Full cement luxury

New single from Eye Eye coming out next week

The band Eye Eye had its heyday in the mid-1980s after a successful and well regarded first release that garnered two Juno nominations. The band was flying high for about a year and a half, opening for powerhouse bands such as Glass Tiger and Honeymoon Suite. The fame, however, was short-lived, and after a disappointing second album and a third that never saw the light of day, the band split up and went their separate ways. Fast forward 35 years, and vocalist Bill Wood had moved to the County, following in the footsteps of his children. By this time Bill had left the glam music scene behind and had built a career as a home renovator, yet still writing and playing songs. Through the years he had kept in touch with bandmate Andy Ryan, who a few years ago purchased a summer property near Cherry Valley. They started playing together again, and have since released two reworked singles from their Eye Eye days. They had big plans for this summer. “There’s something that happens creatively when I work with Andy. This is our third single since we reconnected. The first two were supposed to be on a third but never released Eye Eye record, and we reworked them and put them out and it was very rewarding. But this one is special because it’s a brand new co-write and we’re excited about it. Earlier this year Andy had an accident and fractured his neck and couldn’t play guitar. But we eventually got it out and it will be available on all the streaming services on December 16,” said Bill.

Bill has been obsessed with music since his high school days. “I had perfected the lifestyle way before I worked on the music,” he says with a laugh. He spent a whole year in high school dressed as Alice Cooper, complete with top hat and jacket. He was a member of a progressive rock band and after high school they toured around playing Top-40 hits in nightclubs and bars. “Of course, that crashed and burned, and then the punk rock thing happened and I recorded some songs I had written, but nothing was happening, so I went to Acadia for business administration, and that made my dad happy. While at university, someone suggested I enter the Q107 Homegrown contest, and I kept winning week to week. I came home for the summer and the next week I was playing at the El Mocambo. I thought this was my ‘big break’ and I didn’t go back to school. My dad wasn’t happy, and I found my things out on the driveway when I returned home one day. For the next two and a half years, I was playing high-energy punk rock six nights a week, three shows per night,” he said. It was during this time that he was joined by Andy as a guitar player. After playing together for a while they went their separate ways, with Andy going on to found Eye Eye and Bill forming his band Billy Club, but they maintained contact and often toured with each other. After a dispute among the members of Eye Eye, Bill was invited to join the band. “We got a record deal and we thought it was a dream come true. But it was short-lived. Our second record was a dud, and we never released the third, and we went our separate ways.”

By this time, Bill was married with a young family to take care of. “I needed a job, so I worked as a bike courier for eight months. It was hard work, but very lucrative, and I was in the best shape of my life! I was then brought on as a driver for a courier company, and then became the office dispatcher. I was still making music on the side, and then I realized I had a voice problem because I was spending 10 hours a day yelling out instructions to the drivers. So I left that and for the next six years a friend and I bought old houses, renovated them and resold. It’s where I learned all my construction skills, and for the last 15 or 20 years I ran my own renovation company. It was great because I was self-employed and I could change my schedule so I could have time with my children.” He had a few forays back to the music industry, working on a record project with his sister and holding a residency at the Kensington Market on a once-amonth gig. “I tried to get back, but the industry had changed and I thought to myself that I’m too old for this. I have a good body of work, and I feel that I’ve proven myself. I’m pleased with everything, but I’m also happy to keep going.”

Since moving to the County in 2019, he has become part of the music scene here. He’s doing some recording work with CountyFM radio hosts Franco Care and Greg Hines, and he’s released the song Big Wheel that he co-wrote with Tony Forbes. The song has been played on CountyFM, and Bill is really grateful to the radio station. “It’s been the best received song that I’ve done in the longest time. It’s great that all of the artists get representation, and it really makes a difference to have a place where you’re appreciated,” he said. Songwriting remains his big passion. “Part of that is because of the mystery of it, but there are those moments where you just know. It’s just magical and it can’t be defined. You just get into a thing and it seems to be flowing out of you. You have to keep working on things, you have to apply yourself, and you can’t keep waiting on those moments, but when the magic happens that’s what keeps me going. It’s like a drug in a way.” His latest single began when Andy Ryan sent him an advertisement from a 1950s magazine that extolled the virtues of the Tahiti Motel, which boasted “Full Cement Luxury” in Las Vegas, Nevada. The incongruity of the combination of “cement” and “luxury” spurred their imagination about who might be staying at the Tahiti Motel. Andy sent the first verse and chorus to Bill. “It had this kind of bluesy groove and I wrote the second verse and bridge and sent it back,” said Bill. He has retained the services of Megan Hutton to advertise and promote the new single through her company Warfair Productions. “I’ve worked with Megan before, and she has a co-write on an upcoming record. She’s just a phenomenal talent and she’s taken care of all the details,” he said. “I’m not doing this for the fame and fortune. It’s the creativity. Life changes, and you find out the value of things. I’m grateful for every day. I’m still making music and people are listening to it.” Full Cement Luxury will hit all of the music streaming services on Monday.