News You Can Use

Alright kids, we'll make this brief- we're loading up the van and heading south this coming weekend for our first ever trip to SXSW in Austin, where we'll be headlining the outdoor stage at Jovita's for the KDHX showcase on Saturday night! Exciting stuff. Stops on the way down include Springfield, MO on Thursday night and Fort Worth, TX on Friday- so if you're around, come say hello!

In other news, it was announced yesterday that we will be playing the Loufest lineup release party on April 3 at Plush along with Morning Teleportation (fresh off a tour with the Flaming Lips or something) that should be a lot of fun. Come out and see who's playing this year! We're on at 8:30, and it promises to be a blast.

New songs in the works, more shows coming up, etc. Dig it.

tBE

RFT "40 Best Releases Of 2011" Feature

"With A Bang" was named one of the 40 Best Releases of 2011 by the good people at the Riverfront Times. Read all about it here!

Blind Eyes | With A Bang

The Blind Eyes' With A Bang does not have to be as strong as it is. The band's sophomore album would be decent enough if Seth Porter were a less engaging vocalist with fewer grandiose Elvis Costello-ish leaps in his melodies, or if Kevin Schneider's bass lines merely parroted the guitar chords, or if drummer Matt Picker's dynamics were less driving. "Into The Breach" would still be an excellent rock song, even if Porter ended the chorus after repeating the title instead of sealing the deal singing "being fooled all the while!" with the exuberance of a second grader's solo at a school play. The band would be adequate if it chose to sound like The Strokes or Thin Lizzy or Ted Leo & The Pharmacists rather than cherry-picking from its influences to build a power pop Decepticon, or if it continued as a trio instead of adding Andy White on guitar to harden the rocking of its live shows. We might still be nerding out over the band at the end of the year if the group had made a good record. Luckily, The Blind Eyes made one that, months after digestion, is still damn near perfect.

Key Track: "The Nature Of The Beast"

Place You're Most Likely To Hear The Artist: In a perfect world, the opening credits of every coming-of-age PG-13 rated teen comedy ever made.

PAZZ & JOP 2011

We were very pleased to find ourselves on the list of winners of the Village Voice 2011 Pazz & Jop albums poll. With A Bang came in at a robust 419th place (that's behind Britney Spears but ahead of Kelly Clarkson for those keeping score at home). We assume our invitation to party with Michael Musto is forthcoming.

And Then There Were Four

We are very pleased to announce that guitarist Andy White will be joining our musical family. We strongly believe that Andy's exemplary musicianship, intimidating biceps, and van ownership will all be valuable assets to the band moving forward. So long as he can endure the brutal hazing coming has way, Andy will be making his Blind Eyes debut at Edwardsville's venerable Stagger Inn on October 22. Come welcome him and check out our new and improved live sound!

UPDATE: RFT interview! Dig it.

Blind Eyes News, September 29th

Stuff you need to know about:

-The band will be spinning records at The Royale on Friday, 9/30 from 10-close for the first ever Blind Eyes DJ spin. It's free. Come out!

-The Blind Eyes will be headlining the 3rd annual Midtown Alley Street Festival on Saturday, 10/1. We'll be playing at 10, and PBS will be there taping our set for a short documentary thing, so if you want to be immortalized on video, come on out! There's a cool blurb about it (and a nice little tBE write-up) on Metromix. Also free.

-A new "Local Music Spotlight" on the band is airing now on KDHX, but you can stream/download it here.

That's it. Seeya out there!
tBE

2011 "Best Of St. Louis" Awards

For the third year in a row, the Blind Eyes have been picked as the "Best Pop Band" in St. Louis by the Riverfront Times in their annual "Best Of" issue. This year, we also took home the "reader's choice" picks for "Best Male Vocalist" (Seth Porter) and "Album of the Year" (With A Bang). We appreciate your support immensely, so thanks once again to the RFT and to everyone who voted for us. Cheers to you all, and see you in '12!

Blind Eyes News, June 28th

Well, happy Tuesday to all of you. A few quick and awesome things to note:

-For the third week in a row, "With A Bang" is #1 on the KDHX CMJ Top 30! On a similar note, the album is also #3 in mid-year national top album spins and #1 in the local top album spins- and has made many a' DJ's "top 10 albums" list. Not bad for only being out for 19 days! Immense thanks!

-We're happy to announce we will be playing with our friends Old Lights for their record release party at Off Broadway on Friday, July 15th. Advance tickets available here.

-Thomas Crone's excellent city-centric blog, The South Side of Luck, recently featured a nice little shout-out to With A Bang. Go check it out!

-In addition to being currently available on CD Baby and iTunes, the new album is also now available to download on Napster.

Stream The Blind Eyes KDHX Live Set/Interview

Our recent live set and interview with Rob Levy (plus photos by Kate McDaniel) on "Juxtaposition" is now online and available to stream. KDHX says:

The Blind Eyes wide variety of influences are noticeable in their songs, giving the listener flashbacks to all those great sounds of the past in a fresh and modern format that runs the field from the Blake Babies to Tom Petty with stops at just about all points in between. Seth Porter’s guitar and vocals blend well with the rhythm section of bassist/vocalist Kevin Schneider and drummer Matt Picker, resulting in thoroughly enjoyable, even danceable, rock & roll experience.

Go check out out!

"Hold Down The Fort" Live At KDHX Video

In case you missed the memo, we did a live set on the KDHX show Juxtaposition that aired last night. Streaming audio of the show is forthcoming, but here's a video of "Hold Down The Fort" shot in the studio. Thanks once again to Rob Levy for having us on his show for the second time, we had a blast!

"With A Bang" Release Show Poster

The incomparable Sleepy Kitty has once again outdone themselves in the art department with this amazing poster for our release show on June 11th! We'll have some prints available for purchase (cheep!) the night of the show. Live it.

RFT Music Awards 2011

In the event that you've been living under a rock (or not in St. Louis) for the past few months, you surely know that the annual Riverfront Times Music Awards are upon us! We're honored to have been nominated in the category of "Best Rock Band" this year, and we sure hope you'll take some time to go over to the RFT site and give us your vote, if you're so inclined.

We're flattered to have recently been named a "top ten must-see act" for this year's showcase, which is happening next Saturday, June 4th down on Washington Avenue! Our set is 8:15-9 at Side Bar. Hope to see you there! It'll be a massive party, to which you shouldn't be tardy.

"With A Bang" Is In The House

Coming June 11th! Stuffed dragon dog toy not included. Sorry if that's a dealbreaker for anyone. Hope to see you at the show!

I Went To A Showcase 2011

The secret is out- The Blind Eyes will be playing the first inaugural "I Went To A Showcase" on May 14th with our friends the Dive Poets, the Breaks, Pretty Little Empire, and Tight Pants Syndrome! Oh, the fun that will be had. Here's the official announcement plus a short interview with Matt. See you on Saturday!

"With A Bang" Album Cover Preview

Don't forget- the release party for The Blind Eyes' sophomore full-length album is on Saturday, June 11th at Off Broadway! Here's a sneak peek at the cover art, shot by the one and only Douglas Garfield. The album will be for sale for the first time at the show, online and in stores shortly thereafter.

Photos From Record Store Day At Euclid Records

Well, Record Store Day is officially our favorite holiday- second only to Thanksgiving, maybe. If Record Store Day had stuffing, it'd be no contest. We had a great time playing at Euclid Records yesterday for their Sunday edition of RSD. Thanks to everyone who came out, for real, and of course to Euclid for having us. Looking forward to 2012!

Check out these great photos by Nate Burrell.

Blind Eyes News, April 2011

A few quick things to fill you all in on. Grab a pencil:

-We are happy to announce our friends The LIVERS will be joining us and Sleepy Kitty at Off Broadway on June 11th for our "With A Bang" record release show! Make sure to bring a few pairs of socks with you, as they're certainly all going to be rocked off, and we don't want your feet to get cold. But we're not the only local band releasing an album this summer.

-There is a brand spankin' new interview with the band in the new issue of Eleven Magazine! It's not online yet, but when it gets up we'll link to it. In the meantime, you can pick up a copy pretty much anywhere, for free.

-We've been nominated for a 2011 Riverfront Times Music Award for "Best Rock Band"! Hope you "rock the vote", so to speak. Get it? Details on voting and the yearly showcase coming soon.

-We're going to be headlining day 2 of Euclid Records' Record Store Day weekend! We'll be playing at 7 pm on Sunday. The whole weekend is filled with incredible bands, including the Bottle Rockets, John Doe & Jill Sobule, the Sights, and tons more . Seriously, incredible. Don't believe us? Check out the schedule. Hope to see you there.

"With A Bang" Coming June 11, 2011

Just announced! The long-awaited new Blind Eyes album With A Bang will be coming out on Saturday, June 11th with a release party at Off Broadway in St. Louis featuring our pals Sleepy Kitty plus one more TBA! Stay tuned, lots more details coming soon!

Blind Eyes News, January 2011

Happy 2011 from the Blind Eyes! We have a few things to go over, so listen up:

First off, we want to thank everyone that came out and spent their New Year's Eve with us. We had a great time and hope you did too. Thanks also to Kentucky Knife Fight, Off Broadway, and New Belgium Brewing for helping make it happen. Looking forward to potentially doing it again next year. Check out some pics from the event here!

We'll be in the studio finishing up the album this week. Look for a March or April release at this point. For real this time.

Some recent press:

-Seth contributed to Speakers In Code's Best Local Music Moments of 2010 article.

-Mike Tomko wrote this amazing blog post about the Blind Eyes, for which we are eternally humbled- this kind of thing makes it all worthwhile.

-KDHX did a nice write-up of the Firebrand Recording Showcase.

-Jason Gonulsen gave us this mention on Metromix!

-A very cool KWUR review of "Modernity".

We have a ton more stuff happening this year, so stay tuned!

Cheers,

tBE

An Undercover Weekend 2010

The Blind Eyes are excited to once again be playing An Undercover Weekend at the Firebird! What band will we we covering? We can't tell you. What we can tell you, however, is that all three nights will be nothing short of epic. We'll be playing the first night (September 10th). More info on who is playing here, plus an official AUCW website and Facebook page is coming soon. Stay tuned for details.

It's No "Windows Paint", But...

The Sleepy Kitty folks are hard at work on an amazing poster for the June 26th show at Off Broadway. Here's a sneak peek...