How an Amsterdam Trip Turned Singer Songwriter Eric Hutchinson Into a Weedist

Weedists: Meet Eric Hutchinson

“Weedists are the people who are out there fighting the good fight and these are their stories.”

Weedists can be many different kinds of people, and many times it’s the cannabis that finds them. Singer/songwriter Eric Hutchinson is one who wasn’t expecting to have such a great time with Mary Jane.

His latest video “Shine on Me” is an animated version of a real life trip to Amsterdam, where Eric had a few tokes and was inspired to write the song. We got the chance to talk to Eric about his new video and album.

 

You’ve released your new album, Almost Solo in NYC, on Twitter. The last few years have seen some pretty innovate ways to release music, but how did you decide to give away your album to fans who Tweet about it?

I did this live tour and had a really good time doing it, it was really fun to connect with the audience in that way. I didn’t like the idea of stopping the tour, so the first thing I thought is to record it and get it out there. I then started thinking about what the best way to get it out there to the most amount of people.

It’s 2013, you know? Jay Z is doing his album on Samsung; there are all kinds of different ways to do this stuff. Why not just give it away? It’s a great way for people to check out my music and my personality. People have been very responsive to it and it seems like a cool way to spread the music.

There are a few songs on the new live album that are spoken word tracks, where it’s like listening to a comedy album. Did you consciously start incorporating monologues into the show, or did that just evolve from writing the songs? 

I love comedy and a lot of my friends are comedians, but I’m a musician, so it’s easier to tell a story and if no one is laughing I’ll just play a song. There’ a little less pressure on me that way. I love doing it and love making the crowd laugh. When we started putting this record together, it was important to me to have some of that in there because it’s what the show is like. I’ve never taken anything too seriously up there on stage; I’m just trying to have a good time.

One of the stories is about pitching your song “Watching You Watch Him” to Red Lobster as ‘Watching you Eat Shrimp’. It’s very funny, but I have to ask, did you make that up?

Yeah, that’s a fictional story. I just sort of went with it. But I’m not going to close to the door- if they come knockin’, I’m willing to sell out all kinds of ways. Haha.

It was just a joke, it sounded good, and it’s fun to do that kind of stuff.

I was intrigued when I saw the press release geared toward Weedist about how your new video was inspired by getting high in Amsterdam. So again, similar question, did you embellish the story that inspired the new video?

That story is 100% true. I went to Amsterdam and don’t really do drugs usually, but I was over there and smoked and had a really good time. The video was really cool because I thought it was a very visual story. Low Brow Studios did it for us and did an amazing job.

I think it’s really funny and it did change the way I thought about this album. There are a couple of songs on this new album I’m working on now that have definitely been influenced by starting to smoke more. You know, I started going to Phish concerts and all that too.

Haha, perfect. When you say new album, you mean you’re working on a new studio album? 

I am, yeah. Been working on it all year, and it’s been really fun to release this ‘Almost Solo’ one in the meantime and get something out there for the audience.

Do you have any plans to do any more touring of any kind, either solo or with a band?

Yeah, I’m like always on tour. I’ve got a couple of dates now, but a lot of this year has been spent in the studio and writing. Last year I was on the road almost 75% of the year. Once we get going we try to go everywhere we can.

 

You get more info on Eric Hutchinson on his website, where you can also download the new live album Almost Solo in NYC by tweeting about it.