Auckland Shoegazers Eyes No Eyes Share Debut Single 'On TV'

Eyes No Eyes is a recently formed four-piece based in Auckland that brings together members of a diverse range of musical projects including the likes of Wormstar, Trip Pony, Couchmaster, Bespin and The DHDFD's. Together they spin a sound reminiscent of the dreamy soundscapes of 90s shoegaze aristocracy such as Mazzy Star, My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, as illustrated by their gorgeous debut single 'On TV' - which were are delighted to premiere online today. Soak up the track below while you read our interview with vocalist and guitarist Jessie Cassin...

 
Hello! First off, please introduce us to Eyes No Eyes, who you are and what you do??

We’re a four piece – Rikki Sutton (guitar/backing vocals) Jessie Cassin (guitar/main vocal) Joel Beeby (bass/backing vocals) Katie Ham (drums/backing vocals) Auckland based.

 

‘On TV’ is your first single, can you share with us what it’s about?

Yea it’s our debut single – it’s actually a song about a dream I had. In the dream I kept changing characters, then I was sitting by the river in the middle of nowhere next to someone. I kept trying to tell the person in my dream that I loved them but they couldn’t hear me. It’s stayed with me and I can’t forget it so I wrote about it – kinda weird hah.

All the band are from pretty different musical backgrounds, but ‘On TV” seems to have a particular 90s shoegaze feel. How did your collective sound come together? Was it the result of a discussion, or or more organic jamming approach?

It was more of a jamming approach. It started with Rikki sharing his demos with me, he had these epic guitar jams and his sound and writing style was so distinctive and easy for me to write over. I was really into his stuff and wrote lyrics and melodies pretty quick over what he sent, then wrote a few of my own songs to add to the demo pile... It was just Rikki and I jamming for about a year until Rohan asked if I could play for Mayday. I thought maybe it would be a great opportunity to jam Eyes No Eyes stuff, but we hadn’t really thought about performing at that stage. We ended up asking Katie and Joel if they would play and jam our songs with us for the Mayday gig. Ended up we all got along really well and had a similar idea about what vibe we were all into and so we ended up collaborating, gigging and recording all our demos and sticking together.



Are there any artists you would point to as informing the sound for Eyes No Eyes?

Mazzy Star, My Bloody Valentine, The Cranberries, Slowdive, Cocteau Twins.

Can you tell us a little bit about how and where the song was recorded?

The song was a combination of tracks recorded at Rikki’s and recording with Jonathan Pearce. Jonathan mixed and mastered the track, the whole band produced it.


What have you got up your sleeves for the year ahead??

Our single release party is March 18th at Whammy Bar, and we also have an album release coming up on 28th May at Whammy Bar and an NZ album tour end of year.

Eyes No Eyes are celebrating the release of 'On TV' with a show on Saturday 18th March at Whammy Bar in Auckland where they will be joined by Ghost Wave, The Beths and Daily Keno. Head over here to pick up tickets