Talking Glam, Goth and California with Jyrki 69 of The 69 Eyes

Present me with a gothic rock band any day of the week and I’m in. Helsinki’s The 69 Eyes are one of the best out there, embracing the ethos of the subculture and living the life like few others. I sat down with frontman Jyrki 69 recently to discuss how the band made the change from the glam metal of the early days to becoming the flagbearers of goth, and it turned out to be a fairly natural evolution.

Along the way during our Vanyaland 617 Q&A, Jyrki went deep on his love of California culture and bands like The Doors and Guns N’ Roses. He also talked about how he discovered and became such a fan of the culture in the United States despite there being no internet while he was growing up. Make sure to check out the piece as well as the video below for one of my favorite tracks by the band, “Borderline.”