eyesofsorrow - Sound In The Signals Interview
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| 📸 Samantha |
I recently had the opportunity to interview eyesofsorrow. We discussed their early musical interests, how they started the band, thoughts on the hardcore and metalcore scenes, their EP ‘Deep Graves For Shallow Hearts’, artwork, physical media, and more. Check it out below.
First, thanks for the interview.
Landon: You are welcome.
Magz: Thanks for having us.
Lex: Yes, of course, thank you for reaching out and wanting to chat with us!
Can you tell me how you started the band for those who may be unfamiliar with it? How did you become interested in music?
Landon: For me, I had known Lex and Magz from going to shows and knew they wanted to start a metalcore band and I knew Lex would be a really good front person especially for this style and wanted to help out and be apart of it! Jonas was the one who in high school showed me Slipknot and Slayer and shit and got me to deep dive into heavy music and then naturally fell into metalcore and hardcore from there.
Connor: Lex was looking to start a metalcore band and had made a post online looking for band members. I played bass in a few bands already, and wanted to play guitar in a band, so I offered to join as a guitarist. I was scared to respond as I didn’t know anyone personally in the scene, but I’m really glad I did. I first became interested in music with pop and rock on the radio, but the catalyst in the development of my music taste was hearing “Fade To Black” by Metallica in middle school. Throughout middle and high school I got really into thrash metal, death metal, and grunge, but I didn’t get into hardcore or metalcore until I got to college. I remember that in high school, I didn’t really know what “metalcore” was, but I heard metal fans say that it was bad, so that’s what I thought too. Once I was in college I was able to go to local shows, and that’s where I was exposed to hardcore and metalcore.
Magz: Lex (vocalist) had really been trying to start a band for a while and it finally all fell together one day with the right people. I grew up in a family full of musicians and have always been around music my whole life. I learned bass for EOS, it's been awesome. I'm very lucky to share this band with my best friends. It's been nothing short of amazing.
Lex: I’ve met everyone through the music scene here, just by going to shows and finding common interests with people and experiencing the same joy from music. I’ve always been super interested in music and wanting to start a band, my aunt and uncle really got me started with anything alternative/rock. Listening to Beastie Boys, Social Distortion, Deftones, and Korn on the way to school in the mornings as a kid
What do you think about the current fast hardcore and metalcore scenes?
Landon: I think both scenes are booming in parallels where the new bands are younger and younger yet still paying homage to the OGs of the respective styles. It’s incredible to see kids playing DIY music whether it’s got panic chords or not.
Connor: Fast hardcore bands should be faster. Metalcore bands should listen to more metal.
Magz: It’s been nuts to see the metalcore revival and how good the music is that's being put out. Big ups to Zashed, Your Spirit Dies, Blistered Spirit & Before I Depart. I’ve recently got more into fast hardcore and I’ve been missing out for sure, I’ve been super into Circus & Ceramik lately.
Lex: I’m kind of torn about it, I feel like there’s a lot of hate to each other and I don’t know why. It kind of perpetuates the idea that there’s a superiority of one over the other. They’re both good in their own way.
Your EP ‘Deep Graves For Shallow Hearts’ was released in March. Have you been pleased with the response so far? How does it feel to have it out now?
Landon: I have been blown away at the response. Playing in bands has always just been about being close with your friends and bandmates so for it to be taken to the next step and have a release be received by a crowd larger than my friends and immediate scene is insane to me and I’m very grateful.
Magz: The reaction to the record has been bigger than we could imagine. It's been really dope to see how widespread it has reached from different scenes to even different countries. I think we're all relieved to have it out, it was stressful but beyond worth it. I can't wait to see what else we do, this is only the start and it has been incredible.
Lex: I don’t know if we really expected the traction it’s gotten so far, the amount of support from our friends here, and reaching to other states, and even other countries is amazing. Seeing people sing the words with us, dance, and have fun is all we could ask for though. We do it for love.
I really like “Through The Witching Stone”. Can you tell me about writing that song specifically?
Landon: That’s also my favorite song to play. That one was interesting because Connor showed up with most of the riffs done one of the first times we practiced, but it took us awhile to figure out how to finish it. Eventually we figured it out with that bridge and the ending breakdown where I just did my best Todd Jones impression and I think it turned out very cool and makes people get violent when we play it.
Connor: I think I wrote what is now the first 1:50 of the song over the span of a couple evenings a month or so after we had started playing together. I play in a weird tuning, which allows me to hit some unusual natural harmonics, which inspired the beginning of the song. The rest seemed to flow naturally, until I got to the end of a noodly section, and didn’t know what to write next. Once we had gotten together and learned the song up to that point, we tried a lot of different ideas for this mosh section, until Landon came up with what is now the “Nails” section. I am a little surprised that this song appears to be the favorite of many, as I think our best writing is done when we’re writing collaboratively.
Magz: That song is one of my favorites off the record and also one of my favorites to play. It was definitely the learning curve for me on bass, but it helped me get 100x better. The lyrics are very raw and explosive and I think we all can say we had a ton of fun writing it.
Lex: Through The Witching Stone was something for me that was cathartic, it’s about having people you love who you bring into a space and share something you enjoy with them, only for them to turn around and switch up on you is one of the worst betrayals, and to have them in a sense steal your joy and friendships. Situations like that affect me on a deeper level because I just couldn’t do that to someone I say I care about. My understanding and belief about witching stones looking through the hole can reveal the presence of a witch or see through someone’s disguise.
Jonas: I was unsure about that song on my part at first because I used to play the intro differently, but once I changed some things up it ended up being one of my favorite songs to play live.
The EP artwork is interesting. Where did you get that image from and who designed it?
Landon: We reached out to Zadak Brooks and they did the design all themselves! I’ve been a fan of Zadak for a while and had them to the logo to my older band too so there was a connection there too. We decided on colors and ideas based on older records we thought looked cool and fit our sound and Z knocked it out of the park first try.
Magz: We went through Zadak Brooks for the artwork. Landon (guitar) had brought up some other bands who had went through him and the work he did for them was amazing. We gave him the idea, and in my opinion he nailed it perfectly. I think it definitely captures the project very well, and I’m proud to show it to people.
I know you released some CDs, but is there any chance that you’ll have cassettes or vinyl for the EP?
Landon: Not gonna say never but CDs are definitely my favorite medium so I prefer doing those, but tapes are always on the table too… vinyl likely not for the EP just because of the market right now. For future records I would definitely want to get something pressed.
Magz: We are working with Yetzer Hara Records on some dope tapes for our release. We have some original artwork and an exclusive band rip I’m very excited about. I definitely think when we release a full length, we will try our best to do vinyl. Shout out Noah and Future Sight Records for the CDs, twin cities represent.
Lex: We will definitely be putting out other physical media, we just did a preorder with Yetzer Hara Records that is amazing. They did so awesome with the rip and reworking our original art from Zadak Brooks. There’s a split we’re working on that we’ll absolutely have cassettes or vinyl for.
Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. Do you have anything else that you would like to add?
Landon: Anyone reading this can do what we are doing. None of us went to music schools or got hand me downs; we learned instruments and wrote what we wanted to right. Go to shows, be a part of your community, and everything will fall into place.
Huge shout out and thanks to all of our friends who supported us, booked us, or just existed. Shout out Madison and Milwaukee HC, Springfield and Peoria HC, Tulsa and OKC HC, Omaha HC and Kansas City HC. Everything I do is for love. I love all my friends.
Connor: Thank you for the interview, I love reading band interviews, and being interviewed is a cool experience that I am happy to be a part of. Everyone reading this should form a band. Thank you to my friends: xLEXx, xMAGZx, xLANDONX, and Jonuts.
Magz: Thanks for doing this interview with us, I’m very fortunate to be in this band with amazing people, and thank you for letting us share our thoughts. TWIN CITIES STYLE AND FREE PALESTINE!
Lex: Again thank you for taking the time to talk with us and give us this opportunity. I would like to add that in these times of distress and pain, that we stick together regardless of who’s cool and who’s not, what’s in and what’s not. This is about community, and family, everything we do, we do it for ourselves, and our friends. The world is scary, if you have a voice that can be heard, use it. If you have a hand that can help, reach out. We cannot survive without each other.
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