Cough Demos by Black Eyes

This session was done in the Summer of 2003 between our first full U.S. tour and our Fall U.S./European tours. These recordings were not originally intended as demos but were made as possible recordings for a split 12” we were planning with the band Need New Body from Philadelphia. They were another percussive and strange punk-adjacent art band who we had met and connected with when we played at MacRock in Fredericksburg, VA in the Spring of 2003. For one reason or another that record didn’t end up happening and these songs turned into the bulk of “Cough,” which we recorded in January of 2004. These recordings were done in our practice space (Daniel’s parents basement) and were engineered and mixed by Hugh. It’s hard to recall if the instrumental tracks were purposefully done as instrumentals or if they were waiting for vocal overdubs (most likely). Either way it is interesting to hear them in a different form than what they became,and closer to how we would have played them live.

Black Eyes formed in August of 2001 and the band’s first full-length arrived two years later via Dischord. Their shows were chaotic and often melted down into frenzied jam sessions. A second full-length, "Cough", came out in May of 2004. The album introduced saxophone to the mix and relied more heavily on improvisational and dub influences. After 20 years off, the band returned in 2022.

dischord.com