Early 1990's Helsinki, Finland. Five guys in Ramones-like black biker leather jackets have started a band called THE 69 EYES. Horror flavored Glam rock. They are VERY loud: Iggy & The Stooges, Dead Boys, Motrhead etc. Signed to the indie label Gaga Goodies. Records, tours; also in Sweden, U.K. and Italy; lots of chaos, broken hearts and distortion. Reputation goes before the band. Fan club in Japan. Dark industrial rock version of Blondie's "Call Me". More tours. More chaos. No mercy.
"WASTING THE DAWN" was The 69 Eyes's first international release on ROADRUNNER RECORDS. In 1999 with its unique concept of Gothic melancholy mixed with hi-energy rock'n'roll roots of the band, the album not only brought some long-waited fresh blood into the Gothic scene but also launched a new term to the media: GOTH'N'ROLL. The album's epic melanGothic TOP 10 hit single "WASTING THE DAWN" paid a tribute to The DOORS' Jim Morrison and even had HIM's Ville Valo posing at a snowy cemetery as Mr. Mojo Risin' on its video. The band is said to be the missing link between The Cult and Type O Negative.
In the spring 2000 the band released a single "GOTHIC GIRL" which changed everything. Months on the Singles TOP 10 and on the Finnish national radio's playlists "GOTHIC GIRL" brought the first gold record to the band. Like this gold-gone taster single the highly anticipated new album "BLESSED BE" was produced by JOHNNY LEE MICHAELS who as "the sixth member" of the band did all the arrangements and handles all keyboards and programming on the album as well. As Johnny Lee Michaels has also been known as a film music composer, the present BLESSED soundscape of The 69 Eyes is somewhere between epic and melanGothic yet with vibes of movies "Sleepy Hollow"-meets-"Matrix" - without forgetting the shadows of "The Crow"...
Right after the BLESSED BE sessions in August 2000 The 69 Eyes did their first short WASTING THE DAWN-based German tour which also included a show at the huge Mera Luna Gothic festival. As the support band on this tour was Norwegian electro-Goth band Zeromancer. The tour closed the first chapter and opened the new one...
"BLESSED BE" was released on the same date in September 2000 as The 69 Eyes got their gold records from the first single of it. The album rose straight to number 4 in the Finnish Album Charts and stayed over month in TOP 10 (3 months in TOP 40). The second single from the album was "BRANDON LEE" which also became a huge power-play radio hit and the single stayed 14 weeks in TOP 20. In the "GOTHIC GIRL" video the Crow-meets-Matrix like vision featured black Goth-hop dancers in the rubber nun dresses but "BRANDON LEE" with a mid-nightly dark teenage Romeo and Juliet dream was the video which became one the most requested videos for months in the music channel German VIVA2.
The band spent the rest of year touring almost three months in Finland playing sold-out shows everywhere. Still surprised the band was voted in the biggest Finnish music magazine Soundi for NUMBER 1 in the Best Finnish Band, Album and Song categories - actually "Brandon Lee" was number one and "Gothic Girl" number two! Also the biggest German Gothic magazine Orkus, on the cover of which Jyrki was in October issue, voted the Eyes on the tops of the year 2000.
The third BLESSED single and video release was dark and moody "THE CHAIR" which raised straight number 2 on the Finnish Single Charts in February 2001 and continued The 69 Eyes' "hit list" on the airwaves.
The fourth BLESSED single "STOLEN SEASON" was released in May 2001 as the band successfully toured in Germany with Paradise Lost and continued touring through the European summer festival season. The final "Blessed Be" show for was played for mere 15 000 Goths at Germany 's M'era Luna festival in September 2001.
In October the band went back to studio with Johnny Lee Michaels to record their follow-up to the gold gone (in Finland ) "Blessed Be". The first teaser single and video from it, "DANCE D'AMOUR" came out in December 2001 and has been number one in both the national radio and singles charts in Finland in January and February 2002 and it went gold again.
PARIS KILLS itself is a majestic masterpiece from the masterminds of the band and producer Lee Michaels. The band's guitar sound mixed with 80's keyboard sound and classic matured sense of melancholic melodies reaches its peak on the album which is according to the singer Jyrki "made to dance yourself to sleep just before the dawn". "It was perfect to start recording this album right after playing the final show of the tour in the front of 20 000 Goths and have that "gothic for masses" vibe still going on as we worked for the songs," he adds. Like Depeche Mode's "Violator" PARIS KILLS is THE album for the band. Dark and stylish, some could even call Gothic-AOR, Johnny Lee Michaels' soundscapes and Jyrki's Cash-Orbison-Morrison disciplined vocals with catchy and yet beautiful songs make the midnight be true blue and bright. It's time to dance into the serious moonlight...
...And they danced! "Paris Kills" stayed weeks number one in Finland after its release and went gold in a month (June 2002), going close to platinum these days. In Germany the album rose straight to number 35 on its first week. The band toured European rock festivals all the summer 2002, returned for a headliner tour in Germany , Austria , Switzerland and Italy in October 2002 and finished their most successful year by touring once again in Finland till Christmas. The second single from the album was already a Finnish radio power-play hit "BETTY BLUE", which flirted the images of the French same titled classic dark 80's movie. Also an "icy" video was made. A sold-out show at Helsinki 's famous Tavastia was filmed and documented in November for the DVD use - due through Gaga Goodies/Poko Rekords/EMI in September 2003 entitled as "HELSINKI VAMPIRES".
The first half of the year 2003 the band spend mainly writing already new material for the next album but played their first ever show in Moscow , Russia in March. The third single release from "Paris Kills" was a show opener "CRASHING HIGH" and featured also three new remixes of "Stigmata" by French indu-wizard Kris Kylven, whose past includes bands like Killing Joke etc.
Summer 2003 brought The Eyes back to the festival stages starting from Germany 's Wave Gotik Treffen. After the biggest festivals in Finland, again Sziget Festival in Hungary and Highfield in Germany , the summer season was completed at Terremoto Festival in Germany.
In September "FRAMED IN BLOOD - The Very Blessed of the 69 Eyes" compilation cd was released in Finland only and rose straight to number 6 on the album charts. Simultaneously was released "HELSINKI VAMPIRES - Live+Videos" DVD and the band toured in Finland in November 2003 for the release.
In the end of the year The 69 Eyes got signed to EMI Finland another new chapter begins
The first half of 2004 has been spent in the studio pre-producing, arranging and finally recording their new album "DEVILS", due to come in October (25th in Finland, later elsewhere) through VIRGIN/EMI. The album is produced by Hiili Hiilesmaa (HIM, Sentenced, Moonspell etc.) and Johnny Lee Michaels. The first single from it "LOST BOYS" came out in Finland in the beginning of June, raised to number 1 on the singles charts on its second week and became the biggest radio hit The Eyes ever had in Finland. Not bad for a song about a 17-year old vampire movie! The band played also at some festivals during the summer around Europe and mainly in Finland getting finally ready to release their "comeback album" DEVILS. "Recently as I've been asked my 3 favourite albums I've been answering Elvis' "'68 Comeback Special", Danzig's "II: Lucifuge" and The Doors' I - DEVILS is all that what these albums grew me into." explains Jyrki.
The second single from DEVILS is the title track "Devils" and the band will also film a video of it with the famous Swedish Baranga Brothers - expect an X-Rated version to come out as well. The 69 Eyes are DEVILS!
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