"The Barking Eye"

I've decided to preview 6 songs by my cousin's band "Mile Wide Grey".  The band is simply 2 guys enjoying the art of making music without following any rules in song writing.  The band started in the mid 1990's  and proceded to release 2 albums before 2000.   The first album was called "What's True is Changing" and was released in 1996 by the label "10GEV Records".   My cousin Chris and I exchanged CD's at that point as I had just released an album with the band Rainhorses.   It was pretty cool to hear that another family member was into the music thing like myself and we both enjoyed talking about each others album. My cousin Chris and his band mate Brian were playing small clubs in the New York area at the time, doing sets at 3AM in the morning for no money.  The thing is, they loved it and it was never about money.  The band later put out a 2nd album called "Superior" in 1999 with a change in writing style but again with very unique results.  I found that I really enjoyed their music as at times they had a comical slant to their writing.  I just got the impression they didn't want to be taken seriously yet, their song topics always caught my interest.  They did get some cool sounds happening in their recordings and they weren't afraid to experiment with different instruments and sound effects.  2 piece bands don't seem to be as rare these days with bands like the White Stripes or the Black Keys around like they were back in the 90's but that's what my cousin wanted to dol. I will admit, I'm not a fan of watching a 2 piece band live but music wise on recordings, I do enjoy it.

My cousin Chris and his brothers use to come visit my family  from southern Ontario back when I was a kid.  We always had a great time especially out at my uncles camp on Lonely Lake. Chris and his brothers were what you'd call "brainiacs" and very interesting to hang around with.  ;-)   Chris in his youth was a singer in the Saint Michael's Choir which is noted for it's long history and tradition of excellence and high standards in musical achievement.  Let's just say that you don't just walk in and join this choir. ;-) This choir is know around the world. As my cousin got older, he was bitten by the rock music bug, and like many of us, our lives became partially dedicated to creating and playing music.

My cousin Chris and his friend Brian have kept their band "Mile Wide Grey" a slight mystery in that they only use their first names and there are only 2 photos of them.  It's all part of their plan.   In 2008 after a long hiatus, rare tracks appeared at their record labels site for a free download and I was lucky enough to grab them.  No 3rd album was produced for these songs but I have a few of them now, along with a few from the first 2 albums for you to preview.   It's difficult for me to describe their music but I do love it.  Their record company describes their music as follows:

Each and every song is the world short circuiting while driving through the desert.
Each and every song is a love song.
Each and every song is graffiti scrawled by a rabid sophomore in the bathroom at an AC/DC performance.

Here is a review of their 2nd album "Superior".

"Local SLACkers Mile Wide Grey, slap happy apathy rock. Noise pop from THE underground. The Mile Wide Grey is guitar/vox and drums humming w/ plenty o’ reverb particles. Looking-down-a-staircase guitar lines with plenty o’ tasty overdubs. T-shirt and jeans vocals often bolstered by treated background choruses (whispersville on #5, answering machine style on #1,#3,#7) #9 is sad like the HAL-9000 singing “Daisy”#11 is a linear accelerator solo live-mic. Quantum radio activity. -Aunt Bea Factory".

Here is the Mile Wide Grey Discography