To make a ripple in an ocean, you have to make an impact with undeniable force. While some are able to cause waves with fashion, mass marketing, or just plain luck, there is one thing that causes a lasting effect like nothing else: great songs. And if you add heartfelt activism to impactful songwriting, what do you have? You have more than a ripple. You have shockwaves… You have Eyes Around.
Here is a band that is audacious enough to play euro/indie rock without pretension. Yet, the songs reverberate with unstoppable appeal. But rather than focusing on sonics as an end in and of itself, they see their music a vehicle for something greater: social and spiritual transformation.
“We try to be a megaphone for the meek, an instrument for awareness,” explains frontman and lyricist Mike Donohue. “It’s not a fashion statement, it’s not a bored sermon. It’s a call to arms and a testimony. As far as the current context of music sonically, I would have to say our sound is unique because we married the euro indie style with an aggressive American backbone.”
These four Alabama boys have been brewing something special for the last seven years. They have churned slowly, patiently honing their craft while garnering attention one dedicated follower at a time, touring heavily in support of independent releases. Now, their momentum is about to peak with the release of the Alpha EP, which will be shortly followed by itʼs counterpart, Beta. These will be their first label releases, as a precursor for their forthcoming LP The Voice Inside the Voice, which is slated to drop in 2010 on World Citizen Music. Donohue explains, “These songs are a statement that music, art, or any form of revolutionary communication is fueled by something beyond yourself, and it speaks for you.”
Alpha and Beta come complete without any filler, further evidence that this is a band that believes in albums, not just a couple of singles. Fans will be delighted on every single track, as each contains the emotional dynamics and anthemic hooks that Eyes Around excels in delivering. “Bloodshot America,” the first single on Alpha, is a template for what follows–this is a song that is larger than life, a song that will pull you out of your armchair and push you toward revolution.
One of the focal points for Eyes Around is Donohueʼs lyrics. Where some speak of teenage heartbreak and the glory of stardom, this band has chosen to touch on more authentic topics:
“Lyrically, we try to be uplifting, but intense at the same time. It’s not a rebel statement, it’s anti-political. It empowers people to view themselves as leaders. It’s my personal soundtrack to motivate me to visit people in prison, volunteer at a homeless shelter, help paint the walls at a rundown school in my neighborhood,” states Donohue. These are words that will transform you from the inside out. For example, on “Bloodshot America,” the band gives listeners a rousing slap to the face, calling the masses to wake from their slumber of lethargy: Bloodshot America, snuff out your paranoia, peel the scabs from your eyes we’re all to blame. Are you washed in the blood? I am washed in the blood… And on “Right as Rain,” they speak of raising awareness for necessary change in our world with sobering sentiments: We’re pulling out the winter clothes to market to a place it never snows, a change is coming so get ready for it, the smiler and the waver says that everything around is right as rain, but a change is coming. Finally, “The Blackout” is inspired by the NYC blackout of ʻ03. It is a singular picture of uniqueness, a reminder that sometimes it takes a bump in the road to unite us as a culture: We’re in the blackout, hanging in the blackout, now we’ll all stay civil and enjoy the night, and nobody’s gonna loot anything tonight, we’ve got the oil in the lanterns for light, there’s a million people hanging in the streets tonight, everybody got together for a change tonight.
Donohue lends an insightful look into the construction of these powerful words: “Lyrics float through the air like sound-waves you can grab, it seems tangible. To catch lightening in a bottle you can’t plan it. You just have to leave the bottle open when it’s overcast.”
The band has shared the stage with some very serious company, including R.E.M., Kid Rock, and Switchfoot, playing hundreds of shows over the past half-decade. Eyes Around is not just another group of post-teens posing with spin-kicks and guitar flips; they have a genuinely powerful and dynamic show that is built on genuine emotion. Live, they are rock music as it was meant to played–with heart, rather than fashion. “Our show is not a party. When we’re really on, the audience leaves drunk in spirit with a sober mind.”
Eyes Around has built a flame that will not smolder. Alpha and Beta are the clouds of smoke that have began rising from the honest efforts of these four Alabamians. They have put in the work rubbing sticks long enough. And soon you will feel the warmth of the blaze that is their first label full-length, The Voice Inside the Voice.
Expect more than a ripple, more than a a small fire. Believe that change is coming. “Eyes Around is an echo bouncing off a tumbling wall,” says Donohue. “ We are a hand-print in fresh cement, a new wine, radical love, spilled ink, a medium, a firestarter…”