Horror punks discuss new record
Founded in the Finnish capital 25 years ago, THE 69 EYES have spawned a total of ten full-length records and an additional selection of live, best-of and remastered albums. Throughout the band’s legacy THE 69 EYES have managed to thrive and reinvent their distinct blend of goth’n’roll – 2016 sees the band continue on with this legacy in the form of new album, ‘Universal Monsters’.
Today the band have released the second making of trailer for the new album, which can be viewed over on YouTube:
Vocalist Jyrki explains how they came up with the album title and concept: “I was walking in downtown Austin during the last SXSW festival and ran into this strange castle looking horror shop Sfanthor, which had also a house of wax kind of movie monster exhibition. The classic 30’s and 40’s movie monsters are something that you love to be afraid of and…love. I thought that would be perfect way to portray THE 69 EYES – as a band of monsters.”
Trly 80’s new wave/post punk days. You know, like when the music was heavily inspired by David Bowie’s dark visions, the Cold War, the threat of nuclear war and 1984 – kind of the future. So I wrote such lyrics from the past – and all of a sudden, the history started to repeat itself and the Cold War winds started to blow again! It was very strange – all of a sudden THE 69 EYES have a song which is very ‘today’ and even political, longing back the days of peace”, explains singer Jyrki 69. “We also wanted the video to be artistic and visually capturing the vibe and theme of the song. There is hope but also darkness, violence and innocence. And it’s only goth ‘n’ roll.”
The new album’s cover artwork, as well as the above mentioned video, were created by Finnish photographer and director Ville Juurikkala – known for his work with NIGHTWISH, AMORPHIS, HIM, APOCALYPTICA andMICHAEL MONROE. As the album title Universal Monsters suggests, the band are portrayed in movie monster lightning, showing them as well classic and timeless creatures. “The covers are planned and designed as an old-school CD covers – remember when the booklets used to be as exciting as the album itself?! It will actually have five different covers being such a folder – each member of the band can be used as a cover creature of their own. Ville has really succeeded in capturing the classic movie vibe for the shots without any special make-up or photo shopping. THE 69 EYES are the universal rock ’n’ roll monsters – not so many of us left anymore”, comments Jyrki. “So from real fans I wish they would get the actual CD in their hands to get the full album treatment as we have planned it to be experienced!”
Pre-order Universal Monsters on CD, which includes an exclusive Horror Movie Poster, from the Nuclear Blast UK store: http://bit.ly/The69EyesLtdEd
The album track list racks up as follows:
01. Dolce Vita
02. Jet Fighter Plane
03. Blackbird Pie
04. Lady Darkness
05. Stiv & Johnny
06. Never
07. Miss Pastis
08. Jerusalem
09. Shallow Graves
10. Rock ‘N’ Roll Junkie
11. Blue
