Jyrki 69

Live at the Whisky a Go Go

Los Angeles, CA

March 21st, 2018

Review and photos by Travis Baumann

Jryki 69 is the enigmatic Finish lead singer of international Goth Rock sensations, The 69 Eyes. It has been quite a few years since they have toured the US but in their absence we get to see their front man tour supporting his first solo release, "Helsinki Vampire".

Jyrki has recruited a band of like-minded rock and roll junkies to support his cause including Ace Von Johnson of Faster Pussycat on guitar, Diego Ashes from Devildriver (and Static X) on bass guitar, and Kyle Cunningham on drums.

Jyrki's solo record completely keeps in style with his efforts for his main project in that they both feature his illustrious deep vocals and combine the trappings of goth n' roll with a mixture of heavy guitars and atmospheric synthesizers in conjunction with dark and romantic subject matter.

The set list would draw from this solo release but also feature songs from The 69 Eyes discography and a good share of cover songs as well.

They opened the set with "Last Halloween" and "Bloodlust" from Jyrki's solo album, both of which are signature of the sound of the release and could be considered the "singles" from it.

Jyrki's musical influences are fairly apparent in his work and have never been hidden but he nailed them right on the head this night with amazing renditions of several of them, the first being Danzig's "Twist of Cain". Interspersing new material and covers were a number of favorites from his primary project, The 69 Eyes with "Dead Girls are Easy" coming up next.

I never really imagined Jyrki doing covers but it was pretty cool to see actually. He was definitely having fun with this solo tour and throwing back to his own musical loves including an amazing version of The Door's classic, "People are Strange".

I discovered The 69 Eyes many years ago walking into a small record store in Camden Town, London and they were playing a song called "Gothic Girl". I instantly bought the full album and have been a fan ever since so it was great to hear this song live after so much time and so many albums later.

Going in for another classic cover, they played The Ramones' "Something To Do". Danny Nordahl of Faster Pussycat and Ronnie Sweetheart of The Throbs got up on stage and sang with Jyrki and were heavily applauded by the full crowd at the Whisky.

Jyrki moved back to his solo material for the ballad, "Spanish Steps" before conquering the goth anthem, "This Corrosion" originally by revered dark gods, The Sisters of Mercy.

The band played one more song from "Helsinki Vampire" with "In Your Dreams" before closing out the night with an epic trio of hits from The 69 Eyes beginning with "Brandon Lee".

There was a slight interlude as the band left the stage to allow for some righteous applause and chanting from the audience before returning for "Never Say Die" followed by the night closer, the vampiric theme song of blood suckers everywhere, "Lost Boys".

It was a great show that covered so many bases with the excellent selection of covers, The 69 Eyes' favorites, and new material from the solo album. On top of that, Jyrki is an excellent showman, channeling an undead Elvis meets Peter Steele meets Andrew Eldritch all wrapped up in the form of a Helsinki based Vampire.

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