People move, and so do bands. Today’s act have migrated north from Mexico up to Guns N’ Roses’ stomping ground…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Los Angeles, CA… although, the band was formed in Mexico City.
How did you meet?
After many line-up changes in Mexico City, founding member Dr. Eye brought in Miss Randall in 2003, then he left as soon as we moved to Los Angeles, and we found Baron Murtland in 2005 through an ad posted on Musicians Institute in Hollywood. That’s been our definitive line-up since and the one featured on all our American recordings.
How long have you been playing as a band?
25 years. 8 years in Mexico, 17 in Los Angeles.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Rusty Eye signifies seeing things with a different eye, one that is corroded… a corroded perception. We have always defied the generic and the trends, so our name reflects our vision as a band. It also has a good phonetic sound to it, and can be interpreted as Rusty I, or Rusty Eye as a person’s name and last name.
Those who think it’s a nonsense name couldn’t be more wrong, there’s a very deep philosophical existentialist background to it, but then, if they are not getting it, that only means they are not seeing it with a Rusty Eye.
What are your influences?
Collectively Motorhead, Iron Maiden and The Misfits. Individually, we are all very different and bring many influences to the table, from pro-rock to extreme metal, from post-punk to hardcore, from thrash to doom… We are a very intricate, seamless, large puzzle of the processing of our influences.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
No one’s ever been able to put a label on our style, because there’s not any other band doing what we are doing. Our focus is to be original and timeless. Our sound is a blend of many different styles.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
We take a lot of influence from Horror Movies and we always make lyrics from the existentialist point of view. We usually write songs from the concept and up.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
Our live show is very unique, it’s not common to see a female drummer playing metal drums while singing melodic at the same time. And on top of that a three-piece. We have made a lot of improvements for our next round of shows, since it’s always been difficult to fill the room with three instruments and two vocalists. We are going the Rush route and bringing in all the keyboards and samples so we can sound exactly like we sound on the record, contrary to the stripped-down, gritty shows we are known for.
We’ve done something around over 100 shows per studio album, although we haven’t experienced label support in the performance world, so it’s been a very grassroots “play what we can get” approach.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
The wildest thing we’ve seen is definitely Dave Lombardo showing up at a show to check us out.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
We used to have a Tama Rockstar kit but it got messed up shooting our latest videos, flying up to the roof and showering it with flour. So we are kind of looking for a new one. Baron Murtland uses ESP Guitars and I use Fender Jazz basses and the Ibanez HR Giger bass.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
We released Dissecting Shadows, our 6th studio album, on October 23rd.
What are your plans for 2020?
After the album release in October and see what happens. It’s like 2020 never happened and everything still is very uncertain.
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
Ghost or Mastodon, and Cairo Knife Fight as opener.
