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Cinderella Gets Naked
Interview with Eric Brittingham-Bassist, Cinderella/Naked Beggars
April 25th 2005
By Tracey Longboat
In anticipation of seeing a great live rock n’ roll band this coming August, here is a tasty morsel to hold you over til’ then….an interview with the man behind the once golden blonde palm tree-like tresses that sprouted from the roots of his scalp and fell symmetrically down either side of his face to the tip of his bass…in other words, the dude with THE coolest hair of anyone before or since….Mr. Eric Brittingham. Okay, enough of that superficial shit, this guy has been playing bass for Cinderella and more recently in his own band, Naked Beggars for quite sometime. Originally from Philly PA, now residing near bandmate Tom Keifer in Nashville, Tennessee, Eric has picked up the southern drawl quite well, but in no way has he slowed down his pace to that of a typical southerner. Eric has been working non-stop on the new Naked Beggars record since January, which was preceded by an 8 month tour, and as the final mastering is nearing completion, he is about to set out with Cinderella for the Rock Never Stops summer tour with Ratt, Quiet Riot & Firehouse. Eric was kind enough to lend me some time from his busy schedule to chat for a little bit, and now I bring that to you, oh faithful Glam-Metal reader……enjoy!
Hey Eric how is the weather there in Nashville?
Beautiful. Well, it’s been kinda cold, but it’s really nice out today.
Not as cold as here I bet, it freakin’ snowed over the weekend!
Oh yeah? Where are you?
Buffalo.
My drummer’s girlfriend lives there.
Well alright! So you’re gearing up to go out on the road with Cinderella for the Rock Never Stops Tour with Ratt, Quiet Riot & Firehouse, ever play with any of those guys before?
No I don’t believe so.
Are you looking forward to hanging out with anybody from those bands?
Don’t know the Firehouse guys at all, as far as Ratt I know Bobby & Warren (though not very well) but Fred (Coury) is best buddies with both of ‘em.
Do you have any plans for an impromptu jam with some of the guys from the other bands coming out on stage with you at the end of the night for a song or two?
We’ve always done that as a headliner in the past so it’s likely to happen. Like at the encore we’ll throw in a song everybody knows.
So you are planning some covers then?
Probably, but we haven’t really started with rehearsals and all that yet, so the set-list and the show structure hasn’t been all thought out, it’s a little early in the game.
What are a couple of songs you like to play live from Cinderella’s catalog?
“Fallin Apart” is always fun to play, it’s a real meaty kinda song…. um...I’m hoping that we add some songs from the Still Climbing record on this tour cuz the past few tours with Poison, we only had an hour-ya know enough time to do the hits and that’s about it. I’d like to do “Winds of Change” off the Heartbreak Station record.
I know the hardcore fans love it when you play some obscure songs that you may not have done live in the past.
Universal just put out a greatest hits thing and we talked them into putting “Blood from a Stone” from Still Climbing along with “Winds of Change.” So, since there’s no new product out with this tour maybe we’ll play those.
Back in the Day I know people seemed to concentrate more on what you guys were wearing, instead of the music, with your over-the-top Glam look, but are you breakin’ out the glitter & fringe for this tour, or is it strictly jeans & t-shirts this time around?
Well, that’s kinda funny, cuz actually on the first tour, for me personally, was the only time I got into all the frigin glittery crap & stuff, actually by the end of that tour I was in a t-shirt and leather pants, and that’s basically what I wear now. (laughs). It’s weird, I think it was either Long Cold Winter or the Heartbreak tour when we did a show at the Forum in LA, and I read a review the next day & the guy –who I don’t even think was there-wrote something like, “yeah, they came out with their outfits and their hair teased to the sky, and TONS of make-up and lipstick” and I’m thinking…Who the hell did you see?? (laughing)
Wrong Show, right!
I know I used to get mad when I saw Britny Fox videos cause they were a direct ripoff of you guys.
Well, they’re from Philly and their guitar player, Mike, used to be in our band, and he was replaced by Jeff before we got signed. After we came out & hit it big, Mike put together Cinderella Light. Ha Ha, and Dean Davidson, the singer, was a drummer in bands and he actually auditioned for us. He’s a better Tom (Keifer) imitator than a drummer. (laughter).
Let’s talk about the new greatest Hits release and DVD “Rocked, Wired and Bluesed” cool title by the way, who came up with that?
I think our management. Tom called me and said “this is what we’re gonna call it” and I was like well, I don’t know about that, but I can’t really think if anything right off hand, ya know. Plus I was kinda busy with Naked Beggars. We were out touring, so that was the last thing on my mind. Tom & I did the commentary on the DVD, and actually I haven’t even watched the DVD yet!
Speaking of that, your sophomore recording with Naked Beggars in due out in June?
Hopefully, I’m working on it now, we’re mastering some singles. I still have to mix like four songs cause Jeff had to go back to Philly to take care of some personal things and he won’t be back for a week or two. So I’m mixing what I can and hopefully I’ll have it done and mastered in a month to get it out by June.
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Do you have a studio in your home?
Yeah, we went to a studio here in Nashville just to cut the drums and some basic tracks, everything else was done here. I have a studio room in my house that’s sound treated, it’s just like a computer set-up.
Are you gonna be touring in support of that after the Cinderella gig wraps up?
Absolutely. We were hoping to get a month or so of dates in before the Cinderella tour, but with Jeff up in Philly taking care of his crap, we actually had dates booked that we had to cancel.
Here Eric talks briefly about how he is actually looking forward to a “break” by touring with Cinderella as opposed to Naked Beggars which is a more low-budget road show complete with a 1988 RV with a trailer hooked up to it, and the band acting as their own crew and management. He looks forward to other people doing all the work for the Cinderella tour (ha,ha).
How does the new record compare to the first Naked Beggars release?
Night & Day. There’s a lot more energy to it. It’s more raw sounding, rootsy, it’s hard to categorize it, but it’s more along the lines of Black Crowes & throw in a little Rage Against the Machine…. and maybe a little Zeppelin.
Wow! That’s quite a mix, you’ve peaked my interest now.
Some songs are really heavy and nasty, it’s less poppy than the first record. The beauty of this band is that we can go from left to right with the musical genre cause we have a girl singer. We do something heavy and it sounds cool, or we can do something poppy, where other bands are really limited. On the first record we didn’t have keyboards, which makes a huge difference, but now with Christine on the keyboards, plus she plays fiddle too, she has a couple of solos which is different. We actually had her Dad come in to do a Mandolin part on one of the songs, which is really cool.
Who would you say are your biggest influences, like who is in your CD player right now, and who was in it 20 years ago?
Jeez. It’s hard to say, I’ve been listening to so much shit the last couple days cause I’m getting ready to master a few things, so I’m trying to get references. But, I usually end up going back to older stuff, early punk stuff. Ministry. I haven’t heard anything current that I’ve gone nuts over. Speaking of early stuff, we’re doing a cover of a Dead Boys song, “Put the Meat in Your Mouth.” The Dead Boys guitar player, Cheetah Chrome, plays on it.
How did that come about?
A week before we were going in to record it, I read an article in the paper about Grammy connections to Nashville, I guess there’s a punk compilation record that is up for an award and Cheetah is a Nashville resident. So, I looked him up & gave a call & he said he’d love to do it. A couple days later we were in the studio with him. He’s a really cool guy. Now we go out to the local pub for a few Guinesses’ and shoot the shit. It’s amazing we know so many of the same people, but never crossed paths.
Back to Cinderella, it’s cool to have a band that was popular then that can still make records and tour and you’re seeing the original four guys, you also have side projects goin’ on as well to keep things fresh. 
We changed drummers once, he was great & all, but it wasn’t the same. So when the band got back together in ‘98, we said look if we’re gonna do Cinderella, it’s gonna be the original guys. Except on this tour, when we go out of the country I don’t think Jeff can get a passport, cause he has some legal issues (laughs). He’s a little trouble-maker.
Really? I may be interviewing him too, I’ll have to ask him about some of those events.
Oooohhh....hmmmm.
Or maybe not? Next question….
Note: Eric makes a Jerky Boys reference here, “Yeah, I had a little trouble upstate, I don’t wanna talk about it.”
Here’s an old school question. Jon Bon Jovi had a small hand in pointing the right people in your direction to get Cinderella signed. Do you or anyone still talk to him? His involvement was kind of anonymous, in a way. He saw us play and got someone out to check us out. Then when “Slippery When Wet” broke big, he asked us to support him on tour. I haven’t seen him since. I think Tom talks to him from time to time. I’ve run into some of the other guys, like David Bryan. David did invite me to a show, I went, I said hey to him, but I didn’t hang around. I’m not big on schmoozing. But it was a fun tour, cause there was no ego crap going on. Bon Jovi, as big as they got, prior to that tour they were opening for 38 Special, and when Slippery hit they jumped off that and that was their first big headlining tour, so it worked out great. Some of these bands that have been around awhile, their operations are very strict, if they see the crowd goin’ too nuts for the opening band, that’s when lights start getting cut & stuff.
Well, we are really looking forward to the show here in August (hopefully by then it will be warm here), and I am looking forward to that new record too, you really peaked my interest with all the stuff that’s gonna be on it.
It’s really, really varied, there is some dark and heavy songs, there is straight ahead Black Crowes rock kinda songs, there’s one cool ballad that’s like Zeppelin’s “The Rain Song” -acoustic, and at the end it kicks in with big drums. I’m excited about it. I’m rather proud.
You should be, I think it’s great that you can stay in the business for as long as you have and still make records.
Well, I’m not making any money, but I sure can make some records.
Yeah, that’s a whole other ball game. But thanks for your time, and good luck with the tour.
Thanks.
For more info check out www.Cinderella.net and www.EricBrittingham.com
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