- Nickb123 is responsible for this interview.
Eric Hutchinson
Eric Hutchinson is a musician and songwriter, and appeared briefly during The Lost Experience as himself, playing in a "Potbelly" restaurant in Michigan. This interview was be conducted by email. The interview was posted on September 21, 2008.
Lostpedia: You were taking part in a Jeep Compass promotional tour around the time of the Lost alternate reality game, travelling all over America. How was this experience, and was the tour very structured (as it seemed from the Jeep YouTube video that it was quite impromptu, playing in the street and getting moved on by a police officer)?
The tour was really disorganized. Jeep knew only that they wanted to have musicians playing in the streets, but they never bothered to get permits, so the cops were always shutting things down. As an alternative, they booked me to perform in a series of shows at the sandwich chain, Potbelly.
Lostpedia: Getting straight to Lost, how did you get approached to feature in a video as part of The Lost Experience? Did you have any idea of what the game actually was before being asked? If not, have you since checked out the story?
Since the tour was sponsored by Jeep and Jeep was working with Lost at the time, the tie-in made sense. I was just getting into Lost so I was excited when Jeep came to me and said this was something we could do. I thought it would be fun.
Lostpedia: Were you scripted during the video and did you rehearse, or was it pure improvisation?
We rehearsed for about a half hour before the store opened for business. Then when people came in, I did my normal show as usual. The customers didn’t know what was going on, but they also didn’t seem THAT concerned or interested.
Lostpedia: Was the crowd's reaction to the event spontaneous, with some man out of nowhere stealing your microphone and talking about “the Hanso Foundation” and “Rachel Blake”? Did you just carry on playing afterwards to them?
The crowd kind of looked up and were confused but nobody tried to stop anybody. Once the guys left, people went back to their lunch and I kept playing. The rest of the show was pretty boring.
Lostpedia: It states on your website that you are also a big fan of Lost, how did it feel to actually be, in your own way, a part of the show's mythology and storyline?
I was excited to be a part of things and have my own little place in the Lost world.
Lostpedia: Do you have a favorite character or episode on the show, and what are your own theories about what's happening on the Island?
I’m a big Sawyer fan these days, but will always like Jack. I’m hating Ben these days too. But in that love to hate way. I have no idea what’s going on the island these days. The time travel stuff is crazy and confusing. One of my favorite all-time moments was when Sawyer and Jack realized that Sawyer had seen Jack’s father before he died.
Lostpedia: What other projects have you been involved in recently, since your time on the Jeep tour (nearing on two years ago now)?
I’ve been touring non-stop since then and I put out a new album called “Sounds Like This”.