Interview with Inward Eye
Inward Eye is one of Canada’s next big things, including brothers Dave(vocals/bass), Kyle(guitar/vocals), and Anders(drums). Straight from Manitoba, they’ve have hit it off big launching their newly released EP in late January and a full album on the way, it looks as if there is nothing stopping this band from going all the distance. After their show at the Tattoo Rock Parlor, kicking off the start of Canadian Music Fest, I got to sit down and talk with Kyle and Anders on their road to success with Inward Eye.
Adrian: To start things off here I wanted to know that as you guys are all brothers playing in the same band I was wondering if there is ever any sibling rivalry amongst yourselves?
IE – There is the minor bickering from time to time but for the most part everything seems to fall into place, I mean we’ve been playing for so long now that our music has just naturally evolved. But for the most part we get along.
A – Now who would you say would be your greatest influences musically?
IE – Well we started off listening to our dad’s old record collection. So we started listening to bands like The Rolling Stones, and The Who. We also started to get into Green Day when they first came out with “Dookie” which also really influenced us. Then there’s The Clash and we reggae and since The Clash were influenced by Motown, we started listening to Motown and became influenced by the as well. The more you trace back your influences the more you become influenced by the roots of it all.
A – Now if you could tour to any place on Earth where would you want to go?
IE – We’ve heard that Australia is amazing, very warm, and basically just down and dirty rock bands. But that’s the thing about being in a band, we can literally decide to go on tour anywhere, it’s great.
A – Now how did you guys become part of the whole Canadian Music Fest?
IE – Well we actually played our first Canadian Music Fest back in 2003 at Lee’s Palace and it was basically playing here at Canadian Music Week where we were first discovered. We basically just signed on and were accepted, and we’ve played four Canadian Music Weeks in the past couple years.
A – Do you guys have anything in the works at the moment?
IE – Well we released an EP in late January of this year, with our first single “Shame” which we now have a video for on Much Music. We also have a finished album that we’re planning to release in the summer. We’re also getting ready to play Warp Tour this year. So yeah we’re getting a bunch of touring done over the next little while because it’s the best way to showcase our talent and to get ourselves out there.
A – As I’ve seen you guys definitely still make time for the fans, but I’m just wondering if you guys play for yourselves, for the fans or a little of both?
IE – It’s a little of both, and as lame as it sounds we just love music. I mean even if we were playing a show for four people we’d still go on and play and still love it.
A – What would you say was the roughest part of getting into the music scene?
IE – Definitely the business side of music, plus there’s also all the politics and dealing with art and business.
A – Have you gotten to meet any of your heroes or idols having now come into the spotlight a bit more?
IE – For sure, actually we got to tour with The Who just a little while ago, and I (Kyle) got to meet one of my biggest heroes, Pete Townsend, who’ve I’ve idolized and looked up to for so long now. We were actually playing a tent show in Texas to around 30 people and one of them just so happened to be the promoter for The Who and got us the chance to tour with them. It just goes to show that sometimes playing all the smaller gigs for so long sometimes pays off.
A – What would you say you like the most about being in a band?
IE – The live shows, you become addicted to it. If you go on for so long without playing a live show you become restless. Live shows give us a boost and a drive, plus a total self esteem boost especially when you play a good show and everyone’s cheering you on, which I guess is the opposite if we were to play a bad show that night.
A – Do you guys have any weird stories of any weird or crazy fans from any of the shows in the past?
IE – Can’t really think of any stories at the moment, I guess we’ve had some socially awkward fans in the past, some that just follow you everywhere, but in the end they’re totally harmless. We just seem to run into a lot of characters for the most part.
A – Last question here guys. If you guys could have any super power known in the universe, what would you choose?
IE – (Kyle) Looking through women’s clothing, because you wouldn’t want something like lasers shooting out of your eyes. (Anders) No because then you’d be looking at girl or something and you could all of a sudden shoot off a laser and kill her, you’d want something practical. (Kyle) Exactly which is why I wouldn’t want laser eyes, I’d want the power to look through women’s clothing, well attractive women’s clothing, so I could be walking down the street and see a girl I think is hot and be like “hmm I wonder what she looks like with no clothes on” and then just use my powers to see right through them.
A – I’d like to thank you guys again for taking the time to sit with me for this interview, it was an awesome set, and best of luck with everything you got in the works for the future.
Tags: Interview
