Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

Have any of you played in other bands? We have all played in various projects throughout the tristate area. We have been involved in our scene since we were all about 13 years old. 

How is it that you started playing music? For me (Joe-Vocals) its in my blood. My father is a drummer and guitar player. So I have always had music in my life. I started playing drums when I was just 5 years old and was given my first guitar at 13 years old. The guitar changed my life completely, before that I had no aspirations of starting a band and never even had given it any thought. Once I had that thing in my hands I was on a fucking mission! 

What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? Joe Randazza-Vocals  Dan Kaufman-Bass John Scott-Drums and Chris Halpin-Guitar we are all in our early thirties and aging like a fine wine. More beautiful with each year that passes. 

Have you had other previous members? We have had two previous members. A true friend to the band Danny Armstrong who was a founding member and bass player and our ex-singer Chris Loach. 

Did you make music even when you were young? We have all been collectively making music together since we were 13 years old. 

Where are you from? Personally I am from Elizabeth, NJ and very proud of that fact as it made me who I am today. The band hails from Union County New Jersey which is very close to New York City. 

What year did the band form? Eye of the Destroyer was formed in 2013. 

What's your style of genre? We are often classified as either Deathcore or Slamming Death Metal. If you ask me though I think we are a metallic hardcore band and people just forgot what that fucking sounds like haha. 

What inspires you? I am deeply inspired by the hardships I have faced in my life and the progression one goes through to become a better person. I was raised in a Catholic household and spent many of my years going to church so I am obsessed with religious imagery and free masonry. Other than that I am inspired by my wife and beautiful daughter.

How often and where do you reherse? The band meets twice a week and handles all of the daunting tasks of the DIY style that we love so much. Whether its counting merch, packing orders, writing new material, rehearsing for upcoming performances or whatever it may be at the time. Sometimes 3 times a week during the beginning of a new album cycle. 

How have you developed since you started with the music? My style has changed tremendously over the years. In terms of writing I care more about writing a complete song now than I ever did. For most of my teens it was all about how to incite a riot while my band was on stage and quite frankly I saw a lot of success in doing that so it was awesome. Now we are looking to put out assbeaters with more of a purpose. A complete song that is mature but still rips off your head and shits down your throat. 

Do you have other interests of work outside the band? I actually run a business that employs members of the band with my wife outside of the band. Its a complete family project and takes up most of my free time. It deals with Witchcraft and the occult and pretty much covers all my other interests all in one. 

Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? We have had several meetings and always entertain offers that come to us but have yet to find the right fit for our band. We have had a lot of success doing things our way and we are thankful for it. With that being said if there is someone out there that can increase our guarantee and get us onto tours that will further our career in a serious manner we are here for it. We have laid the groundwork for people to have success with us and have tour a lot for an independent band. 

Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? We are currently releasing our music through our own label in the United States and working with Filled With Hate records on a release in Europe and Japan. Again, we are always open to discussion. There were several talks had with labels some of thing bigger than you would think about putting out our last record but nothing that the band seriously wanted to entertain. 

What made you decide to make this music? I needed an outlet for my aggression and I found one in hardcore. 

What are your songs about? Before becoming the full time vocalist of our band I played drums. I was also writing most of if not all of the lyrics at the time. When our old singer was still with us I felt weird about having him sing songs that I was so personally attached to. So a lot of the lyrics were your standard gore/horror lyrics that fit the genre of death metal which was the genre people were placing us in. When I took over on vocals I started to write lyrics about real life situations. Things I think everyone can relate to. The loss of a loved one, the pressures of society, my often times crippling ptsd, these all become themes of our newer material. I feel strongly about the lyrics going forward and expressing myself and getting rid of all this anger and frustration. 

Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? All of our composing is done by Chris Halpin and I we have been working together for a number of years now and have a natural chemistry that is unmatched. 

Do you start with the music or the lyrics? It truly depends we have written songs either way but I prefer to start with the music and allow it to inspire feeling. 

Do you compose in a certain inviroment? I do, we have our own practice space and personal studio where we record our albums and go through the pre-production process. It has been set up in order to cater to the bands creativity and make it as easy as possible for free flowing ideas to turn into full albums. 

Have you done any covers live? We have done a hatebreed cover live that was awesome. We once covered Beastie Boys live but the band before us played for an hour longer than they were supposed to so we got really drunk and basically butchered it. We are currently playing Nirvana's classic Breed and getting ready to debut it live next week. 

What language do you sing in? Broken English 

What ages are most of your concert attendants? In the past we have played a lot of 18 and over clubs and bars but we are looking to offer more all ages shows in the future as the demand for it has become something worth noting. 

Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? We try to never play the same songs both for ourselves and the people coming to watch us. We try to bring something different to the table each time. 

When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? We had merch at our first show. We have always had an emphasis on it and tried to come up with creative ideas for it. We have foam fingers, bowls, hats, shirts, tanks, hoodies and beer koozies 

Where can people buy your merchandise? WWW.EYEOFTHEDESTROYER.COM is your one stop shop for all things us! 

What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? Honestly couldn't care less. Just fucking listen to it and judge it! 

Its changed dramatically because labels are no longer as strong as they once were. It also has created a complete over saturation because everyone can put music out now. Its really all in how you use it to your advantage though. For some its great for others not so much. 

Check us out at www.EyeoftheDestroyer.com 

We are on facebook at www.Facebook.com/eyeofthedestroyer 

Instagram- @Eyeofthedestroyer 

Twitter- @eotdestroyer 

Our music is available for streaming on Spotify and for purchase wherever digital music is sold! 

Thank you so much for the interview and the opportunity to speak with you. I truly enjoyed it