Review
Live Review - Eye Alaksa
- Author:
- Review Date:
- 12/18/2007
Dec.1,2007 Chain reaction Anaheim, CA - The music of Eye Alaska is a lot different than what you’re hearing in the music scene right now. It’s not rock, hip-hop, hardcore, or even jazz; what it is, is all these genres and many others merged together as a whole. It’s music that is refreshing, well done, and it’s who they are--Eye Alaska. I’ll admit, I was kind of nervous about going to their show, I wasn’t sure how they could pull off a good live show with their style of music—well, they surprised me!
Eye Alaska was the headliner at Chain Reaction; it was their first-ever headlining show as a band. They had many of their friends there and of course many fans. It was packed inside the small venue and you could feel this vibe that even if you didn’t know whom this band was, you were probably going to walk away liking them. I was of course anticipating their show because I knew of them back when some of them were in a band called Dead Letter Diaries.
The band came out, and all you heard was Brandon singing, "If I keep holding back I’m gonna lose this all, if I keep pushing my thoughts away,” and then the band started playing and the crowd went crazy! If you hear the original song on their EP, you might wonder how a band could pull off a lot of energy because it’s somewhat of a mellow song—well, they did. All the guys have such great stage presence, it’s almost ridiculous. They know how to use the stage to their advantage. When they started to perform the second song, “Through Willows and Streams,” you definitely knew this show was going to be amazing and that you would want it to last longer than you knew it would. The energy from the crowd was great, the energy from the band was unbelievable, and you knew they were feeding off the crowd every second they could.This band truly loves music in every aspect: lyrics, performance, writing, listening to it and anything else. Later in the set they played a new track that has not been released, titled “The Young Prince,” and everyone loved it! I think it was perfect to add a new song in. It gives the crowd a new feel and vibe for their music, it shows old fans why they love this band, and it shows why others should really start listening to them.
If you were a Dead Letter Diaries fan you would have appreciated that they played their song “Divorce.” It was nice hearing that song and see them perform it live again. They ended their set with their song “I Knew You’d Never Fly.” The song starts off with Chase playing keyboard; then comes Brandon’s vocals and everyone else in the band. The song is somewhat cinematic and moving. The music captures you and moves you. It was a great way to end their set. As a headliner, everyone knows that you are going to come back out for an encore, even if the fans scream “One more song! One more song!” they know they will be back. What some expected was another song by Eye Alaska, but what the crowd got was Cameron and Brandon’s rap group called Cobras and Canaries. The crowd loved it. It was not suspected by people, but it was fun and different.Cameron started to pull up people on to the stage and soon others started to join in. At the end of their encore the stage was filled with friends and fans of Eye Alaska. It was a great way to end their set.
Expect something in the near future with this band, whether it’s them getting signed to a label or playing with one of their favorite-signed bands. This band definitely has the potential to go very far. Their performance at Chain Reaction blew us away. I might even say, they were the best unsigned/local band I have seen thus far, and I’ve seen my share load of them.
Set List
1. Stop Me Now... I'm Not Ready
2. Through Willows and Streams
3. Roll Right Over
4. A Storm in the Child's Fountain
5. Cheetah And The Tiger
6. The Young Prince*new*
7. Divorce
8. I Knew You'd Never Fly
“I knew you’d never fly”- live at chain reaction video
Video Of Encore:
Eye Alaska was the headliner at Chain Reaction; it was their first-ever headlining show as a band. They had many of their friends there and of course many fans. It was packed inside the small venue and you could feel this vibe that even if you didn’t know whom this band was, you were probably going to walk away liking them. I was of course anticipating their show because I knew of them back when some of them were in a band called Dead Letter Diaries.
The band came out, and all you heard was Brandon singing, "If I keep holding back I’m gonna lose this all, if I keep pushing my thoughts away,” and then the band started playing and the crowd went crazy! If you hear the original song on their EP, you might wonder how a band could pull off a lot of energy because it’s somewhat of a mellow song—well, they did. All the guys have such great stage presence, it’s almost ridiculous. They know how to use the stage to their advantage. When they started to perform the second song, “Through Willows and Streams,” you definitely knew this show was going to be amazing and that you would want it to last longer than you knew it would. The energy from the crowd was great, the energy from the band was unbelievable, and you knew they were feeding off the crowd every second they could.This band truly loves music in every aspect: lyrics, performance, writing, listening to it and anything else. Later in the set they played a new track that has not been released, titled “The Young Prince,” and everyone loved it! I think it was perfect to add a new song in. It gives the crowd a new feel and vibe for their music, it shows old fans why they love this band, and it shows why others should really start listening to them.
If you were a Dead Letter Diaries fan you would have appreciated that they played their song “Divorce.” It was nice hearing that song and see them perform it live again. They ended their set with their song “I Knew You’d Never Fly.” The song starts off with Chase playing keyboard; then comes Brandon’s vocals and everyone else in the band. The song is somewhat cinematic and moving. The music captures you and moves you. It was a great way to end their set. As a headliner, everyone knows that you are going to come back out for an encore, even if the fans scream “One more song! One more song!” they know they will be back. What some expected was another song by Eye Alaska, but what the crowd got was Cameron and Brandon’s rap group called Cobras and Canaries. The crowd loved it. It was not suspected by people, but it was fun and different.Cameron started to pull up people on to the stage and soon others started to join in. At the end of their encore the stage was filled with friends and fans of Eye Alaska. It was a great way to end their set.
Expect something in the near future with this band, whether it’s them getting signed to a label or playing with one of their favorite-signed bands. This band definitely has the potential to go very far. Their performance at Chain Reaction blew us away. I might even say, they were the best unsigned/local band I have seen thus far, and I’ve seen my share load of them.
Set List
1. Stop Me Now... I'm Not Ready
2. Through Willows and Streams
3. Roll Right Over
4. A Storm in the Child's Fountain
5. Cheetah And The Tiger
6. The Young Prince*new*
7. Divorce
8. I Knew You'd Never Fly
“I knew you’d never fly”- live at chain reaction video
Video Of Encore: