The Doomed & Stoned Show

Ave Satanis

Originally Broadcast on Devil’s Night on Grip of Delusion Radio

Playlist:

1. Cirith Ungol – “Toccata in D minor (Bach)”
2. Acid Witch – “Sabbath of the Undead”
3. Blood Ceremony – “Eldritch Dark”
4. Bloody Hammers – “The Moon-Eyed People”
5. Cirith Ungol – “Cirith Ungol”
6. Abysmal Grief – “Lord of the Funerals”
7. Doom Snake Cult – “Doom”
8. Demon Eye – “End of Days”
9. Mercyful Fate – “Desecration of Souls”
10. Devil – “Time to Repent”
11. Dopethrone – “Devil’s Dandruff”
12. Ice Princess – “Hour of Revenge”
13. Noctum – “Resurrected in Evil”
14. Sabbath Assembly – “Ave Satanas”
15. Black Capricorn – “Evil Horde of Lucifer”
16. Blackwitch Pudding – “Toke'n Man”
17. Acid Witch – “Witch House”
18. Cathedral – “Entrance to Hell”

Also streaming on Soundcloud

Listen to our archived broadcasts here.

Check out our compilation series here.

D&S Interviews

Looking Into the Demon Eye

By Frank Heredia (D&S West)

Photos by Ken Trousdell Photography

Demon Eye was a late addition to the recently concluded fifth and final edition of The Eye of the Stoned Goat, which Doomed & Stoned had the privilege of sponsoring this year, along with STB and Ripple Records. Demon Eye is: Erik Sugg (vocals, guitar), Bill Eagen (drums, vocals), Larry Burlison (Guitar), and Paul Walz (bass). Erik Sugg, frontman for the Raleigh, North Carolina quartet, recently talked to our Frank Heredia (from the band King Raven) about their origins, gear, and recordings past, present, and future. Pictures are from their recent EOTSG show Saturday night, June 13th, at Amityville Music Hall on Long Island, New York.

Catchy choruses. Let’s talk about Demon Eye’s ability to write a great song that we can sing along to. Is this intentional or just the way things happen?

A bit of both. I try to write songs that I feel like people will want to shout along to them. I’m a huge fan of bands from the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, like the MC5, the Stooges and Blue Cheer. To me, those bands knew how to write adrenaline-charged, anthemic rockers that really got into your blood. After years of listening to those kinds of bands, I think it allows me to write some tunes with some good little catchy quirks, (or at least I’d like to think so.)

Coming from North Carolina, do your surroundings add anything to your music?

Yeah, I think so. The story I usually tell people is that Demon Eye began as a result of a night when I was camping deep in the mountains, playing my guitar alone in the dark with nothing but the high hills, the thick woods, my voice, a guitar, and the fire. So the rugged, rural aspects of North Carolina definitely influence us aesthetically, but also, where we live in Raleigh is a good melting pot kind of a city, similar to Austin, Texas. There are many different styles of music and many excellent musicians, so that tends to keep us inspired. Corrosion of Conformity, Bedowyn, Horseskull and Noctomb are probably my favorite heavy bands from our area, (although I could name many more.)

Going off from that, anything non-musical that is a big influence on you guys?

Definitely early 20th century horror literature, like H.P. Lovecraft and Arthur Machen. Guys like that were pretty steeped in occult lore and they tended to put mankind in the very humbling position of being nothing more than mere “things” in terms of the grand scheme of the universe. That sort of thing lends itself well to our songwriting. The newest record is more focused on real life horrors, like the overall destruction in the world today, all of which essentially comes down to the collective ignorance, greed, arrogance, of those in power.

I love to talk gear. Guitars on Demon Eye records sound so old school and it’s a lovely tone. What did you guys use to record guitars for Tempora? Any changes from the previous album?

Pretty much the same except I used a Gibson Les Paul the entire time, whereas for the last record I used a Fender Telecaster and a Gibson SG. Larry is a Stratocaster guy all the way. For both recordings we used the in-house amplifiers and effects at Seriously Adequate Studio, which I believe ranged from some Orange gear to German boutique combos with great cleans. For our personal gear we use the old Laney AOR Pro Tube heads. I use Orange cabinets and Larry uses Marshalls. I’d be hard pressed to change up my tone. I’m very happy with it.

You’ve shared the stage with legends like Matt Pike, Wino and played with some really killer modern day bands like Yob, Witch Mountain, The Sword and High on Fire. How did that feel and have you learned anything from these experiences?

It has been an honor to share the stage with those people, not only because we dearly love their music, but it’s also great seeing the kind of people they are and how they handle their day to day operations as active, touring musicians. All of them really know how to balance their lives while not taking things for granted, and they also treat others with respect. Mike Scheidt from Yob is one of the most incredible people I’ve ever met. If you ask anyone who’s met him they’ll probably say the same. Just pure positive energy. We’ve also learned a lot from the Corrosion of Conformity guys, who are pretty legendary around here. It’s great to have musicians you admire setting the example for you by showing you that being in a band is ALWAYS about good times with your music, your friends, and the people who are cool enough to support you.

Now that ‘Tempora’ is out, what is next for Demon Eye?

Basically, we’re going to try to not screw anything up, haha. We’ve been very fortunate to receive a lot of praise for what we do, so we plan to just play as many shows as we can and to maintain our reputation as a good live band by performing as well as we can. We’re going to be headed to the Midwest in September and we’re currently brainstorming a west coast tour for April of 2016, so stay tuned!

Any chance of an extensive tour of the US?

For now, not the entire country, but we will do everything we can, logistically, to play all the regional pockets. Hopefully we’ll get around to playing for everyone sooner rather than later!

Just for the record…Deep Purple or MC5?

Dude. It’s like you just asked me to choose which my dogs I love the best! However, if it got down to it, though, I’d have to go with the MC5. They’re my all. They truly permeate my soul.

Get Demon Eye’s new album Tempora Infernalia (2015 - Soulseller Records) here and follow the band’s continuous exploits here and here.