The band Eyeliners it´s not only a girlband ,it´s also a very good band. Gel is answering my questions and this interview arrived 8/6-2000

History?
-Gel: We started out about 5 years ago as Psychodrama. It was the same lineup, just a different name.
Laura: Lisa and Gel started playing guitar and wanted to form a band and I was going to sing. We didn't have a drummer, but we had a drum set that we were borrowing. One day, I sat down on the drums just for fun and I could play a simple beat and sing. We played our first show 1 1/2 months after!
Lisa: In October 1995, we released a DIY 7" as Psychodrama and began touring. Once we started touring, we found out that there were alot of other bands with the same name. We never really cared for the name Psychodrama much, so we changed our name to the Eyeliners in October 1996. We released our 1st 7" and CD on Sympathy for the Record Industry in May 1997. We recently signed with Panic Button / Lookout in October 1999 and released our second CD "Here Comes Trouble" in March 2000.

Please tell me a little about every member, age,family,what you do when you don´t play and so on?
-Laura: We are all sisters. When were not playing in a band, Lisa designs web pages, Gel works at a coffee bar, and I'm is a bartender. For fun, we all like shopping at thrift stores, record stores, going to punk shows, movies, reading....

Have you done anything more than Here comes trouble, if you have what and how can I get it?
-Confidential CD  - 1997 (Sympathy For The Record Industry 484)
Broke My Heart 7" - 1997 (SFTRI 483)
Do The Zombie 7" - 1997 (SFTRI 518)
Rock N Roll, Baby - 1998 (SFTRI 554)
Here Comes Trouble CD/LP - 2000 (Panic Button / Lookout!)
If you can't find them at your local record store or on-line, you can get any of these from us!

What about Panic Button/Lookout as a label, are they good?
-Gel: It is a great label and we are very happy to be on it. They've been very good to us. They really care about what they are doing and work hard for their bands.

What do you like the other bands there?
-Lisa: We love the bands on Panic Button and Lookout. Some favorites (that are still around) are: Screeching Weasel,  Groovie Ghoulies, Common Rider, The Lillingtons,  Moral Crux, Mr. T Experience,....

You´re three girls, what do you think it´s the difference between you and a band with only boys except that you´re girls? I mean from audience,labels and media?
-Lisa: I think initially we had to fight stereotypes that girls can't play, etc. Now that people know of us and have seen us play live, more people respect us as musicians. People always seem to compare girls bands to each other.

What are you being compared in the reviews?
-Gel: Our favorite comparison so far is : Screeching Weasel meets the Devil Dogs.

Do you care about reviews?
-Laura: A review is always just one persons opinion.  If we get a good review, its cool to see that someone likes and appreciates what we are doing. On the other hand, if a review is negative, we just don't care because it is just that person's opinion. We've been lucky, most of our reviews have been good. But, we've never tried to write music to please anyone, we just write music we like and if other people like it that's great!

What get you to make this sort of music?
-Laura: We write songs that we like.  Punk is the kind of music we play because it's so much fun.

What does punk mean for you?
-Lisa: Punk to us is being who you are and not trying to please anyone but yourself. Standing up for yourself and what you believe in.

How is to live in USA right now?
-Lisa: It is a beautiful country and there are lots of opportunities but we need to cut down on crime.

Is it violent?
-Gel: Yes, it is getting more and more violent. Too many school shootings.

What do you know about Sweden?
-Lisa: We don't know too much. I've heard it its beautiful there.

Have you heard any Swedish bands that you like?
-Laura: Millencolin is a great band. They are the only band we know from Sweden.

Who does the songs in Eyeliners?
-Gel: We all write the songs together during practices. There are times with one of us will bring in a basic idea for a song, but its never finished until everyone can put in their input.

You don´t have lyric that are far from what boys are doing,howcome?
-Laura: We just write about things that are happening in our lives or something that just hits us as an interesting idea.

Is it important with lyrics, any good lyricwriter you like?
-Laura: Yeah, lyrics are important because you are trying to put across your feelings. Some punk songwriters I like are Dr. Frank (Mr. T Experience), Jesse Michaels (Operation Ivy/Common Rider), Ben Weasel (Screeching Weasel).

How is a good concert with Eyeliners?
-Lisa: We have a fun show with the crowd really getting crazy. Gel is a pretty crazy guitar player (she plays behind her head), and she's pretty unpredictable. We never know what she's going to do - that always makes for a fun show. We always try to put on the most energetic, fun show we can.

How does the average Eyeliners fan look like?
-Gel: Just your average punk rock kid. Jeans, T-shirts, leather jackets, converse. We have all kinds of fans though.

Is it many interviews?
-Laura: Yes, we have had many interviews! That's why it took us so long to get this back to you!

Is it boring to being interviewed?
-Lisa: No, we like answering questions about our music and it's always fun to see what questions people are going to ask you.

Is it mainly fanzines who interview, do you have any favourites?
-Gel: Yes, mainly fanzines. Some favorites as far as American zines would be Flipside, Hitlist, Shredding Papers, MRR.

What shall a fanzine contain?
-Lisa: Good fanzines always have interviews/reviews/columns/sense of humor.

Five records you can´t be without?
-It changes all the time, but for right now we all agree on:
Rezillos - Can't Stand the....
Screeching Weasel - Kill the Musicians
Devil Dogs - Saturday Night Fever
Descendents - Everything Sucks
Mr. T Experience - Love Is Dead

Idols when you were small?
-Lisa: When we were really small (pre-teen)? We used to listen to rock n roll for as long as any of us can remember. Some really early idols we had were Elvis, Beatles, Go-Go's, Herman's Hermits, you know - pop/rock-n-roll stuff. We got into punk in our teens.

The first record you ever bought?
-Lisa:  Elvis' 10 Golden Greats
Laura: doesn't remember
Gel's: Ramones'  Rocket To Russia.

You have an own homesite, who does it?
-Gel: Yes, its at http://www.theeyeliners.com .  We try to maintain it all ourselves!

What does you think about the new way to communicate, with email and internet and that stuff?
-Lisa: I like it, it makes it really easy and inexpensive to communicate to someone anywhere in the world. Its pretty amazing!!
-Laura: It also can be harmful if abused because there is alot of fraud and corruption. But overall its good, I think its great as a source of knowledge and information.

Do you have an own favourite on the net?
-Gel: A few good websites are http://www.worldwidepunk.com, and we always like to shop for junk on ebay http://www.ebay.com , and our labels' sites:  http://www.panicbuttonrecords.com and http://www.lookoutrecords.com 

Future plans?
-Gel: For now, we are planning to tour as much as possible to promote the new record.  This year,  we'll be doing a Lookout! Tour (Lookout! Freakout) with three or four other bands.  It starts in August and will cover the whole US. We would like to go overseas someday soon.
Lisa: We've already started working on songs for our next record.

Wisdomword?
-Laura: Hard work and determination goes a long way. Never stop learning and improving.

Something more to add?
-Hope to see you in Sweden someday soon!