The Heavy Eyes interview METALLOID Magazine

METALLOID

There’s something so satisfying and exhilarating about finding new music. For music lovers when you find a band you can get into at any level, in any genre it touches the soul.

The Heavy Eyes is a band when I first heard “One Hand On The Buffalo” I had to go down the rabbit hole in finding out more. Oozing swagger from the early days of fuzzed out Rock n’ Roll of the late 60s, early 70s, The Heavy Eyes have much more to offer than only an homage to earlier music. Hailing from Memphis, TN, the band draws from their Delta Blues / Rock influences and fuse a nice combination of heavy music. I have a personal playlist of The Heavy Eyes, Wet Nuns, The Black Keys, The Sword, Dan Auerbach, and Clutch, giving nice swells, fuzz for days and a “kick the door in” attitude that is listenable all day.

Celebrating their 10th year in 2020 as a band, The Heavy Eyes is a band when I discovered them, I wish I had earlier.

Their latest release “Love Like Machines” gives you everything you’re hoping for while showing some maturity from the band. The album itself brings nice peaks and valleys to the structure of their songs, giving you a trip through what the band has created.

The album starts out super chill with an acoustic guitar and cavernous clean vocals from Tripp Shumake. Once settling into the tempo of the intro the first track “Anabasis” crashes into great drums and guitar, rolling into a fantastic beat laid out by Eric Garcia on their 2nd track “Made for the Age” Wally Anderson brings you fat bass and Matt Qualls rounds off the quartet with more fuzzed out guitar. To me a quartet is a perfect lineup, creating a fullness and dynamic range that brings the most out of every instrument. I also really like how The Heavy Eyes keep it simple by leaving space within the songs and album in its entirety. “Love Like Machines” reminds me of moments you could hear from Eagles of Death Metal or Queens of The Stone Age with the way they handle some of their arrangements as the band plays with different guitar tones, great drum mixes, treatments on vocals, and more giving you an experience.

It’s difficult to nail down a “favorite” track, but it I had to I would land on “Late Night” with the cool way the song kicks off with what sounds like a heel stomp and a pencil tapping on a glass to keep time, opening up to immense fuzz and a great sound to a punchy kick drum.

“Love Like Machines” is a great rock album that should be heard by many.

I sat down with Tripp and Eric to talk some about the band’s history, influences, and their new album.

You can check it out here:

Support the band:

Website:

https://www.theheavyeyes.com/

Bandcamp:

https://theheavyeyesmemphis.bandcamp.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/theheavyeyes/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/TheHeavyEyes/

Photos provided by: The Heavy Eyes