Archive
Seanny Georgie of No Eyes
Twenty-eight year old musician, Seanny Georgie of the band No Eyes, is black, punk and lovin’ it. via Facebook
I recently sat down with Seanny Georgie of the trans-techno, shoegaze group, No Eyes, to discuss his life growing up black and punk in America. The 28-year-old comic book fiend and bona-fide punk rocker, hails from New York City, where he lived until he moved to Conyers, Ga. when he was 6-years-old. Georgie, whose family is from Trinidad and Tobago has also lived on the small island, which he says “has the most amazing weather,” and really cheap gas.
“Georgia was actually a culture shock,” he says biting into Cameli’s monster slice pizza. We met at their Little 5 Points location on the rooftop, where the heat was slightly unbearable but Georgie, who was dressed in distressed, skinny jeans didn’t seem to mind. “Obviously, racism exists everywhere you go but when I first moved here it was very obvious.” After moving to Conyers, Georgie recalls him and his brother being the only black kids in school- the norm for many minority youths in suburban towns. Thankfully, he says, he had his family for moral support. “My mom is very open-minded and a huge influence in my life. She was always accepting of what I wanted to do and always encouraged us.“ He adds, “she had to deal with conservative parents who were always like “you have to live this way and everything you do is wrong,” and crap like that. But she was super supportive with us and I am happy for that.”
Seanny Georgie of the band, No Eyes, describes his sound as a mixture of trans-techno, electronic and dark metal; with artists such as Tupac and Rage Against the Machine being major influences. via Facebook
After first being introduced to punk music, courtesy of his big brother’s CD’s (“I used to take them and listen to them in my room),” Georgie began listening to a range of music, from death metal to gangster rap and even Rage Against the Machine, which he laughs about now. “I mean, they were pretty mainstream but I heard them back when I was like 12, and at the time they were the few mainstream bands that were questioning society. “ Punk became Georgie’s haven outside of mainstream culture, which he felt, didn’t openly welcome him being black and “different.” “When you’re the black kid that wears tight pants and doesn’t listen to mainstream stuff, pretty much people label you and look at you different. When I moved to Atlanta, I realized that the culture here is extremely different from what [I experienced], in New York. The people [here] seemed more arrogant and stuck in their ways.” Georgie recalls being a huge hip-hop head up North, where it was more vibrant and accessible, but the South was less welcoming.
It could be why Georgie identifies so much with Todd McFarlane’s, famous comic book superhero, Spawn, who Georgie believes, is the “first and most critically amazing black superhero ever.” Spawn, who is arguably the first mainstream, black superhero, is Al Simmons, a former CIA agent who was murdered and sent to hell where he makes a deal with the creature, Malebolgia, to return to Earth. Over the course of the series, Spawn has superpowers, which he uses to fight evil. “In any other comics you can think of, all the black superheroes were cheesy and had names like “Black Thunder,” but Spawn was just Spawn. “
“Spawn was just Spawn and he was incredible.” Georgie says of one of the first major African-American comic book superheroes. via Spawn.com
Spawn. A fictional comic book character that was black. Maybe not that big of a deal to some but to a young, African-American, punk rocker attempting to live outside of society’s norms- he was the ultimate and necessary badass. “He was McFarlane’s way of going against racism and [promoting] diversity, and I thought that was incredible.”
So outside of superheroes, punk rock and a really cool mom, how does Seanny Georgie continue to stay true to himself? “Easiest thing to do? Don’t put up with other people’s crap. And do lots of drugs.”
He’s kidding.
URBAN WHIM 