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Early on, the New York funk & roll band Eye & I was told it couldn't get a record deal unless it played strictly R&B. Then came the success of the group's friends Living Colour, and all that changed. Says the band's bullhorn- voiced lead singer, D.K. Dyson, 34, ''It opened people's eyes that people of color could make this kind of music.'' In the case of Eye & I, that music is a mix of sleek urban funk, fusion, pop balladry, and psychedelic hard-rock (a crunching cover of Lou Reed's ''Venus in Furs'') heard on the band's eponymous Epic debut album, due in February. ''When we started, we decided to use all those different elements-dark and light, fun and serious,'' says Dyson, below center. ''And we still use them.'' Unconventionally mixing and matching such styles had its price: The band (Dyson with, clockwise from bottom left, guitarist Gary Poulson; DJ Jason Kibler, known as J. Logic; guitarist Andre Lassalle; bassist Melvin Gibbs; and drummer Richie Harrison) endured years of record-company rejections. Yet they built a reputation as one of New York's most galvanizing live acts, thanks in part to Dyson's wild-eyed stage garb (exotic headgear one night, a nightgown and glasses the next). The band's eclecticism still ''makes it a little hard to market-the business dudes are going crazy!'' Dyson says with a laugh. But when it comes to Eye & I, a little craziness can go a long way.
