The 69 Eyes - Lost Boys

Fetch your biggest and most studded platform shoes, we’re diving into some gothic goodness this week!

Granted, this week’s band, The 69 Eyes, have been doing this whole dark metal thing with a level of panache that you wouldn’t usually expect from the brooding world of gothic rock that was popularised so heavily by bands like The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees. The self-referred Helsinki Vampires, unsurprisingly hailing from Helsinki, Finland were a little late to the invention of the goth subculture in the late 70s having been formed in 1989, but weren’t to be outdone on the innovation front. What they would come up with was a style of music that would be dubbed, fantastically, goth’n’roll. A glorious middle ground between gothic rock and glam metal that, on paper, doesn’t sound like it should work in the slightest. But what we end up with is a terrific mix of both the glum downtones and the upbeat, high energy of the two genres that straddles the line between the two with some kind of mad science wizardry that embellishes the two.

The 69 Eyes are pretty damn good at it, too, paving the way for more modern versions of the act like Deathstars to, well, copy the formula pretty much wholesale if we’re being honest. Still, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, after all, and there’s plenty to flatter when it comes to The 69 Eyes. The band have retained all but one of their members in the 30+ years they’ve been an outfit, which is impressive stuff, but it’s their music that makes them stand out from the crowd. Well, that and the platform shoes.

This week, we’re diving ears-first into Lost Boys, a track that is guaranteed to get you stomping around the house/office/car park of your local supermarket. It’s got all those moody gothic hallmarks present and correct, but it strings them through a hook and line so catchy that they must have been ankle-deep in fish 24/7 while recording it. It’s one of my favourite discoveries when it comes to music and I’m sure it will be one of yours too, faithful listener, if you weren’t already lucky enough to be familiar with the band. Go forward with our rock blessings, and remember – “quiet” is just an old wives tale, designed to scare metalheads before they go to sleep at ridiculous o’clock in the morning.