Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Erik Kristiansen originally hails from Northern Louisiana. In 1993 he moved to New York City armed with a rocking chair and a Telecaster, and began backing singer-songwriters in bars and coffeehouses in the East Village. He played with several bands including snotty punks Los Dudes, recording an album with them in 1996 before falling in with the thriving “roots rock” scene of the late-‘90s.
Kristiansen has toured and recorded with renowned alt. country bands The Backsliders (Southern Lines, 1999), The Dark Horses (Come Along, 2002) and formed a side project with Ryan Adams in 1999 which gave birth to some of the material on Adam’s breakthrough album “Rock ‘n Roll”. He is also an esteemed member of the loose, supergroup conglomerate Roscoe’s Gang, fronted by Eric “Roscoe” Ambel (guitarist, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Steve Earle; producer, The Bottle Rockets, Nils Lofgren, Freedy Johnston) and appears on the Roscoe’s Gang “Knuckelead” CD (2002) alongside such heavy hitting grit rockers as Dan Baird (Georgia Satellites) and Andy York (John Mellencamp, Ian Hunter).
Since 2001, Kristiansen has split his time between New York and Los Angeles. In L.A. he backed soulful rocker Ty Stone for two years, singer-songwriter Garrison Star, Jesse Malin, and joined roots rock hero Pat Todd (Lazy Cowgirls) and The Rank Outsiders. He also performed and co-wrote many songs with rising pop rocker Jaime Paxton. Kristiansen’s and Paxton’s songwriting collaborations have appeared on the TV shows Laguna Beach and The Hills, leading to a Featured Artist placement on MTV.com and an upcoming video release.
In 2007, Kristiansen moved to Stockholm, Sweden where he got to see a lot of the Swedish countryside touring and recording with many Swedish artists including Stellan Wahlström Drift Band, Mats Grönmark, Ted Morris, The Auto Dropouts, and Tom Malquist. As a member The Auto Dropouts Kristiansen accompanied the band to London.
Since 2010, Kristiansen has called LA home and has played or plays, records, gigs with Ryan Adams, Craig Elkins (Huffamoose), The Far West, Moris Tepper, Marc Ford, Paul Barrere, Fred Tackett and Kenny Gradney of Little Feat, The Walcotts, and Marc Orrell (Dropkick Murphys), The Curly Wolf, amongst others.
Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Erik Kristiansen originally hails from Northern Louisiana. In 1993 he moved to New York City armed with a rocking chair and a Telecaster, and began backing singer-songwriters in bars and coffeehouses in the East Village. He played with several bands including snotty punks Los Dudes, recording an album with them in 1996 before falling in with the thriving “roots rock” scene of the late-‘90s.
Kristiansen has toured and recorded with renowned alt. country bands The Backsliders (Southern Lines, 1999), The Dark Horses (Come Along, 2002) and formed a side project with Ryan Adams in 1999 which gave birth to some of the material on Adam’s breakthrough album “Rock ‘n Roll”. He is also an esteemed member of the loose, supergroup conglomerate Roscoe’s Gang, fronted by Eric “Roscoe” Ambel (guitarist, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Steve Earle; producer, The Bottle Rockets, Nils Lofgren, Freedy Johnston) and appears on the Roscoe’s Gang “Knuckelead” CD (2002) alongside such heavy-hitting grit rockers as Dan Baird (Georgia Satellites) and Andy York (John Mellencamp, Ian Hunter).
Since 2001, Kristiansen has split his time between New York and Los Angeles. In L.A. he backed soulful rocker Ty Stone for two years, singer-songwriter Garrison Star, Jesse Malin, and joined roots-rock hero Pat Todd (Lazy Cowgirls) and The Rank Outsiders. He also performed and co-wrote many songs with rising pop-rocker Jaime Paxton. Kristiansen’s and Paxton’s songwriting collaborations have appeared on the TV shows Laguna Beach and The Hills, leading to a Featured Artist placement on MTV.com and an upcoming video release.
In 2007, Kristiansen moved to Stockholm, Sweden where he got to see a lot of the Swedish countryside touring and recording with many Swedish artists including Stellan Wahlström Drift Band, Mats Grönmark, Ted Morris, The Auto Dropouts, and Tom Malquist. As a member of The Auto Dropouts Kristiansen accompanied the band to London.
Since 2010, Kristiansen has called LA home and has played or plays, records, gigs with Ryan Adams, Craig Elkins (Huffamoose), The Far West, Moris Tepper, Marc Ford, Paul Barrere, Fred Tackett, and Kenny Gradney of Little Feat, The Walcotts, and Marc Orrell (Dropkick Murphys), The Curly Wolf, amongst others.