If you need a convincing example of the power of MySpace, look no further than Eyes Set To Kill. Since forming back in 2004, the Arizona screamo band has been implementing the Internet, namely MySpace, as a means to connect with various business heads in the music industry. While it didn’t hurt that the site actually named Eyes Set To Kill as one of the top unsigned bands on the music scene, it was the band’s efforts to get in touch with venues, promoters - and most importantly - fans that made the biggest impact. It seemed to work given the fact that the band booked its entire first tour via MySpace marketing.
Screamer/keyboardist Brandon Anderson is not a founding member of Eyes Set To Kill, but upon entering the band he immediately noticed an eager and dedicated fan base was already showing up to gigs. Whether it was the MySpace method, a steadfast work ethic, or the skilled songwriting of frontwoman Alexia Rodriguez (who supplies a cherubic, melodic side to the vocals), Anderson sensed that Eyes Set To Kill was a rising force on the music scene. When Anderson talked with Ultimate-Guitar writer Amy Kelly recently, he discussed his first days in the band and how his keyboard playing will always come in a distant second place to his first love, screaming.
UG: Your band has reaped a lot of the benefits of MySpace, and I understand that you booked your first tour primarily through the site.
Brandon: It’s just such a good tool as far as promotion and getting out there. You can do anything with it as far as meeting people and stuff. With booking the first tour, it was shortly after I joined the band. It was about 3 weeks and we kind of planned out the route we wanted to take and the stops we were going to make. Then through MySpace we hooked up with venues and promoters and stuff. We talked to them and booked that, which is really hard to do. It was definitely hard to get that done.
Some of the shows fell through and whatever, but other than that MySpace is just awesome. You can communicate with your fans, and a lot of kids really like that. Every day that we’re home, we’ll go on MySpace and reply to people’s messages and comments. They’re like, “Holy crap! A band actually responded to me?” We’re like, “Yeah!” We try to interact with fans when we have the time to. MySpace, it just allows you to promote shows and there are so many people on it. You post one bulletin and tons of people are going to see it. It’s just amazing as far as promotion. It’s pretty much become the new thing to have a MySpace instead of a band website. I think more kids check out bands’ MySpaces than their official websites nowadays.
You’ve posted more songs on your MySpace page than other bands do these days. Was that the band’s decision or did the label have a say in that?
That was our decision. We’re really proud of the album and we love all the songs. A couple of them were older songs that we redid for the album. Before the album was released, the album didn’t want us to put up any new material because they didn’t want it to affect preorders or CD sales. We just wanted to get a couple more out there. We had such a hard time picking the ones that were already up. We like all the stuff on the album, so we asked if we could put up a couple more after the album came out. They were like, “Yeah, that’s cool.” So I think we have like 6 songs up right now. That just draws more attention to our profile, and hopefully more kids view our profile and more kids come to the shows.
Considering that you entered the band a little later than Alexia and Anissa, how did you come about joining Eyes Set To Kill? Were you all friends at first?
Yeah, it was more or less that they were acquaintances. It was before they had played any out-of-state shows, and there were 3 girls and 3 guys in it. The 3 guys haven’t been in the band for a long time. I was in a band with a bunch of my friends, and it was a bunch of us having fun and playing shows in Arizona. We had played a handful shows around the Phoenix area, so they knew of me and they knew who I was.
Basically what happened was they kicked the drummer out a really long time ago. Then the other 2 guys that were in the band left with the drummer. So the girls needed 3 more guys. It was right when my band was kind of breaking up, too, so they contacted me and I told them I really wanted to do it. I went to one of the practices and just kind of tried out. And that was that. I just kind of jammed with them once, and they were like, “Cool! You’re in the band.”
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| "You can communicate with your fans, and a lot of kids really like that." |
At the audition did you try out as a vocalist and a keyboardist?
The first day that I went in with them to practice, I was just doing the screaming. The keyboard was something that I did in my previous band, and I brought that extra little thing to Eyes Set To Kill. They didn’t have any keyboard parts before I was in the band. So I went in and said, “I have a keyboard and I can put keyboard stuff in there, too.”
As far as the synth, I brought that in. The classical piano stuff, Alexia writes all of that and then teaches me how to play it. She’s incredible on like every instrument. Well, maybe not drums. But she can play guitar, piano, and sing. She knows a lot about music.
Were most all of the songs on Reach written before you joined the band?
Yeah, pretty much. The 4 songs that are on this CD and that were on our old EP, which we did independently - you can’t find it anywhere anymore. It was before we were on a label and it didn’t have distribution or anything. There are 4 songs from that EP: “Darling,” “Liar In The Glass,” “Young Blood Spills Tonight,” and then the acoustic song “Give You My All.” Those 4 songs were written before I was in the band. Those songs have been around for like 3 or 4 years. Then on the rest of the stuff, I actually got to start contributing and writing my own lyrics and stuff.
Among the songs you did contribute music or lyrics to, do you have a personal favorite?
The 2nd track on the CD is called “Sketch In Black & White.” I wrote pretty much all of the lyrics to that song. The rest of the songs, I wrote pretty much my own parts, but Alexia had the ideas. I would just chip in and write my own stuff, maybe help her out. That song is the only one that is like my own idea. I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite song necessarily, but that’s definitely the one that I feel I worked the hardest on.
The song right before “Sketch In Black & White” is the all-instrumental “Intro.” Did you contribute much to that track?
The studio engineer recorded that at Mind’s Eye in Arizona. He was pretty much the force behind that. If you listen to the piano part that starts it off, that piano part is the same one that is taken from the song after that, “Sketch In Black & White.” It’s the same piano part. The “Intro” track was actually pretty much all engineered in the studio. He would take little clips from the song after that, as far as like the guitars and the piano, and basically made “Intro” with that. Then he added the electronic drums with some effects and stuff. So it’s nothing he wrote, but he pretty much engineered it. We told him we wanted an intro and we told him what parts to use, then he used his imagination with that. We were like, “Dang, that sounds really cool!”
I read a quote from Alexia saying, “We didn’t want to be just another screamo band; we wanted to do something different.” How did the band set out to distinguish itself when it came to songwriting?
I think it might be the chemistry and just how Alexia writes for guitar. She doesn’t write all metal riffs with breakdowns and stuff. She’ll write some really cool riffs and then she’ll have the real melodic parts, too. The fact that we have her singing in addition to the screaming, it’s like this half-and-half feel. We definitely take a lot out of that hardcore genre. We do have some breakdowns and we listen to a lot of that music, but we wanted to expand that. It’s much poppier, and as far as this album, some of them are more verse-chorus-verse-chorus, radio friendly. We just try to be really diverse in writing the album. No matter what you listen to, you can at least like one song on the album. So as far as like breaking out of that genre, that’s something that we did in the music writing process. We didn’t want to be all breakdowns and we didn’t want to be all heavy. Some songs are really heavy; some songs aren’t heavy at all.
Do you consider yourself more of a vocalist than a keyboardist, or is it the other way around?
Definitely it’s vocals. The screaming thing, I’ve been doing that for a really long time in a bunch of bands. Honestly, I don’t even know how I got into it! It’s something that I’ve been doing for so long that it’s kind of natural to me now and I don’t really think much of it.
The band that I was in before Eyes Set To Kill, it was a bunch of my friends and I played guitar at the time. They already had 2 guitar players, so they didn’t need another one. I was like, “I have some extra money. If I buy a keyboard and teach myself to play, can I be in your band?” I’m not bad, but I can’t read music on the piano or anything. It’s just kind of something that I picked up, and I make up cool little things here and there. Like I said, Alexia writes all the classical parts. She is more into the piano writing and stuff like that. I can play it, but I don’t consider myself a piano player at all.
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| "We just try to be really diverse in writing the album." |
What keyboards are you playing on Reach?
For the synth sounds, it’s a MicroKorg. It’s like a really small, mini synthesizer. On all the piano parts, we just did it in the studio with the keyboard that he had. That goes through the Pro Tools, and that gives you the piano sound that you want. I used all the stuff that I use onstage.
When you’re on the road, do you continue to write music and lyrics?
Yeah, we do. We just put out the CD, so we’re not writing as much. We had a couple of songs that we wanted to put on the album, but we were super-rushed as far as writing them and we’re saving them for the next album. Alexia is always writing. She’ll come up with lyrics or melodies in her head, and she’ll add it on to her notebook. We’re consistently thinking of new material, but we just kind of wait for that to come to us. We do that at home and on the road, whenever something hits us.
You’re a great example of a DIY band that created a buzz through hard work and drive. What advice would you give to bands that might want to try a similar approach?
When I joined Eyes Set To Kill, I knew it had potential. At the same time, I was still on call and had a job. I wasn’t set on it, and I was still working towards something else. When I joined the band, it already had a huge buzz in Arizona. The first show I played was sold out, a home show in Arizona.
Really all we did was build up the local fan base and tour as much as possible. We did have some help. We had a manager that really helped us out. We’ve just been touring as much as we can, and that’s what it comes down to. So I would say it’s really possible for everyone. Just keep putting yourself out there - that’s all we did. We played a ton of shitty tours where nobody comes to your show! Eventually the shows get bigger and bigger if you keep doing it.
Interview by Amy Kelly
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