“If the underground music scene is like high school, Eichlers is the kid who is cool with
everyone. Incorporating everything from lo-fi SoundCloud pop to rocksteady to creatively
distorted samples of early 90s pop-punk demos, Eichlers represents the fully-developed
superego to the frantic id and ego of hyperpop, blending a wide spectrum of influences with no
pretense of either irony nor post-irony, resulting in fully-formed and concise songs that bleed
hooks from their very core. His ethos is one of hyperactive inclusion, which merges with a clever
and low-key sense of humor to create one of the most compelling personalities and sounds
operating in the scene today.
The roots of Eichlers as a project extend all the way back to 2005, when a young Russ
Wood began learning how to play guitar in his room. Touring with local pop-punk and indie rock
bands defined his high school and college years until 2016, when he moved from San Jose,
California to his current home base in Salt Lake City, Utah. His early work under the Eichlers,
despite slotting neatly into the acoustic singer-songwriter mold, is indicative of the plaintive
vulnerability he would later push to greater heights.
The big turning point came in 2018, when he began to dive deep into the contemporary
emo trap sound. “I just thought it was so sick,” he told Salt Lake City Weekly in a 2020 interview.
“Just the fact that you can take a Blink-182 song and like put a beat over it and then make your
own melody… That was so inspiring.” With new sonic horizons opened up for him, he began to
create music that was just as authentic and emotionally raw as his earlier work, but with a much
more playful sonic identity. 2019’s EICHLERS 65 EP, which sees him reworking songs by the
late 90s Eurodance act Eiffel 65, revels in the mixture of acoustic trappings with 808s and
AutoTune melodies. It’s good-humored but never condescending or anything less than purely
joyful.
That same joy extends to the way that Eichlers interacts with the Salt Lake City DIY
community. With connections fostered through Wood’s work in local emo and hardcore bands,
such as Breakfast In Silence, 2020 saw the release of SCENE KIDS, a celebration of the last
two decades of alternative youth culture. With mad-scientist production that deconstructs and
reassembles songs with working parts pulled from disparate musical elements like panic chords
and moody manipulations of Mark Hoppus bass lines, SCENE KIDS is also a paean to the
friends that Wood had made since starting Eichlers. Janie Jones screams all over songs like
“Don’t Even Bother,” while Vantana Row’s antagonistic brand of itchy pop is all over “Out for
Blood.” Through it all, the sense of camaraderie and humor is overwhelming, with lyrics about
periods, the Vans Warped Tour, and Joe Pera intermingling with the deeply self-aware pop-
punk commentary of songs like “The Karma Is Important” to convey a diverse yet somehow
intensely focused vision.
In October of 2020, bolstered by the encouragement of his peers and production
techniques learned under the tutelage of Spirit Prison’s Jade Whitlock, Wood took yet another
step forward for Eichlers with i may b cute, but im dumb af. Self-deprecating title aside, i may b
cute is a wild amalgamation of ska, 808-driven pop, and emo that avoids being overwhelming or
over-extending itself by sticking to its mission of pumping out subdued, infectious melodies and
deeply vulnerable lyricism. While there is no shortage of brash and compellingly adolescent
bursts like “okay for sure,” tracks like the bouncy “wow. Rude,” the lovably angular “(party rock)
anthem part two,” and especially the subtly anthemic and gorgeously emotive “txt me tmrw”
betray the big, warm, sticky heart that lies at the center of all of Wood’s work with Eichlers.

With a plethora of strong connections within the scene– including Gregory Johnson of
Nailpolishh and Solidarity Club and Sam Kless of Just Friends and Honey TV– and two
infectiously diverse and exuberant full-lengths under his belt, Wood is primed to parlay his
singular voice and aesthetic into bigger and brighter opportunities in the coming months. By
bringing together the spirits of bedroom production and enthusiastically inclusive community,
Eichlers are one of the most amazingly appropriate artists for the moment. It’s just a bonus that
he has the songwriting chops to back it up.“
- Ellie Kovach