The 69 Eyes Teach Us How to Travel — and Pack — Like a Rock Star

The 69 Eyes boarded a whopping 12 flights in 14 days earlier this summer. Do the math. That's almost a flight per day. But it's merely an occupational hazard for these Helsinki vampires-cum-rock stars, who dress entirely in black, sport sunglasses indoors and are always -- always -- fabulously coiffed. Looking no worse for wear and hiding any visible signs of jet lag, vocalist Jyrki 69 and drummer Jussi 69 explained how they survive such a rigorous travel schedule without the assistance of Ambien!

Perfume and hairspray are crucial items to pack.
"I think packing is one of my hobbies," Jyrki 69 said. "I have two huge suitcases. One is always ready to go and the other has leftovers in it, from the last trips I took. I always pack a lot of perfume to smell good. That's a hobby, too. We are at the airport so much, so what else to do there, other than make discoveries of new fragrances [at duty free shops]?"

His favorite 'eau-dor' right now? Emporio Armani's Diamonds, which he is happy to lend to his bandmates. "We share these things," the vocalist said. "We've been playing together for 20 years. I am weird, and I have strange habits and do strange things. But I realize, these other guys are strange and weird, too." And somehow, he's not so lonely, thanks to this fact. "We also pack lots of hairspray. Fragrances and hairspray, so we look and smell good."

You can never have too many pairs of shades.
"I bring 11 pairs of sunglasses," Jussi 69 admitted. "They are important, like good underwear and eyeliner, too." Hey, when you're a rock star, you have to look good from top to bottom, right? Jussi also brings a rather ample supply of shades because he's "really good [at losing] them, but we're vampires, so we have to have them to block out the sun. The boring answer would be to say that since we literally got off the plane five minutes ago, that's why we wear sunglasses inside. But we're vampires, and we're more interesting."