Information/Write-up
Eric’s Trip began as a rumble beneath the quiet surface of Moncton, New Brunswick—a city with no defined indie scene, no mythology to inherit, and no roadmap for making distorted, dream-poetic pop music on homemade four-track machines. What the band lacked in infrastructure, they made up for with a fierce belief in self-creation. In the summer of 1990, Rick White and Chris Thompson—who had grown up together in the Moncton punk outfit The Forrest—joined forces with drummer Ed Vaughan and seventeen-year-old bassist-vocalist Julie Doiron, a shy presence whose soft voice would eventually become the emotional centre of the band’s sound. They named themselves after “Eric’s Trip,” a track on Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation, a subtle declaration of both influence and intent: noisy, intimate, unguarded music that felt like a private world happening inside a basement.
Moncton, a town with a population smaller than most American university districts, proved to be both a limitation and a liberation. There were few clubs, fewer audiences, almost no expectations—and yet the band blossomed quickly. Before they even stepped onto a stage, they had already recorded and self-released two cassette EPs, Eric’s Trip and Catapillars, recorded on borrowed four-tracks in family basements, adorned with hand-drawn art, and accompanied by tender, cryptic liner notes. A third tape, Drowning, followed. Their earliest recordings—often slightly out of tune, distorted, fragile, achingly melodic—felt like diary entries pressed to magnetic tape. They were making lo-fi not as an aesthetic but out of necessity, and what resulted became the core of their identity: fuzzed-out pop songs whispered rather than shouted, with emotional worlds larger than the equipment that captured them.
Their first live show didn’t arrive until April 1991—astonishing considering their growing catalogue—but by then their music had already begun circulating through the Canadian underground. The Warm Girl EP, released in January 1992, marked a turning point. A copy landed on the desk of Halifax scene builder and Sloan co-manager Peter Rowan, who recognized something extraordinary. Eric’s Trip were not aspiring to ride the rising wave of Halifax’s so-called “Seattle North” explosion—they existed entirely apart from it. Rowan offered to manage them. murderecords released the Peter CD EP. And in a move that would reverberate across Canadian indie history, Sub Pop—then the most influential independent label on the continent—signed Eric’s Trip, making them the first Canadian band on the label.
Their Sub Pop debut Love Tara arrived in November 1993. It was unvarnished, painfully intimate, and unlike anything else circulating through the post-Nirvana landscape. “Sappy melodic pop music on top of thick distortion,” Rick White once said—an understatement. The album chronicled the breakup of White and Doiron with startling vulnerability, their gentle, wounded voices floating above guitars that sounded like collapsing amplifiers. Critics who prized studio precision were baffled. But for a generation of young listeners—especially in small towns across Canada—Love Tara was a revelation. It proved that beautiful music could be made cheaply, personally, imperfectly; that art did not require permission; that heartbreak could become a shared echo. Gord Downie immortalized it in “Put It Off,” singing: “I played Love Tara by Eric’s Trip on the day that you were born.”
The band recorded constantly—cassettes, singles, 7-inches for tiny labels like Cinnamon Toast and Sonic Unyon, EPs for Derivative and Summershine—each release handmade, collectible, and adored by a growing cult audience. Their second Sub Pop album Forever Again (1994) expanded their sonic world, featuring the minor college-radio hit “Viewmaster,” while their final album Purple Blue (1996) pushed deeper into psychedelic textures, damaged pop, and noise-folk spirituality. Throughout, they toured Canada, the U.S., and Europe, playing basements, tiny clubs, and eventually the Tragically Hip’s 1996 Another Roadside Attraction tour. Despite rising attention, the band dissolved that same year—exhausted, adored, and already legendary.
Their breakup only widened the doorway they had opened. All four members continued making music with breathtaking productivity. Rick White plunged into psychedelic exploration with Elevator to Hell (later Elevator Through and Elevator), issued numerous solo records, became a trusted producer and visual artist, and collaborated with The Sadies, Joel Plaskett, Orange Glass, and the super-group The Unintended. Julie Doiron emerged as one of Canada’s most admired singer-songwriters—first as Broken Girl, then under her own name—earning a Juno Award in 2000 for her collaboration with Wooden Stars and later working with Phil Elverum, Okkervil River, Shotgun & Jaybird, and her own Sappy Records community in Sackville, N.B. Chris Thompson deepened his long-running Moon Socket project while co-leading Orange Glass and The Memories Attack. Drummer Mark Gaudet returned to his punk roots in The Robins, releasing new material produced once again by White. Their histories remain intertwined, a constellation of projects forever orbiting the original band.
Eric’s Trip reunited several times—first for a 2001 Canadian tour (immortalized on the live album Eric’s Trip: Live in Concert, Nov. 4, 2001 via White’s Great Beyond label), and later at SappyFest and the Halifax Pop Explosion. Each reunion confirmed what had been evident all along: their music was not a relic of the ’90s, but a living language that continued to resonate with new generations of artists discovering that intimacy and distortion could coexist.
More than three decades after their first basement recordings, Eric’s Trip remains one of Canada’s most influential indie groups—not for commercial achievements, but for the world of art they made possible. Their legacy is measured in the thousands of musicians who first picked up a four-track because Love Tara showed them they could; in the countless bands inspired by their blend of noise and vulnerability; in the Maritime artists who built entire scenes from the template they defined. Eric’s Trip never tried to lead anyone. They simply recorded their lives with honesty, distortion, and a sense of wonder—and in doing so, they quietly became one of the most important bands Canada has ever produced.
-Robert Williston
Here are the 2019 remixes made from the original 4track master tapes of Eric's Trip's fourth independently released cassette. Originally recorded and mixed in December 1991 by Rick.
This tape represents a big step up for us as it was the first recordings with our new drummer Mark Gaudet. Mark was a bit older than us but we loved his wild drumming style and asked him if he'd be interested in joining our band. After a bit of hesitation, he rehearsed with us a couple times in November 1991 and by December agreed to play on our next tape and maybe do a few shows. We started recording these tunes right away at our space in Chris's folks basement and got along well together.
This tape is also important in the fact that we sent it out to a guy named Peter Rowan in Fredericton who we heard had a record label called DTK in the 80's. We hoped he'd dig it and help us make a real record. He eventually got back to us calling from Halifax. His label was no more but he was working with a newly formed band named SLOAN and said they all really loved the tape. He asked us to come down a do a show in Halifax and we did. They helped spread the word about us down there which led to us getting more gigs, a session with a local producer to record for our first 7inch, putting out the "PETER e.p." on SLOAN's new label, and eventually to SUBPOP finding us. This tape was the start of a big adventure indeed.
Contains the first recorded version of "Red haired girl" which was remade in March for our first 7inch. Also "Blinded" which would be re-recorded in 93 for our SUBPOP LoveTara LP. This same version of the song "Tangles" was reused on our Peter ep. and "Warmgirl" was used on another 7inch in early 93.
All songs written by Rick White except for the cover of Madonna's "Open your Heart", and Chris's "Mask for you" that contains some lyrics from Leonard Cohen.
Bonus tracks 11-12 are from a live soundboard to cassette mix recorded at the Flamingo in Halifax on March 17th 1992. "Sickness" is a song we recorded as a three piece for the N.I.M. 10 inch just before Mark joined and this live version is one of very few recordings with Mark playing drums on it. This version of "September" is the only documented version of this song we have at all.
Rick White: guitars, voice
Julie Doiron: guitars, voice, violin on ‘5’
Chris Thompson: bass, voice, acoustic guitar on ‘5’ and ‘7’
Mark Gaudet: drums
released December 21, 2019
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