Eric was raised in East Vandergrift, along with fellow bandmate, Mark Weber.

Eric's older brother, Mike played the trombone and his other brother, Andy bought a used drum set and kept it in the attic of their home.  Eric would sneak upstairs when his brother's weren't home and bang on the drums.  Upon hearing him one day, his brother Mike brought up his trombone and they started playing together.  This was Eric's first experience playing with another musician.

As he got older, he taught himself to play the bass  and  six string guitar, playing mostly rhythm chords.  A good friend and neighbor would come up to his attic and play guitar along with Eric drumming.  Soon, Mark Weber joined them with his bass and they started playing original songs that the neighbor had written.  Eric was 14 at the time and this was his first experience playing with a full band.

Eric's singing influence came from his attendance in the local Catholic Church where he would sit in the balcony while his father, Edward, would sing with the choir.  Edward  was and still is a very strong baritone and Eric soon found himself singing just like his father.

Eric also played the trumpet until Junior High but admits that he wasn't very good because he was always watching the percussion section.  By ninth grade, Eric quit the band because he didn't want to go to Senior High marching band and wear the tall, furry helmet that was required.

After graduation, Eric got a job with the East Vandergrift Boro.  He spent many hours filling potholes and cutting down weeds.  During that time, Mark Weber was in a band with Jay Zanotti and they were looking for a new drummer.  Mark, knowing Eric from having played with him before, asked him if he wanted to join.   This was the start of what is currently known as ZMW.

He grew up listening to bands like The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Bad Company.  His two favorite drummers were Keith Moon from The Who and John Henry Bonham from Led Zeppelin.  He likes some Country, Blues and Jazz also.

Eric's Mother owns a tavern called Vi's Bar.  The bar features live bands, open stage and karaoke.  ZMW has been featured there many times over the last twenty years.

He also writes short stories and poetry.  One of his original poems can be found at poetry.com.  Just enter My Clock-Work Train in the search field. He's also expecting a picture book for children he has written to be published soon.

Eric's wife, Mary sings backup vocals on "Try Another Time" from ZMW's Drunken Monkey CD.   His four children, John, Justin, Alexis and Taylor also sang on "The Christmas Song" off of the same CD.

He enjoys fishing, camping, the ocean, the mountains and reading good fiction like Stephen King and Dean Koontz. 

"I feel that I'm a lucky man for basically being in one band my whole life and I couldn't be with a better bunch of people than ZMW."