Eye Eye
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Eye Eye | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Genres | Rock, new wave |
| Years active | 1983–1989 |
| Label | Duke Street Records |
| Past members | Bill Wood Andy Ryan Doug Ruston Mark Caporal Michael Bell Tom Lewis Donald Quan |
The band had its roots in The Oh Nos, a Toronto band whose members included vocalist Bill Wood and guitarist Andy Ryan.[1] After that band broke up, Wood formed the band Billy Club,[2] while Ryan joined with drummer Mark Caporal to form Eye Eye as a duo,[1] to which vocalist Michael Bell and bassist Doug Ruston were soon added.[1] Both bands were finalists in Q107's Homegrown talent competition in 1984, which Eye Eye won;[1] the following year, Eye Eye were also finalists in CBC Television's Rock Wars[3] and the Rock Express/MuchMusic Talent Search.[1]
With this success, the band entered the studio to record a demo which attracted interest from several record labels, but their early contract offers were withdrawn when Bell left the band.[1] Wood then joined the band as Bell's replacement, and the band signed to Duke Street Records in late 1985.[1]
Their song "Essence of You" featured in the 1988 horror film Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood.
Recording
They released the album Just in Time to Be Late in 1986 on Duke Street,[2] and released the singles "Out on a Limb" and "X-Ray Eyes".[1] "Out on a Limb" peaked at #51 in the RPM100 Singles chart the week of August 23, 1986,[4] and "X-Ray Eyes" peaked at #52 the week of November 22,[5] while the album peaked at #87 on the RPM100 Albums chart in the week of July 5.[6] They toured across Canada to support the album as an opening act for both Glass Tiger and Platinum Blonde.[7]
The band garnered a Juno Award nomination for Most Promising Group at the Juno Awards of 1986.[8] "Out on a Limb" also garnered a CASBY Award nomination for Best Video in 1986.[9]
When it came time to work on a follow-up album the band had few new songs ready to record, and thus worked with producer David Bendeth for several months to write and prepare songs and to toughen their sound.[10] During this process, Ruston left the band and was replaced by Tom Lewis, and Donald Quan also joined the band on keyboards.[1] Their second album, Common Ground, was released in 1988, and spawned the singles "Endless Night" and "My Sensation".[1] The album was generally praised by critics as being stronger than their debut,[11] and "Endless Night" charted on the RPM100, but the album was not commercially successful[12] and the band subsequently broke up.
