BiografieTHE BEGINNING
During the late ´80s and early ´90s vocalist, guitarist and song writer Mikael Dahl and guitarist and song writer Niclas Karlsson became a part of the local music scene in the town Borås in Sweden when playing in various local bands. Mostly in bands playing some kind of hard rock and/or Heavy Metal and/or covers, but none of them really found what they were looking for. When they discovered their mutual passion for Heavy Metal, and severe JUDAS PRIEST addiction, they decided to start a new band of their own. It was the spring of 1992, and CRYSTAL EYES was born. The name came up among many others during a brainstorm session, but CRYSTAL EYES was picked simply because they thought it "sounded good". Quite soon they were joined by bassist Christian Gunnarsson, but they couldn´t find a drummer so Mikael had to program the drum machine Alesis HR-16 for that part.



THE FIRST OFFICIAL DEMO TAPE
In the spring of 1993 Alesis HR-16 was replaced by Fredrik Gröndahl, who after only a year was replaced by Martin Tilander, and Christian Gunnarsson was replaced by Mikael Blohm. The band had been recording demo tapes of Mikael´s and Niklas´ songs from the very beginning, but on the demo tapes from 1993 and on their mutual friend Andreas Götesson started to appear as an external lyricist. In 1994 the band decided it was time to release an official demo tape. The cover of the self titled demo tape was made by Andreas Götesson, but more importantly he created the logotype which has stayed with the band ever since.



NEAR END
In the spring of 1995 it was clear that the chemistry in the band wasn´t working anymore. Some of the members wanted to change the music in a more aggressive and "modern" ´90s-like direction. For Mikael that was never an option, so he found himself being the only member left. Niclas Karlsson and Martin Tilander then moved on to form the band Fierce Conviction. They released one album under that name, and a second album as just CONVICTION, on the label CRAZY LIFE MUSIC. The same label CRYSTAL EYES released the first two albums on. CONVICTION was dissolved in December 2001, but interestingly a certain Daniel Heiman was CONVICTIONS singer during their last few months of existence. Daniel Heiman never recorded anything with CONVICTION, but they did a few gigs, and it was during this time the guys in LOST HORIZON got their ears on him. Niklas Karlsson has later also been a member of ZONATA, FRETERNIA and RISING FAITH.



A NEW BEGINNING
After a few months searching for new members Mikael completed the new line-up in the fall of 1995 with drummer Kujtim Gashi, guitarist Jukka Kaupaamaa and bassist Kim Koivo. Kim Koivo quit in May 1996, and since a bassist was needed immediately to record the second official demo tape Marco Nicolaidis temporarily helped out as a bassist for a few months. The second official demo tape THE SHADOWED PATH turned out to be a turning point for the band. The demo tape received some really good reviews, and it was more or less the first time CRYSTAL EYES got any attention from outside Sweden. One has to remember that during the mid ´90s Heavy Metal was pretty much just laughed at outside the hard core of the genre, and it was certainly not easy for a small band to reach out before the internet started to become an alternative force to the mainstream media. But the demo tape´s positive response gave a first hint of what to come, and it certainly helped when the band made their first live appearance of importance when warming up for BLIND GUARDIAN in October 1996. On December the 1st 1996 CRYSTAL EYES was definitely one of the first bands to get an official website up and running. Looking back one can probably not underestimate the importance of establishing a website so early on.



A SOLID LINE-UP
In January 1997 Mikael found a permanent bassist in Claes Wikander. Spurred on by the response from the last demo tape they immediately rehearsed a bunch of new songs, and recorded the third official demo tape THE FINAL SIGN in Mars. It received an even better response than the last one, and also started to sell quite well. The demo tapes actually sold out in just a few weeks, and the band had to make a second pressing of THE SHADOWED PATH and THE FINAL SIGN. The first demo tape didn´t get a second pressing since the band thought it didn´t meet up to the standards of the last two. In October Jukka Kaupaamaa was replaced by Jonathan Nyberg, and Mikael consider this being the point where he first felt the band got a truly solid line-up and everybody were heading in the same direction. In May 1998 the fourth official demo tape THE DRAGON´S LAIR was recorded. This time the band had invested in their own digital mini studio, and it was Mikael and Claes who were in charge of the production. This co-operation was quite successful, and awoke an interest which a few years later resulted in CRYSTAL EYES´ own studio CRYSTAL SOUNDS. At this point it still wasn´t very easy to reach out for a Heavy Metal band, but for the first time since the early ´90s the general interest for Heavy Metal seamed to be heading in a positive direction. A direction which certainly helped when CRYSTAL EYES for the first time were offered some proper recording contracts directly after having sent THE DRAGON´S LAIR to several interested record companies.



WORLD OF BLACK AND SILVER
It was the German label CRAZY LIFE MUSIC who presented the best deal, and a contract was signed on the 1st of October 1998. Since CRYSTAL EYES already had about 40 songs to choose from they immediately went down to STUDIO MOHRMANN in Germany to record the debut. The recordings began on the 23d of November, and lasted for two weeks. While in the studio they got a visit from cover artwork artist Eric Philippe, who had from directions from CRAZY LIFE MUSIC and the lyrics to the title song WORLD OF BLACK AND SILVER made sketches for the album cover. A cool looking fantasy artwork, but the warrior was ordered there by CRAZY LIFE MUSIC. The band´s intention was only to visualise the world described in the lyrics. The mixing and mastering were done after the band left the studio. Something the band thought would be handled by professionals, but when they got the finished product by January it was truly sad to hear the substandard sound production. The album was remixed, but not to the bands satisfaction. Unable to get the record label to remix it a second time, and inexperienced by this completely new situation, the band felt they had no other choice than to approve the release. Even though the sound turned out the way it did the band was, and is, very proud of the songs. WORLD OF BLACK AND SILVER was released on the 26th of April 1999. The album received great reviews, but soon CRAZY LIFE MUSIC delivered a second disappointment with extremely poor marketing and promotion, and none of the promised tour support.



IN SILENCE THEY MARCH
Since he had the time Mikael soon finished the material for the second album, and STUDIO MOHRMANN was once again booked for November 1999. But just a week before going down to Germany CRAZY LIFE MUSIC pushed back the date for the studio, and kept on doing so at several occasions until September 2000. During this period CRYSTAL EYES started working with the management and booking agency DMP SWEDEN. A company ran by Mikael´s younger brother Tommy Dahl. The first results of this co-operation were a few smaller club gigs in Sweden, opening up for CANDLEMASS and YNGWIE MALMSTEEN and playing the fifth MOTALA METAL FESTIVAL. DMP SWEDEN also arranged with Swedish cover artwork artist Kristian Wåhlin to paint the cover for the up-coming album. A fantasy artwork inspired by Andreas Götesson´s lyrics to the title track IN SILENCE THEY MARCH. Finally on the 25th of September CRYSTAL EYES once again could enter STUDIO MOHRMANN. After the band had ventilated their dissatisfactions surrounding the first release CRAZY LIFE MUSIC had promised a better support for the new album, but sadly history repeated itself with frightening accuracy. IN SILENCE THEY MARCH was released on the 11th of December 2000. Once again the only support of the album was when DMP SWEDEN arranged a Swedish club tour in January and February 2001, now together with LEFAY and EVERGREY.



A NEW DRUMMER
In May 2001 Kujtim Gashi felt he needed to spend more time with his ill daughter, and was unable to commit 100% to Crystal Eyes. It was a sad moment to loose a great drummer, but Kujtim still remains a great friend of the band. Auditions with several drummers were held during May and June until a perfect match was found in FRETERNIA´S drummer Stefan Svantesson. Stefan then played in both bands for a few months before quitting FRETERNIA. CRYSTAL EYES spent the rest of 2001 rehearsing and writing, and Stefan made his first live appearance in December at the earlier mentioned CONVICTION´S farewell party. 2002 kicked-off with another Swedish club tour with LOST HORIZON, ZONATA and IRON WARE.



CRYSTAL SOUNDS
In the spring of 2002 CRYSTAL EYES got the opportunity to take over an old studio next to their rehearsal room. The studio was in the ´80s and ´90s know as STUDIO FALMAN, but had only been used as a rehearsal room or been empty for almost ten years. Mikael and Claes had gradually been more and more interested in the technical side of the recording process since they bought the digital mini studio in 1998, and wise from the experience of the first two albums they were convinced that they could accomplish a much better result themselves. They restored and equipped the studio as much as their self financed budget allowed, though some equipment had to be hired when needed. They named the studio CRYSTAL SOUNDS, and began recording in August 2002.



HEAVY FIDELITY
During this time the band also decided to definitely end the relationship with CRAZY LIFE MUSIC. The communication had been completely one sided for over a year and a half so it was actually more of a decision to move on than to quit anything. When the band started the recordings they had a bunch of songs they wanted to record for the next CRYSTAL EYES album, but had no idea how, where and when that album would be released. Meanwhile their management and booking agency DMP SWEDEN had planned to start up a record label for over a year, and during the fall those plans and CRYSTAL EYES´ situation fell perfectly into place. The new label was named HEAVY FIDELITY, and a record deal was signed on the 1st of December 2002.



VENGEANCE DESCENDING
Because it was the first time CRYSTAL EYES recorded and mixed everything themselves, and everyone were working fulltime at their day jobs during the whole process, and there was no time pressure, the album wasn´t finished until March 2003. But the result clearly shows that time and lack of pressure can be equally important as loads of cash when it comes to sound production quality. Certainly a huge step up production wise compared to the previous two albums. Possible guest vocalists had been discussed at several occasions over the years, but now when they had their own studio the band finally felt they had the time to do something about it. Mikael had earlier discussed a possible guest appearance with LOST HORIZON vocalist Daniel Heiman, and now it resulted in Daniel singing lead on the song THE WIZARD´S APPRENTICE. The German band CHROMING ROSE´ first three albums had for long been some of Mikael´s favourite albums, and via Mark Frostenäs at SWEDEN ROCK MAGAZINE he sent a loose question to Gerd Salewski, who was CHROMING ROSE´ vocalist on those albums. Initially it was a long shot, but Gerd thought it was cool that there still were people around who remembered and appreciated what he had done over ten years ago. So in December Gerd flew up to Sweden, stayed for a week, and recorded the lead vocals on the song THE BEAST IN VELVET and backing vocals for the entire album. The cover artwork was once again made by Kristian Wåhlin, this time featuring a sci-fi oriented motive inspired by Andreas Götesson´s lyrics to the title track VENGEANCE DESCENDING. The album was released on the 12th of May 2003. A few weeks after that CRYSTAL EYES made their largest live appearance so far when they played the SWEDEN ROCK FESTIVAL on the 6th of June.



To be continued...

Quelle: http://www.crystaleyes.netDiscografieThe World Of Black And Silver - CD 1999

In Silence They March - CD 2000

Vengeance Descending - CD 2003

Confessions Of The Maker - CD 2005
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