Eyes Set To Kill

Upon first glance Eyes Set To Kill is an exercise in juxtapositions. When most people think of bands that are classified as screamo, or metalcore, the image is one that’s filled almost entirely with testosterone, but Eyes Set To Kill’s screamo sound has a decidedly female backbone with Alexia Rodriguez, who is a vocalist and plays the guitar and keyboards, and her sister Anissa, who plays the bass. The intense sound they create with guitarist Greg Kerwin, drummer Caleb Clifton, and new screamer / keyboardist Cisko Miranda, has given them a unique spot in not just the screamo scene, but the music scene overall.

Then there’s their label situation. They’re on Break Silence Recordings, which is a label that was created specifically for them by Suburban Noize Records, a rap-rock outfit known most for being the home to acts such as Kottonmouth Kings.

Being different, however, has proven to be a very good thing for Eyes Set To Kill as the band has become a force on the rock scene. They’ve hosted Headbanger’s Ball, were listed in Alternative Press’ 100 Bands You Need To Know feature in 2009, they’re on the cover of issue #54 of Outburn, and they’ve been drawing huge crowds throughout the country on this year’s Warped Tour.

TheCelebrityCafe.com’s Adam Bernard caught up with the band before a show and found out more about their juxtapositions, how they’ve worked out perfectly for them, and the t-shirt they almost had to make for Cisko Miranda.

TheCelebrityCafe: Why don’t you start by giving a little bit of background info on where you’re from and how long you’ve been doing this?

Greg Kerwin: Well, we hail from Arizona. The girls started the band in 2004. We’ve been touring ever since then pretty much.

Alexia Rodriguez: Anissa and I started the band together, but originally we weren’t planning to do a band together, we just both played bass and guitar. She was actually going to start a band with her best friend Lindsey (Vogt), who was the singer at the time, and then I was gonna start my own band, but then we just joined forces. That’s an interesting fact that no one really knows.

TCC: And Lindsey’s now... homeless?

Anissa Rodriguez: She’s in a different band.

TCC: Your fan base is, for the most part, a younger crowd, which means they grow up with you. How do you expect your music to grow with your fans and your fans to grow with you?

GK: We write what we want to write and we always keep our fans our mind.

AxR: I know there are a lot of bands out there that attract a bunch of younger kids, but there are bands that I see not pulling those same fans through just because they’re gonna end up growing up and going a different direction. One thing that is different about us is I think a lot of the fans connect through the lyrics because I really try and write about really serious stuff that people can relate to so they have more of a connection with the song instead of just going to a show to rock out.

TCC: You’re categorized as screamo. I don’t know if you necessarily like that categorization.

GK: It is what it is.

TCC: No one really likes being put in a box, but it’s interesting to have a female vocalist in that genre of music. You do not hear that a lot. How do you think that affects things musically, as well as people’s reactions?

AxR: I think that draws people in and at the same time people that are closed minded kind of steer away from it. We don’t really try and think of that kind of stuff, we just like to write what we write.

Cisko Miranda: The thing that’s cool about our band is they categorize us as screamo and stuff, but then they see that there’s two chicks in the band rocking out just as hard as the dudes. That captures their attention and leaves them with something to think about.

TCC: Something that I’ve thought a lot about is that fact that you’re on Suburban Noize Records. That’s a label that’s mostly rap-rock bands. How’d you end up landing there?

GK: It was along time ago. Our old manager worked for them and basically they just came to us and told us they were gonna believe in us.

TCC: When you can find someone who believes in you that’s more than half the battle.

AxR: I think that’s a really important thing to do when you’re a band. When you’re picking through the different labels you really need to stick with the people that believe in you the most and think that you’re doing something that’s really different and worth spending their money on.

Caleb Clifton: First they wanted to shop us around and just help us. They didn’t think we’d do well on their rap-rock label.

GK: But it’s actually a really good family. We’re really tight with Suburban Noize Records. It’s one big family over there. Everyone believes in each other and sticks up for each other. It’s a good label.

TCC: What else should people know about you that they may not know already?

CM: There’s a big confusion about whether I’m black or Puerto Rican, so for the record, I’m Puerto Rican.

GK: We were actually gonna make a t-shirt with his silhouette and it was gonna say “Who’s The Black Guy?” because everyone thinks he’s black.

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