If you were a young band back in the day, struggling to hit it big without a manager or any connections, you had to make your own connections. The hard way.

Sid Bradley and a few of his friends formed a typical teenage band in Kentucky in the mid-60s (i.e. inspired by The Beatles and practicing in a garage). With Sid as the lead singer and songwriter, they initially called themselves The Esquires, because it sounded cool and British, but that was a fairly common band name at the time and it soon fell out of fashion anyway. So they renamed themselves Erik. Because why not? Ever heard of another band called Erik?

They honed their chops for a few years playing dances and eventually bars, but without a record deal, Sid and the band had to hustle. In 1971, they met an IBM salesman who aspired to be a producer and managed to knock out an album’s worth of songs in a small studio. They paid to have a few of the songs pressed into singles, and then Sid loaded up the trunk of his car and they drove to every radio station east of the Mississippi who would let them through the door.

The 1970s were a different time and Sid and his cohorts usually got through the door. He would then play a few of the songs for a DJ, or sometimes the program director, and surprisingly often they chose to play one on the radio. This even led to brief mentions in publications such as Billboard and Rolling Stone.

Unfortunately, all the hard work didn’t pay off with stardom and a big record contract, but everybody got to travel up and down the country, seeing more of America than most kids their age, and they all got a taste of the music business. The whole experience likely had a great impact on Sid and helped in his second career as a writing teacher. Everything is fuel for the creative fire.

Here’s a song by Sid Bradley and Erik, back in their prime — a great example of early 70s power pop with laid back guitar riffs and very Beatlesque backing vocals.