Meet Eddie Atom | Guitarist & Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Eddie Atom and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Eddie, let’s start by talking about what inspires you?
Life and everything in it, really. My upcoming album titled Attention Game, which will be out in the summer 2025, was inspired by a wide range of things that somehow all kinda connect to one another somehow. One of the songs was inspired by The Fifth Element, one of my all time favorite movies; another by a space science/cosmology book my grandfather gifted me ages ago when I was around 10 years old; another by the mystical Superstition Mountains in Arizona; and another song was inspired by Art Bell’s radio show Midnight in the Desert, which meant so much to me growing up. These are just some of the inspirations from my upcoming record – things have have stuck with me over the years and was finally able to convey what these things mean to me in audio format. I’ve never really been very good with words and I’ve always found music as my best form of expression to things. Things that inspire me usually take some time for them to plant and grow in my brain until I am able to catch those ideas inspired by a particular thing, that makes sense.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Currently, I’m most proud of my upcoming album which I’ll be releasing in the summer 2025 titled Attention Game. I really feel like this album accurately captures my artistic visions and ideas. With the exception of the mastering being done by the extraordinary sound engineer David Gielan, this album was entirely performed, recorded, produced, and mixed by myself so I had a lot of artistic liberty in whatever I wanted to do on this record. It didn’t start as a record at all actually but instead a collection of ideas that I’ve had for a few years that then turned into songs. I’ve always really resonated with the T.S. Eliot poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” when the speaker says “That is not it at all, / That is not what I meant, at all.” This line specifically hit home for me even back when I first read it in 2008 or so because I’ve always felt the same way whenever Im speaking to someone. Language is so ambiguous and weird and so is sound and music but I’ve always felt that I’ve been better at conveying my thoughts and what I want to say via music. And even then It’s still a challenge that I never felt like i get right, that is until this new album. It definitely wasn’t an easy process to get to the point where I felt fully and completely comfortable and satisfied that a song let alone an entire album felt accurate and true to what I wanted to say but Attention Game really captures that. Having been making and releasing my own solo music since around 2008, I think it is safe to say that it took me this many years to get this sense of accomplishment in my music, and that is not to say I am not proud of my previous releasing, of course I am, they are all part of the musical journey to where I am at now – even this new record.

I feel like the sound of Eddie Atom is an amalgamation of all the things that have interested me since I was a kid and I still try to embrace even as an adult: space science, the American desert, cosmology, paranormal phenomena, UFOs, alien life, Native American history, and technology. When I was around 8-10 years old, my grandfather gifted me a textbook titled “Heath Earth Science” by Rolland B. Bartholomew – I still own this book to this day. I remember opening the book and being fascinated by the first few pages showing Earth floating in space surrounded by different colors of infrared wavelengths that you typically see in astrophotography. And I remember reading the text next to the image on how our planet and life here is so ephemeral on a grand cosmic level. The existence of Earth and humanity is just a fleeting glimpse. That realization was both scary and beautiful, and still is! This textbook was way too advanced for me at the time but I always carried it everywhere with me because I wanted to learn all of its contents. This was the beginning of my interest and fascination with astronomy and space science and I truly feel like it inspired my imagination even found across all of my music – thank you grandpa 🙂

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Honestly, my wife and son and I spend so much time in San Gabriel Valley and all the neighboring cities there: Alhambra, Monterey Park, Rosemead, Temple City, Pasadena, South Pasadena, Arcadia. There’s so so much good food and drinks spots in that entire area – I would most likely take them to Sichuan Impression in Alhambra to have their stir-fried chili chicken, twice cooked pork, Taiwanese lettuce, and mustard leaf. And then probably have some boba for dessert from 7 Leaves on Garfield Ave. That’s it, thats all you need really!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
So many people I could list on here but some that immediately come to mind are my former college professor and now good friend Rod Val Moore, whose many artsy and philosophical conversations we’ve had together at some hip bar in LA have inspired me immensely throughout the years. Also my former spoken word professor Kip Fulbeck who really taught me that originality is in just simply being yourself and not holding back – a profound and valuable lesson that I’ve taken with me throughout all paths of life. And my dad who without him introducing me to drums at the age of 4 I probably wouldn’t have had music in my life the way I do now. As a drummer himself, my dad singlehanded introduced me to so many styles and genres of music at such a young age that I believe really shaped my understanding and enjoyment of music.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eddieatom/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@EddieAtom

Other: https://eddieatom.bandcamp.com/music

Image Credits
Elio Yañez