Eyes Set to Kill wrap up the Warped Tour this weekend.
Over the past couple of years, the members of the Arizona based metal band Eyes Set To Kill have seen some personnel changes. Earlier this year, co-lead singer Brandon Anderson left the band, and was replaced with new screamer Cisko Miranda. Now that the band has firmed up their lineup, the band recently released their third album “Broken Frames” back in June.
The band is now on tour for at least the end of the year and are spending their summer out on the Warped Tour and killing it on the Ernie Ball Stage. During their Detroit stop, I had a chance to talk with three members of the band: new singer Cisko Miranda, guitarist Greg Kerwin and co-lead singer Alexia Rodriguez. During the conversation, we discussed the fans reaction to the lineup changes, as well as the band’s changes within and how it has improved the band.
Here’s my interview with Eyes Set To Kill:
AM: How has the reaction from fans been to the new album so far?
ESTK: It’s going really well, we had some member changes so there was some flak and a little bit of backlash when it first happened. But since the album has been out, a lot of that has gone away and people have embraced it really well, so we’re happy about it so far.
AM: With Brandon’s departure, how did that change the dynamic of the group, and did it put additional pressure on Alexia to step her up game?
ESTK: (Alexia)- I don’t think it changed my game up that much with this album. About the only difference was to work on the screaming parts and had to pick up more of that with this album than in the past. (Greg)- When something drastic happens like change of members in the band, you always want to come back and write something ten times better than the last album or else you’ll get flak from fans- so you have to shut them up with the results of the album.
AM: How do you feel “Broken Frames” improves on the band’s earlier work?
ESTK: I think because we worked with Andrew Wade, who really knew the band’s music helped us a lot this time around. In the past, we’ve worked with producers who really didn’t know the band and own our style and the albums might have seemed a little rushed in the past- some of the producers came from the rap-rock or punk rock world. Andrew knew what we liked and we felt a lot more comfortable with him.
AM: You have been on Warped for the entire 2010 run, how has the experience been so far?
ESTK: The Warped Tour has been amazing, and wanted to always do it. I think that’s a dream for every band here- is to be on this tour. We did about ten days last year, mostly random dates. This is the first Warped Tour that we’ve done the entire show, and it’s great.
AM: How do you combat the monotony of being on the road every day with this tour?
ESTK: It’s definitely a hard tour, especially since we’re doing it in a van- so that sucks. We have to have a driver, so we can’t be out partying all day after we’re done playing. We doing this for our fans and for the music, and not the luxury of it. We may be hot and sweaty all the rest of the day, but for 30 minutes, we’re having the time of our lives.
Eyes Set To Kill remain on the Warped Tour through the close of the tour on August 15th. For more band info and tour dates, check out www.estkrock.com. The band’s new album, “Broken Frames” is out now on BreakSilence Records.
