Since he moved to the City of Angels Gorza has been working with high-level artists as a music producer and recording/mixing engineer. Some of the people Eric has been working with lately are Thyphoon Music Group (LA/California), Gabriel Franzese’s (D’addario/Music Man endorsed artist), upcoming EP, and Zé Maholics’ (Brazilian group from Vitória) Quarantine Sessions, a dream he had when he was living in Brazil.
“The fact that LA has a very successful story when it comes to artists making it, turns the city into a perfect playground for dreamers. So, the industry here is actually very competitive. Like me, a lot of people come here with a dream and they are willing to do anything to make it true.” Says Eric.
He is also still remotely collaborating with the two bands he’s a member of: Pura Vida Original and Pelados, which changed the band’s name to Rosa Chá. The band just started a partnership with a major radio station from Brazil, Jovem Pan, and the band is working on a brand-new album that will be produced by Rodolfo Simor, the Latin Grammy winner producer. Pelados is the band with which Gorza started playing not only in venues but also in festivals. With them, Eric recorded a live video clip of their first single “Ela é Sexo” which was his very first experience in a professional recording studio. This episode gave him a new overview of the process of creating, producing, recording, and sharing music with people.
Eric Gorza started working with Pura Vida Original because one day he was invited for an emergency rehearsal for a tour in Rio de Janeiro. The tour was a success, Eric’s first experience with Pura Vida Original was to play for a huge audience, out of his hometown.
Since then, Eric has been active as a permanent member of Pura Vida. They made a lot of concerts in Vitória and Rio de Janeiro, playing together with important groups from Brazil (Falamansa – SP, Ponto de Equilíbrio – RJ, Maneva – SP, Armandinho – RS). Pura Vida released one EP (2016), one studio album (2019), 05 video clips, 05 singles, and 01 live concert recorded at the University of Espirito Santo’s Theatre (2019). His work with Pura Vida had definitely opened a lot of doors for him. The opportunity to produce an album with a Latin Grammy winner – Rodolfo Simor opened his mind even more about the music production industry.
Eric started his relationship with music at a young age by listening to his father’s LP records and started his musical journey studying popular guitar at the age of 12 when he had his very first lessons with Fernando Vieira, a well-known jazz guitarist from his hometown – Vitória. Quickly, Eric turned into one of Fernando’s best students, his understanding of rhythm, harmony, and melodies were above the average level and in a few years, Eric was helping Fernando on his educational concerts where Eric had a chance to play with a band for the first time.
A few years later, Eric formed his first original band, Silken Feast. With that band, Eric had the opportunity to play in a lot of small pubs/venues around his city.
Eric got really into music prod so he started taking music production classes with Sergio Benevenuto – a Latin Grammy nominee producer, who graduated from the Berklee School of Music (Boston, MA). This experience was important in teaching him better how to apply music theory in a functional and practical way. The classes gave Eric enough knowledge to produce his first Album “Saco Cheio – Pelados”.
At the time, Eric also started to study vocal, having weekly lessons with Alza Alves – a singer from Rio de Janeiro who worked for major artists like Tim Maia, Gilberto Gil, Chico Buarque, and Beth Carvalho. This experience too gave him a wider view and contributed to his understanding of the musical universe.
Gorza explains “Since I was young I had this huge passion for music. My mom told me that when I was a kid, like 3 years old, I used to spend a lot of time playing invisible drums, listening to music, pretending to be a DJ, while my friends at the time were all playing soccer or whatever. What a cool/weird kid I was. I guess it took a while for me to understand that I couldn’t do anything with my life except music.”
