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Self Destruct Mode
An interview with Steve of 9 Shocks
Terror
By Bob
Ignizio |
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9 Shocks Terror (photo by Jason
Penner) |
9 Shocks Terror have been terrorizing the Cleveland
rock scene with their brand of brutal hardcore for almost a decade now. The
band has toured the US and beyond, released several singles and a couple of
albums, and generally made a name for themselves in the underground music
scene. Not surprisingly, the local media hasn’t paid much attention. While
the future of 9 Shocks is somewhat uncertain at this time, I still wanted to
do a feature on these guys because, well…they rock. Vocalist Steve, after
much prodding and poking, finally agreed to answer my questions.
Utter Trash: Who's in the current 9 Shocks lineup?
Steve: I don’t know, man. We’re hardly a functioning
band at the moment. We just played in Albany, New York a few weeks ago, and
as far as I could tell, Kev was playing guitar, Wedge was drumming, Tony was
bassing on the bass guitar, and I was singing. If I have my way, Kev will be
out of the band and playing "Johnny B Goode" down at the B&G lounge by the
end of the month.
UT: How did the band get together initially and where
does the name come from?
S: The original lineup was Tony and Wedge, with
Richard on guitar...who, by the way, I saw for the first time in almost 5
years yesterday. He just showed up at my house. I don't know how he knew
where I lived, but, there he was on my back porch, trying to steal my tomato
plant. Anywho, they formed the band and wrote 5 songs. They gave me a tape
with the tunes, said "write lyrics", and I did. Then we jammed...and here we
are today. We’ve toured all over these United States and some Europe action.
Now none of us can stand the scent of one another. God, I hate those fucks.
Especially Kevin. Talk about hard to deal with. At the end of this
interview, I’ll give you his phone number and address so your readers can
fuck with him and his sped of a roommate. Oh, the name of the band is the
name of the third album by Japanese band LipCream.
UT: You guys were a part of the Speakintongues DIY
scene. How did the closing of that club affect the band? What clubs do you
like to play at now?
S: We weren't that big of a part of Speakintounges.
There was a lot more than just punk shows going on there. In fact, we were
in the minority there. We weren't even allowed to play there the first few
years we were around. Eventually we worked our way in, thanks in part to a
few intelligent, open-minded folks in the collective. However, there were
quite a few guys involved with that place who would have preferred that we
never set foot inside that joint. One guy in particular was pretty much
against our slight involvement, and since the demise of Speakintounges, has
made a point of notifying other club owners to not book us. So, that's
always good.
UT: 9 Shocks kind of straddles the metal and punk
scenes. Do you draw more from one side than the other, or do you have your
own weird group of fanatics?
S: I don't know, dude. There’s freakers
everywhere. Some metal folks come out, and some hardcore types as well,
but, the fanbase seems to be mostly freaker types. Fine by me, keeps things
interesting.
UT: I notice from your lyrics you seem a tad bit
pissed off about some things. What's the most annoying thing (other than
stupid questions like this) in your life? Does singing (or screaming, as
the case may be) about things help you deal with them any better?
S: As your attorney, I would advise you to stop
reading the lyrics to our songs.
UT: While the bigger media outlets in Cleveland seem to
gush over Mushroomhead being on a national label, bands like yours and
Boulder, Abdullah, Soulless, etc. who also have national distribution tend
to get minimal coverage at best. Does that irritate you?
S: I think it's just fine that way. We play out and
the place is filled. Kids drive from all over the place. The shows are
always great. I’ve seen what people do to band interviews in those local
weekly papers. They draw swastikas on people's heads and that sort of thing.
Most people with a degree in journalism have no fucking clue what's going
on, anyway. However, it would be nice to have something I could show my mom.
We made it into some Swedish newspaper when we played there last year. I
showed her that. She was happy. So there you go.
UT: 9 Shocks seems to have done its fair share of
touring both the US and elsewhere. Other than Cleveland, where have you had
the best crowds?
S: Chicago has always been good. Some interesting
characters there. A lot of polish immigrants come to see us there. Those
dudes are insane. Which reminds me, Kevin is Polish. He's a maroon.
Minneapolis is always good.. Seattle was one of our best shows, we played at
a place called The Paradox. It’s an old movie theatre. I don't remember too
much about the gig though. The bar across the street had $4 pitchers of
Rogue, and I bought a few and snuck them into the gig.
UT: Since scene politics come into play with your
lyrics, I might as well ask you what you think of the current state of the
Cleveland music scene. Are things getting better or worse, in your
opinion? What bands currently playing around town impress you?
S: I don't remember the scene ever being that good
here. I haven't been around that long, though. I’m sure back in the mid-late
80's it was jumping. As far as bands I like...The Butthole Surfers are a
good one, but I don't think they're from around here though.
UT: The last release of yours that I'm aware of is the
CD reissue of 'Zen and the Art...". Has anything come out since, or is
anything in the works for the near future?
S: We just released a four song 7" EP, so, that's
around somewhere. I think it's sold out, though, so whatever.
UT: What's the one thing you'd most like to accomplish
with 9 Shocks? What would be your definition of success for the band?|
S: To break up as soon as possible. This year, I
hope. We've done 2 full length albums and multiple singles, and toured many
times. I think the steam is running out, and it's time for the train to pull
into the station, if you know what I mean. Do you know what I mean? I don't
think that I know.
UT: Anything else you want to add that I didn't ask
about?
S: Yeah, I told you I just saw Richard, our
original guitar player, for the first time in 5 years and you didn't even
ask how he's doing.
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