The Biography Of
Eric Van Allen
Eric was born in Toronto, Ontario on Dec 13th 1978. His family soon moved to the small town of Midland, Ontario. It was there that Eric spent his formative years. One of his first memories involving music was seeing his father pick up a 12-string guitar and play a few chords he remembered from his youth. From then on Eric became more and more infatuated with the guitar as well as many other instruments. Christmas 1984 was the year Eric received his first guitar. To his recollection the guitar fell apart some time in 1985-86 and it would take until Christmas of 1990 until Eric touched another instrument. Eric’s parents separated sometime in 1989 and his Mother had fallen on tough times. She knew that Eric needed something to focus on and somehow found a way to purchase him a small electric guitar. Eric spent the better part of a year getting familiar with playing rock music before receiving a gift from his sister. Upon hearing that he had taken to playing the guitar she offered her old acoustic guitar that she received for Christmas many years ago.
1991 - Upon receiving the acoustic guitar Eric was introduced to the music of Gordon Lightfoot, Canada's answer to Bob Dylan. It was then that Eric started writing music on the acoustic and put his electric guitar aside for a few years while perfecting his writing skills as a singer/songwriter.
1993(ish) - With the encouragement of his Father Eric ventured into the recording studio to record 4 tracks (available HERE) Here Among My Thoughts Of You (lyrics by Paul Thompson and Eric V.A), I'll Be, Going Where Life Took Them, and Where Do We Go From Here. The Disk was recorded by Paul Evans at Ambassador Records and was intended to be just Eric and his guitar. Paul played a bit part in the song Here Among My Thoughts Of You with his steel pedal guitar. This disc earned Eric a few visits to various music distributors and record labels that had shown some interest in his work and ended with Eric's decision to finish his schooling before chasing a dream.
1999 - With schooling out of the way Eric started playing music in local bars and pubs with his cousin Paul Thompson which lead to the forming of Red Light in December of 2000.
2000 - In the winter of 2000 Eric, Paul Thompson and Dan Barsi formed the band Red Light. Eric focused more on crossing his folk writing style with a rock groove introduced by the bands drummer Dan Barsi. It was at that point in time that the musical works Eric had accumulated were split in two directions. Those that would be played by the band, and those that were not suitable to the bands image. Anyone who tries to chase a career in music knows that chasing one is hard enough, let alone trying for two. So Eric decided to put his personal music on hold and focus on writing for the band.
2001 - Red Light hits the recording studio for the first time and subsequently meets Mike D. Owner and producer at VooDoo Records who agrees to work with the band. For music samples from the recording sessions see Red Light's Music Page.
2003 - With the birth of Eric's son Julian Van Allen on April 24th, 2003 Eric could no longer keep the music in his head quiet. He started working on his own personal collection of songs again as well as writing for the band. Although with the busy life style the songs came fewer and farther between, the power and meaning in the songs increased exponentially.
2005 - Over the year Eric purchased and set up a studio to record and produce his own works as well as taught himself to play and write music on the piano. His first two recordings "Tell Me Why" and "Yesterday" (a song written for his son Julian) will be posted in Eric's personal music page. All tracks on this page a performed in completion by Eric Van Allen.
2007 - AND COUNTING!