Eddie Fisher - Drummer - Vocalist - Producer - Writer - Recording Engineer.

Eddie Fisher started diddling with drums at age 8 and playing full kit at age 12.  Eddie's father, himself a drummer & singer by profession, wanted Eddie to focus on piano not drums.  But by age 15 Eddie final got a kit he could play occasionally when such volume could permit in the house and would sometimes play with his Father at private functions.  Eddie took 10 lessons at the Canadian conservatory of music with Roger Strange who tried to offer Eddie a scholarship to excel his talent but the conservatory wasn't able to support it.  The few lesson Eddie received with Roger got him reading well and understanding the basics.  By age 18 Eddie was playing nearly every weekend with acts varying from traditional African (Banafrica with fellow musician Jamie Sparks) to Country bands such as "Smoke on the tracks", to popular bar bands and original acts such as PF Station with Craig Mercer & Cameron (Dr. Yellow Fever), Lana Grant & reggae group Pulse.  By this time Eddie was also deep into home recording.

After saving from gigging in the Maritimes, Eddie moved down to Colombia, South America to pursue more challenging endeavors.  Concerned about making a living for himself in a third world country he quickly found work local studios as a drummer, recording / mixing engineer and also started teaching drumming.  Surrounded by the incredible talent of Latin percussionists everywhere, Eddie still managed to carve a niche as a rock/ pop / fusion drummer and began recording drum tracks extensively for every major studio possible while developing relations with acclaimed artists, song writers and producers.  Eddie had recorded in world-class studios and played live with some of the best in the business including Juanes (who now has over 12 Grammy Awards),  Tobi Fernandez (possibly Miami's premier all-in-one studio guitar player has recorded and written with the likes of Carlos Santana & Juanes.   Juan Carlos Coronado (Finalist for Guitar Hero 2005, you've seen this guy in about every major guitar magazine hanging out with guys like Joe Satriani, Steve Lukather & Steve Via ).  Eddie also also did his share of live gigs with several bands including tours in front of thousands in Colombia, Venezuela & Ecuador with such bands as Blue Jean & Emma Hoo.  During this time he received a sponsorship from Mapex drums.  Eddie was also employed for over a year at Discos Victoria's, a full-blown record company the size of a football field, where he wrote and produced songs full-time for up and coming and established recording artists. Needless to say by the end of his three-year stay in Colombia, his Latin based drumming and writing skills had evolved immensely.

After some life-threatening events in the unstable region, Eddie returned back to Halifax, Canada where he immediately started playing again with Halifax-based: Barnacle, Blueberry Grunt, Jac, Ryan Evans Group, and ultimately, Merimac which is one of the busiest cover bands East of Toronto.  Since Eddie formed Merimac in 2002, he has only taken a week or two off per year.  Eddie manages and books Merimac which is always booked 6 months ahead of schedule. Merimac plays in front of crowds between 200 to 4,000 every performance, 2-6 nights per week.  Eddie plays his kit right up front of the stage as  lead singer (and entertainer when it comes to audience banter).   Merimac's not limited to just Maritime pub stuff, they play plenty of Rock, Pop, Reggae, Dance, R&B, Funk, Latino, Fusion, you name it.  As Eddie mentions, "Audience members and musicians really relate a lot more to me and my drums because I'm up front as a drummer and lead singer, everyone says it's unique and it grabs some attention".  Once every night or two you'll see Eddie and his bass player (Peter) spark up a Drum ensemble that sure to be completely different every night, crowds love it.   Eddie is set to record an instrumental album with Russell Brannon, owner of Musicstop chain within 2006 and just finished recording an Album with "JAC" a fusion, rock, jazz, reggae group based in Halifax.  Merimac's debut album will be in stores by March, 06, which will surely sell well based on the number of Merimac fans alone.  By 2002 he had started up a modest studio in Dartmouth recording, mixing and co-producing dozens of local acts including the band "Human" which received an ECMA award for "best rock album" of the year in 2003.  Since 2004 Merimac and his studio Compactaudio has been "busting at the seams" so much so that he has to turn down work on a regular basis.  Other artists recorded or demoed. 


Eddie's latest endeavor is to completely specialize in drum recordings which has always been a strong point in Eddie's career.  Eddie is well qualified for this position, he's been editing multi-track drums in the computer domain since 1994 with Protools / Cakewalk-Sonar and recording them since 1990.  He spared no expenses on his latest drum setup including adding Oracio El Negro's Drum Kit (after a clinic) with all the bells and whistles to the drum selection.  His other kits are a Yamaha Stage Custom and a 1962 set of Rogers Drums.  All kits are all recorded with 18 channels of fine mics and mic preamps.  Eddie has collected 5 snares but hopes to level off at about 10 different models.  Cymbals are a bit of a mismatch for now.  As Eddie says, "With most studio setups you have to be realistic, you can't have 4 kits ready to be recorded at the drop of a hat.  But having 15 or 20 cymbals to choose from that can be changed over in minutes can add so much to a pro drum studio".  Eddie has recently recorded some drum tracks for people in Miami, Toronto and for other studios in Halifax by way of interacting with his clients remotely via webcams while recording the drum sessions directly in Protools in Halifax.  Eddie's clients love the service because they are in control of the session as if they were physically present at his studio and they know they're going to get killer tracks.  Eddie's clients are typically other studios that wish to outsource drum tracks because they are either not drum recording / mix experts, don't have resources to host a high quality drum recording setup or drumming talent or in some cases they just want to save precious time.  Eddie currently two other drummers that he will list on Compact Audio's website site with examples of how they play to offer his clients more performance flavors.  Eddie has a list of nearly 500 of the premier studios in North America which he plans to advertise to by offering great rates and great drum recordings.  "This studio is becoming a fantastic melting pot for great drummers doing great tracks" Eddie says.  "It's really time for me to more put more focus on my first love which is drumming and recording drums".  Eddie recently studied in Cuba for a week with Antonio (a friend of Oracio El Negro) who has played in Cuba's number one show, Tropicana for the past 15 years.  Eddie's drumming influences are Steward Copeland, Omar Hakim, Manu Katche, Dave Weckle, Oracio El Negro, Rock, Pop, Reggae, Latin, Salsa, Fusion, Hip-hop, Jazz.

One of the last yet most important components of Eddie's "killer" drum studio is to consider a new array of cymbals.  "Although business is good, there's still many expenses maintaining and keeping a studio as up-to-date as possible, it's hard to have everything you "need" to have all at once for the ultimate drum studio, but I'm getting close!  I would be very proud to play Sabian Cymbals exclusively live and in the studio, I would make every opportunity to use the Sabian Cymbal Logo like right up front such as on my live kit and on the Compact Audio & Merimac website with a special Thank You. I would also have a description of each Sabian Cymbal that would be available at the studio ".

 

Eddie's Drum Clips & Video:
Merimac_Heave_Away_LoFi.mpg  Merimac playing at the Halifax Alehouse, not the greatest performance but gives an idea of what Merimac is about.
Smooth singing live

 

Nov. '03 MP3 clip of Live Jam with Joe Butcher on Bass.  Live off the floor 
Piece of 3 am and other 2
Merimac - Could u be loved.
Merimac - Runaround.mp3 

Juan Carlos Track, Human New & old, Juanes Pictures of new drums and studio?

What other's are saying about Eddie's work:

Juan Carlos Coronado - One of the best up and coming guitar player as mentioned by Guitar player magazine. www.juancoronado.com www.myspace.com/juancoronado www.ultrasonicostudios.com www.buena-vibra.com"

"Ed! I just wanted to let you know that the tracks that you recorded for the album are amazing. I'm extremely happy with your flawless performance and sound. You are simply the best drummer I've ever worked with.  I hope we can work together again in the future.  See ya soon bud! Juan".

"Ed has the perfect combination of flavor and power. He has amazing control and delightful taste, making him the dream drummer.  He is by far the best drummer I have ever worked with.  I know that if I ever have a challenging recording or performance, Ed could pull it off with one hand and his eyes closed."
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President, The Musicstop Ltd.
"Hi Eddie,  I look forward to doing a project with you this summer. Besides being a good Musicstop customer and a very capable drummer, you are very active in our local music scene, both gigging and recording.  

Russ Brannon".
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Blain Morris owner of Tonic Sounds Halifax. - Post Audio & Music for several hit CBC shows

"..... Let me know if you are interested and I'll give some thought to rate if you can do it. Also if you could do some stuff with that disco vibe, let me know, you would retain royalties to. This is interesting cause I'm always looking for real drums but I can't justify an entire studio session for it and you are perfect because you're a kick ass drummer, an engineer and the kicker is you actually are a computer wiz. Let me know if you have the time and I'll call you.

Blain."
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Antonio Lopez drummer for 15 years at Tropicana, Cuba's most popular show which has traveled the world over.
"EDDIE, MI AMIGO ESTAS TOCANDO MUY BIEN Y TE FELICITO POR TUS ADELANTOS EN TU INSTRUMENTO. ME GUSTA  TU TECNICA CON EL PIE DERECHO  EN EL PEDAL DEL BOMBO. TE DESEO EXITOS , AMIGO MIO.   TU AMIGO     TONY DE CUBA".
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Jaime Sparks - Recording Artist - ECMA, http://newmusiccanada.com/genres/artist.cfm?mode=longBio&Band_Id=4989.

Hey Eddie,  Just wanted to say the CD you gave me is top notch, no doubt! I especially liked the Bob Marley tune, the ones recorded at Sonolux (I think that's the name of the studio, I don't have the paper near), also track 16 & 17.  Of course, I liked all the ones you played drums on, as well as the ones you had a hand in writing & arranging (you're just one big ball of talent!), but I was mainly listening for the mixes. You had good presence, all frequencies well represented. Great levels too, loud, but no distortion! It's no wonder you got the jobs at the studios.

Like I said in my message I left on your machine, If you've got some spare time soon, I would love to record a song at your place. Let me know.  Jamie"
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