interview in 'procession'

EYE Interview in issue 2 of Procession magazine Adelaide, Australia, early 1998.

1. How, why, and when did EYE form?

a) through an amalgamation of cosmic forces b) because it was written in the script c) in the latter half of the founding year of the great age of enleyetenment (1991)

2. What are the names of the band members and what does each contribute?

Oir( 4 F*dngiv contributes tapping on those black and white things, strumming on the jangly thing as well as fresh garden produce. %Tif Q^eo is selfish and contributes nothing apart from time, money, plonks, strums, thumps and yips. Lq[ R^G=2 doesn't understand the question.

3. Could you provide a discography for the band?

Yes, EYE could, but it will cost you. How much money do you have? Oh look, o.k., you can have a free selected discography for now, but if you want the whole thing then you're going to have to pay up: . . . . but for those reading this interview on the EYE web-site, just go and have free peek at the EYE discography page.

4. How would you describe your sound?

boom-tss-boom-tss-merraoowwW -jiggle-wiggle-EEEP! "Blah-Rah-Rah-Blah" Blam! Blam! Blam! ooooohhhmmmmm (insert large-stadium-audience applause here)

EYE began as cathartic, grating & undanceable industrial with distorted vocals but since 1994 has incorporated elements of acid-techno, crunchy trip-hop, chunky-grinding guitar and clean chanting-crooning vocals. The transition has been from an expression of 'dark' emotions and outrage to the groovier, more uplifting & more coherent "Propaganda-laden-industrial-acid-grind" of the present. A review of a recent EYE demo, in BMA magazine, described it as "...tight and enormously detailed, rivalling the quality of established European goth/industrial acts... political pictures with large daubs of malicious humour and sounds that range from the ethereal to the coldly mechanical... theatrical and flamboyant... "

5. What musical influences do you acknowledge?

Over the years they've included Laibach, Skinny Puppy, Einsturzende Neubauten, Bauhaus, Dead Can Dance, Test Dept, Snog, Autechre, Midnight Oil, PWEI, Front 242, Pankow, FLA, Consolidated, Soma, Crimson Boy, Ministry, Underworld, Orbital, Bowie, Chemical Brothers, KMFDM, Loop, Stereolab, Wreckery, Fields of the Nephilim & Pink Floyd.

6. Who writes your lyrics, and from where do they draw their inspiration?

%Tif Q^eo. Inspired by the pretty flowers... and the girl with the flaxen hair... as well as that really sad film where the poor baby deer's mother dies... and to a lesser extent the 'underground press' of information not presented in the mass-media or establishment educational institutions - magazines such as NEXUS, organisations like the Campaign Against Fraudulent Medical Research (www.pnc.com.au/~cafmr), the writings of Wilhelm Reich, Noam Chomksy, Ayn Rand, John Pilger etc., and %Tif's observations of irrationality in %Tif's-self and those %Tif encounters... but mainly, the inspiration comes from that poor little deer... even now, after all these years... her legacy remains.

7. Are any of the band members involved in any side-projects?

Of course! A band wouldn't be truly industrial if it didn't have side-projects! ELF (formerly ÔayaÕ) was conceived in 1996 to showcase mellower analogue-synth-based trance material. However, ELF now includes industrial-trip-hop and schizophrenic electro along the lines of Download. The only theoretical difference between ELF and EYE now is that ELF doesn't have guitars or many vocals. ELF CDs will be released after EYE CDs have completed their parole.

8. What are your future plans?

Overcome label-phobia, approach some, release CDs, cause confusion so as to create a larger market for our forthcoming range of designer-label-reality-negating-psychotropic-pharmaceuticals, make a fortune and retire.

9. As a band, what has been your strangest experience?

Your absolute insistence that EYE wear baby costumes during this interview. You're right though, it REALLY IS enjoyable! . . . in a liberating kind of way.

10. Any comments?

Yes, ahem... "See, touch, hear and smell the blurb in this issue about Blatant PropagandaTM - the EYE 'zine." EYE - PO Box 1327 Woden ACT 2606 Australia. E-mail: [email protected]