Eamon P Cunningham
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Eamon P Cunningham

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Band Pop Singer/Songwriter

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Music

The best kept secret in music

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Discography

Self Produced Debut Record - Unwarranted Sacrifice - to be released Fall 2007

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

Eamon P. Cunningham was born in Brooklyn NY and raised in various locales in the Greater NYC area. His earliest exposure to music was whatever his parents were listening to at the time, which explains his first public performance, at age 5, a rewrite of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA�. In the rewrite, Eamon changed the focus of the song from the US involvement in Vietnam to his own fascination with wrestling. The song was called “Born in Wrestling Town�. Eamon performed for about 10 kids in his Windsor Terrace neighborhood in Brooklyn from the top of two metal garbage cans.

He started playing guitar in sixth grade. He had been just messing around with an old nylon string acoustic that someone gave him, but right after he saw the video for Nirvana’s “Smells like Teen Spirit� for the first time, he went to the basement to figure out how to get those sounds out of that old guitar. Over the next few months, he bought Nirvana’s “Nevermind�, Pearl Jam’s “Ten�, and The Lemonheads “It’s a shame about Ray.� When asked about the influence of these three albums on his own music, Eamon says “If I can come anywhere near how awesome these records were, I’d be really happy.�

Over the years, Eamon honed his craft and landed a spot at Glen Cove’s Founders Day in 1996 (4th billing on the second stage). Shortly after that appearance, people in the small city on Long Island started talking about this talented youngster and he was signed to a twice-monthly gig at the local Starbucks. Based on the growing buzz he was creating, Eamon was given the top billing on the Acoustic Stage at Glen Cove's 1997 Founders Day.

On the night of a show, Eamon would pull up to the venue in a cab, and as soon as the driver popped the trunk, all of his friends would unload his gear and set it up inside. At the time, Eamon felt he was getting rock star treatment, and would think “I could get used to this.�

While attending Marquette University in Milwaukee WI, Eamon played and organized open mics on a regular basis, putting new spins on covers of old favorites, a la his hero, Evan Dando of the Lemonheads, as well as developing the ability to write lyrics that were deadly serious until the point when he would sing a bitingly sarcastic line that forced audiences to take notice.

During the summer of 2000, which was right after Eamon’s sophomore year at Marquette, he turned the bedroom in his off campus apartment into an impromptu recording studio featuring an Ibanez Artwood acoustic guitar, a Carlo Rivelli bass, a borrowed set of drums, a microphone from Radio Shack, a Tascam 4-Track, and a marble composition notebook full of observations. The sessions, entitled “From November to Now�, included 11 originals and a folk style solo acoustic cover of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way�.

Unfortunately, this is where the trail goes cold. Between a full time work schedule at after-school programs in Milwaukee’s tough Northside neighborhoods and a full load of classes, Eamon had less and less time for music. Add to the mix the explosion of boy bands, pop music, and rap stars from the “Dirty Dirty South�, and Eamon was starting to feel that there wasn’t enough space in the music business for lo-fi loving acoustic guitar strummers.

Fast forward six years, to the fall of 2006. Eamon had seen his fair share of up’s and down’s, and is in what he feels is a safe place for the first time in a long time. The rock scene has been stagnant for years, Nas declares that rap is dead, and the various members of the late 90’s boy band explosion are still singing the same songs they were singing almost 10 years ago. It’s time for a change, and Eamon is starting to get that itch again. A man on a mission, Eamon writes over two dozen songs in a span of 2 months. The first stop on Eamon’s attempt to right music’s ills is Waltz Astoria, a cozy open mic that draws a music savvy crowd in Astoria Queens (where he currently hangs his hat).

Eamon has been playing shows around the city while recording his first sessions in nearly 7 years, this time on a Tascam 8-Track, tentatively entitled “Unwarranted Sacrifice�. The title is a double reference to the Bush Administration and to Eamon’s fight with demons from his past. He’s expecting a fall 2007 release at all the places you buy music now (CDNOW, Napster, iTunes, etc). When asked about the release date, Eamon quipped, “My only hope is that I beat Gun’s N Roses Chinese Democracy to the shelves.�