Lies Behind Your Eyes - Interview

An interview

By

Shinara Hussain

A.R.M.Y who use social media like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook may have seen a YouTube video upload being shared recently. This video is of a cover of Fake Love by our boys BTS. Now you may be asking what's new about that? After all there are many people out there who cover BTS songs. What is unusual about this particular cover is that it isn't the usual poppy or acoustic versions which are the norm. Instead those of you who really loved BTS' rockier versions of Spring Day and Fake Love are in for a treat with this Metal version of Fake Love!

Source: LBYE

What you have just watched is metal band Lies Behind Your Eyes, who have given us a version of Fake Love that we never knew we needed. Come as we ask them questions from the @BTSRadioUK team about who they are and how they came to a decision as a metal band to cover kpop!

Image courtesy of LYBE

Hi, thank you for joining us. First please introduce yourselves and tell us how long you have known each other?

Ky Dixon: What up? I’m Ky. I’m the unclean vocalist. I’m responsible for all the screaming in other words. I just turned 23 in May. Gemini, whoop whoop! I’ve known these hooligans for going on about 2 years now.

Eric Shreds: I’m Eric Shreds, lead guitarist, and backup screams. I've known Jon and Kyle for 2 to 3 years, and Mikey 8 years. I tend to be the emotional side of the band.

Jon Taylor: Jon the bass player here. I actually turned 26 the day we released this video (so I'm the band dad lol). Outside of the live portion, I’m sort of the band corporate dude. I handle the boring "financey" things. I’ve known the guys for about 3 years now, when they brought me on board.

Mikey Chinchilla: HAPPY BIRTHDAY JON! Hey I’m Mikey! I’m 23 and do the singing and drumming for the band. I manage our Facebook, YouTube, and e-mail accounts as well, and I am also responsible for recording, mixing, and mastering our “FAKE LOVE” cover and our “Reflections” EP.

How long has the band been together, tell us a bit of how you got together?

Ky: I’ve been part of the crew since May 2016. I believe I actually found out about these guys through a Facebook ad, and after some chit chat and a few jam sessions, they decided to take me in, and it’s been epic working with these guys.

Jon: I’ve been part of the group since late 2015. Eric actually found me at a bass clinic here in Orlando and we just started talking from there. they “interviewed” me at one point but they really weren’t prepared for me interviewing them in turn lol.

Mikey: Eric and I became friends sophomore year in high school. We realised each other’s musical potential very quickly and have been writing songs together ever since. It wasn’t until 2016 though, that we had a full lineup. So I guess to answer your question, we’ve been together for about 2 years! Eric and I always joke that our longest relationships have been with each other.

How did you come up with the name Lies Behind Your Eyes?

Ky: I don't know. That was before I joined haha. That’s an Eric and Mikey thing. PS - Shut up Jon. haha

Eric: I came up with the name, due to past deep events that I’ve grown up to live with. Being lied to is a very hurtful feeling, and I wanted to embrace it with the message of our band.

Jon: I still make fun of them for the name. lol

Mikey: Yeah I honestly don’t even remember. It was some sort of compromise between our former bassist and Eric, but we all liked it, so we rolled with it. Haha

As you were growing up what were your musical influences/inspirations?

Ky: Okay, so growing up my influences were bands like Slipknot, Lamb of God, Cradle of Filth, Chelsea Grin, Crown the Empire, Suicide Silence, and last but not least, Good Charlotte. Whether it be the relatable lyrical content, the vocals, or stage presence... whatever it was, they were just captivating. All these bands are the reason I wanted to do what I do today. 

Eric: I grew up listening to the older rock and metal music, and once I hit middle school and the emotional side of me came into play, I started getting into the more modern metal with more relatable lyrics.

Jon: My musical influences actually are a little old school. Paul McCartney had such a way with words and his playing style is still so inspiring. My style bounces between the hard hitting Geddy Lee of Rush (I started in a Rush cover band at 15) and Iron Maiden’s Galloping Steve Harris (arguably the reason I’m in metal today). Outside of rock, Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten are huge inspirations on how to take a bass and make it sing. If anyone can speak through a four string, it’s those guys.

Mikey: Believe it or not I actually used to hate music when I was little. I couldn’t stand loud noises (I still don’t like loud noises, but I’ve adapted haha). That changed when the girl I had a crush on in 4^th grade joined the school band. She was way out of my league, but I wanted her to notice me (kind of like we want BTS to notice our cover lol), so I joined too. She ended up quitting, but I loved it so much that I stayed with it. Since then, I’ve enjoyed bands such as Amaranthe, Dangerkids, Nightwish, Halestorm, The Devil Wears Prada, We Came As Romans, Saosin, Starset, and so many more. And, of course, Hilary Duff.

Hilary Duff? Please explain!

Mikey: Hilary Duff is, was, and always will be my celebrity crush. I love her music, I love her movies, I love her style, and I love the kind of person that she is! Haha.

Well who can argue about a crush. And I wont lie, I loved her music, and movies too. A Cinderella Story anyone?!

Who were your role models?

Ky: My biggest role models honestly are my sister, my mom, my dad,  my uncle, my step dad, and my great grandmother. These six people truly inspire me to keep going through the dark times. I deal with some medical issues from time to time (whether it be mental, respiratory, physical). Example: my mom and sister both have R.A. (Rheumatoid Arthritis), and everyday they get up, they work, and they live life to the fullest. As far as my dad, my uncle, and step father, they are the strongest people I have ever met mentally. When they have a goal or a vision, nothing stands in their way. Last, but for sure not least, my great grandmother. She had a way of putting a smile and numbing the pain of everyone she ever came in contact with, and my goal is that one day I can make them proud.

Eric: My role models would be my grandad for teaching me who I am and what I’m worth, my best friend Brittany who told me if I really love music, I shouldn’t be scared to share it with the world, and my sister who has always been there for me. Dave Grohl as far as musicians go.

Jon: Role models? Hmm, Arnold Palmer has probably had the longest lasting impression on me. When I was 17 I was admitted to Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital for cancer and I had the opportunity to meet him during one of his visits. He was such a positive light in an otherwise dark situation. Since then I've tried my best to emulate that sort of light in life.

Mikey: My biggest role models are my parents and grandparents. They are such great people and excel at everything they do, and my dad has played guitar since he was in high school. I just want to make them proud and set an example for people like they’ve set for me.

I love the fact that you all have such strong role models within the family.

Ky, you mentioned a respiratory illness, considering your position in the band, does it cause a hindrance? And if it does, how do you deal with it? 

Ky: I was born with athletic asthma, so my entire existence has been based on gauging how much energy I exert and how much I put out. Sorry I took the torch of being the vocalist for LBYE. If we has a set that's longer than 30 minutes, I have to pick the songs that I go hard for and what songs to take it easy with. I just really focus on recovering while still keeping the energy high with the show.  

Mikey: On that note, I feel I should actually point out that I'm a type 1 diabetic as well; I was diagnosed 19 years ago. Thankfully it's never caused any serious issues for me or the band. But sometimes you might see me downing fruit snacks before we go on stage, just to make sure my blood sugar doesn't low!

With such a strong work ethic, being mindful of their illnesses, and yet still doing what they do you can see these guys are serious about their music.

What was the first record you bought or got as a gift, and what kind of impact did it have on you?

Ky: My first record ever that I bought was Good Charlotte: The Chronicles of Life and Death. One I got as a gift was Slipknot’s Subliminal Verses, Vol 3 album. Easily if it wasn't for those albums, I wouldn’t nearly be as invested as I am in music.

Eric: Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory. This album showed me that other people feel pain and frustration, and it changed my life as I found an outlet to relate to when growing up.

Jon: The first record I bought with my own money was probably a Van Halen greatest hits album. My favourite record is definitely S.M.V. Until then I had no idea how much you could really do with a bass guitar. It blew me away. After hearing that record, I dove headfirst into jazz, fusion, and anything else like that I could get my hands on, and it’s made me a much more versatile musician.

Mikey: I attribute two albums to my love of rock and metal today. When I was younger my uncle Frank and cousin Christopher introduced me to Saosin’s self-titled album and Autopilot Off’s “Make A Sound” album. I would listen to them every single day, and from there my love of heavy music grew. If it weren’t for them, I might have never even considered being in a band.

What does music mean to you?

Ky:  It means everything to me. Music to me is therapeutic. It’s healing. You know, like I mentioned before, due to of all the medical stuff I have, it's hard for me to communicate at times how I’m feeling or to really feel comfortable, but ever since I was a kid, like maybe three or four, I'd go into like a trance. Like my mom and dad have said where they could tell I just felt normal and belong there. Where I go I just feel free, and I hope our music does the same one day.

Eric: Music is the only thing I feel I have, my purpose, my only true way of expression. It’s the only thing that I feel has my back.

Jon: Music to me is a language. Music has this magical property to connect people across countries, cultures, and mindsets. This world always seems to try to pit people against one another when we need to find ways to grow closer.

Mikey: To me music is a form of expression. I was very shy when I was younger and still consider myself an introvert today. I had trouble speaking about what I was feeling, so when I found music, I found a new way to express myself that I felt was way easier. To me it also means togetherness. When do you ever see musicians without an audience? It brings people together. No matter who you are or what kind of music you play, someone is always going to want to listen, and I think that’s beautiful.

I think most people would agree with you there, that music is a way to communicate feelings and emotions, sometimes without saying anything. I know that when I'm stuck sometimes with what I want to convey, a piece of music or a song is exactly that bridge that gets me across.

Do you think music has a universal appeal and crosses language barriers and why?

Ky: Oh heck yes it does!!!! I mean look what we’ve done. Just a cover, but we've gotten so many responses like, “I never listen to this genre of music, but this is awesome.” It's ridiculous how powerful music can be and how many different ways one song can be spun and appeal to a completely different audience than the original, whether it be the original band’s remix or not.

Eric: When music is played live, in that moment in time, everyone at that show feels as if they are one. They can relate with each other. I’ve never been to a good emotional show and seen any of the disrespect I see in the streets today. People love one another no matter who they are. If the music is good, the people are good to one another.

Jon: Welp... I think I just answered that lol. Yes 100 fold.

Mikey: 100% I believe so. A lot of the comments on our “FAKE LOVE” video mention how we really brought the emotion of the original song to a whole new level. We didn’t change the words, but somehow our music gave it a whole deeper level of meaning. When it comes to language barriers in music, there are none because music is a universal language. Even if you can’t understand the words, you can always feel the meaning in a good song.

How did you discover BTS?

Ky:  Jonny boy showed it to us like a few days after Fake Love dropped and was like “GUYS!!!” 

Eric: Jon.

Jon: Honestly I stumbled into BTS through a Spotify playlist and was hooked nearly instantly. When I first heard Fake Love, we had a rehearsal scheduled that same day. I practically bulldozed into the room yelling at the guys to look this song up and that we could totally make this song “metal.

Mikey: What Jon said is 100% accurate haha. K-pop was not a genre I had ever really listened to before. When I heard “FAKE LOVE,” I decided to look up more songs by BTS, and I was blown away not only by the music and production quality, but their choreography and cohesiveness as well. You can tell they really put a lot of work into their music. I wanted to make sure we did the same with our cover.

Did you research the words and meaning of Fake Love?

Ky: Like what Mikey said, we were both kind of dealing with our own situations, and the one thing I can say about this band is we’re a very emotionally driven band with anything we put out. When it comes to tracking, me and Mikey really kind of pull things I believe from our past and present to really bring the song to life.

Eric: As someone that just got out of a “Fake Love” relationship, from just the chorus I already could relate.

Mikey: Oh yes! In order for Ky and I to really get the emotion behind our performances, we needed to know what the song was about. We looked up multiple translations to make sure we got an accurate idea. At the time of recording, we were both relating to the song very well.

Was this a deciding factor on covering Fake Love; or was it because it had been getting a lot of attention lately?

Ky: Honestly for me, after Jon initially showed us, I heard the rap verse and I was like, “Yo freaking bet! Let’s get it!” because I love many different genres, and rap was one of my life foundations of music. 

Eric: The band wanted to cover it, and since I just got out of a painful relationship, it worked perfectly.

Jon: It’s a great song, but the deciding factor to me was when BTS put out the heavier remix. After hearing that I could feel that there were others out there who wanted a truly massive sounding version. I like to think we accomplished that!

Mikey: Both. Jon suggested we do this song because of its viral international appeal. I don’t think everyone was on board immediately, –cough–Eric–cough– but before he had a chance to say no, I whipped up an arrangement and showed it to him, and he loved it. I think that was the turning point for doing it.

How long did it take to put the structure of the song together and how did you make the decision on what parts of the original to keep?

Ky: Yeah, Mikey is a beast. Having a band member who runs his own studio is such a big benefit. There were so many things I remember he’d point out about the song that I was just like, “Dude how did you even... like what?!?!” But yeah, as far as keeping it in Korean, there was an intense debate, there is no doubt about. But Mikey and I really stayed on top of each other and spent a lot of hours making sure we did it to the very best of our ability to really do this song justice.

Eric: Mikey and I went back and forth, but Mikey really won me over with ideas this time around, and I just tried my best to make the song sound its best.

Jon: Mikey really took the lead on the arrangement. He threw together the whole thing into Guitar Pro within 24 hours of the decision, and we nitpicked it from there.

Mikey: Kyle, you’re making me blush! But yes, we found out about the song about 2 weeks after its release. I went home the same night and arranged the cover. Instrumentally, I tried to keep a lot of the song intact because why cover something if you’re not going to keep the parts of the song that made it great in the first place? You’ll notice, for example, that the bass synth that rides throughout the entire original song is still in there, as well as the little triangle dings in the choruses. As a producer, I really appreciate the little things that fill out a mix, so I listened pretty carefully to what they were doing.

Regarding doing it in English or doing it Korean, we had a pretty intense debate about this as the guys mentioned. We were scared at first that we wouldn’t be able to pull off the Korean parts. The English translations also didn’t flow as well though, and we didn’t like that. Ky and I really believed in each other doing the Korean parts, and that’s what ultimately made us decide to keep it original. I’m really glad we did.

Image courtesy of LBYE

How important was the guitar in making the song true to your own sound?

Ky: It’s a huge part because honestly this cover wouldn't be LBYE if we didn't have those tasteful leads that only the shredster can bring to the table. If you liked these leads you all should over and check our single “Taste Of Regret.” The man's a genius with his guitar.

Eric: If it wasn’t for the guitar, I wouldn’t have found myself personally.  Guitar is more than words can describe with me. Its importance is everything to me, and my band understands this. Even if they have the idea or part, if i feel it, I work hard into it to express it.

Jon: One of my favourite things about Eric and I is we can always spend hours discussing guitar and bass tone. We like to think that due to that, we can put out some of the most genuine guitar tones that speak to more than just metal-heads.

Mikey: Eric’s guitar playing is one of the most important parts of our sound identity. You’ll notice it a lot in our originals. He’s a phenomenal guitarist, and until now, Eric’s YouTube fan base was our biggest source of fans. They’re all guitarists, so it was very important that we put some showy guitar leads in the cover song to make it feel more like us and to make sure we appealed to our fans.

I think ARMYs will agree that the guitar brings a whole other level to the cover!

Your original songs have a more intense sound, was there an urge to do the same with Fake Love?

Ky: I mean for me not really. I think we really just wanted to do the song as much justice as possible but still have that little bit of LBYE sauce on top to flare it up a bit.

Eric: That sound is Lies Behind Your Eyes. Whatever we make will have our sound in it in one way or another. Our sound is our emotion.

Jon: I mean if it were up to me, we'd already be a pop band lol. In all honesty, we just wanted to stay as true to the original track as possible.

Mikey: As Jon hinted at, he and I have talked a lot about catering to a broader audience. We wanted to use this cover as a test to see how making a song a little more groovy would hold up. Clearly it worked well. Haha. That said, we would never be Lies Behind Your Eyes without all the great riffs Eric writes, so I wouldn’t plan on those going anywhere anytime soon.

Do any of you speak Korean, or did you learn the song phonetically?

Ky: Not a single lick of it haha, so you can imagine what recording was like for me and Mikey. A lot of tears, a lot frustrations, and a lot of “go home we’ll try again later.” But like I said, we stayed on each other and really pushed and encouraged each other to stay on it and how rewarding this would be once we dropped it.

Mikey: I’m half Cuban. You’d think I’d know at least one other language by now. It’s kind of embarrassing that I don’t. Ky and I looked up a bunch of “FAKE LOVE” pronunciation videos to get things as accurately as we could. To make things easier, I even typed up phonetic lyrics (since we couldn’t find them online). That really helped. We also found an isolated vocal track of the original song, so we would compare our takes to that a lot as well.

How long did it take to learn, and did you have help with pronunciation?

Ky: Ha! Literally if you guys could’ve seen some of the tension that was stirring between me and Chinchilla, and none of it was bad tension. It’s just at that point we knew what the other was capable of, so we kept pushing each other till we both were proud of the take.

Mikey: It was some work for sure. We tried to find Korean friends to help us out, but it turns out we didn’t have any. Rest in peace my social life haha. Anyways, there were days in the studio when I’d be like, “Nope, we’re trying again tomorrow.” Most of our time in the studio was spent getting the vocals down. Thankfully I think it paid off.

It did pay off, and the fact that you worked so hard on doing the cover in Korean, getting the pronunciation right, and not taking the easy option of doing it in English will bring you more respect from BTS (if they notice you, I hope they do!) and their fandom.

How has the response been to your cover, and do you plan on doing any more?

Ky: Yo, words literally can't describe the amount of satisfaction you feel after really grinding and giving your all and then it actually being taken and appreciated. Dude honestly all the love we’re getting is just the juice we need for our upcoming show in Tampa with Attila and Suicide Silence on the 12th. We love the support, and we love the army's!

Eric: It’s been great. I feel it’s what we deserve. We put our hearts into music, and to be rewarded with this is something we are very grateful for.

Jon: The warm response we've gotten so far has been crazy. We never imagined it would be so well received, and I hope we get the chance to do another song like this! It was a blast.

Mikey: The response has vastly exceeded our expectations. Typically when you go to the comment section of a metal song, you have people that really love it or people that really hate it. Our cover has received so many positive responses and barely any negative. And when your best song beforehand had 14,000 views on YouTube, you don’t expect something you put together as quickly as we did “FAKE LOVE” to really get a whole lot of attention at all. Personally, I am very relieved to see that fans approve of our Korean. Once we realised how much attention it was starting to get, I was very nervous we would get a lot of hate for being Americans trying to cover a Korean song and massively butchering it. I’m really happy BTS fans believe we did the song justice.

As for doing more covers, they definitely helped us widen our musical perspective, so I’m sure we’ll do another one at some point, but right now we’re not sure what song that will be. We do have a cover of Cascada’s “Everytime We Touch” on our Reflections E.P though.

Are you currently working on a new album?

Ky: Truthfully we’re always writing, and we’re always pushing our limits, so I feel like here soon you’ll probably get a whole new monster eventually. I promise. 

Eric: Yes we are gathering our emotions, talking about them, and writing them. You can expect more music from us.

Jon: One thing about this band is we're always writing new material. At this point we're not sure if we'll shoot for another EP or a full length, but I can guarantee we'll have more music out as soon as we can.

Mikey: We released a single called “Taste of Regret” about a month ago and have plans to release another later this year. As the guys said, we are currently working on new material. Given the success of this cover, we may be revising a few things!

You can watch their single Taste of Regret on their YouTube channel: Lies Behind Your Eyes

What are your plans for the future as a band, and what kind of material can we look forward to?

Ky: Well as of late, this year has been half-stressful, half-not, so I feel like you can expect more personal-based tracks in the near future. As for plans for the future, LBYE ain't goin’ nowhere but up baby.

Eric: Aggressive, emotional, painful, and in-your-face.

Jon: We've been fortunate enough to play with a few larger names in the metal-core industry, and we're pushing to keep that going. We're very much a live band and love performing in front of others. I'm hoping to just keep playing shows and putting out new music that others enjoy.

Mikey: I think a lot of our future material is really going to hit some feels. We’re definitely looking to continue where we’ve left off with our Reflections E.P, but of course we’re always growing as musicians. As our personal tastes develop, I’m sure our music will too. After we’ve got some more material out, we’d all love to go on tour.

What kind of advice would you give to other musicians out there?

Ky: Honestly, given my origin, I was shot down so many times. You gotta stick to your grind. Practice, practice. No holidays, no weekends, no birthdays. You beat your goal everyday, wake up, and learn one riff or study a new vocalist. Do something that makes you grow. I scream literally every single day for hours. Even if no one believes in you, you gotta believe in yourself.

Eric: Follow who you are and what you want to be. Don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.  Put your heart into your music, and let people hear how your heart beats.

Jon: Practice, and learn to listen to one another. If you're in a group with multiple opinionated people like we are, you won't get anywhere if you can't take a step back and listen to what each of you is saying.

Mikey: I could go so many directions with this, but I think the most important thing is to not give up. No band ever got anywhere by giving up. You will get discouraged, but if music is something you truly believe in, then it’s worth fighting for. Find people that share the same passion and drive about music as you do and surround yourself with them. You will lift each other up and push each other to be your very best. Don’t talk down about other musicians either. Otherwise people with that drive and passion won’t want to be around you. Give positivity. Get positivity. It’s the basic rule of reciprocity.

And finally is there anything you would like to say in response to all the messages regarding your cover, a message to ARMY?

Ky, Eric, Jon, and Mikey: We'd like to say thank you to everyone who has liked, shared, or commented on our cover and anyone who has shared our band or our music with their friends. We are so overwhelmed by and grateful for all the support BTS Army's and K-pop fans have shown us. 
Thank you for encouraging us to make more music. Thank you for noticing our hard work. Thank you for making us smile beyond belief as we read all of your comments. You all are truly some of the kindest and most loyal fans we have ever seen from any genre. As artists, we are so happy we have gotten to experience your love and support. We're not sure where we'll end up in the future, but we really hope that you all will be there too. 

It may also be worth mentioning that we are playing the Tampa, FL date of RAGE FEST with Attila, Suicide Silence, Rings of Saturn, Volumes, Spite, and Cross Your Fingers on August 12th.

Thank you to LBYE for joining us and answering our questions. We hope that you all loved reading about what they had to say as much as we did. Their E.P Reflections is available to buy now. And you can find them on the following:

Twitter: @lbyeofficial
Facebook: @liesbehindyoureyes
YouTube: Lies Behind Your Eyes
Instagram: @liesbehindyoureyes

You can download their version of Fake Love for free from Spotify, or buy their E.P Reflections from the following music apps:

Spotify: Lies Behind Your Eyes
Amazon: Lies Behind Your Eyes
iTunes: Lies Behind Your Eyes