The silhouettes of the massive structures found in major cities around the globe have a certain mystique. From the shape of the Chrysler Building in New York to the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, these city skylines are a central element to the outsider’s perspective of place, and a signal to natives that they’ve returned home. But in Eugene, where the buildings don’t stretch so far from the ground, four University musicians who call themselves the Skyline are the next best thing.

The band, forged from existing relationships and an ad posted in the University’s music school seeking a drummer who wanted to do more than just jam, plays high-energy rock music based in the diverse range of tastes its members brought to the group from day one.
Energy plays a major role in the Skyline’s live success, as does its drive to keep playing together, whether that be in the studio, to a small crowd in a University area home, or on stage at the Whisky A Go Go in L.A. Lead singer Daniel Jacobs stressed the importance of this raw power in the band’s success, especially live.
“For the relatively short period of time we’ve played live, if there’s one consistent comment we get it’s lots of energy on stage,” Jacobs said. “From (our first show) through the tours we’ve done, through shows now, obviously our stage presence and whatnot is always developing, but that’s what we’ve gotten most, is the energy.”
Lead guitarist Eric Mirsepassi echoed Jacobs’ statement, adding that anything the audience picks up on begins between the band members on stage.
“It’s a very collective thing, the energy that’s produced on stage,” Mirsepassi said. “If the whole band is there and feeling it, it’s amazing, and if not, it’s not that it sucks, but it’s not at all what it could be. We very much feed off each other and very much need the other three members in order to produce the effect and produce the music that we really want to on stage.”
From all accounts, that energy spreads through the crowd – regardless of its size – faster than head lice through a third-grade class. The band has brought its energetic contagion up and down the West Coast and plans to hit the road again this summer.
For now though the Skyline is focused on playing a few local shows, following a brief hiatus while Mirsepassi was studying abroad. Its show Friday will be the first following the release of the Skyline’s most recent EP, “Lost Anthems,” which is currently streaming in its entirety on the band’s MySpace page.
Fans in attendance at this week’s show can expect an abundance of rock and months worth of pent up energy.
“It’s our first show in six months,” Mirsepassi said. “Last summer we played a couple times, and we played some of the stuff that’s on our new album, but not all of it, and it was still pretty fresh, so this is the first time we’re playing behind this EP, behind this record, so that’s the biggest thing for us.”
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