Eric McCaine: Many Faces

There are some musicians out there, whom everyone knows their songs and sings along with them, and yet never really knows who put them out. Eric McCaine is one such artist who has been cursed with such an experience, and it's our hope at R&B Haven to set these injustices right.

Having worked in the game since the late 1970s, Eric has worked as a rapper in the 1980s, as a member of the group Entouch in the late 1980s/early 1990s, as a producer of hit tracks throughout the 1990s and today, is gearing up to return to his singing career as a solo artist. While in the group Entouch, Eric McCaine scored a top ten R&B hit with the track "All Nite" and a top twenty hit with "II Hype." As a producer, Eric McCaine produced Keith Sweat's #1 R&B/#2 Hot 100 Hit "Twisted," and Kut Klose's single "Surrender," as well as tracks for artists including Mista, LL Cool J, JadaKiss, Destiny's Child, Lorenzo and more.

To prep you for the interview below, I thought I'd include Entouch's classic track, "II Hype." If it doesn't get your head bobbing, call the doctor as you're probably dead!

Today, Eric McCaine is prepping to release a new solo album, titled Perseverance on October 9, 2008. The album is planned as a free downloadable release and will highlight Eric's return to singing after a long hiatus. We recently had the chance to talk with Eric about his experiences in the game and his plans for the upcoming album. If you want to hear more about Eric McCaine, visit Eric McCaine's official web site, or Eric McCaine's MySpace.

Interview with Eric McCaine

To kick things off, you've been in the industry for close to forever now, having done work as early as the late 1970s. How do you think the music industry has changed throughout your tenure?

What I find in today's music industry is that there is far too much hype and not enough substance on every level from the executives on down. For instance I hear producers bragging about how it only took them five minutes to make a beat! The industry as a whole is not building acts as they use to do. Look around is there even a comparison to what it used to be! Everything now is about the first week it used to be about building careers not fads!

I understand you got your start in music as a rapper. What made you change styles and move from being a rapper to a singer?

After my MC/Rap era in which I was a part of Grand Mixer DXT (formerly DST) and the Infinity Rappers, my energy evolved and I set off on a new journey. Life for me is about growth and change "Music is my art" and in the 30 years of me doing so, my focus has always been on what can I do next that is different then what I did before!

Eric McCaine was part of the group Entouch, which scored two top twenty R&B Hits, "All Nite" and "II Hype."

How did Entouch get started and how did you first meet Free?

I created Entouch after my first group called Touch, which consisted of 2 other members including myself and Free. I meet Free through a friend that I was working on music with at the time. He was telling me about Free and so forth, so when we finally met we just hit it off. We got a deal with an independent label Supertronics and had a hit Club/House record I wrote and sung entitled "WithOut You" (Gotta Get You Back Into My Life). After that deal went down the drain, we disband as a Touch and I was going off to do the solo thing at the same time Free was still riding with me. So instead we continued creating and that's how Entouch was started.

I understand that the group suffered from label politics between your debut and sophomore effort. Can you elaborate on these and tell us a little about what happened?

Yeah, after the release of our All Nite album we had a very successful tour through out the country. Upon completing that tour a year later, we got right back into the studio and begin working on our sophomore album. We also added a third member to the group, Quenton who was our guitarist on the road. While we toured all over the country on our tour bus Q and myself began writing together. I had a studio set up on the bus so I could compose and stay productive and that's what led him to become a part of Entouch.

Things started going downhill when Vincent Davis the owner of the record company Vintertainment turned in to the control freak from hell. He started changing songs up with out our approval and lets not even talk about the mixing process! Man…..he wasted so much money mixing I mean It took months to finish it, let me say this it got so crazy after about 3 or 4 months of mixing I left and never came back to the studio! I told him why don't you just put your name and picture on the album. I was done! He killed the chemistry on that album completely.

Vincent's deal was through Elektra records and Keith Sweat was also signed to the same company with us. When Keith had all he could take from Vincent he went and signed directly with Elektra. In that ordeal we got caught up in the political BS because Elektra and Vintertainment had some problems in the Keith Sweat deal so as a result we got the short end of the stick. Basically they decided not to push our album like the first one! And when you're with the majors and their not supporting you 100% it's a problem!