Tesla, Cake, Deftones — these are the bands that immediately come to mind when one thinks of the Sacramento music scene. But what about the lesser known but equally great Sacramento musicians? A few days ago, I met with Sweet Vine/Looking Star/The Nibbler's Hans Eberbach, a Sacramento musician who knows the scene inside and out.

Eberbach started out as the lead singer of Sweet Vine and was with the group when it was picked up by Sony/Columbia's record label. Unfortunately, internal strife broke up the band in its prime.

Now, after singing for Sweet Vine and Looking Star, Eberbach is doing his own thing. He released his latest EP, "Up Is The Only Way Out," in December, and will be kicking off his two-man northern coast tour in February.

"Up Is The Only Way Out" holds similarities to Peter Gabriel and INXS, with an '80's pop influence. "Weirdly, I draw a lot from people like Elvis Costello, that're kind of acerbic but kind of a happy format, almost like a pop-y kind of format," Eberbach says. "Wounded, but deliriously hopeful."

Eberbach prefers to stay away from the traditional side of things, away from the love ballads and traditional band set-ups and even away from traditional sources of inspiration. "I've always heard music in everything," he says. "If you drop your fork and it hits this bottle and it makes this beautiful tone, I'm going to want to sample that in my music."

Eberbach is currently singing with three different groups — The Nibblers, Hans Eberbach and Life As We Know It, and his two-man tour group, all with a different musical vibe.

The Nibblers is a New Orleans-influenced funk and soul band that takes great advantage of Eberbach's soulful, blues-y voice. "At this point, for whatever reason, things just kind of fell into the right place at the right time," he says. "I'm loving it. It is opening a part of my voice that has been contained."

Hans Eberbach and Life As We Know It, a slightly more traditional 5-man band, instantly materialized one year while he was home for Christmas. "[Hans Eberbach and Life As We Know It] is an electric-acoustic kind of thing," he says, "doing more roots-y versions of what I do."

Lastly, Eberbach will be kicking off his two-man tour with Life As We Know It bandmate Matt Magnus in February. There is nothing traditional about this set-up, which will combine music, technology, and audience interaction. "I didn't want to do just two guys on the guitar, strumming," he says. "I wanted to translate what I was doing on the record to some extent, so that led me to put this thing together that would allow for more of an electronic sound, but also have the roots and soul that acoustic performances bring."

Eberbach has come a long way since his Sweet Vine days, and has gained a lot more knowledge of the music scene. "One of my biggest regrets is that the whole experience [with Sweet Vine] came so easily to us that I was not self-sufficient at all," he says. "Because of that, I didn't have any experience building a base, building a following, working with fans, getting a street team together because it all just kind of came instantly."

"What I've learned in the last 10 years since then is that I really am in it for the long haul," says Eberbach. "When I wake up this is what I do, this is what I think about."

Hans Eberbach and Life As We Know It will be performing in Sacramento on Feb. 28 at Capitol Garage. For more information about Hans Eberbach, visit Hansrocks, Myspace, Ourstage, and Sonicbids.

The EP, "Up Is The Only Way Out," was released in December, and is available through iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, and AmazonMP3. To find it, search for the EP name, not the artist name.