“Every song on the album is its own world and it carries its own story” – Interview with SkyEye

Slovenian heavy metal force SkyEye was founded in 2014, and with the combination of unique and powerful vocals combined with raw and melodic guitar riffs, the band immediately attracted the attention of audiences and record labels. Their signature heavy metal sound, reminiscent of other legendary giants of the genre is something that the metal world has been waiting for. SkyEye released their third album “New Horizons” in July and Chaoszine caught up with vocalist Jan Leščanec to chat about the new album and the band’s new horizons.

Hello, SkyEye! Who will be answering to our questions and how has your summer been?

Jan: Hi Chaoszine and thank you for having us. Summer was great, a lot of work regarding our new album release, but that is always a pleasure. Jan (vocals) will be answering the questions.

You’ve just released your new album “New Horizons” in July. What has the feedback been like so far and have you been pleased with it? Do you generally follow what medias write about your band and albums?

Jan: We were overwhelmed by the response from our fans and we’ve received great reviews from magazines and webzines. I must say that we are satisfied with the album and how it was received by fans. We try to follow the media’s writing about the band, because we like to get the feedback, especially when it is a positive one. It really feels great.

Your previous album “Soldiers of Light” was released during the pandemic and since then there has also been some line-up changes in the band. How was the recording process this time compared to the previous album?

Jan: The title of the album “New horizons” suggests, there were some big changes and new circumstances regarding the band that happened during the making of an album and that had an impact on the whole process. It took the band members on a journey to find new horizons. The founding member and the main driving force in the band’s early days, the man who literally has sky in his surname, Grega Stalowsky felt that will be unable to put 100 % of his energy in the band in the future. He is the true metal warrior and we know the decision was not easy for him to make but we fully support his decision to step off the “Railroad of dreams” train, because he will focus more on his family in the future. With that in mind we wanted to make the best album to date. Grega also wrote three songs for the album and we will remain close friends. As far as technical details go, we used the same studio and the same equipment as before on “Digital God” and “Soldiers of Light” and the album was once again produced by Grega Smola Crnkovič. The main difference is that this time the mastering was made by the world-renowned mastering engineer Andy Vendette (Dream Theater, Rush, David Bowie, Bruce Dickinson among others), who made it sound huge and modern. The songs were recorded between February and May 2023.

When did you first start writing “New Horizons”? Were all of the songs written specifically for this album or is there some older material too?

Jan: Me and Grega started to write material for the New Horizons album even before the second album was released. That is why there is no distinctive difference between the albums. The new album was written mainly by me and Grega Stalowsky and I wrote all the lyrics. The whole recording process was quite stressful because we were going through lineup changes during that period, but we were committed to recording an album on time. Marko recorded almost all the guitars and our producer Grega Smola Crnkovič recorded some guitar solos and melodies. But the most important thing is the end result. We are more than happy with it and we hope that the fans will enjoy listening to it as much as we do.

Where do you usually draw inspiration for the songs? Are there certain subject matters you try to stick with or do you write about whatever you feel like writing about?

Jan: Every song on an album is its own world and it carries its own story. From the “Battle of Isonzo (Soča) river” in the midst of world war I (1917), to the ancient Forgotten nation swallowed by the sea. A song “The voice from the Silver Mountain” is dedicated to the greatest of them all, Ronnie James Dio. Saraswati- goddess of wisdom, music and art has also her place on our album. We dedicated a song “Fight” for all the hard times we’ve been through during Covid lockdowns. The first song on the album is called the “Descenders” – witnessing the return of Soldiers of Light. The music is done first and then I write the lyrics, usually while I am sitting alone near the sea with beer in my hands :)

You’ve performed at several festivals during the summer. What does your tour calendar look like at the moment? Any chance to catch you in Finland in the future?

Jan: We would like to go on tour in the future but for now it was unfortunately not possible. Times are not in favor of small upcoming bands touring from a financial perspective but we will not give up from trying. So yeah, going on tour is one of our biggest goals for the future and visiting Finland would be a dream come true. Hopefully soon.

Do you have any pre-show rituals or routines?

Jan: Not particularly. We, the band members, are very good friends so we just enjoy each other’s company before the gig, drink a beer together and give everyone his space and time to warm up. And there are always jokes coming from all directions, it helps us to shake off the pressure before the gig.

Do you prefer to play club shows or at festivals?

Jan: When you feel accepted on stage and the fans give you positive feedback it does not really matter if you are standing on the biggest festival stage or on some small club stage. I always give my 100% while I am performing and if I can make a person happy, that’s a mission accomplished for me.

What does the future hold for SkyEye? Any plans or goals you can share with us?

Jan: We have a great German label – Reaper Entertainment with good distribution around the world, so hopefully we will reach as many new fans as possible. But I would say that the main step for the band is to finally embark on an international tour. We are planning a big release show here in Ljubljana in November and we have some gigs planned in Germany next year.

And to finish this off, would you like to add something to Chaoszine’s readers?

Jan: Thank you Chaoszine and its readers. It was a pleasure. Hopefully we will catch live at our gig sometime in Finland and we can grab a beer together :) Meanwhile you can follow us on our FB/IG account for more news.

Cheers,
Jan