In Focus: The Lazy Eyes
We sat down with the Australian psych-rock band, in the middle of recording their debut album, to pick their brains about their musical journey so far and what the future has in store for the foursome
Photo: Press
For those who haven’t yet heard of them (for whatever reason), The Lazy Eyes are the latest uber-talented band to emerge from Australia’s sensational psychedelic music pool.
From the groovy, chilled-out numbers to the thrilling, full force psych trips, you’d think we might have heard it all from the golden era of psych-rock. Young bands like The Lazy Eyes are proving Australia still has more to offer and there are no signs of slowing down... it must be something in the air over there.
Even with only ten songs released on streaming platforms, the band offers everything you’d want from a psych-rock band. The complex instrumentals, riveting guitar solos and poignant lyrics combine together beautifully for that psych-rock goodness yet they have just as equally honed the ability to tone it down for the slower and sentimental but equally rousing songs like Nobody Taught Me.
Having released their first EP (EP1) last year, and their second one (EP2) this summer, The Lazy Eyes have already accumulated a dedicated fanbase in both Australia and the UK alike. The band, consisting of Harvey Geraghty (lead vocals, guitar), Itay Sasha (guitar), Leon Karagic (bass) and Noah Martin (drums), are set to release their debut album next year and have been hard at work recording. Despite this, Harvey and Itay kindly set aside some time to have a quick chat about all things The Lazy Eyes.
Following in the footsteps of iconic bands from down under such as King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Tame Impala and The Babe Rainbow — “It’s pretty clear that we were influenced by them early on,” they address, acknowledging the similarities — the band have expanded their musical influences since then, whilst still mastering their own sound.
Discussing the development within their music, they say, “When starting out, it was easier to reach from places and wear our influences on our sleeves more but I feel like the music that we’re working on now is just a bit more subconscious rather than like ‘in your face’”.
Even though the band only started releasing music to an audience last year, the foursome have been making music together since they were at school, meaning they had time to develop and hone their skills.
They’ve kept a similar songwriting process throughout their journey, as Harvey explains, “usually it’s just solo, either me or Itay alone at home with a guitar or piano, but there have been a couple of rare occasions when we have written together — like we wrote Cheesy Love Song together in school but mainly the rest start with just one of us and then things get added when they’re brought to the band”.
Even though it was a break from the norm, they both agree that Cheesy Love Song was their favourite song they’ve written so far, “It’s definitely the most half/half song we’ve written, it was like ‘I would say a chord and then you would say a chord’ kind of like that… a nice bonding moment.”
Itay added, “I feel like a lot of the time we’re like 80 or 90% done with a song ourselves but there’ll be something really fresh that the other person will bring to it that we just wouldn’t have thought of. Like it’s happened a lot of times where I feel like we do a lot of instrumental parts in our songs, where one of us will have a full song and the other one will just chuck a random guitar solo on the end”. Although they later laugh about it — “nice song bro let me chuck a random guitar solo on it,” they quip — it’s an interesting insight into how songs are developed and how important everyone’s input is to bringing their songs to life.
Having worked hard to build up a following over the past years, The Lazy Eyes have become well known for their electrifying live sets... so how has it been for them being unable to capitalise on this with shows cancelled around the country? “It sucks… we were out of lockdown for a bit and then it came back to bite our asses again, so now there’s nothing happening”.
However, before lockdown descended the year had gotten off to a promising start when they hosted their own festival Lazyfest in March — featuring the talented Stevan, May-A and of course, The Lazy Eyes themselves. Reflecting on a time when they could get out there and mesh with fellow artists, they say, “That was so fun, our manager was really helpful because he does festival organisation stuff already so he was just able to know what to do — like, we had the idea and he did… he was good at executing it”.
It all came together for a great day of live music in Sydney but, the important question is, are there plans for another Lazyfest next year? “Hopefully — if we’re out of lockdown by that time,” says the band. Fingers crossed.
The exciting news doesn’t end there for Lazy Eyes fans, with the anticipated release of their debut album that they’re working on now, which we have confirmation will, “probably be out at the start of next year”. Not only that but the band are very eager to come to the UK as soon as it becomes possible, so there’s something to look forward to for fans on both sides of the world.
It’s clear to see that The Lazy Eyes have a bright future ahead of them and are set to take the world by storm next year with a new album and (hopefully) lots more gigs outside of Australia. After talking to them, it’s also clear to me that these guys deserve the success coming their way and with their continued hard work and down to earth characters, I’m sure they’ll take it all in their stride.
Keep your eyes peeled for their debut album.
