Inward Eye
Thanks to a magical combination of genetics and the power of Mick Jagger, the Erickson brothers lived and breathed more rock & roll before they hit ten years old than most people experience in a lifetime. When they were barely old enough to read, the trio who would soon become Inward Eye — Dave (vocals/bass), Kyle (guitar/vocals), and Anders (drums) — were "dancing around in our underwear to the Rolling Stones' Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!" reveals eldest bandmate Dave, now 24.
Youngest brother Anders recalls that “at age 5 – because there’s not much else to do when it’s -40C, my brothers and I become obsessed with our Dad's old vinyls in the basement. The Rolling Stone’s “Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out” is our introduction to rock n’ roll, followed by “Who’s Next”, “London Calling”, and “Something Else” by The Kinks.
These early musical experiences would come to heavily influence the high-voltage, rebellious rock of their debut self-titled EP.
As they reached their pre-teens, the Ericksons got their hands on Green Day's Dookie, which further ignited a shared desire to learn instruments and write songs — fast. They scrimped up enough cash for a cheap Spanish guitar and squabbled over time with the instrument
Anders remembers, “After saving up our money from clearing snow from driveways and mowing lawns all year we buy our first electric guitar, it’s made in Korea so you know it is good. A Fender bass soon follows. Dave and Kyle, being older, manage to keep the guitars away from me so I'm forced to be the drummer. I beat on plastic kitchenware, pots and pans as we jam in our basement. Due to the amount of broken cookware and splintered wooden spoons in the house, our parents broke down and bought me a drumset for Christmas!”
Despite his puberty-screwed voice, Dave became the de facto vocalist since "I was the only one willing to sing, but I was so bad" and the group hit the stage at their local winter carnival in early 1999 for their first-ever gig armed with a hundred cover songs and thirty originals. "I remember re-writing lyrics to songs I liked at the time, just for fun," Dave, 24, explains of his passion for rock. "We weren't good at hockey, so …"
The trio grabbed their moniker from the title of an early track nobody particularly liked ("We needed a name for a gig, and we really never got around to changing it," says Kyle) and began their recording career at home on a four-track. By high school, they'd picked up a manager, and around the time Anders hit 15, the band started hitting the bar scene. "I have especially fond memories of opening up for amateur strip nights at a club called the Zoo," 20-year-old Anders recalls.
“We realized we’ve been playing in this band for most of our lives and we’ve only ever played with each other… no member changes. The musical chemistry and genetic pre-disposition to like the same music makes our band special. As a 3-piece, there’s nowhere to hide so we perfected our technique and learned to fill out our sound,” Anders explains.
After amassing a strong local following — but without ever recording a note in a studio — major labels came a'knocking, and in the summer of 2005 the guys spent a week in New York City showing off their live skills. J Records was impressed and Inward Eye quit their grocery store jobs back home and began the arduous process of writing their first real recordings.
The result of their labors is the Inward Eye EP, which is stocked with powerful anthems that crackle with bratty energy and recall the swinging riffs, shouted chants, and raw-nerve rock of their favorite bands. The band recorded at their producer Arnold Lanni's house-studio in Temecula, California, logging ungodly long trips in their van as they continued to criss-cross the continent on tour. They even got a chance to open for their beloved Who north of the border in October '06. "I got to eat the best food at catering and watch 'Baba O'Riley' three times," gushes David.
But back in the studio, they were working overtime. Opener "Shame" started as a straight-up guitar riff and evolved into a snotty shuffle with yelped vocals. "It was too high for me to sing in a regular voice," explains Dave. "It sounded like the theme to Psycho. We were like, that can be kind of a hook. Lyrically, I felt like there was a lot of problems around me, and a lack of justice." "We're twentysomethings being thrown into the adult world and realizing this is kind of a screwed-up place," Kyle adds of the songs' overarching theme of disillusionment. "We're kind of learning to be wary. I think a lot of our lyrics are about a new awareness of our surroundings as young men growing up in a scary world."
Now audiences across the globe are getting a chance to hear Inward Eye's tunes — and witness their super-charged live gigs. Fresh off a whirlwind tour of the UK, the trio is gearing up for next year's festival circuit, a return spring trip to the UK, and putting the finishing touches on their debut full-length. But there is one thing you won't find on the record: love songs. "We made a pact from the beginning," Kyle announces. "On our first album we're not going to write a boy/girl lovey-dovey song because we've heard it before." Plus, for this trio, brotherhood always comes first. "We are a true band. There is not one decision that is made by one person, it has to go through all of us, right down to notes I sing or a drum beat Anders plays," Dave explains. They have one last policy, too: "We can't repeat our road stories or people are going to go to jail."
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