Look out world, there’s a rockstar on the rise and he’s one of our very own. Eric Tapper isn’t just a daydreamer who contemplates what it would be like on stage, pouring out his soul into the music he plays with his band. As every day passes, he is constantly working on making his dream to be a musician a reality.
Eric, 21, is a senior at here at Rutgers, pursuing a major in Economics and a minor in Spanish. When he’s not trying to figure out opportunity costs and applying what he learns in his econ classes to everyday life, Eric is doing work for his band, Atlas Bloom. He was introduced to the music scene by the musical influences in his family, but he didn’t start playing the guitar until he saw Dave Matthews perform during his solo tour in November 2003. “That’s when I had the realization that music is something that makes my wheels turn,” Eric said.
Eric started Atlas Bloom with his friends, Josh November, 21, and Andrew Funcheon, 22. Josh is a senior at WPUNJ studying jazz bass and Andrew is in his first year of graduate school at Juilliard, studying classical percussion. The three formed the rock trio, using extensive vocal harmonies and pulling elements from basic parts of rock, jazz, and classical music to create something that can’t easily be placed into one specific genre of music. “We borrow from everything we listen to and we’re waiting on everyone else to see what they think our music is,” Eric explained. Some of their biggest musical influences include Grizzly Bear, Muse, John Coltrane, and James Blake.
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Atlas Bloom is currently working on their first album with 11 official tracks, which they intend to release by January 2014. Eric, Josh, and Andrew each contribute to writing the music and lyrics for all of their songs. Eric said, “We compose everything together painstakingly. We’ve had 10-hour days where we focused on one song for three to four rehearsals straight…we go through every single moment and note in every single song.” It’s evident that Atlas Bloom is incredibly dedicated and has a burning passion for the music they play. “I love working with the guys that I work with. I’ve never been more challenged and more inspired every single day…they’ve helped me become the musician I always thought I could be.”
Eric says one of the band’s biggest struggles is “making a rock band relevant,” especially in a day and age where the young generation is obsessed with EDM and hip-hop. “People love EDM, but there’s nothing like seeing live instruments.” One of Eric’s goals for the band is to build a great social media presence and a community of listeners to eventually be approached by someone who wants to manage Atlas Bloom and take their music to the next level. He aims to take after musicians like Macklemore and Mac Miller, who worked their way up in the music business by pushing out their work via social media and creating a strong fan base. “I think we write songs that connect with people and songs that I could see us playing and singing at the top of our lungs at Terminal 5 in five years or whatever it takes.”
Eric’s advice for aspiring musicians is to make measurable and reachable goals and to set aside time to practice and work on these goals for at least 30 minutes a day, despite school, work, and any other commitments. “The less days you’re consistently working on what you’re doing, the less you’re going to notice the improvement.”
You can check out Atlas Bloom’s music on Facebook here and on their website. See them perform live on Thursday, November 13th at the Chords for the Cause benefit concert at the Livingston Student Center at 8pm and on Thursday, November 21st at Tumulty’s Pub at 10pm.