It is twenty years since, inspired by director Joel Schumacher epochal vampire movie Lost Boys, The 69 Eyes recorded their homage to the 1987 classic.
”The movie came out in the best 80’s hard rock and glam times,” says The 69 Eyes singer Jyrki 69, “and that’s what we wanted to capture – like dreaming what would have happened if Billy Idol, Guns N’ Roses and Mötley Crüe had come together to make music for it.”
Clearly it was a potent image. Across the decades that followed, “Lost Boys”has become the band’s undisputed anthem, topping 20 million streams. As Jyrki continues, “It is the main song The 69 Eyes is known for around the world. We always end our show with it. It is impossible to play anymore after that.”
And it was impossible to allow the song’s birthday to pass by unmarked.
Or was it? At first, admits Jyrki, “We really did think that there is no reason to re-record the song.” Unless they could add something very, very special to the brew.
“The only way we would do it was if Steve Stevens was playing guitar on it.” Long time sideman, collaborator and unique foil for Billy Idol, Stevens epitomizes the image of the 80s rock guitarist, both visually and musically – it was Stevens’s devastating licks that underpinned such Idol classics as “White Wedding” and “Rebel Yell,” while he was already long-established as a key element in another deathless 80s movie, the theme to Top Gun.”
No wonder, then, that Jyrki describes him as, “The mythical rock’n’roll lead guitarist that you saw on the coolest MTV music videos, continuing the same dark and glamorous style like Link Wray and Johnny Thunders but in the video age. He is a legend.”
“So if we were going to celebrate the song’s 20th anniversary and re-record it, we’d also have to make our original fantasy come true by having Steve on lead guitar. And It’s still feels unreal and dreamy that Cleopatra Records were able to make it happen.”
Produced by Jyrki, and mixed by Cameron Webb – best known from his decade-long production of Motörhead, “Lost Boys (20th Anniversary Version)” is released today on all platforms. Also available now is an exclusive 69 Eyes video interview, introduced by label head Brian Perera and featuring Webb and the band recalling both the original single (and its still beloved video) and discussing its new incarnation.
“We wanted it to be a Halloween surprise for our fans,” says Jyrki. And hopefully, too, “Maybe there’s still rock fans out there who do not know the song… maybe we can reach their Halloween parties as well?”
It will certainly be heard at the band’s own spooky-time festivities. “We’re currently on the road with Disneyland After Dark in Europe, and we’ll be playing a special Halloween show on the cruise ship as well.”
Lost Boys at sea. Can the season get any better?
INTERVIEW: https://youtu.be/bNWFz9dzjuM
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