EYC doesn’t beat around the bush. When this exciting multi-racial musical triumvirate collectively decrees I Feel It, the name of their Red Ant Entertainment North American debut album, these three guys know the listener will feel it too. A compendium of hot soul, cool pop and irresistible dance grooves, EYC delivers a feel-good album for the ages – serious fun for the young and young at heart.
An acronym for Express Yourself Clearly, EYC does just that on both stage and record. Master songsmiths, dancers and performers Damon Butler, David Loeffler and Trey Parker (not to be confused with the South Park creator of the same name) are imbuing the music scene with a brand of driven hip-pop that gives new meaning to the word universal. Fusing cultural and ethnic diversity with eclectic musical influences and the divergent rhythms of their big city/small town upbringings, EYC is the sum of its parts: tributaries of individuality who converge to create a delta of sound. “We call our sound the three flavor feel,” says David. “I bring the hip-hop and the hype, Trey brings the pop and Damon has the soul.”
David, whose lineage is a 50/50 mix of Latin and Irish blood, grew up in a gang and drug-infested area of Long Beach, California, a tough ‘hood where the young pacifist escaped the lure of gangs by throwing himself into the grooves of dance and music. He learned some real life lessons on the streets and his performance prowess on the stage.
Damon, young, black and excruciatingly talented, was raised on the other side of the Los Angeles tracks and found the glitz and glamour of Hollywood at the young age of 12 when he was cast in his first national television commercial for Quaker Oats.
Trey, as all-American and homespun as they come, is from the deep south. Blonde as the sun and as agreeable as a three-day weekend, when Trey puts on his taps and takes his vocal pipes out for a run, he is also as explosive as the Fourth of July.
With I Feel It EYC celebrates their individual differences in a joyfully unified effort: 11 songs that span the gamut from the hip-hop flavored “Everyday” to the soulful R&B stylings of “What’s It Gonna Take” and “Never Wanna Know” to the harmonious pop balladry of “In The Beginning” and “How Could I Let You Go” to the party-inducing dance tracks “I Feel It” and “This Thing Called Love,” the first single. The trio wrote all but three songs (“Another Crazy Night, “This Thing Called Love,” and “In The Beginning”).
In addition to their formidable and expansive artistic talent, it is important to note another major distinction which separates this group from their pack of peers: EYC is not an outfit put together by casting agents or managers. EYC is not part of a stable. The members of EYC found each other, bound by the same dream and a common vision, and formed the group. Trey and Damon met through a jazz/hip-hop dance class and knew at once that they were meant to be on stage together. David, an increasingly well-known fixture on the southern California dance club circuit who had accrued his fair share of dance competition victories, also knew his fate was to be front and center. Meeting at a party, Trey Parker, Damon Butler and David Loeffler quickly found their destinies intertwined as they all shared not only a love for melody and movement, but a fierce determination and drive to succeed, as well. ‘Nuff said. EYC was born.
Starting big, the young group’s first gig was at the international Teen Idol Festival in Tokyo. A record deal and global tour soon followed. They performed for three years to sold-out audiences throughout Europe, Asia and Australia, spreading the gospel with impossibly high-energy choreographed stage shows, deliciously catchy music tied up neatly in memorable three minute slice-of-life pop songs, and well, let’s face it, undeniably cute visages. They won the Smash Hits Magazine “Breaking Band” award in London, were named Best New International Act by Australia’s equivalent of the Grammys, performed with the likes of Backstreet Boys, Whitney Houston, Salt-N-Pepa, and The Artist Formerly Known As Prince and sold over a half million albums outside of the U.S. Here in the states, EYC was featured in a Dr. Pepper commercial performing their song “I Feel It.”
Clearly, EYC has made its mark overseas. Now, Damon, Trey and David are ready to bring it on home; I Feel It could very well become the mantra for the new millennium. However one feels it, everyone needs to EYC – EXPRESS YOURSELF CLEARLY!!!!
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