Heathen Eyes Newsletter Interview

Heathen Eyes are a hard rock/metal band based in Auckland, and have been together since 2010. They mix influence from metal, 90’s rock and ambient rock – keeping dynamics strong and mixing between heavy and softer influences. Thanks to Jason for answering the following questions:

Which one of your songs are you most proud of, and why?

For me the song I am most proud of would be Into The Waves, which we recorded at York Street just before it closed, we will be releasing it after our EP. I’m proud of that song because it really represents everything we embody as a band; beautiful, dreamy, heavy and aggressive all mixed into one.

What can we expect to see from Heathen Eyes over the next year?

We have been piecing together a release for the best part of a year now so that should be out to the public soon, also the Into The Waves release and video. So yeah, we have shows to play, 8th of August at The Kings Arms being one and an EP and follow up single to release also having a live session filmed and recorded for the web.

What local albums have you been enjoying recently?

Myself and Paul have been big fans of Cobra Khan and their two last albums, they are part of our influence to have synths in our music, then there is always Shihad‘s Killjoy album….. but then I like old school, I’m not huge on a lot of the newer bands.

What inspired you to start Heathen Eyes?

Life inspired me to start this band, I had recorded a song (Sun) with our synth player before he was in the band… before there WAS a band for that matter, it was just me tracking everything with Paul, I showed a few people at Mainz the track and they were keen to get in on it. I had just left Wellington after a break up and hadn’t started a band on my own for a few years and wanted to have more creative control than I’d had before just being a stand alone singer.

Tell us about Heathen Eyes’ next release.

The next release from us will be the finished 5 track EP – we’ve released 2 singles off it already which have had good feedback, it’s been great watching the process speed up as Paul has been growing as a producer/engineer. The EP is a crossover of genres. Though keeping in the rock/metal vibe people will notice a lot of different influences, it gets pretty dark in parts as Paul was really pushing for emotive influence and then it changes into just rocking the fuck out…… Darkness with a smile ;)

What is your most embarrassing on tour/gig moment?

Well the funniest thing…. we were on tour with Evil In Eden while Paul was playing with them and we had a different line up, their singer was pretty tanked in the van and decided his burger would look better on his face and smeared it everywhere….. then washed his face in a puddle on the side of the road, amazingly they owned that nights show like champs, it was side splitting!

What sets you apart from other bands?

Hmmmmm, what sets us aside is our dedication to “the show”, too many bands expect things to be handed to them and don’t put out the energy themselves.
We know that in order to impress you must perform like it’s a packed house every time and that without that “show” you may as well go and listen to a CD.