THE 69 EYES INTERVIEW
Some 22 years later after forming, THE 69 EYES release their 10th studio album. To celebrate their long existence, the band has decided to name the album as Roman tenth, “X”. It also has ten songs.
The 10th 69 EYES album was recorded in Stockholm and Helsinki during the spring of 2012. It was produced by Swedish team On The Verge and mixed by Stefan Boman (KENT, THE HELLACOPTERS, BACKYARD BABIES). It takes THE 69 EYES’ goth ’n’ roll sound back to their highlights decade ago of their albums like “Blessed Be” and “Paris Kills”, yet rising the singer Jyrki’s voice as the main statement of the record. The man in black is back. THE 69 EYES rise. Again.
Twinmusix got to speak to Jyrki 69 from The 69 Eyes about their upcoming album and more.
TM - Hi, This is Amelia from Twinmusix, Thank You for taking this call with me today. How are you?
JYRKI 69 - Good, Thank You. I am excited too as I have gotten to play in a rock and roll band for such a long time and it is my 50th birthday.
TM - Happy 50th Birthday.
JYRKI 69 - It was Nearly a year ago, so I will celebrate my 51st birthday by myself, so it will be lame because I'll be old.
TM - You are not old. You can just have another 50th birthday if you want.
JYRKI 69 - Mabey I can stay 50 forever and the 69 eyes can stay 30 forever.
TM - That's good and I'll stay in my 20s forever. Can we pause now?
JYRKI 69 - Yes
TM - Sounds like a great plan. What can fans expect from your new album West end?
JYRKI 69 - It is our usual package from The 69 Eyes. It is going to be a lot like our other music, it is going to be the best album yet. This is our 12th album and I think it keeps getting better and better. I think our last album is our worst album. I this album has more original songs styles from the early days of when we first started.
There will be A special edition blue-ray disc of thirty years of Rock and Roll history. This album is more energetic and I'm more satisfied with it. There are a couple of guests that we have toured with over the years such as Dani Filth and Wednesday 13 and they just make the record better. We are releasing a video were Dani Filth will be featured and it is a really sick video, I can't wait to release it.
TM - You just said there is a blue ray with the physical copy of the album, what can fans expect from the blue ray?
JYRKI 69 - There is a documentary called Thirty Years of Rock and Roll. It is a documentary on the history of the band. It is a cool thing, the band turned 30 and we thought our fans would love our history. We are hoping to come to Australia after all these years or going to places we haven't been to.
TM - You said you worked on a video with Dani Filth, how was that?
JYRKI 69 - We always have a good time with Dani. I am a big fan of Cradle of Filth, he writes amazing stuff. Every record is like a book of stories. He has been such a big help to us over the years, we have so many things going on. We are drinking buddies and something weird always happens.
TM - That sounds interesting. Can you tell us a story?
JYRKI 69 - Years ago we were at a festival in Finland and so was Cradle of Filth. We had a drinking competition and they won. We got carried away because we were so drunk.
TM - (laughs) that is hilarious, what an experience. I am sure you had a great time.
TM - What was your writing and recording process on this Album west end?
JYRKI 69 - We have a dropbox and our guitarist writes the whole song and the song structure. I come up with the lyrics for the songs and the theme of them when I hear a song. I normally know what I want to write about, but during this album, I got the demos. I came to my hotel room late one night and I thought why to go to sleep it is a great time to be here in a very magical place.
I was listening to the songs and I wrote some lyrics and then I returned home. I got the band to write some new songs then I went to Hollywood again and wrote some more songs. When I returned home the magic of the songs was still in my hands.
TM - How was it playing Sweden rock festival?
JYRKI 69 - It was fantastic there. A big audience waiting for us and we don't play there much.
TM - If you could have any band play one of your songs what band would it be, what song would it be and in your style or their style?
JYRKI 69 - Billy Idol doing a version of Lost Boys that would be pretty cool.
TM - I love Billy Idol, His song Rebel Yell is one of my favourites. Great choice.
TM - Is there anything else you want to say to your fans?
JYRKI 69 - We would like to Thank all of you for supporting us for all these years. Before this phone call, I got an email saying that we might be coming to Australia pretty soon. Hopefully, you can expect the Helsinki vampires in Australia pretty soon.
TM - Awesome, We will be looking for that tour announcement. We cannot wait to have you in Australia.