BOC: new info -Reply

[John A Swartz]

>So, Buck, I emplore you and the rest of
3 OC to RELEASE THAT DAMNED DISK!!!!  :)

I agree.  I hate to say stuff like, "if the Brain Surgeons can ...", but
I really believe that in this day and age with the technology available
at lower costs, there is no excuse for the material on this album to stay
in the vaults forever - it should be released SOMEHOW.

>Has anyone ever heard a satisfactory answer for why this happened(Eric being
"out of it")? It seems like Eric has been out of the spotlight and lead vocals
for quite a while. (I saw them in January and he was out then and had been for
several months). It seems that it must have been something wrong with his
voice??

Not that I've heard, and when the topic pops up on other forums, it is
quickly shot down by others who criticize people for spreading rumors.  I
think part of this has to do with Buck and Eric being online, and some
fans not wanting negative discussions going around that they might witness.
I can understand that to a point - hey, if Eric is having vocal problems
and there's a lot of talk on the net about this, he might start believing
that he can't function as BOC's lead vocalist anymore.  But, on the other
hand, I don't think most of the questions are coming from people trying
to imply this - I think that there are a lot of fans who look at the
recent setlists, or have seen (or heard) recent shows, and can't help
but wonder what's up with Eric's voice.

My take on the whole thing is the following (note: this is MY interpretaion
of the situation, and should not be construed as the Gospel truth) -- Eric's
voice has gotten somewhat weaker over the past few years - partly due to
his age, and partly due to the rigors of touring (Eric's singing style may
be a bit more stressful on his voice than some other styles, such as, say,
Buck's more laid-back mellow approach).  Sometime back in (my guess) 1995,
Eric probably really over-strained it, and due to BOC's touring schedule,
it was never given a chance to heal properly.  But, at this time Eric
seemed to be more or less o.k. (I saw them in late '95 and they were doing
"Lips in the Hills" - probably one of the more strenuous tunes on Eric's
voice).  Around the spring or summer of '96, I think was when things got
a bit more noticible, and it was at the end of the summer of '96 or in
early fall when Eric's "voice-time" was drastically reduced -- part of
this may definitely been in effort to rest Eric's voice for the coming
recording of the "Ezekiel's Wheel" tracks.  Presumably "The Power Underneath
Despair", which has a strong vocal performance by Eric, was recorded during
the fall of '96 - you can hear this one on the Summerdaze CD and I think
it sounds damn good.  The Buck-dominated setlists have continued through
the end of '96 and throughout '97, but as mentioned, it appears that Eric
is now singing a bit more.  This is a good sign because I suspect that
Eric had somewhat of a "relapse" last fall or early this year -- I heard
a few tapes from March or April of this year and it was obvious from
listening that Eric was having problems hitting the higher notes - stuff
he sang that was fairly low in frequency was strong, but it sounded like
his range was severely limited.  I'm glad to hear that he may be returning
to form.

Again, this is my interpretation of what has happened - I suspect some
would not want me to print these things, or some might think I'm being
"negative" -- I'm just drawing my own conclusions from numerous observations
over the past few years.

John