The Four Eyes :: History

The Four Eyes - a Sacramento Band

Even after living and playing in sacramento for ten years we still get called a Santa Cruz band sometimes. its summer 2007 now. We've released 3 cds and seem to mostly play in spurts (no shows for months then 3 in a week). But where did it all begin?

The Start - a history of The Four Eyes

1993-We were sitting around having an acoustic Lint Farmers reunion in joels basement room. Skip had to go give some chick a ride. So we figured we'd learn some Ramones songs so skip would be happy when he came back. Skip ditched us for that chick and we started our own band to become famous just to spite him for ditching us. We had to figure out a name so we (atleast joel and i) thought we should be called 'ducktales 2: the movie' just so we could have the dumbest and most confusing band name ever. Then we came up with The Four Eyes and figured we have all songs about nerds. We practiced in jays parents garage on weekends. Came up with out first song 'compucore' and other early songs like video games, comics, can buy me love, nerds in space, riptide robot and nerdy girl. Actually we didnt practice much, must have been over xmas break because joel lived in Goleta and went to UCSB. So we must have just practice like 2 or 3 times in jays garage. I just remember using the dart board to figure out chords to use for the scott miller song

and i remember recording lost in space for the secret center tape. Jay and i would also visit joel down south his second year at UCSB when he lived in an apartment with nate, rob and tom. We record our 'rock and roll with' tape in the UCSB chemistry lecture room on a weekend night. We would also play at george’s driveway on the main party street so drunks would come by and laugh. When joel quit UCSB and moved back to santa cruz must have been when we started practicing in jays garage (i'm obsessed with trying to figure out when we practiced in jays garage). I cant remember very many places we played in santa cruz. We played with Nar at a apartment by the boardwalk, played UCSC with the bananas, but that was in like 95. Played two sets at the redroom once. Played atleast one Pepepolooza.

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History from WIKISCUM (Santa Cruz music wiki page)

The Four-Eyes

From WikiSCUM

The Four Eyes are a pop band consisting of Joel Goulet, Dave Ninja (nee Branum) and Jay Baker. The three had started their first band (The Lint Farmers) while attending Harbor High School together. The Lint Farmers featured Goulet on guitar, Ninja on bass, and Baker on Drums as well as Skip McBride on vocals. After graduating in 1992, Goulet went off to college at the University of Santa Barbara California, and Mcbride moved to Arizona. Ninja and Baker went on to play in the band Mote. They played in Big Bang 2000.

In the Summer of 1993, with Mcbride relocated back to Santa Cruz, and Goulet home for vacation, The Lint Farmers held an impromptu reunion in the basement of Goulet’s parents house. When a visibly disinterested Mcbride left with a promise to “be right back”, the other three decided to surprise him by learning some Ramones songs for him to sing. Playing The Ramones covers was such fun that they decided to start a “Ramones like” band. When Mcbride never returned that night they decided to form the band without him. Goulet would become the singer.

The Four Eyes first real practice followed shortly. After coming up with the music for their first song (Compucore) Goulet asked what the song should be about. Baker replied that it “should be about a girl, or being a nerd”. Goulet chose the latter. Other songs quickly followed, all being written on the nerd theme. After considering calling the band Ducktales 2: The Movie, Ninja came up with the name The Four Eyes.

Band activity became sporadic in the Fall after Goulet returned to college. Still, the band managed to squeeze in a few practices during visits and to play their first show in Santa Cruz on January 1 1994. It was at a house show on Hubbard Street.

Later on that year, Baker and Ninja went to Santa Barbara to record what would be their first tape. It was recorded on four track in one of the UCSB chemistry department’s lecture rooms. The recordings were released in the Spring of 1994 as “Rock and Roll with The Four Eyes”.

That Spring, Goulet dropped out of school and moved back to Santa Cruz,. allowing the band to become much more active. They began playing shows (predominantly house shows) all over Santa Cruz and the surrounding areas. In August of 1994 they played Sacramento, California for the first time.

1995 saw the band release their first single (“The Four Eyes Come Prepared”) a one hour cassette of all cover songs (“The Secret Center Sessions”) and begin work on what was planned to be their debut full length (“The Four Eyes Hit The Jackpot”). Secret Center Records was going to release the album, which was finished but had yet to be mixed, when Goulet’s storage unit was burglarized and the master tapes, along with most of his belongings, were stolen.

Ninja and Baker moved to Sacramento in the Fall of 1995, while Goulet remained in Santa Cruz. The band continued to play in Santa Cruz often , mostly at The Basement. It was there that they performed their first ever all covers set. In the Summer of 1996 the band went on it’s first, and only, U.S. tour.

The years 1997 through 1999 saw the only period of inactivity in the bands history. With Goulet moving to Los Angeles and the other two still living in Sacramento, keeping the band going was all but impossible, although they did find time to do a mini-tour of Sacramento and Santa Cruz in 1998.

The Four Eyes became an active band again when Goulet moved to Sacramento in the Summer of 1999. Since then the band has remained active, playing shows around Sacramento as well as the Bay Area and releasing two full-length CDs, as well as a handful of CDRs. Their last show in Santa Cruz was in April of 2004. All the band members agree that the show was “disappointing”.

The Four Eyes: Pre-History

In the begining. Santa Cruz, CA, early 90's (like 90 or 91)

Burning the Big Jacket:

So the first band was Burning the Big Jacket. It was Dave

Ninja on slide whistle, Jay hitting an empty crisco can with a marking pen

and zack singing. We also had a keyboard playing casio chords and a

guitar that wasnt tuned and didnt have all the strings (it was electric

but not plugged in). There is a tape of this. It contains songs about the

letter F (F is the chord i want to be, i dont want to have water on the

knee...) and the guitar was played holding an F chord but it wasnt in tune

so that didnt matter. There later on was a 'jam' in Zacks garage with an

amp of two, it was basically feedback and a two 'note' song called "Pog".

du-du-du-du-du-DU-du-du-du-du-du-(POG). Cris Mark was there for Pog.

Brotherhood of the Flyers:

Dave Ninja, Joel and Skip. Joel played guitar, Dave played bass

and skip sang as hit hit a floor tom. Probably the worst band. There was

a tape of the only time we did anything (born, recorded and died all in

the same night). I remember we made people listen to the tape in their car

that night. Story behind the band: Skip and I(Dave) were at joel's house

(joel lived with his mom, step dad and i think his uncle rob was styaing

there) and joel's uncle was telling us he'd pay us a bunch of money to

drive up to Bay Meadows horse track and put flyers on car windows. We got

all excited and talked about what crappy music equipment we would buy with

the money. When then recorded a couple songs. Joel uncle never mentioned

the flyer thing again.

Lint Farmers:

Skip, Joel, Dave Ninja and Jay. Skip came up with the name and

wanted to start a band for him to sing in. He got joel for guitar because

he owned one. Then he gave and invitation for Jay and I to join the band

since I owned a bass and amp and jay owned drums. This was during the

senior year of high school. We practiced every week and for hours in Jay's

parents garage. Lots of craziness. Like once a bum came by and came

inside and started dancing and saying we were great and he said "here the

bass coming out of that machine!" which was a phrase we wouldnt ever

forget. Then there was Rocky, a skater kid that was probably older than

us who would come by and talk to us just because he just moved there and

didnt have any friends. Jay's neighbor across the street would complain

about the noise. We were bad, most of the songs didnt have parts that

went together. We didnt know stuff about music. There are way too many

Lint Farmers recordings. Songs like: Kentucky fried holocaust, ohio well

disaster, bite me die, cameras. Places played: Harbor High quad at

lunch time, Domiana's graduation party, harbor high little theater for

some talent show, Nathen Figone's backyard party (our 1st show), some

pepepoloozas. We recorded "switchblade baby" in like 95 and it was on a

secret center comp. I'll have to make a separate Lint Farmers

page sometime because there is just too much dumb stuff.

Tard:

Dillon(guitar), Adam Dam-Bad(guitar), Dave Ninja(bass, 2nd singer),

Jay(drums) and Joel(1st singer, 2nd bass). Dillon and Adam had had guitar

lessons and knew that music should go together from instrument to

instrument. So the songs only had one 'riff' that was played over and

over but at least the instruments were playing the same notes at about the

same time. Songs like: Rob(about joels uncle), Power and Glory(about hte

wrestling tag team of Paul Roma and Hercules), Cats ass, loving machine,

super punch(worst bass line ever, didnt even go along with the song, it

still embarrasses me today). Played zacks room and a pepepolooza(annual

new years show).

Mote:

Dillon(guitar), Jay(drums), Dave Ninja(Bass) and Zack(singing).

First realish band. Got one song on an LP

comp. Made two tapes, both had the same picture on the cover (joel with

mohawk looking retarded) one was on white paper (called 'the white tape')

other was on orange paper and called "Hotter than cone 10"(or the orange

tape). We would run a classified add in MRR saying 'send up two stamps and

we'll send you a tape'. We got ride of about 200 tapes. At first all the

songs were about dumb stuff (macgyver, life is nintendo, barney the

skater, mr burns, ernest goes to the pit) later they because about

nothing. Played all around, we're together for a few years. I eventually

quit because i wasnt having fun anymore, it sounds dumb now but i didnt

like the idea of being in a band that didnt sing about TV, video games,

movies and inside jokes. Music was becoming different as well because

people were into hardcore emo stuff like Unwound and Antioche Arrow as

well as bands like the Wedding Present. Jack took my place, but i think

they only played like one or two shows with him. You know, i dont think i

ever saw either of those shows. Before I was out of Mote, Jay, Joel and I

had started The Four Eyes. I bet no one thought that we would still be

around today.

Ben, Franklyn and the Electric Keys:

Joel (as ben, played guitar and sang), Dave Ninja (as franklyn,

played bass and sang) and keyboard (as electric keys, played drums and

keyboard). Lots of dumb songs, only shows have been pepepoloozas.

Joel Tongue and Hot Lick:

Joel and a keyboard and maybe 4 track. On secret center CD comp

with Ents. Good stuff.

John Candyman and the Suckas:

Dumb band with joel on guitar and singing, and zack, jay, dave

ninja, skip singing. Sing along type songs like Skeleton Horde and

electrocution.

The Rocktones

A bands with Jay, Joel, DaveNinja and Jack. Venture’s style surf instrumental. I have an awesome tape of us live at Old Ironsides in like 95. hit songs include: f14 tomcat, wild weekend at the medicine cabinet, Chivalry, Alley Cat, i’m a believer, etc. happy now, jack? you bastard!

The Touchdowns

The 4 eyes nemesis: a band of jocks with songs about sports and off roading (in the jungles of DOOM!). dave ninja on guitar and ‘singing’, jay on bass and joel on drums.

The Jay and Joel Show

Jay and joel on guitars and singing while using a drum/loop machine thing that i cant remember the name of.

more to come (which is now the show history part below)

show history (starting April 2004 (oldest at bottom)):
Nov 26th at Luigi's fungardern for the Sacramento Records fundraiser. played with Croisants and Nacho Business. we played the first tape and gave out Jet Blue sleep kits
- September 16th (Friday) at the Blue Lamp in Sacramento with Bright Faces and Knock Knock
- October 2nd (Sunday) at the Fire Escape in Citrus Heights with The Bananas and a couple bands from Minnesota (turned out to be at Luigi's with no Bananas)
- October 8th at PhonoSelect - The Four Eyes play at an art show with painting inspired by songs by The Four Eyes
March 2011 shows in Fresno and Stockton
• THE FOUR EYES 11TH ANNUAL XMAS SHOW! -DEC 17TH, FRIDAY, 7PM SHARP. 3+ HOURS OF COVER SONGS. AT THE VERGE CENTER FOR THE ARTS, 625 S ST, BUT ENTER FROM THE ALLEY BETWEEN S AND R ST.
•Dec 18th, with baby Grand and knock knock at Old ironsides, holiday show!
•SEPT 27TH (MONDAY) AT THE HUB WITH CARMEL MOUNTAIN. 70S HARD ROCK!
•JULY 23RD - STATE FAIR - CAL EXPO 1-PM
•LABOR DAY WEEKEND - CHALK IT UP - PARK AT 16TH AND P/Q ST
•JUNE 18TH - CESAR CHAVEZ PARK 5PM, WITH SECRECTIONS, THE SHRUGGS, ENLOWS
•THE HUB WITH THE BABIES
•uc davis picnic day kdvs float
•earth day fest in south side park - 1970 songs, kentucky rain, down on cripple creek, sugar magnolia. it rained. a lot
•Sam Cooke Tribute show (Haiti EQ Benefit) at Old Ironsides, Jan 29th. we played “Win your love for me”, “Only Sixteen” and “Chain Gang”
•10th annual xmas show at Guphy’s was on Dec 18th, 09
•OLD IRONSIDES 75TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW - NOV 28TH (SAT) WITH TROUBLEMAKERS, WHIZ BANGS AND ONE OTHER.
•SF AT THE SECRET ALLEY ON 10/24 (SATURDAY)
•DAVIS 10/3 - OPERATION RESTORE MAXIMUM FREEDOM 8 (WE GO ON 5ISH)
•WEDNESDAY, 9/2 AT LUIGI’S FUN GARDEN
•Knock Knock, The Four Eyes, Missouri Mule at Luigi's Fun Garden in Sacramento. 8:30pm, May 2nd, 2009
•Placerville on Friday, May 22nd, 2009 with boats and enlows. the place had a gold mine built in!
•Java Lounge (sacto) on Saturday, May 30th, 2009 - last java lounge show! with Woodpussy and The Bananas
•The 9th Annual Christmas show was Dec 20th at Guphy's house. it was great. thanks everyone for coming. heres the set list
•nov 8th - played Java Lounge for some benefit
•oct 10th at guphy;s house with danny offer. let the boys be boys slam - paradise city mix; alt rock+rappers on the judgement night soundtrack
•aug 22 (2008)fri Underground Railroad To Candyland (San Pedro), The Four Eyes (Sacramento), Banner Pilot (Minneapolis), People People at the Knockout, S.F. 21+ 9pm *** @ (Thrillfest). we're playing 3rd
•Saturday, February 23rd at The Stag in Woodland with Rock the Light, The Whiz Bangs, Oliver/Lauren/Lagners band and some drunk guy in a corona jacket that joined in on the scat fest at the end. we played the songs from Rock and Roll with the four eyes tape.
•Sunday, January 20th at Thrillhouse Records Basement in SF with Underground Railroad to Candy Land, Can of Beans and Blood Muffin. Show starts at 7pm and has to be done by 10. we were last. we played all covers.
•Saturday, December 1st - Toy Drive thing at R5
•Sunday, December 16th "Upstarts vs. Oldfarts" at Silk (1101 Del Paso Blvd., Sacto) with CRIME, Lou Lou & the Guitarfish, The Bananas, No Admission, Isonomy, uncut:Hunks, Nowheres and The Disgusteens, all ages ($6 21+/$8 under 21), doors open at noon, show starts at 1 PM
•Christmas show, Friday Dec 28th at Guphy's house. Tons of people, out best xmas show yet. here is the set list
•Saturday, August 25th, San Francisco at the Thrillhouse Record Store basement (3422 Misson St) with The Unlovables, Nar, Vena Cava. this should will likely be amazing. Show starts at 5pm, there are 6 bands total. This was like the best show ever. so many people. we butchered a body count cover and played 'dont stop believin'
•Sunday, August 26th, Delta of Venus in Davis with The Unlovables and Red Pony Clock, it will be our local CD Release Show for our new CD.
•Friday, June 1st at Thrillhouse Records store/house/basement in San Francisco (3422 Misson St) with The Ergs!, Lemuria, Double Ds and Robocop 3. starts at 6-6:30ish. all ages. This will be a 'CD Release show' for our new CD, "Five Songs"
•bunch of shows i missed from Aug 2006 to May 2007. Ones i remember: we played Kody and Brandy's wedding in march, Bill and Karens bacholer/ette party in early may, a show at Fool Foundation with Makes Nice in also in may, show at distillery with the pizzas and robocop3 that no one came to.
•August 6th (sunday), 924 Gilman St., Berkley, sunday matinee(5pm) with us and This is My Fist, One Reason, and Hot New Mexicans, $6, all ages, pit warning
•July 22nd (saturday), Old Ironsides for Wasted Weekend III, we're opening for Harold Ray Live in Concert, The Flakes, and The Clamour also DJs; 9pm, $9, 21+
•July 23rd (sunday), Delta of Venus (122 B st., Davis) with The Ergs! and Hunchback, 5 bucks, 8pm. East meets West nerd-fest! Free cds (the four eyes: sweet sounds or rock and role playing) to the first 34 people that pay to get in.
•April 7th (friday) at Old Ironsides with Th' Losing Streaks and Harold Ray Live in Concert. awesome show. played an amazing Doors medley and the Ben Casey saga
•April 1st (saturday) at Delta of Venus (Davis) with Th' Losing Streaks and Boss and the Big Bit
•April 3rd (monday) at Junta with Jewdriver and The Shemps, also Megacools
•January 11th (wednesday) at Old Ironsides with The Secretions, The Spinoffs (Canada) and Megacool (new talk about charles band). $7 at 9pm

March 11th (saturday) at Distillery with The Peabodys, The Popsters, and Megacools. Good turn out and good bands. I ate cookies and pesto sticks.
March 4th (saturday) on the Radio (KDVS) playing songs and talking about computer gaming, 5-7pm. A few techincal problems but was fun none the less.
January 11th at Old Ironsides with the Secretions, The Spinoffs and Megacools.
Dec 19th at the loft. 5th annual xmas show. it was sweet
Monday, Oct 10th. be part of history and the future. Come take part in a recording of our new "live" album. At the Loft at 7pm, should be done early and not too loud. and its free. See the blog for more details.
Friday, September 30th, 2005 at the Blue Lamp with Th' Losing Streaks and more. We should be going on right around midnight when Jay gets off work.
Friday, September 23rd, 2005 at the Distillery with Lyme Regis and Carquinez Straits. This will be our Official CD Release show for Sweet Sounds. Come this show and pick up Sweet Sounds for only 3 bucks (2 for 5 bucks). See us now because we will be playing less often for a while when Joel is out of town. We're playing last, shows usually start at like 10, i think. I think i saw it listed as 6 bucks.
August 27th (Saturday) Gilman with Sexy, Killer Dreamers, Shadowboxer, Onion Flavored Rings, icky Boyfriends. We were killer and sold like 9 cds.
July 24th (Sunday) 3pm , all ages with the Groovie Ghoulies, Teenage Bottlerocket, Teenage Harlets, and the Sweethearts (Austin, TX) at Old Ironsides, Sacramento. This was a great show. i still havent sobered up after it. We (joel, lisa and i and the bottlerocket boyz) were partying it up at Joel's place. Joel lit off some big fireworks and Skip told some rad Skip stories. The 2 dancing girls were there as well. Lots of BBQ food was eaten and beer dranken. The show was also radical. I almost won a TBR pogo contest to get a shirt. I was going to get the tank top but it was a girl one so i got a boy shirt. My dad came and saw us play for the first time. My sister was also there.
May 13th (Friday),2005, Sly Parkapolooza, a benefit to send Woodland School kids to camp at Sly Park. We (and some other bands) played at some bar in Woodland, show started at like 6:30, kids will be allowed in til 10pm. We played early on because Woodland has the highest population of Hat Nerd fans under the age of 13. More info! we playied third (other bands bands = Sunbnose, Del Mundo and The Bowel-tones). Show was at Brown's Corner (which is guess is a bar) at the intersection of Main st and hiway/county road 98. sold 6 or 7 CDs!
April 8th (Friday) at the UC Davis Coffee House with Sex With Girls (Portland), K.I.T. (SF/Oak), Child Pornography (Riverside), Narwhal (Davis). Starts at 7:30. I think its cheap or free or donation as well. I think its also all ages. This is our last show for a little while (a month or 3).
March 18th (Friday),2005 - Teenage Bottlerocket (midwest), Enemy You (bayarea), Helper Monkeys (here) and us (there) at the Distillery. It was a great show, not too big of a turn out, though. I have a few pictures I'll eventually put up somewhere.
Saturday, January 22nd (2005) at the G Street Pub in Davis (3rd and G) with Th' Losing Streaks and Harold Ray Live in Concert. We go on first and load in is at 9, so we will probably start soon after that. We actually may play some show started at 10. We tried playing the lesser played songs we knew. I was amazed by the cheering after the Ben Casey Saga and after Arkantose. Sold 2 CDs (josh chang and his friend) and gave one a way to some dude that wasnt going to buy one but was raving about the show. He may have also been a dj at kdvs.
December 20th (monday), Annual (5th or 6th) Xmas Show at the Loft (only Loft show all year!), 6:45 - 9:45, 3 hours of us doing cover songs, free.
October 30th (saturday) at 924 Gilman in Berkeley: The Bananas, Rock and Roll Adventure Kids, banjo+fiddle, The Four Eyes, Bugs. Treephort cancelled, show was over by midnight. I forgot my Dr Phil costume and had to come up with a Doc Hollywood costume at the last minute. Jay's Dr Who and Joel's Dr Doom costumes were great. Kids went nuts for jay's Gummy Babies he was giving out. Good show was agood turn out.
October 23rd (saturday) at the Distillery with the Riff Randels, Lousy Bums and snubnose. A few people were there. Still trying to figure out if the 12.50 we got from the door was correct or not.
October 1st (Friday) at the Blue Lamp in Sacramento with Th' Losing Streaks and The Introducers (from Italy) - This was our CD release show. Cd came out about half a year before, though. Sold around 5 copies, not bad. Great show, tons of people there even for the opening band (us). It was one of those shows where most the people in town you knew were there.
September 30th (Thursday) we played at the DISC (Davis Indoor Sports Center) with The Sores (record release) and Coffin Lids (From Boston). We opened the show. there was a good amount of people there (i think jay said he heard there were 33 paid). This place is cool because its a bar that over looks a roller hockey rink. So we got to comment on the kids playing hockey. Smeagol vs BFG.
Played at Jack and Allisons wedding party. It was on the 3rd floor in a stock film warehouse. Played 2 set with a good amount of covers. A few people experienced the 'butt kicker'. some people were drunk.
Played at the Hotel Utah Saloon (sept 3rd, 2004) in SF. Opening band played forever after show started almost an hour late. We played and brought down the fay doh doh to all the coco drees. Last to play was Harold Ray Live in Concert. Dirty Harry pinball with a weak right flipper was in effect, yo.
Party at Jesse's temporary Newcastle house. Zorks a dork!
Compucore played as number 5 in the Funny Five on Dr Demento (July 11th 2004). even better
Compucore played on Dr Demento (june 13th 2004). the best
Headlining Gilman St (june 12 2004), mosh warning wasnt needed, or was it? We got a little money and sold a good amount of merch to the 30 people watching us (63 people paid to get in the show that night). Spent a good amount of time drinking across the street. Jana got a beer that tasted like the ocean. Noel video taped our set. Joel invented the song "3 guitars, traveling far in a Yakima Space Cadet." We put Mario as the merch boy and left him there when we went over and drank. I found a dime on the stage. Other bands that played were: Teenage Bottlerocket, Try Failing, Bury the Living and Onion Flavored Rings.
Live in Studio A on KDVS (june 10 2004). Went over great, some day i'll get around to putting the mp3s of the show on the MP3s page for download. Those Cs are a bunch of Bs.
House party at the Northshore house in Oak Park (june 5 2004) with The Bananas and the Shenanigoats. An old four-four style show. We and the Bananas were supposed to alternate between 4 song sets. During our first song (we went first because joel won the coin toss) joel broke a string so the bananas played. during their 2nd song the PA died. During our time Miller set up his guitar amp as the PA. Lots of fun, the house was rocking. People went nuts for our Dirty Dancing medley.
Show at Kimos in SF (may 1, 2004) was in effect. The opening band had a guy who had seen us in IV (ucsb) like ten years ago playing someones driveway, he sang a cover of Mother with us back then. 2nd band , Sweat it out, had Chris Gonzolas from the Gorehounds, i took a recording class with him back in 92-93. Headliners were Singularity. Joel's amp blew a fuse during our set and we had a 15 minute talking break while it got sorted out. That place is sure hot and smokey. Jay and i headed back to sacto at 2:30am. i had to eat some donuts to stay awake. We got a tape of the show. There were lots of hookers out after the show was over, it was crazy, hookers and pimps like on tv. Sold 4 CDs.
Show on Saturday (april 10th, 2004) was great. We got the middle spot between Harold Ray Live In Concert (openers) and Th' Losing Streaks. Lots of people. Ben Casey in effect. Raver-dancer guy in full force. probably the most we been paid ever.
Show on friday (april 2nd, 2004) in santa Cruz at the teen center was great. No one was really there since we played at 7:25. Huxtables headlined, some techo band called Moonlife played after us (80's in a good way), there was also some band from NV called The Higher. Some girls wanted us to make jokes about squirrels, and we did. Oliver Brown was in effect. same with Robert Goulet.

Reviews
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(printed in the August 2004 Maximum Rock and Roll) FOUR EYES - "Rock & Roll Playing" CD
___From the nerds who brought you "hat Nerd" (one of the greatest songs of all time (believe it or not, but if I remember correctly the songs origins oddly enough came from someone mocking the band and saying when they finally run out of stupid nerdy cliches to write about they would end up writing a song about a guy wearing hats... rather than waiting for the resources to run out they just cut to the chase and wrote "Hat Nerd"... a song about a guy that wears hats...)), come thirteen more classic geek rock anthems. Keeping with their on going D&D/Warcraft/RPG's (role playing games for those of you who actually had sex in high school) and all things nerdy theme they really know how to throw a party (in their mom's basement with punch and no girls). Recorded by Chris "Woody" Woodhouse at the infamous Loft, the FOUR EYES are Sacramento's older geek brothers who are always willing to lend a hand to younger bands (so long as they're back home in time for Dr Know reruns [ED. I think he means "Dr Who reruns"]). Another band that makes music fun again. So remember, there will come a time when all your friends will ditch you and you too will be awkward and alone, and that's when the nerds will laugh back at you. They will rejoice and snort as "Compucore" plays in the background. (BM) ($8 ppd, Plastic Idol, www.thefoureyes.com)

Razorcake, Issue #21
THE FOUR EYES - "Rock & Role Playing" CD
Super-nerd, super-pop from Sacramento's the Four Eyes. Topics ranging from winning spelling bees and becoming king of the nerds to Deathrace 2000. It's all in good fun, and pulled together really well--playing for eleven years will do that, I've heard. I'm getting the impression that they're an acquired taste, but one I apparently have because I love it.
(Megan Pants)

This is from Shredding Paper zine (the March 2005 issue).
Four Eyes - "Rock & Role Playing" CD 14/32:56
OK, I better get this off my chest before I do this review. I’ve never once played Dungeons and Dragons, but I did once do a full season of Strat-O-Matic baseball, and when I say full season, I mean 24 teams, 162 games, kept stats, the whole nine yards. And I did it solitaire. It took two years. How geeky is that?!? From Sacramento, these guys are pop punk rock with goofy songs about "Deathrace 2000" and rock and roll Martians, and will take you back to some lonely, forsaken place in your childhood (ok, I’m not kidding anyone, adulthood too) and give you a good laugh with punk rock energy. Lots of humor in the lyrics, fun slightly off key singing, these guys sort of remind me of why I liked the Lillingtons so much when they came out. No pretension, just a lot of fun punk energy and goofiness. Steve

Go Metric! #19 (Winter 2005)
THE FOUR EYES - "Rock & Role Playing" CD
Everyone I know in the worlds of zines, music, etc., has at least one "I was such a nerd in junior high that I once/used to..." story, but usually the tale carries with it the implication that "I'm no longer like that." The Four Eyes have trumped us all, writing songs that cover every facet of the "I was a Teenage Geek" constitution and proudly waving their "We Are Dorks, Hear Us Roar" flags into adulthood, reigning supreme over the nerd nation, but never falling into dweeb-dom. (Nerds can see themselves for what they are, dweebs have severed the cord that tethered them to reality and floated into an orbit from which they can't deal socially with anyone, not even people who share their interests. Or so I think.) The Four Eyes embrace their spelling bee and computer skills. They boast about their role playing game abilities, and they cover "Goin' Berserk." (C'mon, it's just me, no one's looking, you can admit you remember the album cuts from Buckner and Garcia's Pac Man Fever album). And they write foolishly catchy punky pop songs. Even the guys on the lacrosse team will dig the wonderfully ridiculous "Hat Nerd" ("He knows where his hat's at").
(Mike Faloon)

(found on 6-18-2004)
The Four Eyes
Rock & Role Playing
(Plastic Idol Records)

(REVIEW BY MARK HUGHSON)

There are plenty of bands out there who try to be clever, satirical, or somehow try to turn the clichés of pop punk on their heads. That’s all well and fine, especially if the music is good. But it isn’t always fun per se, and it doesn’t make me laugh. Enter the Four Eyes. Not only are they fun, but they are funny. Furthermore, not only do they the bring the humor, but they bring it non-stop – Rock & Role Playing is almost something of a concept album. Every single song revolves around (proudly) being a nerd, loving a nerdy girl, or relates in some shape or form to things that nerds love.

The poppy punk is wonderful through and through, whether it’s the catchy hits (“Compucore”, “Hat Nerd”), the dance numbers (“R & R Martian”, “Do The Dave”), or the downright silly (“I Come Prepared”, “Rivendell”). Joel plays simple but effective sugar-guitar punk, while Dave and Jay bounce along with him through dungeons and spaceships.

It’s straight up quality pop punk, but I’m urged to say it’s like nothing I’ve ever heard before. Never before has the line between “band theme” and “novelty” been so skewed, and at the same time, sound so good. Rock & Role Playing is for fans of the Horny Mormons, the Young Hasselhoffs, Nerf Herder, and maybe a semi-less-pretentious Boris The Sprinkler.

--Mark Hughson
fletchlives9@hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/nowwave

(found on 10-25-2004)
Sept 3rd, 2004 Hotel Utah (SF) show review
http://www.playinginfog.com/reviews/
Review by Jake Thomas
So I’ve had a few friends, folks whose opinions are usually worthwhile, tell me how awesome The Four Eyes are, so I thought I’d head down to the Hotel Utah and verify this information for myself. All I have to say is what is in the water in Sacramento? Obviously I have a bit of a Bay Area-centrist view, as I live here and all, but between these guys and The Bananas I have no issue in stating two of the best bands in all of Northern California reside somewhere in that enormous sprawl known as our state’s capital. Sure, the music was sloppy, but it was catchy and fun, which is all I ask for anyways. They bill themselves as both “Sacramento’s nerdiest band” and “smartest band in the world”, and I’m not willing to say anything against either of those assertions as they’re both probably right. Their songs are funny as hell and cover a whole slew of dorky topics, like Dungeons & Dragons, computers, video games, space aliens, and awesome movies. Seriously, all you had to do was tell me they wrote a song about “Deathrace 2000” and I would have pronounced my love then and there. But the best part of it all, and what left me leaving the club seriously hurting, was the between song banter between the members… my jaw and sides were seriously hurting by the time they finished I had been laughing so much. It somehow never measures up out of context, but there’s something about conversations on high school football, burger king, and yard sales that tickles my fancy. If you enjoy a good time, make sure you see this band the next time they come through town. You can tide yourself over until then by downloading some of the copious amount of mp3s they have available on their website.
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