The 69 Eyes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 69 Eyes

Country	Finland
Years active	1990 - present
Genres	Horror rock Sleaze Rock
Labels	VIRGIN/EMI
Members	Jyrki 69 (Vocals) Timo-Timo (Guitar) Bazie (Guitar) Jussi 69 (Drums) Archize (Bass)

The 69 Eyes are a horror rock band from Finland. They formed in Helsinki in the early 1990s. They started off as a "Helsinki Sleaze" rock band but later albums were more influenced by gothic metal, with Jyrki taking heavy influence for his vocals from Peter Steele (Type O Negative).

The "line-up" includes Jyrki69 on vocals, Timo-Timo on rhythm guitar, Bazie on lead guitar, Jussi69 on drums and Archzie on bass.

1 Band history
2 Trivia
3 Discography
- 3.1 Albums
- 3.2 Singles
4 See also
5 Links

[edit] Band history

The 69 Eyes at Raumanmeren juhannus, Finland in 2006

The band released their first single, Sugarman, in 1990. It resulted in the bands first album Bump 'n' Grind which was only released in Finland in 1992. It was followed in 1995 by another Finnish only release Savage Garden and again in 1997 with Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams.

In 1999, Wasting the Dawn was released internationally on Roadrunner Records. The album's hit single, Wasting the Dawn paid tribute to the Doors' Jim Morrison. The video featured HIM member Ville Valo posing at a snowy cemetery as the ghost of Jim Morrison.

Spring of 2000 brought the single Gothic Girl which spent months on the Singles Top 10 and on Finnish nation radio playlists. It brought the band their first gold record. After recording their third major album, Blessed Be, the band did their first short tour for Wasting the Dawn in Germany which included a show at the Mera Luna Gothic festival. Support for the tour was Norwegian electro-Goth band Zeromancer.

Released in September 2000, Blessed Be rose straight to number 4 on the Finnish Album Charts and stayed in the top 10 for over a month. The second single was Brandon Lee, the third was The Chair and Stolen Season was the fourth.

In 2002 the band released Paris Kills, which would be known as their definitive album. It stayed for weeks as number 1 in Finland and went gold in a month, June 2002. In Germany it rose to number 35 in the first week. After touring Europe and Finland for months, a sold-out show at Helsinki's famous Tavastia was filmed and documented in November for use in the "Helsinki Vampires" DVD.

At the end of 2003, The 69 Eyes were signed to EMI Finland.

2004 saw the release of Devils, their 7th album, to which they toured the UK in support of Wednesday 13. Once again the album was number one in their native Finland and reached gold in a month. It was their first release on a big major label Virgin/EMI. Released in their native Finland in October 2004 later on in Europe through Virgin/EMI and in October 2005 in USA through 456 Entertainment it is also their 4th album to reach gold status and again another number one position on the Finnish TOP 40 album charts.

In 2005 The 69 Eyes played near hundred shows around the world in 15 countries, from Mexico to Japan. Devils was also released in the USA through 456 Entertaiment and the band filmed their video for their biggest ever hit single Lost Boys in Hollywood and the Philadelphia area, directed by the band's friend and MTV superstar Bam Margera.

In 2006 The 69 Eyes toured for the first time in the USA in March. Their new album Angels, the sequel to their 2004 album Devils, is due out in January of 2007. The new single off of the album, "Perfect Skin", is due out later this month.

[edit] Trivia

Vocalist Jyrki is an international goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, the children's rights charity. He is currently helping to campaign against child trafficking and sexual exploitation in parts of West Africa.
Before Jussi69, The 69 Eyes had a drummer named Lotto.