About
Glam, goth, gutter: Double Eyelid was formed in Toronto in 2009, as a vehicle for the songs and vision of lead singer and central band member Ian Revell.
Initially an arty post-punk project formed with a couple of close friends (Karl Mohr – also known for his Dead Red Velvet project – and Benjamin Mueller-Heaslip), a couple of fateful decisions made in 2011 shifted the project firmly in the ‘goth’ direction. The first was to abandon the use of a drummer in favour of a drum machine, both live and in the studio. The second was to collaborate with horror filmmaker Steven Cerritos on the band’s first single and video, “Dead is Better.” Released in July of 2012, this video marked Double Eyelid’s true international debut, and was featured by MuchMusic, Canada’s equivalent to MTV, and covered on numerous blogs worldwide.
After multiple delays, the release of the band’s first full-length album “Seven Years” in July 2014 was met with instant acclaim around the world. Noted OG goth journalist Mick Mercer hailed the album as a “dark classic” that was “easily one of the year’s best,” while Terra Relicta Webzine ranked it #11 in their list of the top 20 albums of 2014. Shortly thereafter, Sky Shaver joined the lineup as live guitarist, with Karl Mohr limiting his role to production duties. Double Eyelid signed with DeadFall Management for UK and European booking and promotion.
In February 2015, Double Eyelid were included on Oskar Terramortis’s popular 33 Goth Bands You Should Know compilation. May of 2015 saw the release of the band’s second video, for the song “Black Box.” Directed by Japanese filmmaker Keishi Kondo, it has a surrealistic film noir feel reminiscent of David Lynch’s Eraserhead. A month later, Double Eyelid supplied a live soundtrack for the classic film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari in a special one-off performance in Toronto by Ian Revell and Karl Mohr.
Released in February 2016, Double Eyelid’s second release, “Broken Mirror,” is a remix album that was hailed in Louder Than War (UK) as a “minor masterpiece” in its own right, and features bold new reinterpretations of Double Eyelid tracks by goth and industrial artists from around the world, including Leaether Strip, Psyche, nTTx, Double Echo and others.
In 2019, Double Eyelid embarked on a 19-city US tour that included a slot in Seattle’s ‘Mechanismus’ festival, the largest goth/industrial festival in the US.
After an aborted attempt at remote collaboration in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic brought some irreconcilable differences to the fore, Double Eyelid parted ways with long-time producer Karl Mohr, and mid-2020 the future of the project seemed uncertain. This changed in early 2021 when new producer Sean Beesley came onboard, and work began anew. October 2021 saw the release of Double Eyelid’s version of the classic AC/DC deep cut ‘Night Prowler’ as a one-off Hallowe’en single.
Double Eyelid is currently working on a new release scheduled for spring 2022, tentatively titled ‘Death in the Family’.
