Shield Your Eyes are one of those bands that work unenviably hard at everything they do and one of these days, one of these albums, the wider music audience will wake up and take notice of what has been right under their noses all this time. Back on tour and with new album Volume 4 available now on Function Records, we feel guilty for enjoying them for so long without singing their praises sooner.
A three piece, the band’s core output has always revolved around the twin whirlwinds of drummer Henri Grimes and guitarist Stef Ketteringham. Bassists have come and gone but the heart and soul of Shield Your Eyes lies in Grimes’ Olympian feats of stamina behind the kit and Ketteringham’s disarmingly brilliant and mind-bogglingly original guitar style. Finger-picked, left handed (as all “guitartists” should be), palm operated bridge bending, double guitar slide wielding, he regularly rips the strings from his guitar mid-set to continue on with the remaining few, yelping, singing and screaming like his life depended on it. Such furious and heartfelt abandon is a rare joy to behold.
Originating as a noise/thrash/math/instrumental outfit, Shield Your Eyes have continued to push their creative boundaries and technical ability to provide 10-minute prog wig-outs, soul-stripping harmonica solos, pummellingly relentless thrash, jazz-tastic polyrhythmic math-rock and heart-baring blues jams while still remaining undeniably original, you get the feeling that they not only want to write and play their music, but that they are possessed to, they couldn’t stop if they wanted to. It’s that kind of drive and passion that give Shield Your Eyes the status of cult underground legends in the making, if not already perceived so by many.
Below is a selection of some of our favourite tracks, including a sneaky entry from Stef’s solo Guns or Knives, but go listen on the website, go listen on the soundcloud, then go see them live. Then buy the albums. All of them. They deserve as much of your time and attention as you can spare.
drill your heavy heart (volume 4) by shield your eyes untitled boogie (live at spatchcock ep) by shield your eyes sound the alarm (self-titled debut) by shield your eyes cant fake the first take (cant beat him cant join him) by shield your eyes
