The metro Chicago area is like a hot mess of hardcore and punk bands right now. Seems like more and more great music is coming from the entire Chicago area. From The Eyes of Servants is no exception, although they are not from Chicago, they are relatively close. You may be familiar with this band, they actually used to be more of a metalcore band, but changed direction and took on more of a hardcore sound which is reminiscent of Take It Back (whom will be breaking up very soon). Not only that, From The Eyes of Servants will be on tour with Nothing Til Blood and We The Gathered in a few months. So give these guys a look, they have a new album that is coming out soon and you should pick it up!
Band: From The Eyes Of Servants
Music Style: Posi Hardcore/Punk
Hometown: Rockford, IL
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Q: Where and when did “From The Eyes of Servants” get it start? I had never even heard of you guys….are you fairly new to the scene?
A: Well actually FTEOS first started playing in 2009. They started out as a metalcore/breakdown core band along the lines of for the fallen dreams and Emmure. Eric and I didn’t join the band until April of this year. In April FTEOS lost their vocalist after having lost their bassist earlier in the year. Eric and I felt a clear calling to join the band and totally reinvent the style. From there we all wrote our self titled EP which is a style of music we all enjoy playing. So you could say that we are very new to this scene.
Q: What does everyone in the band do when they are not playing?
A: We all have our things to pass the time. Eric and I are work-aholics. He works temp jobs at factories and I work two jobs right now, one at Hot Topic and the other is for a company called the Prayer Letter Service. We send out letters for missionaries so it’s a lot of envelope stuffing. All of us enjoy hanging out with friends and family and playing video games. We try to work as much as we can while were home cause touring is not cheap! Although we have been very blessed in the past as far as making enough money for gas goes so we are very thankful for that.
Q: The whole Chicago area seems to be a hot-bed of hardcore and punk bands right now, did you guys play in any other bands that we might know about?
A: Chicago is definitely killin’ it right now! Eric and I come from a little known band called Milosny. We were a riff core band and we were actually the first band Joey from Red Cord ever signed. We were never really part of the Chicago hardcore scene though. It’s a hard scene to break in to. Having said that I don’t really consider FTEOS to be a part of that scene since we have never played Chicago and only 2 of us (Eric and I) are from Rockford IL which is an hour and a half away and not considered a suburb. I consider us a Midwest band. If we are playing anywhere in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, or South Dakota I consider that a home show. I hope to expand that territory with much more touring next year.
Q: From The Eyes of Servants is definitely a Christian band, you guys make no bones about it. What is the purpose of the band?
A: The purpose of our band is pretty simple. To bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to our generation and to everyone who needs to hear it. We are not looking to sell a ton of records or become famous. If being famous is what God has planned for us then let God’s will be done and let Him get all the Glory. If He wants us to keep playing small shows for 10 to 20 kids a night then that’s great too! I know God is gonna take care of us either way which is more than I can ask. God is so amazing and we are so blessed to be able to do what we do. The least we can do is give Him the glory!
Q: Where do you as a band get or receive most of your inspiration from in the bible?
A: One thing I love about the bible is how absolutely filled with inspiration and truth it is. You can read one passage a million times and learn something new each time. It’s incredible! It’s the Holy Spirit alive and at work in me and I love it. What I did for the songs on the EP is I Prayed for God to show me what to write about then basically opened up the bible and read through a book or so before I knew what to write about. I wrote the song Endeavor about stuff going on in my life. It’s about struggling with sin and being completely humbled by God’s grace. I knew I wanted to write a song about that so I prayed about it and opened up the Bible. I read through both Corinthians letters and afterwords I had what I needed to write the song. I am so blessed to be used by God for this.
Q: From The Eyes of Servants recently signed to Red Cord Records, what does that mean for the band?
A: Actually, believe it or not, FTEOS already released a full length record of the old style and old members on Red Cord Records. I believe they were the second band to sign to the label. That was back when Red Cord didn’t have a very big audience. Red cord has grown very much over the last year. Our self titled EP which was released in October was our first release of our reinvented sound and we are almost finished recording our first full length with this style. We are very excited to show people the record and we are glad to be part of the Red Cord Records family! The release date is still TBA right now but we will release some info soon!
Q: What style of music do you consider From The Eyes Of Servants, who has influenced you as a band. I think you guys sound a bit like early Take It Back!
A: Genres and styles of music are so relative these days I find it very hard to describe our music by style. If I had to say I would call us hardcore/punk. We definitely take a lot of influence from Take It Back as they are one of the staples of positive hardcore as I see it today. We also are very influenced by Comeback Kid because when Wake the Dead came out it was my favorite CD and it remains one of my favorites today.
Q: How does the hardcore scene accept From The Eyes of Servants? You guys seem really straight forward about your faith and the reason for the band, ever had bands or people hassle you about your beliefs?
A: We have been very accepted in every show that we have played so far. I am very surprised that we haven’t had more hecklers. I like to talk for a good part of our show and it’s cool to see the respect people have for it. We have definitely seen the Holy Spirit soften people’s heart to the gospel. It’s great to be able to do our part. If anyone reading this is in a Christian band and you are scared to talk about faith on stage I want to encourage you to speak out about it and don’t worry what people think of it. Even if they boo you off stage it doesn’t matter. If you are working for the Lord sometimes persecution will come but wouldn’t you rather be persecuted for doing the right thing than be accepted for doing the wrong thing?
Video of “Extrication” by From The Eyes Of Servants
Q: Can we expect to From The Eyes of Servants hit the road and tour in the near future?
A: Definitely. We start touring again in January. We are doing a Midwest thing with Steady Hands. It’s going to be a lot of fun to hit up some of the places we have been over this past year. If anyone is from the Midwest you should come hang out with us for sure. Be on the lookout for tour dates to be up on Facebook very soon. we also have things in the works with Day of Vengeance and some Strike First bands. We don’t plan to stop touring any time soon after that.
Q: I think you have a new album that is due out shortly, care to share some information on that?
A: Yeah the new album is gonna be killer. We based it on the fact that we only have one guitarist now so some of the stuff is simpler. At the same time some of the stuff is a lot more complex. I think the new album is a lot more mature than the self titled EP. Its’ a lot of fun and I hope people like it. We just finished most of it. We have a few more things to record and then it will be ready to mix and master. Like I said earlier we don’t have a release date yet but keep checking our Facebook and we will keep everyone posted.
Q: What bands/music are you guys listening to currently, who should we check out?
A: If you haven’t heard it yet you should definitely check out La Disputes new CD. That is my jam right now. Also Close Your Eyes new CD is great. Check out Steady Hands too they are from my home town. They are about to release their first EP called “The Earth Will Eat Today” FOR FREE December 25th. Make sure to download that! It will be your new favorite.
Q: Tell us a funny story about the band or a show that was just plain crazy…
A: One crazy thing comes to mind that happened to us on the last tour we went on. We were in Florida with a week left on our tour. We were trying to get in touch with the venues for the rest of the tour and we realized most of the shows dropped except for one show in Kentucky the following weekend. At that point we were totally burnt out and we just wanted to go home but we didn’t have quite enough money to get there. We decided to cut our losses and just go home. We drove up to Franklin TN to stay at a friends house for the night and during that night I was really struggling with the decision to go home or to stay out for a week until our last show. I really felt like we should play the last show even though it was about 5 hours out of the way. The next morning we talked about it and decided we should try to stick around and play the last show. Our friends from TN were glad to have us for the week and they fed us and gave us our own apartment of the house. When we finally got to the show it was definitely one of the best shows of the whole tour. We made enough money to get home and had a great time. That kind of stuff just shows how faithful God is to His Word! If you are living for Him and doing His will He is gonna take care of you. Even if you don’t make enough money to get home and you have to go into your own pocket, as long as God is glorified you’ve done the right thing.
Q: What message do you want to share with the scene?
A: To the Christians in the hardcore scene: Stay in the Word! Keep praying daily and always grow in your faith. If you are sincere about your faith then Jesus will become more and more precious to you and you will want to become more and more like Him. Pray that the Holy Spirit guides you into situations where you can share your faith and trust Him to give you the words to say. I love all you guys and I will pray for you. Please pray for me and the rest of FTEOS. Pray that we might do exactly what God wants us to do and that we continue to grow in faith daily.
Q: Feel free to give shout-outs, share links, whatever! Thanks for the interview guys!
A: Check out these bands
facebook.com/steadyhandsband
facebook.com/forgerband
facebook.com/withincreasefl
facebook.com/conveyer
facebook.com/dayofvengeance
facebook.com/arkofthecovenant
all great bands and great friends of ours.
http://www.facebook.com/steadyhandsband
