AN ABRASIVE MIX: Two years ago, singer Tom Dark (the Dark, Knifedance, Stepsister, Dead Federation), drummer Jeff Pell (Idiot Humans, Shadow of Fear, Basket Case, Garten Kirkhof, Dutch Babies) joined forces with guitarist Mike "Shoobs" Schubert (Nimrods, Missile Toe, Dead Federation) and bassist Dave Olajos (Mexican Coke) to form Black Static Eye. Pell approached Dark and asked him to start a band. Dark wanted the band to play "a loud abrasive mix of blues, garage and post-punk." "I had broken up my previous band, Dead Federation," says Dark. "Jeff [Pell] really wanted to start something new. I said, 'Let's do it.' I had figured I was going to retire, but he drew me back in." Dark reached out to Schubert, and Olajos responded to an ad for a bassist. "Everything came together really well, and I'm really happy with this band," Dark says. "I've always done the punk and hardcore and horror-punk thing and god knows what else. We have more of a bluesy, garage post-punk thing and made it our own."
A BIT OF THE BLUES:The band cites underground acts such as Laughing Hyenas, Nick Cave, the Stooges and the Birthday Party as influences. "There's not a lot of bands in this area that are doing music like those bands," says Dark. "I really dig bands like that. The other guys in our band like those bands. There are millions of hardcore and death-metal bands and that's great, but there aren't many bands like the Birthday Party, and we really like them. They have a blues element. We want to make a genre of our own out of this."
WHY YOU SHOULD HEAR THEM: The band recorded a demo last year, but Dark says he wasn't happy with it. "It's good, but not super-great," he says of the unreleased demo. When the band was ready to record again, it hooked up with Matt Lindsay, who owns his own studio, and cut the new EP, The Confession Box, with him. "We recorded 10 songs, and we took seven of them to put on The Confession Box." The lurching "Night Stalker" finds Dark howling to a chug-a-lug guitar riff. A driving solo punctuates the tune. "We got the CDs pressed cheaply, and we're shopping it around to see if anyone can do it on vinyl," says Dark. "I love vinyl, but it's so expensive." A song from the album will appear on an upcoming compilation featuring tunes by acts such as Bar Trash and "other high-energy bands from around the country." Another EP is on the horizon, but Dark says it might turn into a full-length if the group can pull enough songs together.
WHERE YOU CAN HEAR THEM: blackstaticeye.bandcamp.com.
WHERE YOU CAN SEE THEM: Black Static Eye, Bar Trash and Vivora perform at 9 p.m. on Friday, March 15, at Now That's Class.
