For years, Moen and Slusarenko played and wrote in the company of some of the most legendary songwriters of indie rock including Robert Pollard (Guided by Voices), Stephen Malkmus (Pavement/Jicks), Coli n Meloy (The Decemberists) and Elliott Smith. In 2014 they decided that it was time to finally start writing and recording together, adding the talents of guitarist/vocalist Jonathan Drews (Sunset Valley, Damien Jurado). The end result was their thirteen song debut album, 854, which gained positive notes from A/V Club, Brooklyn Vegan, BBC6 Radio and MOJO magazine. NPR called them “Portland’s best kept secret”.   That secret was short lived. Over the course of the next two-and-a-half years, the band has issued recordings at a prolific clip: They’ve released five 7”s and a 12” EP (which was labeled “EP/single of the year” by legendary East Coast freeform radio station WFMU ). They toured in the States and overseas, as headliners and as openers for Drive-By Truckers & The Charlatans UK (after hearing 854 Charlatans leader Tim Burgess asked to release the album overseas via his O Genesis label).   “With the first album we quickly realized that we were not just a studio project but a band, that wanted to play these songs live,” Slusarenko says. Eyelids wasted no time enlisting Paul Pulvirenti (No. 2, Elliott Smith) and Jim Talstra (The Minus 5, Dharma Bums) as their rhythm section. The band’s live action led directly to the band’s new album, or. “We wanted to make the second album with all five of us from the beginning and it was pretty exciting to see that come to full bloom,” Slusarenko says.   With or, the band’s second full-length LP, Eyelids has created their most emotional record yet. Produced by Peter Buck of R.E.M. and mixed by Thom Monahan (Peter, Bjorn and John, Devandra Banhart, Fruit Bats), or is liberally sprinkled with the hooks, melodies, and charming wordplay that make a certain kind of rock & roll fan fall madly in love with an LP. It’s all evident in the opening song, “Slow It Goes” — is that a play on Vonnegut or Nick Lowe? Somehow both feel appropriate — the kind of classic easily slotted between Superchunk and the Raspberries on a mixtape, locked and loaded with a perfectly winsome expression of angst: “She says, ‘If I can keep from sighing, why can’t you?’” From there, the sequence dives deeper and deeper into Slusarenko and Moen’s love of underground pop: listen to those sparkling “Starry Eyes”-worthy guitars on “Falling Eyes,” the psychedelic swirl of “My Caved In Mind,” and the Dream Syndicate mysticism of “Tell Me You Know.”   or marks the first time of having an outside producer and having Peter Buck in that role proved a steady presence, along with his encyclopedic rock know-how. “Peter brings a certain calm to the studio at an Eyelids session,” Moen says. “I think he helps us get the best out of ourselves in a timely way, as he doesn’t like belaboring a point.”   Joined by guests Jay Gonzales (Drive-By Truckers), Jonathan Segel (Camper Van Beethoven) and Buck himself, the record demonstrates what happens when a group of old friends get into a room and truly collaborate. With friendships stretching back to their teens, Slusarenko and Moen bring out the best in each other as writers, resulting in a creative tension between their respective lyrical outlooks (dark/sunny). With or, collaboration was key. Take for instance the song “Moony,” which began as a sketch by Slusarenko. “It had a kind of pretty looping cyclical feel,” he says, but Moen and Drews began adding Marquee Moon-style guitars on the spot, and the rhythm section of Pulvirenti and Talstra hit on a Black Sea-era XTC beat. Suddenly, it became a whole new beast. “It was a new language for the band,” Slusarenko says. “We’re all pretty different stylistically, so it’s always cool to see where we push and pull each other.”   or is the sound of a band realizing its potential, of old friends connecting creatively and sonically, creating exuberant, nuanced, pop music.

Jay Gonzalez is best known as keyboardist and guitarist for Drive-by Truckers. He has also released two solo albums, Mess of Happiness and The Bitter Suite, both influenced by 70’s A.M. gold pop and power pop. When not touring with the Truckers, he frequently plays solo and full band shows around Athens and the East Coast and is the inventor of the Acoustic Keytar (patent pending.)    "A self-professed 'sucker for short pop songs filled with hooks and devoid of filler,' Drive-By Trucker Jay Gonzalez has spent the last four years composing a five-song medley that incorporates influences ranging from the Beatles and the Who to Joe Jackson and Bread. Writing about life events, the five songs on The Bitter Suite are marked by the loss of a relative, a separation with a musical partner and missing his family while traveling the world." - Eric Risch POPMATTERS    "Inspired by conceptual rock operas like The Who’s A Quick One While He’s Away and [...] side 2 of Abbey Road, Gonzalez stitched five songs together to flow seamlessly as one piece. The album is a pleasing listen through and through with emotional ups and downs, constant tempo changes, and a kaleidoscope of instruments and sounds performed almost exclusively by Gonzalez [...] Hearing a talented musician embrace this criminally underrated genre is a good thing for anyone who yearns for the relative popularity of genre revivalists like Matthew Sweet and Teenage Fanclub in the Nineties." - Neil Ferguson GLIDE MAGAZINE

Jonathan Segel: Jonathan Segel started playing guitar when he was about 7 years old. At about 10 he had a crush on a girl who played violin, so he thought he'd try that too. Unfortunately he sucked at it. That did not stop him, however, from later playing the violin in rock bands when everybody else played guitar. Sometime around 1983, while carrying a violin across the quad at Porter College  (College V) at UC Santa Cruz, he was approached by some kids who had moved their band up from Redlands, CA. This turned out to be Camper Van Beethoven and the Border Patrol. Well, what we didn't know then is that this association was for life, as Camper Van Beethoven has now made records/CDs for the past ~30 or so years, and is still playing. Through all the ups and downs of that band, Jonathan has continued to make his own records (../CDs/tapes/whatever... seems like a million of them so far) in a variety of genres ranging from guitar-based rock music to way-avant-garde electronic music and many other places in between...   Victor Krummenacher: Victor Krummenacher’s multi-faceted career begins in the mid-80s in Santa Cruz, California, when he and Lowery formed Camper Van Beethoven, and—after Jonathan Segel joined the group–their jangly and stoned “Take The Skinheads Bowling” became an instant college radio staple. Their 80s discography includes Telephone Free Landslide Victory (1985), II & III (1986, the first featuring Greg Lisher), Camper Van Beethoven (1986), Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart (1988) and Key Lime Pie (1989). CBV disbanded, rather eventfully, in Sweden, in 1990. Lowery formed Cracker with longtime friend from Redlands, CA, Johnny Hickman. Krummenacher and CVB guitarist Lisher formed Monks of Doom in the early 90’s and the bassist, singer and songwriter later began his solo career, recording several albums with guests like Dave Alvin. After a nine year recording layoff, Camper rebooted full throttle in 2013 with the California-themed La Costa Perdida and the sequel El Camino Real in 2014. “It’s amazing to think that Camper goes back now over 30 years and I’ll soon be into my third decade of solo recording,” says Krummenacher, “and I love the way those experiences complement each other. David Thomas from the band Pere Ubu had a great point once when he said that if musicians had any common sense, we wouldn’t keep recording and touring because it’s so up and down emotionally and financially. So as I approach 50, I wonder how many more projects I have in me – and seriously think about what drives me. Hard To See Trouble Coming is like an open ended musical question, grappling with issues in myself and the world that I know I have no perfect solutions for. Sometimes the choice is, taking a vacation or just continuing to make art. Though the process started with me having been through some hard times, I was in an oddly good mood during the recording, loved the musicians I worked with and am excited that we accomplished it all in only two sessions.”