Francesca Tay
Metalcore band Eyes Set To Kill (ESTK) made up of sisters Alexia and Anissa Rodriguez, Caleb Clifton and Cisko Miranda arrived in Singapore a day before their debut in Singapore alongside with American rock band Mayday Parade in The Sweet Collisionon Jul 6.
FRANCESCA TAY goes behind-the-scenes with the quartet from American band ESTK and unearths the fanatical touring experience they had.
Q: Is this your first time in an Asian country? How do you find it so far?
Cisko: “Yes! Everyone’s been super friendly. When we went to Russia it was really hard because of the language barrier so we couldn’t really understand and speak to people. Here, everyone speaks the same language so it’s been really easy to understand everyone.”
Q: What do you think of your own fan base in Asia?
Alexia: “So far everyone seems really friendly and not too ‘grabby’ because we’ve been to places where fans just grab at you and push you like ‘Okay let’s take a picture!’ and they just yank you. Everyone’s really nice and polite.”
Cisko: “A lot of feedbacks on our tour on Facebook are mainly from Asian or Southeast Asian fans so it’s really cool to be here finally.”
Q: Which is the best show you guys have ever performed?
Alexia: “I think the best show is the last one we’ve played in Russia, because all the kids (fans) were really crazy.”
Cisko: “I think even when we weren’t playing songs, they were still yelling and pushing each other. It’s kind of funny because the kids were crowd surfing but they only had 1 security guard, so every time a kid would come onstage, this 1 security guard would come from the side and push him out and then go back to his little corner.”
Caleb: “We may have killed someone!” (laughs)
Q: Are there any extreme fans that did anything embarrassing before?
Alexia: “A lesbian kissed me once. That was not really embarrassing, but it was shocking and uncomfortable.”
Caleb: “In Brazil, there was a girl who somehow made it past security and the green room, into our dressing room. It was a sliding door that could be lifted, like a closet door that was off the hinges, and she lifted it and just stood there and started crying. We were like, ‘What’s going on?!’ (laughs) And then security took her away.”
Q: If given a chance to perform in every country or music festival that you want, where would it be?
Caleb: “I really want to go to Japan, and we had a layover there. I really like Japan because Mega Man is from Japan! (laughs) It’s like a bible to make a man’s toys.”
Cisko: “I think as far as festivals go, if we got to play Download Festival, that’d be really cool.”
Q: Are there any major changes before and after signing onto a label?
Alexia: “We have more freedom. Financially, it’s a little bit harder but we have been touring for so long that we know how to handle it and we can do things on our own easily now, especially after doing so much with the label.”
Cisko: “All in all, even though ESTK is all about Alexia and Anissa, but it’s a brand new feel to the band, the music has evolved. Even though it’s the same band, at the same time, it’s a brand new band within the same band.”
Q: Are there any bands you are inspired by or look up to?
Alexia: “One big one for us is Thrice. For me, Deftones, Nirvana and bands like that.”
Q: Where does your songwriting inspiration come from?
Alexia: “Just anything I’m feeling, it’s really hard if someone says ‘Okay you’ve got to write a song right now’. I can never write a song that way, usually it’d be mad, sad or extremely emotional.”
Q: Are there any kind of music that you guys have in your iPods that is unexpected?
Caleb: “I have some Miley Cyrus.” (laughs)
Alexia: “Ke$ha.”
Cisko: “I have some Ke$ha and… Lady Sovereign? She’s kind of cool! I listen to a lot of weird stuff; I’m pretty open-minded with music.”
Q: If given a chance, which bands/artistes would you be most keen to play alongside with?
Cisko: “I think we can all agree on Thrice.”
Q: If the band has to choose one song to represent you, what would it be?
Caleb: “It’s a problem because we all know what song it’d be, but we don’t know if we want it to be that song. Right now it’s ‘Darling’, because everyone loves that song. Definitely when someone says ESTK, they’d probably think ‘Darling’ right away because it’s the one and only song they ever heard by us if they don’t listen to us that much.”
Anissa: “If we got to choose, we would definitely pick a newer song, we just recorded a new CD which isn’t out yet and it’s coming out in August, but if we could pick a song from that one…”
Alexia: “It’d be ‘The Secrets Between’. I think everyone already knows that.”
New album by ESTK, White Lotus will be available on iTunes from Aug 9 onwards.
Photo courtesy of Jean Goh