling behavior.

He was replace by bassist Pete Merchado, an incredible musician who came in and filled the gap immediately.

The band was practicing cover after cover and Mike's writing style wasn't working for Jeff and Matt, they started skipping practices, they weren't having fun in the band anymore, Mike had taken over Jeff's band and it just wasn't what the two driven musicians wanted anymore.

Alliances were driving a wedge in the band, and Jeff couldn't handle the bullshit anymore.

He had a two hour conversation with Matt over the phone about firing Mike. He confided in his brother that "This shit isn't fun anymore dude, we gotta get rid of this cat!"

After their first gig (eight months into being GONE MISSING)at an awesome little dive, GONE MISSING was booked to play "Listen Up", a charity event to raise money and gather clothing and toys for underprivileged children, they (Jeff and Matt) came to practice while Frank, Mike, Pete carried on as if it was just another practice.

Jeff called everyone into Frank's garage and stated his concerns, Mike said he had quit the band earlier that day over personality and musical differences, which was fine as far as Jeff was concerned.

But Mike being Mike, decided to come to practice after Frank played mediator.

Matt had already told Jeff that he was behind him 100 per cent about his decision and they would rebuild the band.

Jeff went around the garage and asked Frank if he'd come or go, "Well, I just see it going this way eventually with me as well and I'm going to stay playing in this band with Mike."

He asked Pete, "You comin or goin?" "I'm gonna stay with these guys man, it's just the way I feel and I know you'll respect that decision."

That was the end of GONE MISSING Version 1.0.

They played their last show as bandmates at Listen Up.

A week later, Matt called Jeff and let him know "Hey bro, this is business, nothing personal, I got offered a gig with this kick ass Prog Metal band named Reading Zero. I'm going to take it bro, I know this sucks, but this is the best thing for me right now."

Jeff wished him the best and reformed GONE MISSING Version 2.0 and after multiple line up changes the final line consisted of guitarist Jack Beard, Bassist Tony Robinson, guitarist Landon Woods and drummer Bryce Kawaoka.

GONE MISSING Version 2.0 lasted seven and a half months. The sat Jeff down, made him change lyrics to "fit a broader audience" and the name of his band. They then became "Phoenix Down".

He wasn't happy anymore, the musical differences, the pressure of trying to keep this band together caused the fun of making music again.

The Beginning- Jeff was going to call it a day and just be a government employee until Matt called him up one night and told him he was leaving Reading Zero and that Jeff was the first person he thought of when it came to being in a band with anyone.

The brotherhood forged over a talk in a garage lasted through bands and Jeff's  divorce.

After a night of drinking and an acoustic guitar, they had written four songs: Garden of Stones-What I See-Destroyed Again & Distorted Reflection.

After sifting through over 300 names, they had a toss up between Tomb Stone Justice and Cadillac Rock Box.

They chose Cadillac Rock Box. They chose the name from Anthax' album "We've Come For You All". 1. They're huge Anthrax fans. 2. They're both huge PANTERA fans and Dime was featured on lead on this track! They're band is a testament to two of the heaviest bands to ever play metal!

They started searching for other musicians to round out their line up.

First up was Steve "Fletch" Fletcher of The Tao of Seafus, he came over and jammed with them and was asked to join the band. Without a practice spot, most practices were held in the basement of Jeff's townhouse.

Steve was offered the bass slot in One Slack Mind and Jeff and Matt wished him the best with them.

Jeff called original GONE MISSING Version 2.0 bassist, Chris Ross one night and convinced him to move back to Virginia from Houston, Tx.

Chris arrived 24 hours later and they began looking for a drummer.

They found their drummer and began writing and rehearsing at his home in Woodbridge, Va.

After their second gig, a misunderstanding happened and CRB's drummer quit the band.

With no practice spot, they hit a snag, but luck had played a roll in the finding of their current rehearsal spot and home.

Jeff moved into a a house with a detached garage and he and Chris soundproofed it and CRB moved into the garage to start writing and rehearsing.

Without a drummer, the line up went through three drummers before Greg Slader, formerly of local Northern Virginia band Rock Farm was brought in.

Greg nailed his audition and informed Rockfarm he would be departing to play drums for Cadillac Rock Box full time.

Songs started to write themselves, gig after gig happened and CRB started their name building campaign to let Northern Virginia know they were here to stay.

They then went up to record their three song demo with famed guitarist Joey Z of Life of Agony (A favorite band of CRB-Jeff opened for them while in GONE MISSING Version 2.0) at his Method of Groove Studio in Brooklyn, NY. with their songs: Destroyed Again-What I See & I Fall Away.

More gigs, bigger fan bases and after a few months, tensions began to rise about where the direction of the band going.

Chris Ross left the band to follow his dream as co-label owner of GONE MISSING Records with Jeff.

From May, when Greg joined CRB to December of 2006. Cadillac Rock Box had played 52 gigs in 10 different cities in Northern Virginia.

With over 30 gigs scheduled for the first few months of 2007, the band was at a crossroads, but, instead of having to wait weeks or even months, Jeff aggressively recruited Jeff "Lefty" Letzerich in December of 2006.

Lefty came over from his former band, Playground Ettiquette and learned their material in no time flat, a highly talented bassist (he played a 7 String Conklin-"It's not a bass, it's a Conklin Bee-atch!").

Lefty was now full time in CRB.

In February of 2007, Cadillac Rock Box headed back to Method of Groove Studio to finish four more songs: Blank Page - Hail Mary - Rain & Sleep Alone.

Upon return from Brooklyn, Lefty's son was born and eventually he was released from Cadillac Rock Box.

With the gigging schedule CRB had booked, life got in the way for Lefty and he was let go to be a dad.

The Future Yet again, the transition of bass players was nil. Enter Cadillac Rock Box' permanent bassist, Pascual Banuelos, a dislocated native of the San Francisco thrash scene, he was asked to join CRB two days after Lefty's departure.

This young, motivated, and highly talented musician/vocalist is exactly what Cadillac Rock Box was looking for in a bassist/vocalist.

He was welcomed by shots of Jager and lots of beer.

Who is Cadillac Rock Box-That's simple- Cadillac Rock Box brings an edge of musical basics back to hard rock. Using emotional lyrics, memorable choruses, and aggressive yet easily digestible music, CRB plans to make a niche for themselves in the rock world.

Cadillac Rock Box is a driven four piece wanting to make their mark on today's heavy rock genre. Vocalist Jeff Erickson was born and raised in St. Paul, Mn., Guitarist Matt Wilde originally hails from San Diego, Ca., Drummer Greg Slader comes from Mahopac, NY, & Bassist Pascaul Banuels coming from San Francisco, CA make up Cadillac Rock Box. All are dislocated from home and decided to come together and make great music.

Using the constant and reliable formula used by the most successful musical acts since the advent of Rock and Roll, Cadillac Rock Box looks forward to carving their own name in stone among them. High on aspiration, and being onstage performing, they call music solace, therapy, and most importantly home!

This motivated quartet has played with some of the best talent in the greater upper East Coast arenas, you can count on this driven four piece to continue to bring you songs that will make you think, grip your emotions and send you home looking forward to the next show.

Their mantra is simple - "This dream we live is not life, it's Rock and Roll."