Bursting with energy and catchy hooks, North Carolina’s Two Eyes Open is your typical pop-punk outfit – and yet they’re pretty far removed from the genre as far as influences goes, too. In fact, the band’s new single, “Haunt”, is an aggressive (yet still catchy, obviously) take on the genre that’s more akin to something Sum 41 might do – or even the kind of grungy alt-rock that is always in vogue.
Either way you spin it, it’s pretty captivating stuff. Fronted by Dustin Parlier, we’re stoked to be presenting you “Haunt” today alongside a Q&A with Dustin himself. And rest assured, if you enjoy what you hear here, there’s more music in the Two Eyes Open pipeline coming in 2021.
It’s been a difficult year for just about everyone in the arts – have you been working on more music than usual because of COVID?
Yes, this year has been unlike anything we as a people have experienced before. I work from home for my day job so I am fortunate in that my work life has not changed too much during the pandemic. I am now working a lot more on music during my free afternoons and weekends since everyone’s (hopefully) quarantining. I think it’s brought a lot of us musicians closer too because we’re having to look more and more to the Internet to form relationships and make things happen. We can’t let this stop us from creating; I think now more than ever, people need the arts in their lives to get them through things. Always think outside the box.
What was it like working with an acclaimed producer like Andrew Wade?
Long story short, it was awesome! Andrew Wade mastered my song after it was mixed by Andrew Sullivan at Title Town Sounds in Brockton, Massachusetts. The Andrews did an absolutely fantastic job, to say the least. Title Town helped me connect with him because at the time I didn’t have a mastering engineer locked in yet. When they mentioned his name, I legitimately don’t think I’ve ever answered yes so quickly. I sent him an email and he had this killer master done in literally no time. Though our interactions were relatively brief, he was super nice and prompt and it was an honor to work with the man behind so many records that I grew up listening to in my formative years.
The new single, “Haunt”, is arguably your darkest song to date. Can you describe the subject matter and also what inspired the song’s writing?
Yeah, so the music for Haunt was initially written as a sort of therapy following an argument I had with some of my friends. I just needed something loud and angry and bombastic. But very quickly the lyrics came to be about some people who have wronged or deceived me in the past. I had never written about them before but the main message of the song for me is in its chorus; I’m essentially saying that I know what these people do is wrong and I’m not going to associate with them anymore. It’s not written about any one person but rather about a handful of different people I’ve met in life who all share similar traits. The second verse is about the hypocrisy that came with those people, because oftentimes they would claim to be very religious and accepting but in actuality would use their religious tenets as a tool to judge and put others down. This song is probably the quickest full-song that I’ve ever written; all of the guitar parts, melodies, and lyrics were done in the span of about 30 minutes.
You’re a huge fan of video games as well – what are some of your all-time favorites to play? How about newer games that have grabbed your interest?
My all-time favorite game is EarthBound from the Super Nintendo. It’s so quirky and unique and I think was really ahead of its time compared to the traditional JRPGs that surrounded it. That game also continues to a huge musical influence to me — the biggest component of the game’s cartridge was devoted to its music, so you can imagine how important the soundtrack was to the experience of the game. Some of my other all-time favorites would be Super Mario RPG (SNES) and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (GBA) which also have great soundtracks and stories. As far as newer games go, I’ve been really enjoying Rocket League ever since it went free-to-play and Jurassic World Evolution because who doesn’t love dinosaurs? The Doom and Spyro reboots/remasters are absolutely brilliant, and Tabletop Simulator has been a great way for my friends and I to connect over the pandemic.
What’s one misconception people often have about being a musician?
I’d say it’s that musicians are just people who play music. Nowadays, a successful musician is so much more; they are usually someone who has developed a competency in a lot of different areas in order to get themselves heard. They are content creators. They often make their own album artwork, logos, and tee designs. They learn how to run ads and teach themselves how to market effectively. They are hitting up private Facebook and Reddit groups as much as possible hoping to make connections and gain fans. Like it or not, a musician isn’t really anything without an Instagram now. You truly have to be a content creator, first and foremost. Pick any DIY musician in the modern age and you’ll probably find a little graphic design, a little humor, a bit of marketing sense, and a dash of production knowledge on top of that musical foundation. It’s pretty important to not be a dick, too.
What inspires you to keep making music during an extremely difficult time for the entire world?
It sounds corny, but when I put myself out there in February of this year as Two Eyes Open, I made a promise to both the ten year old kid inside of me and to my future fans. That promise was to never let them down. To the little kid I was who was always dreaming up scenarios of superheroes and music and art; I couldn’t let that imagination go to waste. And to the future fans who hopefully connect and fall in love with my words or my songs, I can’t let them down either. It seems to come and go in waves, but I’ve had people tell me “Good Gone Away” helped them through a panic attack and I’ve had others reach out to tell me they lost a parent too and so they really related to “The Summer”. My song “Face the Light” opened the door to so many conversations when the BLM protests were going on that I might have never had otherwise. Music, art, games, movies — it’s all about human connection, expression, and learning from one another. I just want to try and do what so many others have done for myself over the years. My hope is that Haunt helps people get some of that anger out and have the courage to follow their own compass when they’ve got dissenters and naysayers. To go your own way.
