San Francisco singer/songwriter DOE EYE, has premiered the sultry music video for her song,“Hotel Fire” today on MTV Buzzworthy. Watch the video here: http://on.mtv.com/WcRwXL. DOE EYE’s hauntingly beautiful sound has won over fans and industry professionals alike, landing her a winning spot in the West Coast division of Billboard Magazine‘s 2012 Battle of The Bands and on bills with ZZ Top, The Limousines and Pop Etc,. DOE EYE released her sophomore EP entitled, Hotel Fire, produced by John Vanderslice (Nada Surf, Mates of State, MK Ultra) and featuring the Magik*Magik Orchestra (the backing band for Death Cab For Cutie‘s 2012 tour) on September 4th, 2012. The EP is currently available on all streaming services, as well as iTunes here: http://bit.ly/Tsne1K.
DOE EYE (real name, Maryam Qudus) was inspired by an actual hotel fire when writing her EP. Qudus explains, “I had just finished the school year at Berklee College of Music and was preparing to return to my home in San Francisco for the summer when all of the power in my apartment went out. At first, I thought I blew a fuse, but when I opened my door the hallway was blacked out. It turns out that a transformer exploded behind a hotel down the street and caught on fire – we were told the entire city was blacked out and the air was possibly toxic.” She continues, “The fire and the blackout were very symbolic of my life at the time. So much anger, pain, happiness and hurt was building inside of me and I needed that blackout to force me to reflect upon it. I laid on my bed that night for hours in the dark and quiet, guitar on my stomach, staring into the ceiling, and started pouring the pains of the past year into songs which eventually lead to the ‘Hotel Fire’ EP.”
The video for Hotel Fire is directed by David Dutton (Bassnectar, Dev) and shot in an abandoned 1920’s apartment building that Qudus was using as a studio space back in San Francisco. She explains, “Walls were falling apart, pieces of wood and rubble all over the floors. Some of the rooms had old telephones still attached to the walls, dated floral wallpaper and old photos from former tenants lying around. The entire building looked like it had caught on fire, which worked perfectly.” In January 2013, the entire building was renovated, allowing the Hotel Fire video to serve as a time capsule and a unique work of art that can never be re-created.
The summer before her first semester at Berklee College of Music, singer/songwriter DOE EYE (real name Maryam Qudus), stepped into the studio for the first time to create a demo to pass along to her new teachers and colleagues she would meet at Berklee. After recording the four-song demo, Qudus sent the track, “I Hate You,” to preeminent radio station Live 105 (KITS) for consideration on their legendary Soundcheck show hosted by KITS Program Director, Aaron Axelsen. To her astonishment, the track was so well-received Axelsen debuted “I Hate You” on the week of its release and named DOE EYE one of their Top 20 Bands of 2011, starting a whirlwind of positive feedback from Fuse TV(Unsigned Artist of the Month), Alternative Press (Unsigned Artist of the Month) and Hype Machine.
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2/28 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of The Hill
DOE EYE has released the music video for “Hotel Fire” on February 26th. For more information, please visit:http://www.ilovedoeeye.com/.
Be sure to keep up with DOE EYE on her social networks:
Twitter: twitter.com/_DOEEYE
Instagram: instagram.com/doeeye
Facebook: fb.com/ilovedoeeye
Youtube: youtube.com/ilovedoeeye