Introducing: Sam Shaw & The Real Eyes

Psychedelic rock is alive and well in Nottingham, and Sam Shaw & The Real Eyes are leading the charge. Formed at the start of 2024, the band wasted no time making waves, drawing inspiration from the mind-bending sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators, The Fall, Syd Barrett, The Byrds, and The Beatles.

Their debut show at Karmafest was a sold-out success, and since then, they’ve headlined venues like Liquid Light Brewery, Rough Trade Nottingham, and The Carousel, as well as supporting Black Doldrums at Saltbox. But it’s not just their electrifying live presence turning heads—their vintage tape-recorded singles "Hey Mr Robot," "Life’s A Curse," "Walk Into The Sun," and "Mirrorball" have caught the attention of BBC Introducing, earning airplay across the Midlands.

Now, with a loyal fanbase behind them and a new single "Mirrorball" dropping, the band is set to celebrate in style with a headline show at The Grove on March 8th. Before they take the stage, let’s dive into their journey so far, their old-school recording process, and what’s next for Nottingham’s rising psych-rock stars…

Your band has had an incredible first year, from selling out your debut show at Karmafest to headlining major Nottingham venues. How has the journey been so far, and what have been some standout moments for you?

A recent highlight was that after our recent show at Saltbox, we were given an offer to have our debut album pressed to vinyl! We're very excited about our music being on a real 12" record. Our headline show at The Carousel was a highlight too, there was a real analogue 60's style liquid light show projected onto us which looked amazing! It was a wicked night, our Rough Trade headline really stood out to me too it just felt so fun onstage, and the crowd were moshing and cheering so loud, it was probably my favourite encore that we've had so far. Our first ever gig at the Chameleon was an incredible night too, such a good crowd, another beautiful liquid light show projection by the legend that is Brendan O’Melia & it sounded amazing onstage and in the room as always, thanks to their incredible sound man Simon. It definitely felt like the perfect start to the band! Another highlight is definitely having the support of BBC Introducing, with both our first single Walk Into The Sun and our most recent single Mirrorball being chosen by Dean Jackson and BBC Introducing to be played on BBC radio shows across the Midlands. We were even asked to record a short little intro that was played before our song on BBC radio which was fun to do! Also recording our music so far with Kristian in the summer was a real highlight, it was beautiful weather in this big village hall and it was just so fun to do live recording to tape with the band with all the doors open in this countryside village hall on a hot summer day.

Your sound draws inspiration from iconic artists like The 13th Floor Elevators, The Fall, and The Beatles. How do these influences shape your music, and how would you describe your unique take on psychedelic rock?

The first time I listened to the 13th Floor Elevators album Bull Of The Woods, it totally blew my mind. Stacy Sutherland's sizzling guitar riffs and solos were like nothing I'd heard before, Roky Erikson's one of a kind vocals just soar and they even have an "electric jug player"!  These guys were on a total other level of creative force, the first ever psychedelic band from Texas of all places. Their crazy and legendary story to the band just amazed me when I researched them further and their music really opened up a new perspective for me of how songs could sound. The Fall slowly grew on me the more I delved into their ridiculously massive and completely varied discography, I still find new Fall songs to be obsessed with after years of listening to them. Mark E Smith is totally unique in his creative style, his mind conjures these mad lyrics and melodies. Their song "Blindness" and the album "Fall Heads Roll" really was when I became obsessed for a while with The Fall, it just has this relentless, manic energy that really only they could seemingly create. The first album's so good too, it's much faster and punkier than the others. The Beatles have always been my favourite band, albums like Magical Mystery Tour, Rubber Soul, Revolver and the White Album have always been on repeat for me, their music is timeless and even still futuristic to this day with tracks like "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" being endlessly fascinating to me. They really did change the entire world with their incredible music and they are definitely one of my biggest influences production and also songwriting wise, they're just the best band ever aren't they! No contest really. 

You’ve been recording your music live to a vintage tape machine with Kristian Bell from The Wytches. What has that recording process been like, and what do you feel it brings to your sound?

 I've always preferred the sound of tape machines, tube amps and vinyl records to digital. Analogue in general just has a superior sound and feel to me. There's a character to the sound that just seems to always improve the production of any song I've worked on so far. The sound of 60's and 70's music has always sounded so cool to me compared to modern digital music. One of my favourite musicians Neil Young really perfected the tape sound, and he's always had a massive love for analogue. His albums like Zuma, Tonight's the Night and On the Beach been on repeat on me for a long time now and I really think they wouldn't sound half as good as they do if he'd used Pro Tools. Recording with Kristian has been an amazing experience for us, his vintage Tascam tape machine sounds out of this world and he's a great guy as well as a brilliant producer, the best we've ever had! We can't wait to go back and finish off recording our first album with him. The thing I love about recording live as a band to tape is that it captures the real sound of the band and keeps the powerful energy of our live performances intact, this way of making a record really stops you overthinking it too as you can perform it as a band with the mentality that you're playing it like it's a gig, and I think the tape adds such a beautiful character to the sound of our music. We feel lucky to work with Kristian and it's always a great time recording at Yaxley Hall with him! 

Your upcoming headline show at The Grove celebrates the release of your new single, “Mirrorball.” Can you tell us about the track’s inspiration and what fans can expect from it?

Yeah we can't wait to play The Grove on Saturday! It's an incredible new independent venue in Sneinton Market and we've always wanted to play there ever since it opened last year. The support acts Rights for Flies, Malchijah and Yaz are all good friends of ours and they're all so talented in their own different ways, it's an amazing lineup at the best new venue in Notts so we're buzzing to play it! Mirrorball was one of the first songs I ever wrote. It's a love song with a twist at the end. I wrote it years ago and it's probably one of my favourite songs I've written, especially to play live. One day I went into this great guitar shop in Nottingham near The Angel pub called "Nottingham City Guitars". There were all these rare amps and vintage guitars in there and the owner was kind enough to let me play this beautiful 60's vintage Rickenbacker guitar that was similar looking to the one that John Lennon used in the early Beatles. He plugged it into a boutique Cornell amp and I started playing away, then this riff came out of nowhere, the one that's in the verses of Mirrorball. It felt like the guitar itself had sort of given me that riff or something, I'll never forget it how playing that Rickenbacker just sort of flowed out this new jangly song. I played it for a while then went home and finished writing the rest of the tune, with that mad fuzzed out ending solo that I love playing live. When we started this band, I wanted to sort of evolve it from when we played it all those years ago in my first band Sundaze, and I reckon we've managed to do that well, especially with the new style of the ending which sounds massive! 

BBC Introducing has supported your music by featuring your songs on their radio shows. How does it feel to get that recognition, and what impact has it had on your band’s journey?

 We've always really appreciated the support of BBC Introducing and Dean Jackson, they chose our first single Walk Into The Sun and Mirrorball to be played across various BBC Midlands radio shows and it felt amazing to hear our music coming out of the actual radio! Dean is the nicest guy too, he's said some really nice things about our band on his show in the past and it means the world to hear it from him so huge thanks to Dean for that. They provide a real help for unsigned musicians across the country and Dean does so much for the Nottingham music scene too, we're definitely lucky as musicians to have them doing what they're doing. Yeah it's definitely had a great impact on our band for BBC Introducing to be so supportive of our music and we're just very thankful for them to give us that kind of exposure by playing our tunes on their radio shows. We have more new music on the way which is exciting so hopefully it will happen again in the future!