Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Eric Lewis. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Eric, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?
I retired in 2014 from the Navy after 20 years of honorable service, during my time in the military I played drums for various bands, as well moonlighted (2nd job) at a Music retail company. I met so many amazing people during my time in the Navy as well as being in the music industry. I maintained many of those relationships throughout the years. When I retired, I got anxiety really bad because I was use to being around Veterans and now everything I knew for 20 years was gone. It is weird to have a structured life for so long and then it was gone in a flash. One day while traveling to the NAMM show in Anaheim (NAMM stands for the National Association of Music Merchants), an idea just popped in my head. “Why don’t I use my connections with vendors in the music industry to help out Veterans suffering from PTSD”
The crazy part is how fast the idea came together, I had to think of a name, something that made sense with my mission. I decided to call it Vet-Traxx Project and the motto was helping Veterans one track at a time. I was referring to the recording process in a studio. While driving to NAMM, I logged onto the IRS website and created my EIN, our 501(c)(3) would come later.
I have never been the type of person to ask for assistance, or a handout per se, but once I got to NAMM I had to figure out if this would be supported, if not, I would have to do it all on my own financially.
I remember going to my long time friend Mr. Ben Cole from d’addario, and I asked him if he would sit down to discuss something with me. After about 5 minutes of explaining what my idea was he stopped me and said “whatever you need, we are here for you”. I gave him a big hug and said that meant so much and pitching my idea was the right course of action.
I remember going to Anthony “Skum” from Schecter Guitar Research and he said absolutely, and he did a BOGO deal for me, so I bought a guitar at set price, and got a free one. This allowed me to get left and right handed basses and guitars for a insane price.
I went to many other vendors and 90% of them jumped on board. After NAMM within a month or so I was receiving
boxes daily via UPS driver.
Now that I began to receive gear it was time to get the rest of the project rocking and rolling. From building the recording studio to getting the 501(c)(3) approved.
I felt that this organization would succeed because I do not like to fail, failure is not an option. Also with all the music industry support there was no way I couldn’t make this work. To ensure I could deliver quality recordings/productions, I decided to use the remainder of my GI BIll and enrolled in Berklee College of Music to get my professional Recording Engineer certification.
By the way here are some of the bullet points about NAMM:
Hundreds of musical instrument companies, big and small, congregate to share their latest product releases and prototypes.
Influencers, musicians and retailers get hands-on and test out the products.
Distributors and retailers can network and organize purchasing for the year ahead.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I have ADHD so drumming came naturally for me ever since I was 13, the only downfall is when I was in school band, I couldn’t focus due to ADHD so I eventually was kicked out for being disruptive. Being told I would never be a good drummer really stuck in my head, especially as a 7th grader. All I wanted to do was be a professional drummer. Fast forward 30 years and I am not a great drummer, I just play what I feel. I try to connect to the heart beat of the music.
People ask me if I am a professional, I do make money doing it, but unfortunately it isn’t the career that supports my lifestyle. The music industry has changed so much over the years, it is really hard for bands to make a living from their music. It’s all about selling the merchandise and touring nonstop.
What I love about being a drummer is helping other drummers with a different ideas about a groove, or even introducing them to my AR reps for the companies I endorse, in hopes of getting them added to our family.
I am the drummer for Failure by Proxy, so that also helps promote Vet-Traxx Project. We work hand in hand, each one of my band members also volunteers as instructors/coaches for specific instruments. If we have a Veteran who wants to learn guitar, I will match them up with Ant or Chuck and they provide lessons to them for absolutely free.
I think the thing I have been most proud of in my lifetime where everything came together at the same time would be Vet-Traxx Festival 2019.
Vet-Traxx Festival is a small music festival I produce to help promote the mission of Vet-Traxx Project, and it’s also a time to celebrate our years work as an organization. We have the Vet-Traxx Project artists (bands who record with us) and several nationals come play the festival. Of course I would love to get the BIG NAME acts to come play but unfortunately we just don’t have the funds to pay for them. We are non-profit and don’t have any revenue, so we look for sponsors for the festival to help offset the cost.
During the 2019 festival, I was standing on stage with my son and we hugged. It was so special because I told my son to look in the crowd and see what his sacrifice has helped create. We stayed on stage for a song or two, and had a blast rocking out to my friends band. Later on in the day, I would share another photo with my son before my band was to perform. I had my mask and all my makeup on, the photo just makes me smile so much. I am so glad my son got to see what our blood, sweat, and tears create.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
I think aligning a great team and fostering great morale is paramount. I have learned from past experience what it takes to develop and foster a great team.
Of course diversity plays a major factor, my advice would be to provide expectations up front.
Ensure the team knows what is expected of them and welcome their input. Not saying you
have to do everything they suggest, but you have a team for a reason, work together to achieve greatness.
With a great team, morale comes easy. Once conflicts start to appear then the morale is impacted instantly.
Negativity breeds more negativity. Don’t ever talk badly, or make snide comments to other team members about
someone on the team because then that starts to breakdown trust factors.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I think the most rewarding aspect is knowing that I was part of a Veteran’s journey. Maybe even part of their story. Some of the Veterans we work with have very dark emotions stemming from their missions they have performed. As the recording engineer and sometimes session drummer, seeing the Veteran get excited about his/her music we are producing is so amazing. Honestly tho, the most rewarding part is not having my Veteran brother or sister end their life of their own will. We have prevented 18 suicides, according to the Veterans we have worked with. It breaks my heart knowing the pain they are in, and we just have to keep positive and guide our Veteran through the darkness into the light.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.vet-traxxproject.org
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/fxpband
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/failurebyproxy
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/failurebyproxy
- Other: Ever since COVID happened, Vet-Traxx Project has basically came to a halt. We still communicate with our Veterans and excited to get them recording again. We recently had to cut off 2 feet of a corner of our studio and we are having to put the finishing touches on the exterior (Stucco), but with a lack of funds it slows the process.
Image Credits
The embrace photo was taken at Vet-Traxx Festival, photographer credit Black J Photo The rest of the photos credit – Vet-Traxx Project Inc