The Manila-Born Eyedress Reflects On the Benefits of Therapy and Moving to L.A

Photo by Edwin Monico

The Manila-born Idris Vicuña, known as Eyedress (it’s also how you pronounce his real name), moved from the Philippines to the U.S a year ago and now resides in Silverlake. “Living in Los Angeles has helped a lot. I’m just trying to keep the momentum going,” says Vicuña. He likes the availability of weed and the sense of community in L.A and how all people of color are supportive of each other in L.A. “In the Philippines, no one is really down to help out,” says Vicuña. “I used to be that guy back home, helping other artists out. But they don’t reciprocate it.”

He adds that the toxicity in the Philippines can be bad. There is a culture of classism that encourages people to look down on those from the slums. “Everyone there is passive aggressive. They just keep talking shit until the environment is so horrible. I’ll run into people that don’t like me, but they won’t say anything. They’ll say stuff online though. I’m not even trying to fight them. I’m just baffled by how people can be so horrible.” At the same time, Vicuña acknowledges they’re just victims of their environment, introjecting the attitudes, voices, and beliefs of the people around them. And despite these issues, he still has love for his home country.

This isn’t his first-time living the U.S. When he was 12 his family moved to San Clemente, CA. He was influenced by the psych garage rock scene that was bursting open at the seams. Ty Segall’s drummer, who went to the same high school as Vicuña, was a huge musical influence on him. Although he lived in Southern California for a short time — he moved back to the Philippines when he was 15 — Vicuña lived the O.C life, skating and playing in a punk band.

His father was a huge influence on him, too. He was open to popular music and listened to the Cure, Depeche Mode, Nirvana and more. Vicuña would go through his CDs and choose what he would listen to by how much he liked the album cover “My mom is a Christian. I think she is filled with fear. I guess a lot of religious people have a lot of fear. My dad didn’t care though. My dad likes Nirvana and stuff like that,” says Vicuña. “The one thing they got me into was new wave music. They liked the Smiths, the Cure, and Depeche Mode.”

Having endured a difficult life, Vicuña developed PTSD and anger issues. This led him to seek therapy to get mentally healthy. “In my mid-20s I started getting therapy because I developed PTSD. I was kind of living in the hood, so a lot of times I would get robbed or jumped for no reason. And when I was a little kid I was raped.” The pathological side of these traumas began to surface in his late-20’s. He would get into fights and bury his emotions which caused him a lot of pain. “Therapy helped me a lot. It helped me make sense of all my anger and where my issues were coming from. In therapy, you get to the root of the problem. It’s definitely made more conscious of the words I’m putting out,” says Vicuña. “I don’t want to put out bad vibes out into the air. I want to make music to make people feel good.” The song “Toxic Masculinity” from his newest album Sensitive G is evidence of this shift.

Since Eyedress became a father, his priorities have changed significantly, too. The image he projected into the world of using drugs and partying isn’t quite his life anymore. “When my daughter was born, I wasn’t necessarily ready to be a father. The album reflects all the changes that I had to go through to get ready and responsible for my daughter. Me and my baby momma split up like a month ago and I’m still going through it, you know?” The only thing that matters for Vicuña is to be present in his daughter’s life, work on himself, and create music.

Eyedress is going to perform at the Observatory June 6th. He will also be at the Fonda Theater in L.A on June 8th. For tickets or for more dates, click here.

23 Replies to “The Manila-Born Eyedress Reflects On the Benefits of Therapy and Moving to L.A”

  1. This muthafucka beat on a gay guy for bumping into him then ran n hid at the bar next door. Didnt come out til his ride pulled up coz he knew he was getting jumped. How do people in manila not say it to your face when fools straight up wanna jump your scary ass bruh!? Stop lying to the people. I got hella stories of how shady you are pussy boy. How you gonna talk shit about the city that gave you a spot in the limelight welcomed you with open arms even if you can’t even speak a lick of tagalog, you ungrateful cunt!

  2. What this article didn’t talk about is how he fractured a fellow artist’s skull last year! No one really down to help out? My God, everyone was helping him out. He’s just an asshole who couldn’t face the truth that he’s an asshole.

  3. Nobody really down to help? Check his videos! All those people did it for free! Nobody was paid. What a dick faced asshole.

  4. This guy is wack, have you watched his boiler room performance? Tangina it’s BAD AF! And yes I’ve heard this guy got serious issues and he isn’t exactly from the slums, I know the lawyer who represented him when he beat up that gay guy and he’s pricey, so yeah, this guy is the epitome of the saying fake it till you make it.

  5. This article is way too funny and i’m laughing at all your asses for believing this fool. The only reason he’s not in manila because no one fucks with him here no more. He ruined his own reputation. He doesnt pay his artists who got featured in his MVs and songs, his baby momma had to settle a lawsuit against him for punching a well known artist, completely defenseless and innocent, he is known for cutting ties with people after getting what he wants and he is not from “the hood” (tf is he talking about? Everyone knows he’s a priviledge kid back in manila). Stop spreading lies and telling everyone that Philippine Scene is toxic, its not, Eyedress and his circle jerks are the ones whos toxic.

  6. He aint in manila anymore because everyone knows he’s a little bitch. Also, wtf do you mean no one confronted you bout anything? You got a fucking lawsuit and all you did was hid behind your father in law. Talk about pathetic. Eyedress is all dick, no balls.

  7. This article is a joke. Juan Gutierrez, i hope you actually do your job as a journalist and research how the scene is out here manila instead of sucking Eyedress’ dick. Yall need to stop treating this guy like a national treasure. He aint shit and the Philippine Music Scene deserves better representation than this.

  8. This guy has sexually assaulted two.women in Los Angeles already . One of them being a minor he paid an abortion for.

  9. My homie backed him up to confront a guy that owns a well known club here in manila, but then when they got there Idris didn’t say nothing and my homie had to stand up for him. How are you gonna drag your homie to back you up and not back him up?

    Fuck idris and i dare his bitch-ass to show up at gigs here in Manila.

  10. Lol you can have him LA. This guy is one of the worst human beings to ever grace Manila. From the slums? This privileged little bitch lived in his dad’s penthouse in one of the most affluent areas in the city.

    Stop suckling his dick. His music sucks and he sucks as a human being. I’m glad he left.

    What a piece of shit.

  11. I’ve had the intense displeasure of having to watch eyedress live twice

    First was when he opened for how to dress well in b-side where he was high as a kite jumping his skinny ass around like a pogo stick on ecstasy and he plugged in his mic through a guitar pedal drenched in reverb, his entire set sounded like a hot garbage truck passing through an underground tunnel and was easily the worst set of the night

    Second was when he opened for warpaint and mogwai at metrowalk, the sound that time around was better but he had somebody with him onstage who was just pressing play with a finger pad controller thing and was pretending to play along to the parts of the songs which was a HUGE turnoff.. A lot of people could tell that they were just faking it and i’m glad i’ve never had to watch eyedress live again..

  12. y’all could’ve just done a lil bit more researching before you had this clown on your site

    now all of you guys are clowns as well

  13. I’ve had the intense displeasure of having to witness eyedress perform live twice while he was here in manila..

    First time was at b-side when he opened for how to dress well. He was high as a kite and he had his mic plugged into a guitar pedal drenched in reverb, all while he was jumping his skinny ass around like a pogo stick on ecstasy. He sounded so bad, it was like listening to a hot garbage truck passing through an underground tunnel.. Easily the worst set of the night for real

    Second time was when he opened for mogwai and warpaint in metrowalk. The sound was better but he had a DJ with him who just pressed play and was pretending to play the song parts on his controller which was a HUGE TURNOFF because a lot of people could tell that they were just faking it.. I’m glad I’ve never had to watch eyesore play again because he is a huge egotistical asshole, what a disgrace to our city..

  14. There once was a guy-dress named eyedress
    Who lie-dressed so much no one knew why-dress
    He tweets faux-positive shit
    But he can’t take the hint
    That everybody wants to give him a black eye-dress

  15. “I used to be that guy back home, helping other artists out. But they don’t reciprocate it.”

    Most hilarious thing I’ve read all day. Idris is the most self-centered, narcissistic, pretentious musician I know. I give Silverlake 5 minutes to figure this guy out ?

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