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.

The Blind Eyes PBS Arts Segment

PBS did a feature story on the band for their 2011 Fall Arts Festival series, and you can check it out here! Thanks to Angela Antkowiak for making it happen, plus Nick Aquisto for all the nice words. Thanks also to the set of Donnybrook for staring at us the whole time and making us feel inadequate.

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.

End Of The Year Press Madness

Holy cow! “With A Bang” is officially the #1 played album on KDHX for 2011 in both the national and local categories, and has made more than one DJ top ten list. Additionally, Seth talks about recording the album in today’s issue of the RFT.

We owe an immense thank you to everyone in the local music community, from the bottom of our hearts, for being so supportive of our band and of this album. For real, we owe you all a drink. Or a decorative popcorn tin. You rock. See you on NYE and in 2012.

Cheers,

Seth, Matt, Kevin, and Andy

St. Louis Beacon Interview

There's a new interview with Seth at the St. Louis Beacon, which we think turned out pretty darned spiffily. Go check it out, and don't forget to tune in to Channel 9 this Friday 10/21 for our exclusive segment for the PBS Arts Festival Series!

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

PopMatters Review- "With A Bang"

Excellent new review of "With A Bang" on PopMatters. Check it!

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.

The Blind Eyes: Haikulou

Another one that slipped under the radar. A haiku? About lil' ole' us? How awesome is that. We had one person create us a "Blind Eyes" sculpture, but this is without doubt our first piece of Japanese poetry. We're flattered.

Haiku it here.

"Hermetically Sealed" On "Speakers + Summer Vol. 2"

"Hermetically Sealed" is featured on Speakers In Code's annual free ringing-in-the-summer album, Speakers + Summer, Volume 2- and it's the first track, no less! The whole thing is chock full of awesomeness (The Elected, Black Lips, and Toro y Moi are just some of the jams you can snag), so don't wait.

Download the whole thing totally free right here, and play it loud.

#1 On CMJ Top 30 Charts, Week 2

For the second week in a row, "With A Bang" is sitting at the #1 spot on the CMJ Top 30 charts! Massive thanks once again to KDHX, and to all of you for supporting the album!

"With A Bang" 3 Minute Record Review

Local music blog 3 Minute Record wrote up a great review of "With A Bang"! We implore you to go read it immediately. Thanks to Scott Allen for taking the time to check it out!

Another Ted Leo Show Review

This review of our May show with Ted Leo and Title Tracks just popped up on our radar, even though it's been online awhile now. Nice write-up with some pics. Dig it.

"With A Bang" #1 On KDHX CMJ Top 30

We're excited to announce that "With A Bang" is currently sitting at #1 on the KDHX CMJ (College Music Journal) Top 30 charts this week. Thanks once again to KDHX for all the airplay you've been giving the new album!

Blind Eyes Feature In "Before The Blink"

We're honored to be featured in a very awesome article in Before The Blink, compliments of local photographer and all around man-about-town Nate Burrell. Click here to check it out!

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!

"With A Bang" Speakers In Code Review

The inimitable St. Louis music blog Speakers In Code gives "With A Bang" a very generous 90/100 ranking! Needless to say, we're flattered. Check out the review here.

"With A Bang" Riverfront Times Review + Extras

Kiernan Maletsky outdid himself with an amazing track-by-track (p)review of the new album. Check it out online or pick up a copy, available now! Speaking of the RFT, you can also stream a couple of the new tracks, and check out some show poster-related goodness.

RFT Music Showcase Review & Photos

Thanks to everyone who came out and partied with us at this year's RFT Music Showcase this past Saturday! We had the best time ever, and judging by the turnout all night, so did you. Here's a cool review of our set courtesy of 3 Minute Record and some pics of the event as well. Hope you voted for us as "Best Rock Band" for 2011, but even if you didn't, we still love you. Just not as much as before.