It seems like rhythm has been pulsing inside of me for as long as I can remember.

As a kid in a small town in the California Sierra Nevadas I was playing grooves around the house on chairs, boxes, pots and pans and who knows what else, usually using my hands or wooden kitchen spoons. I got my first drum set when I was 10 years old and haven’t looked back since!

Over the years I have immersed myself in many musical styles starting with classic rock as a kid, then to falling head over heels with jazz when I went to San Francisco State in the early 90’s. While in college I started playing gigs in San Francisco and the transition from school to an amazing musical life seemed seamless.

Over the years I have developed my craft and art into an in demand, first call drummer in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. While it has made sense to be flexible and diverse as a musician I also genuinely love many different kinds of music and it all synthesizes into my playing, composing and teaching.

I have had the pleasure and honor of working with so many great artists from the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond including Roy Ayers (with Jazz Mafia Symphony), Bobby McFerrin (with Brass Monkey Brass Band), hip hop artist Lyrics Born, and 60’s icon Donovan for a tour in 2005, Mellow Yellow anyone?

My current musical projects revolve around Karina Denike, Realistic Orchestra/Treat Street Social Club, accordionist Rob Reich, Tin Cup Serenade, Bay Area Composers Big Band, Brass Monkey Brass Band and violinist Mads Tolling.

I co-lead the band Klaxon Mutant Allstars with trumpeter Henry Hung and my own sextet, Eric Garlands Hodge Podge Ensemble, and every Wednesday I lead the jazz jam session at Amnesia, 10:30pm.