Eskalators
Encyclopedia
The Eskalators are a Brooklyn
-based vegan musical collective
, puppeteering ensemble, and experimental street mime
troupe formed by Eric Williams in the summer of 2007. The group is known for holding elaborate, public performances, fire poi artistry, and flash mobs on moving New York City
subway
cars, without the formal written consent of the MTA
.
to film a documentary about them. During the middle of the trip, he decided to start his own band to open shows for The Best Thing Ever, and was soon joined by Alec Billig and Jennifer Page of The Best Thing Ever. They played their first show on an escalator
at the Mall of America
.
The Eskalators released their first recording, Never Break Down, in April 2008. Shortly after, New York City promoter Joe Ahearn approached the band about performing on a subway car before one of his upcoming shows. The Eskalators agreed, and have continued to play subway shows, each centered on a different Subway station and train line.
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
-based vegan musical collective
Musical collective
Musical collective is a phrase used to describe a group of musicians in which membership is flexible and creative control is shared. Such entities have transitioned from the traditional hierarchical configuration that features either a frontman , or a plurality of band members in tension for...
, puppeteering ensemble, and experimental street mime
Mime
The word mime is used to refer to a mime artist who uses a theatrical medium or performance art involving the acting out of a story through body motions without use of speech.Mime may also refer to:* Mime, an alternative word for lip sync...
troupe formed by Eric Williams in the summer of 2007. The group is known for holding elaborate, public performances, fire poi artistry, and flash mobs on moving New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
subway
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
cars, without the formal written consent of the MTA
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York)
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the U.S...
.
Biography
Eric Williams was driving cross-country with the members of The Best Thing EverThe Best Thing Ever
The Best Thing Ever is a punk band/performance art group formed by autistic singer/songwriter Noah Britton in the summer of 2003. The label "punk" is adequate to describe the band's influences and ethics, but the sound that they exhibited changed drastically from show to show.-Biography:The Best...
to film a documentary about them. During the middle of the trip, he decided to start his own band to open shows for The Best Thing Ever, and was soon joined by Alec Billig and Jennifer Page of The Best Thing Ever. They played their first show on an escalator
Escalator
An escalator is a moving staircase – a conveyor transport device for carrying people between floors of a building. The device consists of a motor-driven chain of individual, linked steps that move up or down on tracks, allowing the step treads to remain horizontal.Escalators are used around the...
at the Mall of America
Mall of America
The Mall of America, also called MOA and the Megamall, is a shopping mall located in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of the Twin Cities, in the United States. It is located southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway 77, north of the Minnesota River and is across the...
.
The Eskalators released their first recording, Never Break Down, in April 2008. Shortly after, New York City promoter Joe Ahearn approached the band about performing on a subway car before one of his upcoming shows. The Eskalators agreed, and have continued to play subway shows, each centered on a different Subway station and train line.
Members
Active members include:- Vocals, Fire Poi: Eric Williams
- ViolinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
: Wen-Jay Ying - FluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
: Amanda Rodi - FluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
: Marie Miller - MelodicaMelodicaThe melodica, also known as the "blow-organ" or "key-flute", is a free-reed instrument similar to the melodeon and harmonica. It has a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. Pressing a key opens a hole,...
: Sanji Maitra - GlockenspielGlockenspielA glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
: Guia Adiao - Electric GuitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
: Peter Naddeo - Air GuitarAir guitarPlaying air guitar is a form of dance and movement in which the performer pretends to play rock or heavy metal-style electric guitar, including riffs, solos, etc. Playing an air guitar usually consists of exaggerated strumming and picking motions and is often coupled with loud singing or lip-synching...
: Mark Storella - ClarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
: Ahuro Nina - Bass GuitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
: Dan Byer - DjembeDjembeA djembe also known as jembe, jenbe, djbobimbe, jymbe, yembe, or jimbay, or sanbanyi in Susu; is a skin-covered drum meant played with bare hands....
: Davide Pivi - KeyboardKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
: Melissa "Bostian" Frost - SaxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
: Janelle Jones - TrumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
: Alec Billig - Drums: Chris Parker, Jason Coscia
- Musical SawMusical sawA musical saw, also called a singing saw, is the application of a hand saw as a musical instrument. The sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin...
: Annemarie Nye, Nina Hazen - AccordionAccordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
: Ben Morse - WashboardWashboardA washboard is a tool designed for hand washing clothing. With mechanized cleaning of clothing becoming more common by the end of the 20th century, the washboard has become better known for its originally subsidiary use as a musical instrument....
: Matt Bennett
Discography
EPs| Year | Title | Label |
| 2008 | Never Break Down | Never Break Down Records |
| 2009 | Cats & Dogs Living Together | Never Break Down Records |