How would you classify your music?

Jeff: It's hard to pigeon-hole. If forced, I'd call it a hybrid of Art Rock, Progressive Rock, 80's Rock, and Classical music that contains polyrhythmic and dark overtones. If I had to categorize, I'd call it progressive/modern/polyrhythmic rock.

Eric: Yeah, Art Rock with elements of Progressive, Hard Rock and dark Pop.

Do you all have day jobs and if so what do you do?

Jeff: Yes, although my life passion is to write and produce music full time, I've still got to feed the family. I basically have a marketing company.

Eric: I play guitar and bass for Man on Fire, but I'm hoping to get my big break as a sales rep for Hitachi's computer display division! (laughing)

How did the band get together?

Jeff: I met Eric in 1984. My brother, who was going to GA Tech, told me he knew this killer guitar player and our friendship started there. In 1986 Eric and I were roomates in a shit-hole rented house in Atlanta. We started writing together and we've been a team ever since.

Eric: We started the band in 1986 as Section 8. In the first version of the band Jeff played keys and sang, while I switched between guitar and bass.

We had a computer playing the rest. Then, we wanted a more human sound, so we added a drummer, James Clarke, and Joey Fabian on bass.

After a while, RJ Vealey (Atlanta Rhythm Section) replaced James on drums. In the early 90's, the band broke up leaving Jeff and myself to once again write and record as a two man band, but filling in with studio players as needed this time around instead of depending on the computer.

We changed our name to Man on Fire.

What are your musical backgrounds?

Jeff: I started taking piano lessons and playing when I was 7. I was in a TV commercial as a kid and made $500 bucks and bought my first piano with that money.

I took classical lessons through 11, then started taking Chord lessons at 12. My Chord teacher was cool; I would tell him which songs I wanted to learn and he'd come to the next lesson with tunes like "Someone Saved my Life Tonight" by Elton John and stuff.

It was cool. I then studied with Horowitz in Charlotte, a well-known Jazz pianist. That was very challenging. During this time, around 14, I got involved with my first band, Sanhedrin. We did originals and stuff like The Doors, Hendrix, Styx, etc.

I went on to to attend college, majoring in Piano Performance at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC with a minor in voice. Several years later Section 8 was born and the rest is history….

Eric: My early influences were basically heavy bands from the 70's and 80's. Sabbath, Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Rainbow, etc, then I started getting into ELP, Rush, Saga, Japan, The Fixx and other bands with different elements to offer in their music.

What kind of music do you like to listen to when you're not playing?

Jeff: I like so many different styles of music I hate to list any one thing. Currently I'm enjoying William Orbit's latest works, "Hinterland", and that album he did with guest singer Madonna (laughing).

Eric: I'm all over the place with my listening now. I enjoy Eloy, Steve Vai, Union, a great funk band called DAG, my old Deep Purple albums and The Generation Ibanez Project, which is a compilation of 7-string guitarists.

What do you do to relax?

Jeff: Relax? What's that? When I can get out, I like to fish. Some nights we'll go downtown and eat at cool restaraunts or shoot pool. At home, I'll hang out with my wife and just watch movies, or jam on the piano in the studio for hours. It's great when you can find the time.

Eric: Performing and recording music is relaxing to me. I'm writing some new material with a keyboard player friend that's in the UK/Dream Theater vein. I also love Horror and Sci-Fi movies. Especially the B one's. The unintentional funny parts are the best.

If you had the chance to jam with any band, who would that be?

Jeff: I'd like to jam in the studio with William Orbit. If it were live and I was playing keys, probably Genesis or Pink Floyd.

Eric: There are so many good ones...Rush would top my list, but DAG, Ozzy, Pink Floyd, Jeff Beck would be on it as well.

What's the best thing that has ever happened to you?

Jeff: Wow. That's a big question. At this point in my life, I'd have to say it's that I have a son, Austin Jeffrey (aka A.J.).

Eric: Falling in love with my wife. She's amazing.

What's the worst thing that has ever happened to you?

Jeff: I've had some challenging times and don't want to go there! But this past New Year's, I badly injured my right knee and I'm still in rehab. It's been a major bummer.

Eric: Marrying my wife, (no I'm just kidding, really). The year I spent in LA was a comedy of errors. I rolled my car, almost died, and was stranded out there where the people have no souls.

Who writes the songs?

Jeff: I write the main song idea, including keyboards, drum concepts and vocals, leaving it open for the final rhythm, bass and guitar. Then Eric takes that and writes his parts, usually coming up with something completely unexpected, but great. We then collaborate on the final production.

Eric: Yeah, Jeff writes the empty shell of the songs and I create the tasty filling with guitar and bass (laughing). The material I write on my own is usually very heavy with the exception of "Hanglider" from the Man on Fire CD. I'm writing more now, and you may see some of that on the next CD.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Jeff: In short, Life. Experiences-- joy, sadness, sorrow, love, hate, pretty much emotions. Most of the songs I've written were not deliberate--when I'm just playing, improvising, they 'come out'.

Usually they'll reflect what's going on in my life. "Just out of Reach" was written shortly after my knee injury. I was in a lot of pain -- It was rough even moving around in the chair to play, mix, sing, etc.

Eric: This is going to sound funny, but I think I channel it from the universe as I play. It's hard to do, but I try to achieve an almost meditative frame of mind, and tap into the force that binds all living things together.

The problem is getting my fingers to translate it properly.

Who thought of the band's name and how did you choose it?

Eric: Our illustrious manager, label president, occasional lyricist, graphic designer and all around co-conspirator, Steve Carroll, came up with that one. We consider him a silent band member.

Jeff: Yeah, Man on Fire was Steve's Idea. It was tough for me personally to let go of Section 8, actually, because it had been around for so long. But I'm glad we made the change.

Which are you personal favorite songs and why?

Eric: "Just out of Reach" for the moodiness and subject matter. It still gives me goose bumps. "Like a Star" and "Internal Combustion" are excellent as well. "Internal Combustion" is unusual. It has fretted and fretless bass parts as well as 7-string guitar and E-Bow.

Jeff: I really like the latest material, like "Internal Combustion", "Just out of Reach", "No Surprise", etc. because that's the direction I'm going personally as a writer.

Do you play many gigs and if so where?

Jeff: We're currently rehearsing for the live gigs. Getting the right supporting musicians has been challenging, because of all the layers of guitars and keyboards, but we're due out in the next few months for some gigs in our more popular markets.

Eric: We play clubs in the Atlanta area mostly. It's hard to do because we live in different states, so it's a real event when we get out.

What is you view of the music scene in Atlanta?

Eric: Atlanta has a pretty wide variety of bands to go see on a given night. There are many heavy bands, as well as Reggae, Classic Rock and the acoustic thing is still really popular.

What band would you say has had most influence on you?

Eric: It's difficult to pick one, but early Rush comes to mind. When I first heard "2112" as an early teen, I was totally and completely blown away.

"A Farewell to Kings" and "Hemisperes" picked up where "2112" left off and I was so impressed that they could improve on each new release like that.

Then, "Permanent Waves" and "Moving Pictures" were excellent too, but the mystique was gone for me after that.

Jeff: Everything I hear influences me. It's impossible for it not to. There isn't any one band.

What are your plans for the future?

Jeff: We're working on our second album and hope to get the road show happening in the next month or so.

Eric: Just to keep writing, recording and performing with the hopes that I can make of living at this someday.

Any last words or remarks?

Jeff: Thanks for the opportunity. We just want people to hear our music, enjoy it for what it is, and spread the good word!

Eric: Just to express my gratitude to the people that have bought the Man on Fire CD.
I hope you get as much pleasure from it as I did in creating it.
Thanks for having us, Derek!

Website : http://mindspring.com/~manonfire