“Trust” by Eric James & the New Century, Thursday, May 23, 2024

The late June humidity was just beginning to set on Bushnell, Illinois. We had spent the night in a hotel because we didn’t want to set up camp in the dark. We had missed Tooth & Nail Day, the preliminary day when the label would showcase some of their artists who wouldn’t play during the main festival, because of car troubles. But we had made it to the first official day of 2007 the 2007 Cornerstone Festival, on Wednesday, June 27. We arrived early in the morning to pitch tents before the swelter and the bugs made life miserable. After breakfast, it was time to wander over to The Gallery Stage which doubled as JEPUSA’s coffee house. For $35 you could buy the limited supply of that year’s coffee cup and get refills for 25 cents throughout the festival. Sitting down to the dark roast with our pamphlets out, my friends and I were about to start comparing which shows we were going to see later that day when a blue-eyed, shaggy-haired 20-something took the stage, introducing himself as Eric James.
 

I’VE GIVEN YOU THREE YEARS AND I’M A FAKE. I saw so many shows in the three years that I was at Cornerstone and have forgotten many of them. I don’t actually remember any songs that Eric James sang at the Gallery Stage on the opening day, but he left an impression on me which was solidified when I downed the 2007 Cornerstone Sampler in the hotel room on the journey back to North Carolina. There were a few of the headliners who contributed a song to the sampler, but it was mostly indie acts as a way to lure attendants to their shows. Eric James & the New Century contributed their song “Trust,” though James performed without his band that day. I’ve followed many of the groups that I discovered at Cornerstone, but I was never able to track down whatever happened to Eric James & the New Century until this week. In 2007, I followed the band on MySpace and checked out their 2006 EP The City Lights. The six songs sounded well-produced and ready for adult alternative radio bearing James’ stated influences of Pete Yorn and Death Cab for Cutie. But when I switched completely to Facebook and left for college, I lost touch with the band. And every time I checked to see if new music was coming, it was the same press releases like they were frozen in 2006.

STAY A LITTLE WHILE LONGER. Other than the MySpace page, you can find a web presence for Eric James & the New Century and stream The City Lights. But with a name like Eric James, it seemed impossible to find out if the singer-songwriter had more music. But I think I found him by following a few leads in the sparse press releases. Today, the Philadelphia-based singer-songwriter Eric James is a member of the duo The Last Royals with drummer Mason Ingram. The band released their eponymous, sometimes called the “Tee Pee” EP, in 2010. The band’s latest release was last year’s Truly.Modern.Love.  The Last Royals isn’t a huge band, but they have received national attention from publications such as Paste, American Songwriter, and Daytrotter. While there is a definite stylistic change between the New Century band and The Last Royals, James’ vocals are consistent between both projects. But still, I’m not entirely sure that this is the same Eric James.

Read “Trust” by Eric james & the new century on Genius