Fresh off the release their reworked version of the song “Off Future” with industrial collective JOHN CXNNOR, Copenhagen’s EYES are about to unleash their new remix EP ‘Reperformer’, unveiling new versions of tracks premiered on their acclaimed 2020 album “Underperformer“, available now via via Indisciplinarian. Reinterpreted, re-imagined, re-told and reperformed in a quite frivolous and fittingly disrespectful spirit – very much like ‘Underperformer’ itself. We sat down with the band to discuss this new project, post-COVID live shows, Copenhagen’s underground scene and more!
Twisted Copenhagen hardcore mongers EYES released their debut album ‘Underperformer’ in September 2020 and scorching eyes and ears with their unique fusion of punk and metallic hardcore, leaving no confronted soul unstirred, not at least through their fantastically entertaining music videos. EYES will perform a string of fall shows in DK and also at By:Larm Festival in Oslo, as well as shows abroad and at Copenhell in 2022.
What were the inspirations to release a remix album?
Søren (guitar): Remixes, reworkings and mashups in general have been interesting to me ever since I listened to the Spawn soundtrack back in 1997, so it’s definitely always been kind of lurking in the back of my head ever since then. Also the gigantic Rammstein remix-compilation kickstarted some thoughts.
The idea for these specific reimaginings was planted while we recorded our album ‘Underperformer’ last year – sometimes our producer, Tobias from Angry Music Studios, would loop parts of the tracks but the loops were random and would many times switch up rhythms and such. That got us thinking “what could other artists hear in these tracks that we don’t?” – almost a year and a half later, we finally managed to get around to trying it out.
Rasmus (guitar): ‘Reperformer’ being released one day before the 1-year anniversary of ‘Underperformer’ was just the icing on the birthday cake. A cake we’ll share with all of you!
How was the process of both picking the right artists to remix and then producing this record?
Søren: The process of picking artists was fairly short and producing the record was long, haha! After sitting on the idea since we recorded the album, we eventually got around to seeking out which artists we wanted to “reperform” some of the tracks.
Rasmus: We have bonds to all of the artists, in different ways – through sharing members in other projects, playing shows with them and generally just being fans of each other. So it’s not “outsourcing” the project to artists we don’t know, but more like a friendly cooperative effort and trying out things that used to be kinda removed from the heavy/hardcore scene.
Ok, so what’s up next for you guys? Any new songs or releases on the horizon or touring schedules you’re about to reveal for the coming months?
Søren: What’s next for us music-wise is just to continue writing new stuff – we’ve got plans, but nothing we can talk all that much about right now. What’s gonna take up most of our fall and winter will be playing some headline shows in different parts of Denmark, with a short trip to Oslo in Norway to play the by:Larm-festival at the end of September – we are STOKED.
Did you have a chance to attend any post-COVID live shows in your area? How’s it lookin’ nowadays? How’s the energy after the long awaited return of live events?
Søren: I went to see Victor’s (vocals) other band TELOS a couple of weeks ago, they played a show with Konvent, Galge and (0). It was pretty wild to see THAT many people gathered in one place, standing up next to each other (all through the pandemic we have been lucky to play a few shows, but those were mostly sit-down shows) but it was great! If all things keep up like they have precautions-wise here in Denmark I’ll be catching Archspire and Rivers Of Nihil in a couple of months as well.
Rasmus: People are hungry for shows right now and hopefully they’ll hold on to that and not go back to thinking “ah, I’ll catch that band next time”.
Victor (vocals): I’ve seen quite a few shows since relative normality returned. I went to a small festival called ‘Det Gyldne Liv’ (The Golden Life) in Kolding in July, that had a variety of different acts and genres. Alpas Ave, Pleaser and Bloodchild & LINN were the stand outs. Also a huge shout out to Basker Hval, whom I saw at Uhørt Festival in Copenhagen.
How’s Copenhagen’s underground scene changed over the last 20 months?
Victor: I think the scene changed a bit before lockdowns happened. Everyone got more serious. Danish bands have started getting more recognition outside of Denmark, and you can start to identify specific sounds that are native to certain areas in Denmark eg. Copenhagen hardcore. I think we’re starting to see the fruits of people’s labor post lockdown and the newfound energy that started to drive people before it happened.
Any new up and coming bands or projects worth a mention?
Søren: Obviously check out the artists that did the reworkings on ‘Reperformer’! John Cxnnor will definitely turn some heads with their output, Puke Wolf are working on some new stuff; jojo benimon and kuld are semi-new projects, but hopefully more will come from them.
For now you can check out their main bands, Demersal and HIRAKI respectively, which both have new amazing stuff out currently.
Thanks! Feel free to share your last thoughts and thanks so much for your time!
Rasmus, Victor & Søren: Thanks for having us, stay safe, and we hope you enjoy all of ‘Reperformer’!
