Recently, at Seattle’s Pain in the Grass festival, 9Electric took the stage and completely kicked our asses. Just prior to the festival, we got to chat with lead singer Ron Underwood about all things 9Electric-ky; the band, touring, the future of their music, and how they’re writing music to get into YOUR head. Sit back, grab a drink, and enjoy. Make sure to catch them live as soon as you can!
Welcome! The 9Electric origination story has been pretty well documented so we’re not going to rehash that but, without comparing yourself to other known bands, how would you describe your sound?
I would just say it’s hard rock with an electronic edge. I wouldn’t say it’s… there are so many elements, but they’re pretty balanced out and… It’s really hard to say. We’ve been compared to like 90’s bands cuz we’ve toured with Orgy and Powerman 5000, and that kind of thing but… or compared to Nu Metal, but I wouldn’t say we’re Nu Metal. I don’t know. I don’t even think we’re metal even though we’ve got big bombastic guitars and stuff. I don’t know. It’s hard to place. But it’s hard rock with an electronic edge. How’s that sound?
Sounds good! Is there something specific that you guys specifically shoot for to avoid being pigeonholed into one of those categories?
No, I wouldn’t say that. I’d say that when you’re an artist who’s trying to challenge yourself to have your own sound, which I believe is like a true… It’s your contribution to the music world. So, if you’re too derivative and you have too few influences, I think that you end up just being compared to those influences only without giving your own two cents on the world. So, I’m happy to work with a bunch of guys that are hugely influenced by a bunch of guys all over the board. Like, I was actually in another project with our bass player, Casey, that was a jazz/blues project so we all come from a wide interest in music. I think that the connective tissue is songs. Like, having a song that can stand on it’s own. So, in a way, there’s a little bit of that pop sensibility, and then drawing from your influences from there. I don’t know, man. I mean, we all love being in a heavy band, because I feel like that’s the height of energy. Like, if you’re in a big, heavy rock band, ya know… I’d rather be playing heavy rock on stage than jazz or blues. Each thing has it’s place and for what it’s for right?
Right. One thing that stands out when I hear 9Electric is an almost signature staccato kind-of guitar sound. Do you think that I might be over-generalizing your sound?
I think it’s started to become an evident part of the music. Like when you chop up a rhythmic section like that or you have a syncopation, a lot of people in dance music would call it a side-chain base. Where, basically, anytime the kick drum is happening, the bass line cuts out, and they kind of play off of each other. So, I think that was where that like, kind of grew out of but it’s always… you always want to challenge what your habits are and try to move into new territory just to see what you get. So like, on this first full-length album, I think the biggest departure from that is a song called “Little Things.” Which to me reminds me of like a David Bowie Heroes or Brian Eno record. So, a little more 80’s and goth so, I don’t know man.
Well, some of the newer stuff, and I don’t mean to try to pigeon-hole you into any particular genre, but I almost heard Static X when I first heard you guys…
Right, definitely. Cuz you can hit like a rhythmic cadence like there’s definitely a disco backbeat that we tend to… it’s kind of a default like if there’s a breakdown or something like that you’ve got the kick that just keeps going, four on the floor, ya know? I would like to say that I as a singer am definitely more melodic than like Wayne is. But I’m hugely influenced by them; I remember seeing, the first time I saw them live. And I remember them playing “Push It”. I was actually in a band in high school that opened up for them. And all the sudden, this big lightbulb went off in my head. It was that simplicity, two note riffs. I was just like, I get it. And for most of my life been approaching songwriting the wrong way and over-complicating it. Ya know?
9ELECTRIC – New God (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
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Like the progressive metal guys doing all those complicated things and crazy time signatures, and stuff…
Exactly! You can reach someone at a much more subliminal level if you… almost like the native-American drum kind-of approach. It’s a pulse. It starts to connect people in a sub-conscious way, and then you can build the complexity or the harmonic structure from there, but if you don’t have that backbone, you might be missing people in that beyond-cerebral level, ya know?
Yeah, sure! Now, you’re on tour supporting your new album The Damaged Ones. How are the audiences reacting to the new tracks?
They’re going crazy! It’s like, so many of the people we’re playing in front of never, ever heard of us, so this is like their first taste. We’re selling a lot of records at the shows, and people are singing along to choruses that they’ve never heard like by the second time it comes around. I feel like that’s one leisure that we’ve been able to have putting out this full-length album. Like, some of these songs, we’ve been touring behind almost five years or so, so we get to work out a lot of the kinks on the road and see which ones really grab people immediately. So, I feel like we’ve been able to have that trial period with these songs being on tour before we even laid them down to make the official release. If only we had that leisure for the next album, ya know what I mean? That’s always the sophomore curse, right?
Yup! How much of the new stuff will we probably hear at Pain In The Grass? Have you guys come up with that setlist yet?
Yeah, I would say there’s probably a good four brand new songs, something like that which is almost like half our set basically.
“Naked” from the new album is a total party track!
It’s got the obvious slamming beat and kind of a drone as far as the mood. I equate it to like a metal Depeche Mode. It has kinda like a moody brooding thing, but it’s definitely got this party vibe, too.
Is the track about getting naked in a literal sense, or is there something metaphorical hiding inside?
No, no, there are layers of the onion that you can peel back, ya know what I mean? On the surface, the song’s called “Naked”, so that conjures up the immediate thing. When it comes down to it, the song is really about bearing something deeper inside of you, having the courage to reveal something more of yourself to somebody. So, that’s really like what the verses are dealing with.
Is there a possibility that Heidi from Butcher Babies might be joining you on stage at Pain In The Grass for “Bullet Tooth”?
You know what? I don’t know if that’s going to be in the mix. I don’t know what our schedules are. And since it’s a one-off, I don’t know if we’ll be able to coordinate something like that, but we’ve been asked that so, the pressure is kind of on. I guess we’ll reach out to her leading up to that day, and it may happen. We might be able to throw something together.
You guys have prided yourselves on being unique and shaping your own sound and destiny. Now that you’re signed on with Another Century, have you had to compromise that vision at all?
Uhm, no. It was basically like… as soon as we teamed up with them, we had a bunch of songs that we played for the A&R guy… really liked it, and it was just really good timing because we were then able to finish the record with a really cool producer, Kane Churko. And so we kinda hand picked the songs that we were gonna finalize with him, and he did mostly almost like a remix approach… just stuff that we had already tracked and really brought the best out of… like… He explained it like this… I figure out what makes the band different from any of the other artists out there, and he views it as making it a caricature of that. It was almost like he allowed us to be even more who we were, as an outsider. It was really cool to go through a process and like get some introspection and realize what we really were as a band and have that more or less band member who is an outsider that completely understands what we’re trying to do. And I’m so happy with the work that we did. Since we had come up on that Sunset Strip, we were known as the party band, and we’d throw these crazy, legendary parties in the hills. But, we were able to get a more introspective and emotional element onto the record and definitely working with him helped that out.
Churko is kind-of a legendary name in the music production business. I know that Kevin Churko has worked with Disturbed recently, Lamb of God and some other pretty big names.
Kevin is the dad and Kane is the son, so we worked with son specifically, but basically, if you’re working with one of the Churkos, you’re getting the same sensibility, and same…
Yeah, it’s like a buy one, get one free, right?
Totally, totally! He gets to bounce everything off dad and ask what do you think of this. So, I felt like we got like even more amazing value just being in that same studio with all that awesome history. Like Hellyeah was in the studio while we were, just like right across the hall. Just like really cool energy there.
What are your favorite and least favorite things about press interviews?
I think you nailed it. When you have to repeat a lot of the same things. I feel like it’s so much cooler when you start to get into something new, something exclusive. Like having a conversation with a person you’re talking to rather than me just listing a resume, ya know what I mean?
Sure, sure!
I did this and then I did that, and I’ve got my Wikipedia pulled up… And in 2010… You nailed it!
What is one unique thing that you think everybody should read about when they read this article?
Oh shoot! What should they read about? You mean on a philosophical level?
Hell no!!
*laughs* What is that? I would say… go to our live shows. That’s where you’re gonna have a lot of fun.
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by Terry White, RockRevolt Photojournalist
