Gutter Ballers: Pink Eyes Talks Punk

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DAMIAN ABRAHAM, AKA PINK EYES, is 300-plus pounds, bald and can't carry a tune. Yet he's the singer/screamer for one of modern punk's most exciting bands, one that is garnering so much critical acclaim that the group was signed to mega-indie label Matador for its fantastic new CD, "The Chemistry of Common Life."

"I think I could manage a band and tell them exactly what to do to become successful, just based on seeing what's happened around us," Abraham said. "The number one thing would be, 'Don't give your band a swear-word name.'"

That last statement is the reason why we haven't given you the name of Abraham's six-person group: The first part of the band's moniker rhymes with "plucked" and the second word is "up."

Yet despite having a name that the mainstream media refuse to print, the Toronto-based group has built its reputation through word-of-mouth on the Internet, more than two dozen vinyl releases, a handful of CDs and a live show that borders on the anarchic, thanks to Abraham's pro-wrestling mentality. "That's where the bleeding comes from," Abraham said. "That's where a lot of the talking on the mic stuff comes from — direct lists from professional wrestling and the ways characters are developed in professional wrestling."

As with wrestlers, Abraham will sometimes palm a sterile razor blade and, if the time is right, he'll slice open his forehead for effect. Other times, however, the bleeding is unplanned, such as when he smashes a pint glass on his ear — or when someone does it for him, potentially even one of his bandmates.

That sort of extreme tension within the group, personally and musically, is what helps make Abraham's band so invigorating. His voice recalls the barroom bark of Dropkick Murphys singer Al Barr if he were ranting anti-organized-religion screeds, but the band's music has an experimental side to go along with its hardcore roar.

"Traditionally, bands form out of friendship or a desire to get fame and glory," Abraham said. "[We] formed out of a desire of neither. I think we formed out of a desire to become completely infamous and out of a complete hatred for one another." Sounds like a successful formula.

» Rock and Roll Hotel, 1353 H St. NE; with Vivian Girls, Cloak/Dagger, Police & Thieves, Sun., 7:30 p.m., $12; 202-388-7625.

» UPDATE: Read our photo-heavy review of the concert here.

Photo courtesy of the band