Merseyside based trio Eyesore & The Jinx have been successfully packing out dive bars and filling basement venues around the country with their gritty, politically charged punk for the last few years.
But 2019 has been kind to them. With the release of a handful of singles under Eggy Records, a plethora of gigs, including one in rural Russia, and finding fans everywhere they go; surely 2020 can only get better.
To find out what is on the horizon for the on the pulse psychobilly band, we sat down with bassist, Josh, to delve into the inner workings of one of Liverpool’s most exciting bands
How would you describe Eyesore & The Jinx?
It’s sort of abrasive punk. Quite angry. People call us a political band, but I would say we are more observational. The political thing came around through consequence more than anything; we didn’t set out to be political. Musically, it’s a mesh of different styles and genres. We manipulate different genres and turn them into something a bit weird. It’s basically misinterpretations of like disco and funk mashed together in a really abrasive punk style.
Where did you get your name from?
‘Eyesore’ was where it started. It summed up the music quite well, it was horrible and obtrusive, and intrusive, as well. Obviously, ‘Eyesore’ on its own conjures quite serious images, which is not what the songs are about. There is a lot of humour in the music, so we wanted something quite childish or silly to go with it; a yin and yang kind of thing. ‘Eyesore’ is quite dark and serious, and ‘Jinx’ is quite childlike in its simplicity. I thought the two complimented each other quite well, it sounds like they should fit together.
Who would you say your musical influences are?
We all listen to a lot of varied music, but the overarching influence has been The Fall. We borrow a lot of the same sort of observational humour as them and have the same approach to using different genres like the Psychobilly style. Our drummer is a massive DEVO fan, so a lot of the rhythm comes from them, and our guitarist is into angular post-punk stuff like Parquet Courts.
You say you aren’t a political band, so where do you get the inspiration for lyrics?
They all tend to vary, really. Lately, the newer stuff is more observational, from seeing people being weird and seeing weird things around Liverpool. It writes itself when you live in South Liverpool really.
How’s the Liverpool music scene been treating you?
It’s pretty good, it’s gone through a purple patch over the last few years. When we first started there wasn’t much of a community, it felt disparaged, but now it’s quite close-knit. People know each other. I don’t really think there’s one Liverpool sound anymore, it’s a mesh of different genres and people hop between styles. It’s a lot more positive. The idea of a Merseysound is a bit retrograde, it’s a lot more forward-thinking now.
How’s 2019 been for Eyesore & The Jinx?
It’s been quite hectic. There’s been a lot of gigging. We went to Russia, which was weird. It wasn’t even the usual places like Moscow or St Petersburg, it was rural Russia, a place called Ulyanovsk. We’ve been to London quite a lot, and we’ve been recording with Daniel from Girl Band on a new EP which will hopefully be out in the New Year. Between all that just a lot of writing and working towards an album.
Aside from Russia, do you have any significant memories from the year?
One particular gig stands out. We got booked to play this inner-city festival in Liverpool across multiple venues, and one of them was an Italian restaurant. No one had told the owner that there was going to be punk bands in there for the evening and he still had the place open as a fully functioning Italian restaurant while these bands were playing abrasive punk. Everyone was sitting down eating their carbonara, the waiters were walking around with garlic bread, and there was just chaos going on. It was pretty funny, to be honest.
What singles have you released this year?
We released ‘On an Island’ in January and a song called ‘Swill’ around April and then we just released ‘Leisure Time’ a couple of weeks ago with a video last week. We’ve got a lot more music to come that we’ve been recording with Daniel too.
Is that what you’re working on then, an album for 2020?
We’ve got an EP coming out at the beginning of the year, and then we’ll see how it goes, see how many songs we can accumulate. What we are ultimately working towards is an album, it would be nice to have a tangible collection of songs. We’re also progressing with our sound. We are in a transitional period at the minute, moving away from the two-minute punk songs to something a bit more experimental.
What’s 2020 looking like for Eyesore & The Jinx then?
I imagine much of the same, lots of music, more gigs. We’re off to Holland in January as well for Eurosonic which should be good. I really want to play a gig in Glasgow too, it has our kind of crowd, they are pretty mental there.
Taken from the December 2019 / January 2020 issue of Dork.
Words: Sophie Shields
