Heavy Eric's Interview with "Jeff Paterson" in Nov. 3/05 Issue of "The Georgia Straight":

Songwriter fan sings the praises of Canucks stars
By jeff paterson

Publish Date: 3-Nov-2005

He’s spinning all around, gettin’ everybody woozy.

He’s 245, it looks like the Watusi.

Here he comes, he’s got the moves of Lenarduzzi.

I said, uh uh, it’s called the Todd Bertuzzi!

Okay, so “It’s Called the Todd Bertuzzi” isn’t likely to win Eric Holmquist a Grammy anytime soon. But that’s not a problem for the 45-year-old part-time musician, part-time Elvis impersonator, and long-time Vancouver Canucks fan. He’d be a whole lot happier if the hockey team he’s followed since its inception in the National Hockey League won a Stanley Cup.

Known in local music circles as Heavy Eric (with or without his band the Light Weights), he’s been writing and recording musical tributes to his favourite team and players for more than a decade.

“I used to be light,” he says, chuckling, when asked about his nickname. “Let’s just say I’m Bertuzzi’s weight but about six inches shorter.”

Holmquist’s work has been featured on several local radio and TV shows and has received some play at GM Place. And if that’s not enough exposure, Heavy Eric has even gone high-tech: his Bertuzzi song can be downloaded as a ringtone for cellphones.

That’s a fair bit of notoriety for Holmquist, who began his hockey hobby after a Canuck newcomer made an immediate impression on him one night at the Pacific Coliseum.

“I’ve always dabbled in music, and my first song was ‘Gino, Gino’ after Gino Odjick came to the team and brought a physical element to it back in the early ’90s,” Holmquist tells the Georgia Straight. “My songs are hockey rock. I think it gives the fans a bit of a kick.”

Heavy Eric followed up the Gino song with one for Pavel Bure, and before he knew it, he had 18 hockey songs among the 250 songs he’s written over the years. Other Canucks titles include “Nazzy”, “Linden for Premier”, “Wave Your White Towel”, and “Trent the Klatter” (check out www.heavyeric .com/ to hear these and other songs).

A former season-ticket holder, Holmquist still follows the Canucks but rarely sees the games in person. Like many others these days, he finds himself priced out of the arena.

“I still watch all the games on TV and I enjoy them,” he says, “but I spend my bucks to record the music.”

Holmquist writes most of his Canucks songs at his Coquitlam home and records them on an eight-track. But when it comes time to produce the finished product, Heavy Eric pulls out all the stops and works with studio musicians to make his product sound as strong as possible.

And anybody who has heard “It’s Called the Todd Bertuzzi”—Eric’s personal favourite among his Canuck collection—would have to admit it’s not bad. The lyrics may leave something to be desired, but the tune itself is catchy.

Here he comes, he calls the goalie Suzie.

Forty-four! He’s making everybody woozy.

“I get a lot of compliments on the Bertuzzi song. They played it on the big screen at GM Place when it came out,” he says, then chuckles. “Then again, I’ve heard a lot of uncomplimentary things.”

However, the highest praise for the Bertuzzi song, and the one that means the most to Holmquist, came from No. 44 himself.

“He called and left a very nice message,” says Holmquist, who has since met Bertuzzi at a couple of charity functions. “He thanked me very much and said it was good stuff.”

Now Heavy Eric is hoping people will say the same thing about his most recent releases, which are about Brendan Morrison and Jarko Ruutu. “It was hard to find things that rhymed with Morrison,” he says with a laugh. “I had to go with his uniform number instead.”

Brendan Morrison’s number seven.

When he scores we’re in seventh heaven.

He can spin on a dime skating to and fro.

Nazzy and Bert, ya, they call him Mo.

Finding rhymes for “Ruutu” proved a little easier:

Ruutu, Ruutu rocks ’em like U2.

He’s gonna be a star, he plays the game hard.

Ruutu, Ruutu he knows what to do.

He’s gonna take us far.

Jarko Ruutu’s a feisty Finn.

He’s always getting under someone’s skin.

He’s not scared to throw open ice hits.

And he’s not afraid to drop his mitts.

It’s not just the veterans who earn musical recognition from Heavy Eric. Holmquist does his best to stay as current as possible when writing his hockey songs. He’s already come up with one for Richard Park, who signed with the club in August.

That song and others—about Ed Jovanovski, Mattias Ohlund, Matt Cooke, and Dan Cloutier—are all waiting to be recorded while Heavy Eric comes up with the cash for expensive studio time.

And why does he have such a backlog of songs?

“I tried to stay away from the music during the lockout, but I couldn’t,” he says. “The lockout was hard. I missed hockey so much I had to go out and get a girlfriend.”

Although that relationship soured, Holmquist’s love affair with the Canucks continued, and he found himself writing music about his heroes even while they weren’t playing.

With the Canucks back on the ice and off to a hot start, Heavy Eric is looking forward to writing the one song he hasn’t been able to write yet. That’s the one about his favourite team winning the Stanley Cup.

And that would surely be music to every Canuck fan’s ears.

Jeff Paterson hosts Sportstalk Weekend on Saturdays and Sundays, 9 p.m. to midnight, on CKNW. E-mail him at jpaterson@cknw.com.