"Original... punk ethic... tech-industrial... influences from acid to drum and bass, atmospheric & spooky to in your face." DRUM Music Magazine, Sydney.
"... imagine a mix between NIN, the Chemical Brothers, Atari Teenage Riot, the Aphex Twin & Negativland..." The Canberra Times newspaper.
April 2008: The Gods decided it was finally time for EYE to add a few tunes on MySpace:
~ EYE descended from the heavens in the early 90s: evolving from cinematic industrial-musique-concrete, e.b.m., cyberpunk, through goth-metal, hip hop, acid house, power noise, a dash of punk pop to radio-friendly electro-pop.
~ Also released tunes under the names "aya", "E.L.F."*, "DJ Citizen" and "QT". * That's not the e.l.f. that's active in Australia now though.
~ Tracks released on over 70 compilation CDs (adding up to over 70,000 individual CDs out there somewhere).
~ Videos broadcast on national Australian TV (ABC-tv "Rage" and SBS-tv "Alchemy" plus an interview).
~ Always been a D.I.Y. self-released project; done more for the amusement of spreading propaganda via community radio, compilation CDs & other media ... in preference to being a dog & pony show told when to sing & dance by anyone else. EYE never toured although our "E.L.F." project did a bit around Australia in the early '00s.
~ In the years 1999 to 2003 EYE was one of the most highly and consistently played artists on community radio stations around Australia with thought-provoking tracks like: "Mandate!" (ftg. the premier appearance of prime minister John Howard on guest vocals), "Taliban: Made by the USA", "Refugees [Detention Without Trial]", "(EYE wanna be a) CIA Hypno-Programmed Robot Assassin" and "Are YOU a Terrorist?" These were mostly from home-made CDR EPs that were sent out to 50 or so stations every 3 months over several years.
~ In 1999, a representative of Radio JJJ, the Australian government's national youth station, said EYE's "Mandate!" was "too political" to be played (it features samples of various Australian politicians; shortly after the station was in legal trouble for playing Pauline Pantsdown's sample-heavy parody of Pauline Hanson (a politician). Nevertheless, a few renegade radio JJJ DJs snuck in EYE's tunes here and there. :)
~ In 2003 Radio JJJ, added the radio-friendly "A Nice Walk in the Park" to their daily play list for several months. It was then released under the artist name "E.L.F."
~ That's the stage when a band is meant to get all serious and jump up & down like children to get the attention of the professional music industry. Having skipped that class at school EYE rolled over and had a nice nap.
~ From 1992-2004 EYE ran the Blatant Propaganda record label and 'zine for promoting underground music and political activism . The label released numerous cassettes (it was the 90s!) and over 10 CDs including numerous compilations like:
. . . "A.S.I.N.G.E.D. vol 1" (Australian Synthpop Industrial Noise Gothic Electro Darkwave, 2002); around 1,000 CDs given away at club launches in 8 Australian cities.
. . . "Electricity" (3 CDs of Canberran electronic music, 2003 (2CDs) and 2004 (CDr)); and
. . . "Songs of Protest" (Australian protest muzak of many genres, 2003) ...
These projects all brought many underground Australian self-released artists to wider attention: radio and club-play, media reviews and into the hands of the public.
~ In tandem with the Blatant Propaganda music and activist 'zine and record label EYE personnel hosted weekly radio shows on Canberra's community radio 2XX 98.3 fm between 1993 and 2006. The mission was to showcase self-released underground artists. Sadly the station is now a very pale shadow of the force it once was.
~ It was largely the exhausting task of running the record label, dealing with too many artist egos and rip-off merchants that led to EYE's hibernation. EYE shut down the Blatant Propaganda enterprise in 2004 along with live E.L.F. gigs, recording and promotions... though continued with heavy involvement in Community Radio (playing a key role in saving the 2XX station from closure and to keep it operational) until retiring from radio in mid 2006.
~ EYE has continued composing in recent years but as such has not had the necessary time to finish nor promote it. The 2003 album "Propaganda Machine" was never released due to higher priorities. Likewise, an album of electro-acid-glitch-house "e.l.f." material and power-noise "dj citizen" tracks remain to be resurrected and polished... perhaps one fine day soon... and if so, would all be released under the name EYE - it was a big mistake to have too many projects: it spread's one's energies too thinly.
~ EYE members currently amuse themselves musically with weekly DJing and the running of a wide range of nightclub events.
