Interview with The Eyes Of The Nightmare Jungle (April 2026)

Summoned from the late-1980s gothic underground, The Eyes Of The Nightmare Jungle occupied a brief yet decisive place in the scene. Formed in 1987, the band released two full-length albums — Fate and Innocence — alongside key singles such as Shadowdance (1989) and Pressure (1994). Though their time in view was short-lived, the music travelled far, finding devoted listeners in the UK, Germany, across Europe and far beyond. In time, these releases settled into the fabric of the gothic rock underground — cherished, revisited, and quietly influential long after the band itself slipped into silence.

At the centre stood Russell Webster: restless, driven, and unwilling to abandon music even when ambition collided head-on with reality. Early dreams of pop stardom were tempered by an imperfect voice, unforgiving pitch, and the prohibitive cost of studio time. Rather than retreat, Webster rerouted. He built his own recording space and named it The Slaughterhouse, opening its doors in 1985. What began as a necessity soon became a cult studio, a dark nerve centre within the gothic network of the era. Its rooms echoed with the presence of artists ranging from The Cult and The March Violets to intense sessions with Andrew Eldritch and Wayne Hussey. It was during an unforeseen interval — an empty studio and time to think — that Webster returned to writing and recording his own material, encouraged to embrace the depth of his natural voice. From that moment, Shadowdance emerged, becoming the track most closely associated with the band’s identity.

Then, without announcement or closure, Eyes of the Nightmare Jungle faded from view. No final statement, no clean break — just absence. For decades, the band lived on as a reference point rather than a presence: spoken of with quiet respect, rediscovered by new listeners, cited as influence rather than relic.

Now, after more than thirty years, the jungle finally stirs again, its nightmarish eyes casting their spell for the long nights ahead. The band’s renewed presence is marked by a completely new album — their first full-length release in over three decades. Rather than revisiting former glories, the record confronts the distance travelled: years shaped by inner conflict, creative isolation, and a world that transformed while the band remained still. What unfolds is not a revival, but a continuation — unfinished work finally finding its voice.

At Peek-A-Boo Music Magazine, we are ready to step into this darkened domain — guided by none other than its creator and keeper, Mr. Russell Webster himself.

Q: As the night faintly settles in, Russell, I would first of all like to sincerely thank you, on behalf of Peek-A-Boo Music Magazine, for taking the time to speak with us. It is the late 1980s — a simpler yet magnificent decade — when something beneath the surface began to move, and the roots of The Eyes of the Nightmare Jungle first took hold. What do your memories reveal from that time? How did it all begin?

Russell: It was a crazy and wonderful time. So much going on everywhere I looked. In fact, when the Happy Mondays came to record Bummed it was bedlam.

Q: Before Shadowdance was released as a single in 1989, the track Horse appeared a year earlier, in 1988, on the Slaughtered Box Set, released as a vinyl box set. Was Horse in fact the first track by Eyes of the Nightmare Jungle to be released — ahead of the singles and albums that followed?

Russell: Yes, Horse was the very first track. It was the result of jamming session with Adam from Leeds and it gave me the courage to keep writing. Adam used to tour and play with the Sisters and pretty much defined our sound...