Red Eyes comes from Scotland. I got a record from Peter on Dala Destroi Records and then I came in contact with the group. Men in my age playing punk…must be good. Read and enjoy when Alan answers my questions. April-2023

Please tell me a little about every member and the history of the band? Age, work, bands before?

-The band was formed in 1997 in Glasgow, Scotland so 26 years now. We have 5 albums, 2 ep’s and have gigged all over the UK, Ireland and played 2 shows in Germany.

We have supported many of the bigger bands and have played the Rebellion Festival as well as many other festivals.

Alan (myself) - Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar

Alex - Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals

Mark - Bass, Backing Vocals

Jan - Drums, Backing Vocals

We’re aged between 50 - 60

I have my own Rehearsal/Recording Studio...Alex works for a Railway company...Mark works for a Cancer Charity and Jan works for a ferry company...

We’ve all played in bands before before but the band you should check out is Alex’s own band Hateful (just about to release their sixth album).... Hateful | Facebook

Your music is a style which came foreward many years ago, it´s a lot of 77-punk in your music, I can imagine that you as me have grown up with the same music(I´m 60)?

-Yeah we’re influenced and most of our sound/style comes from all the late 70’s punk bands.

The name Red Eyes where did it came from? You weren´t afraid that not any bother would be named so before? Your absolute favouriteband name?

-The name comes from the Studio I own...Red Eye Studios...we named the band before I owned the place as we always rehearsed there. Never thought I’d end up owning it one day (-has been 12 years now). There is an Australian reggae band called The Red Eyes but they formed a few years after us. They seem to be quite successful but don’t think having the same name is a problem. Don’t really have a favourite band name. Most band names are strange and then you just get used to them.

Is it important to release physical things? Or can you feel that you have done a record if you only release it digitally? How can I get a hold of On prescription(thanks for the other records anyway)?

-Everything we have released has been on CD (unfortunately not vinyl but hopefully one day)...There is no copies of “On Prescription” left...that was our 2^nd album. You can listen to it on our bandcamp or I could “burn” you a copy and send it over... On Prescription | The Red Eyes (bandcamp.com)

You have never been to Sweden and played or been here as tourists? If you not have when do you come?

-We’ve never been to Sweden. Would love to come over and play if someone could make it happen. That would be fantastic.

Which countries have had the pleasure to be hearing the band live?

-Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Germany.

When you do songs, how do you do, are you jamming together or do someone comes with a lyric and some with the music or how do you do your songs?

-I write the full song lyrics and music. I either record it on the acoustic guitar or just play it to the band. We then work the song up together changing things when needed. The other guys have come up with 3 or 4 songs over the years but I’ve written most of the lyrics to these.

You have played on a lot of festivals through the times, which is the most fun to play on??

-Yeah played loads of Festivals. Rebellion is the best because of the exposure you getbut the smaller Festivals can be just as good. Enjoy them all.

Please tell me a little about the following lyrics….and who wrote it and why?
The grass is always greener
Lie, Deflect & Spin
All dressed up(nowhere to go)

-I wrote the lyrics to those 3 songs

The Grass Is Always Greener is about an ex-girlfriend who wanted to move on but years later I found out her choices in life hadn’t really worked out. It could be about friends or Family who make the wrong choices in life as well.

Lie, Deflect & Spin is just about corrupt politicians...only in it for themselves...career politicians as they’re known...scumbags!

All Dressed Up is actually about a homeless guy I met in San Francisco when I was on holiday there years ago. He told me he used to work for NASA and loads of other strange stories. I wrote most of the lyrics on that trip.

How is it to live in Great Britain nowadays, racists, politics,that Scotland want to be free , economy etc?

-Well Brexit has fucked a lot of things (leaving the European Union). The UK is at it’s worst that I can remember. Your average person is really struggling with the cost of living. We’re the “poor man” in Europe now. I personally want Scotland to be an independent country. I think 2 of the other band members do as well but our drummer Jan is German so he probably doesn’t care haha.

Do you have any favourite football team(I support Arsenal(England) and a Swedish team called GAIS myself)?

-Myself and Mark support Celtic...Alex supports Rangers and Jan supports Hamburg, Rangers & West Ham.

Beer is expensive in Sweden. I have a very big interest in beer and brew myself? Your favourite beerstyle ? You don´t have an own Red Eyes-beer? Or maybe you are straightedge?

-We’re definitely not straight-edge. I drink Guinness as does Mark. The other 2 just drink lager. No Red Eyes beer (as yet)

Is there any good bands from Scotland worth to mention? And how is the punk/hardcore/oi scene living on in Scotland right now?

-Hateful, 2 Sevens, The Eddies, Buzzbomb, Fire Exit are a few that we play with but there’s loads of bands now and seems healthy enough. I don’t get to go to many gigs now due to working in the studio.

What is your strength when you play live? What is the most difference between playing nowadays and if you compare when you started to play?

-Just our songs are strong and everyone in the band is very good at what they do. We had to put on a lot of our own gigs when we started which was great and worked well but now things are a bit more organised and we try to get good support slots with bigger bands as you get to play to more people.

Which type of people comes to your concerts? Which type of people do you miss?

-Because we are quite a melodic punk band we get all sorts coming to our gigs not just punks which is great. Sorry not sure what you mean by the 2^nd part of the question.

Do you buy much records, or is it only Spotify and those type of things to listen to music? Any good record store in your town?

-I still buy cd’s and occasionally vinyl. No record stores where I stay so need to go into Glasgow (about 5 miles)

Are you selling any merch on your gigs, do people buy it? What sells best?
-We sell CD’s and t-shirts...we do well with both but make a bit more from t-shirts.

Which is your own favoritesong among your own songs? And which song is the people choice?

-That’s a very difficult question...I really like most of them...I’m enjoying “When The Last Note Died” from our latest album. It’s about The Miami Showband Massacre in Ireland in 1975 (there’s a Netflix documentary which is a great watch). One of the surviving members of the band put it on his Facebook page and thanked me for writing it. Was very humbling. If you knew the story you would understand why.

The people that come to see us seem to like most of our songs but “This Is My Life” seems to be a favourite.

Falling down Records, is it a good label? Have they anything more on their label? Or is it your own?

-The “Falling Down Records” is really a band joke. It’s not a real record label. We put it on the 1^st album for a laugh and have just kept it going thru’ all the albums. We don’t have a record company as we are completely D.I.Y .... I have had people write to me and ask us to sign their band haha....

Do you care about reviews? Which is the most peculiar you ever had, with this band or any other band you have been to?

-Yeah personally I care about reviews...can’t help it really as I write the majority of the songs. I think it’s only natural that you hope the reviewer likes your album. We’ve been very lucky over the years as we’ve mostly had good reviews. We had a girl review our 1^st album over 20 years ago and she absolutely slaughtered it which was actually funny it was so bad. I met her about 6 months later and she apologized saying she’d had a really bad day and she didn’t think it was that bad after all haha...

If you could choose five bands from the past and the history and nowadays and both dead and living bands to have a concert together with your band. Which five have you been chosen? Or have already shared stage with all these bands?

-The Clash, The Ruts, The Jam, Rancid, SLF...

Obviously the other guys will probably have a different five...

We supported Ruts DC a few years ago and SLF about 10 times...

Is music a good way to get out frustration and become a nicer person outside the music?

-Definitely good for getting out frustration and would hope to be a decent person anyway.

Politics and music, does it belong together?? Which is your most political song or do you not want to put politics into your music?

-It can do if that’s how you want to express yourself. There’s a few political songs on every album we’ve put out. As spoken about earlier...Lie, Deflect & Spin is probably our most political song

Any good Swedish bands you like?

-Sorry not very knowledgeable on Swedish bands at the moment.

Is it boring with interviews? Is it much interviews? What do you prefer Telephoneinterviews, face to face or as this one via e-mail?

-Don’t do that many. Usually once we have a new album out I do a few. I don’t mind. Some of the questions can be the same but in fairness they have to be as the reader need to know basic facts about the band. Don’t mind email and face to face radio interviews can be good.

Futureplans for the band?

-We have a Festival to play at the end of May...Punk On The Peninsula which is in Dunoon (West coast of Scotland and very nice place)...It’s over 4 days and we play the first night. It’s Ian from the band “Control” who puts it on. I’m hoping to record an acoustic album of maybe 12 of our songs (I play a lot of acoustic shows when the band can’t make it) and also hope to re-record songs from our first 2 albums and put them out and get them on Spotify etc....

Futureplans for yourself?

-As above...the acoustic album

Wisdomword?

-“Haud your wheesht”....Scottish saying meaning “if you’ve nothing good to say then say nothing”

Something more to add?

-Thank you for the interview Peter and thank you for the review of our latest album “Falling Thru’ The Cracks”

Hope you enjoy the other albums I sent you and would be interested on your thoughts on them.