Eyes Set To Kill is a screamo rock band from Tempe, Arizona. What sets them apart, besides their obvious musical talent, is their seemless integration of female vocals with harsh screaming over relentless riffs and pounding drums. They have been exhaustively touring the country promoting their album Reach. I caught up with them in a cramped “green room” in downtown Dallas that could have doubled as a sauna on their latest headlining tour.

So how did Eyes Set to Kill get started?

Alexia Rodriguez: The band actually started when me and Aneesa both took lessons and tried to find people to play with. We didn’t want to do a cliché girl band so we tried to find guys to jam with. We went through a lot of members but we have the perfect people now.

How did you come up with the band’s name?

Alexia: In high school, I wrote a poem. When we were trying to figure out a name, I didn’t want it to be just one of those things where like bands tend to name themselves something that will sound cool and doesn’t really make sense. So I wrote a poem but whenever I try talking about it I confuse people so I don’t like to go deep into it.

Who are some of your influences?

Greg Kerwin: When I started playing guitar, I was listening to punk rock and all that good stuff. So some of my influences in punk rock were Blink-182, Rancid, NOFX, and stuff and then when I got into metal, I started listening to more like Underoath and Thrice. I don’t know what my main influence is because there are so many but there have been bands that have influenced me in every single genre I’ve listened to.

Alexia: Blink-182 got me into music, too. It’s one of those bands that got most of us into music. My main influences are like post-hardcore bands like Thrice and Thursday. I’m really just influenced by anything I have interest in.

Brandon Anderson: Probably the two biggest bands to influence me in what I’m doing are Underoath and Emery. Spencer in Underoath is probably my favorite front man/screamer or whatever. He is a huge inspiration to me as far as being a front man. Emery got me into the whole synth/keyboard/piano kind of thing which is another thing I contribute to the band. So those two bands are probably my two biggest influences in what I’m doing right now.

Anissa Rodriguez: I know everyone says Blink-182 but I really liked Mark Hoppus and learning all of the Blink-182 songs. Also, No Doubt because they have a girl singer so I thought that was really cool and I like their music a lot, too. AFI was a big influence for me as well.

Caleb Clifton: Punk rock is a big influence in my life and is really why I started playing drums. Also, pop music and metal. Travis Barker from Blink-182.

Describe your sound for those who may not have heard you before.

Brandon: We definitely are heavily influenced by post-hardcore scream, that sort of thing, but we have female vocals and lot of really melodic stuff, too, so we are really diverse. We have a lot of catchy stuff that has the female vocals and then harder stuff that has lots of guitar riffs and screaming. It’s a pretty even mix of catchy melodic pop rock and that harder edge with harder guitar parts.

Tell me about the writing process for Reach because it deals with some pretty heavy subject matter.

Anissa: When we first started writing the album, we wanted to make sure that all the songs didn’t sound the same, that there were a bunch of different, I guess, genres in each song.

Brandon: Usually, Alexia and Greg will start off writing the guitar parts and we’ll build the song through there as far as vocal melodies and stuff. And as far as the lyrics, Alexia wrote most of the older stuff but the newer songs I started contributing. We write about real life experiences that everyone can relate to, like relationships, family, lots of different things. We don’t just write about boyfriend-girlfriend drama like some pop-punk bands do. We write about life and try to keep it pretty open so people can relate to it really well.

What is your favorite song off the album and why?

Greg: To play live, I like to play “Violent Kiss” but my favorite song on the album would probably be “Where We Started.”

Alexia: My favorite song on the album is also “Where We Started.” I think live it’s in-between “Violent Kiss” and “Young Blood Spills Tonight. I like playing “Violent Kiss” better because it seems like there’s more energy in the audience but it seems like whenever we play “Young Blood” everyone is singing the whole first verse.

Brandon: I really like playing “Darling” because it’s one that most people know and the crowd just seems to get really into it. It’s not necessarily my favorite song on the album but it has a lot of energy and it’s really fun to play live.

Anissa: I have two favorites to play live: I like playing “Violent Kiss” and “Darling.” I feel both of those songs have a lot of energy in them and kids usually go really crazy for “Darling” so it’s a lot of fun to play that. My favorite song on the album is “Into the Night.”

Caleb: My favorite song on the album is probably “Violent Kiss” because it was the first song I got to write my own drums to coming into the band. To play live, I like playing “Reach” because it’s just so fun, so much fun to play on the drums. I wrote those drums, too.

So what’s the craziest thing that’s happened on tour so far?

Greg: There’s a bunch of stuff that always happens on tour that’s really crazy, anywhere from like almost being stabbed to just pissing in the van on accident. Every single day brings its own adventure. Define “crazy,” I guess I could say. I mean, every single tour there’s always a story to tell when we get home.

Brandon: For example, the other night we were hanging out with all the other bands in a Wal-Mart parking lot, just hanging out, drinking, chillaxing. We got a little rowdy and were playing acoustic guitar and singing really loud and we kind of caused a scene in the parking lot and in the store, something about people throwing cupcakes at each other. The cops came and kicked us out and that’s the first time we actually got kicked out of a Wal-Mart parking lot by the cops. We hang out all the time but that night got out of control and the cops had to come regulate.

Who is your favorite artist you’ve performed with?

Alexia: I guess Foxy Shazam. They’re really cool. They have really different music but they’re live show is really crazy. It’s one of those bands you can’t keep your eyes off of when you’re watching them.

Brandon: Definitely Foxy because they have an awesome live show and it was so much fun to watch them every night. Also, we just did a really short run with a band called In Fear and Faith who are all really good friends of ours. Even on the first week of this tour, we met a band called No Bragging Rights. They’re funny and play really energetic music and move around a lot. They’re good times.

Anissa: They took all of my answers so all of those, especially Foxy Shazam and Karate High School.

What would you be doing if not making music?

Brandon: I’d probably still be in college. Actually, I’d probably be through by now. I dropped out like halfway through to do the band thing so I probably wouldn’t be as happy as I am now. I’m having tons of fun doing this since it’s a great, once-in-a-lifetime experience. So yeah I’d probably just be finishing school and getting a real job and God knows what. I never figured that out so that’s why the band was so appealing to me.

What were you studying?

Brandon: I was studying business, like accounting and stuff like that.

Anissa: I’d probably be going to school, too. I’d probably go to culinary school since I like to cook or go to hair and makeup school because I like doing that.

Caleb: I would probably be manager at the Gap because I worked there before I got into the band. By now I would have worked my way up. I’d probably be in college, taking classes to be a social studies teacher.

Greg: If I wasn’t doing this band right now, I’d probably still be a male stripper.

Still?

Greg: Yeah, still. No, I’m just kidding. I don’t know, I’d probably be still working somewhere in music, whether managing a band or being a promoter or getting into some company that makes musical equipment. I’ve always had this thing for music so probably something like that. Maybe I’d be an intern at a big label, I don’t know, I hate real jobs and I hate school so I always wanted to cheat the system.

Alexia: I’d probably go to art school because that’s the only thing I was good at in school.

Finally, do you have any advice for aspiring musicians?

Greg: Myspace, Myspace, Myspace, Myspace, Myspace, Myspace, Myspace. And as soon as you can get on the road, do it. Keep on touring, keep on annoying the kids every single day to buy your shit. Go to malls, promote, and Myspace.

Alexia: I think musicians need to remember that it’s never going to be easy. You just need to be really dedicated and not doubt yourself ever because that’s where you go down.

Brandon: One of the huge things is to get a super solid really professional recording and demo it out on Myspace or CDs or whatever. If someone listens to you and you have garage band, really low quality recordings, they’re not going to be impressed. So the really huge thing is to record some music that’s going to impress some people.

Anissa: That and touring a lot. If you really want to get your name out, you need to tour everywhere. And Myspace is very important, like Greg said.

Caleb: If you want to be a successful band, get a good drummer. Seriously. If your drummer sucks, your band is going to suck. The drummer keeps the band together. Our band sucks because we have a bad drummer. We’ll end on that note.

Check out all of the interview and performance pictures in our Photo Album section on the front page. All photos by Nathan Murray.