International rock musician Eric Martin to perform live in Shillong

Shillong, Oct 8 (UNI) Voice of former international rock band 'Mr Big'' Eric Matrin will perform live for the first time in India at an exclusive concert here in Meghalaya.

The concert ''Festival of Rock: Shillong'' is scheduled for October 27 at Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex. The event has been scheduled to coincide with the inauguration of the annual Autumn Festival and the Guinness World record attempt for the largest Guitar ensemble to begin the previous day.

''We are finally going to tour India. All that wonderful food and fantastic people, I cannot wait,'' said Eric Martin, lead vocalist of the American band on their official website.

The capital of Meghalaya, known for its passion for Western music, has emerged as a 'hot' destination for international music bands with recent performances by 'Petra', 'Fire House' and 'Michael Learns to Rock' (MLTR).

Before moving to state capital, the band would perform at Union Rock, Drammen, NO in Germany.

''The artistes are very excited to come here and perform as they have heard a lot about Shillong and its music-loving people from C J Snare the lead vocalist of famous American band Firehouse,'' Director of the Centre Point Entertainment Network Larsing Ming told UNI here today.

The concert is aimed at providing the music-loving public of the North East with the pleasure of experiencing world class concerts featuring international music bands as well as giving the people a platform to interact and perform with these musicians, Mr Ming said.

The concert will kick off with performances by Magdalene, winners of the Great Indian Rock 2006 and one of the finest rock bands from Mizoram and Meghalaya's leading band Snowhite.

Eric Martin began playing for the rock group Kid Courage in San Francisco, California, and then for Stark Raving Mad in Santa Rosa, California.

With Walter (Herbie) Herbert (from Journey) and Sandy Einstein as managers, the band, 415, was formed in the late 1970s.

It recorded one album under The Eric Martin Band, titled Sucker for a Pretty Face. The LP received a gold disc.

''EMB'' broke up in 1985, after which Martin recorded two solo albums, Eric Martin and I'm Only Fooling Myself. In 1988, Martin, Billy Sheehan, Pat Torpey and Paul Gilbert formed Mr Big, which achieved great commercial success.

After Mr Big finally broke up in 2001, Eric released another solo album, I'm Goin' Sane, in 2002.

He released two more albums, Pure and his latest, Destroy All Monsters. He is also the lead singer and songwriter for the Tak Matsumoto Group, which released their first album, titled TMG1 in 2004.

In 2007, Eric joined hands with Gunnar Nelson, Matthew Nelson, Kelly Keagy (Nightranger) and Mark Slaughter (Slaughter) to perform their music, calling themselves Scrap Metal.

Eric Martin would arrive here with his four-member band on October 24.

UNI