About this time Eric was spending a great deal of time with friends in Santa Barbara , California who he had met on his travels through Greece. He was introduced to Mark Roberts a songwriter who asked him to produce some tracks for him in a local studio. The first titled, “You and I alone”. They ended up as long-term friends and co-writers. Eric went on to sing one of Mark’s compositions “Reckless and Wild” a rock track with Mark’s band. In 2004 Mark Roberts recorded a version of Eric’s “Crime Doesn’t Pay” which was on Mark’s second album released in the States. Eric also did some productions at his studio for a band called TUT TUT (Later TIN LILLY) featuring Lil Gozales ( who has sung with Eric on both his albums). In 1999 Eric produced an album for a trio called Back to Basics featuring Clive and Becky Carroll and Jasper Salmon, who were an acoustic band singing some Irish tunes and their own compositions. Since 2000 Eric has been concentrating on his own projects having the occasional songwriter in for recording.