Finland's newest surprise is Random Eyes. Formed by members of already existing bands Random Eyes is sure to bring in some expertise in the melodic metal scene. Their debut album Eyes Ablaze is a first sample of their craft. An interview with an eye-catching band.

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Random Eyes is a fairly new band. How would you like to describe the band?

Well that's a nice question. Usually people ask how to describe the music but this one is a better question. Random Eyes is a mixdown of very talented players. All our band members have played before in many different Finnish bands and this is a kind of "dream come true" line-up. We feel that we are quite a young band still but we've had the priviledge to make a record and play some really great shows during this 15 months this has been together.

A few months ago you released your first album independently. Eyes Ablaze contains
ten songs. What do you think of this first record?

This record was something we had to do to establish ourselves as a real band if you know what we mean. It consists of songs from three persons in our band but it still makes a good package. Later on it feels that we could have done a bit better 'cause we only had a limited time in studio. But we don't complain, and we are really satisfied with the result and so far the audience thinks the same.

The songs were written by Timo Kuusjärvi, Christian Palin and Katja
Rimpeläinen. How do you write your songs? Do you sit together to write lyrics and then add music to it, or does it happen in the rehearsal room, or how else?

All of our songwriters do the thing in their homes. They go over and over these songs and finally they bring them to rehearsals. After that we start to make them fit the whole band, design some fitting beats and bass lines into them. Lyrics are already made by songwriters so there is some small things only to check in those. We have had to make some changes in a few songs to make them sound more Random Eyes but mostly we create songs really easily.

I noticed that the accompanying booklet doesn't contain the lyrics. How come?

This booklet was a big problem for us. Mostly because we were in a huge hurry to make the covers 'cause our cd's were about to be printed. So these covers were made in few nights and we simply did not have the time to put all the lyrics in there. Well, that's not the full reason. Second one was that we decided to make people curious about what we sing of and make them visit our homepage for full lyrics. Anyway, we had a lot of feedback of this and we are planning to put more lyrics in there for the next print of our album. So hold tight to that copy of yours 'cause it's going to be a collectors item one day.

Like I said, Eyes Ablaze was released independently. Were there no interested
record companies?

Before we made this album, we only had three demo songs recorded before it so we did not want to send that anywhere. We had a plan that we can promote ourselves much better with this full length album than with a three song cd-r. Now we've had some feedback from record labels and we are hoping that our next album will come thru a real label.

How much interest is there in melodic metal in Finland?

A lot. As you may know, we have some great melodic metal bands in Finland already so they have made the way for us and it's easy to get people interested in our music.

All members are part of another band. Three of you are in Fire Up, four of you in
Hallowed. What kind of band is Fire Up?

Fire Up is great band. Hard to say anything special about. They just made their debut album few weeks ago. You have to check it by yourself.:)

The last time I tried to access the Hallowed homepage, I found out it was gone. Is
there anything happening with the band?

Hallowed is still kicking. They have found a new vocalist for the band and now they are planning their next moves. There might be a record coming out, who knows. As you've already noticed, we tend to be bit shy to talk about our other bands in Random Eyes :)

Christian, your singer, was in Exlife as well. This band had a song on The Metal
Rose Collection that Little Rose Productions released. I really liked I'm Over You
from Exlife. Just as Hallowed the homepage of Exlife vanished. What happened to
Exlife?

Exlife is kicking hard also. They have another website running nowadays and they also found a new vocalist. Great music.

A question about Random Eyes now. What are the touring plans? So far you've only
gigged in Finland. Are there plans to give concerts abroad?

Yes, we have some plans in the back of our heads but let's see what happens. We are planning to make a tour in Central Europe, maybe during next winter already. It's just that we have seven in our band + the crew so it's not gonna be an easy task to do. We'll let you know if something comes up.

You've got seven members in one band. That looks rather expensive as it comes to booking the band. How easy is it actually for you to tour?

So far the tours and gigs in Finland have went well. We usually travel with a bus and sometimes with 2 or 3 normal cars. It would be easier to be a folk band instead 'cause now we have to pack big drum set with five toms and 3 full-stack guitar cabinets + bass amp in the car. But metal keeps us running straight so no complaints.

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