Earthtone9 produced one of the best debut albums in a long time last year. They back it up with a string of live dates that seemed to re-enforce the quality of the band. Tonight is the last night of their current tour with Cynical Smile. It’s also the last gig for a while for guitarist Oz, who is swanning off to Australia for 6 months. There’s been talk for a while about doing an interview, but it’s just not got lined up previously. But tonight, as they say, is the night. Well, afternoon really, as that’s what it still is when I arrive at the Vic in Derby where the band are still partaking of the thrillathon that is the soundcheck. However, vocalist Karl, with whom the interview is to take place, demonstrates a feature not often seen at soundchecks, well, not to my knowledge. That of picking up the drummer, in this case Simon, by his neck. It’s an endearing little trick. Probably. Simon returns the compliment by performing a hilarious weightlifting mime of Karl. Really, it is funny. Almost as funny as the new haircut. But I didn’t have the camera out at that point. Anyway, it kinda highlights the more lighthearted side of the band. A side which I’m sure every band has, must have to be able to survive the tedium and boredom that can go with elements of being in a band and touring. Not to mention having to put up with each other for so much of the time. It’s also a side which is kind rumbling away beneath the surface during the interview. Not sure you’ll always pick up on the deadpan antics, or the subtle little cracks that go on. But they are there. With all bands and I hope in all interviews I do.

So anyway, after the soundcheck, neck lift and mime antics, it’s time to talk. Initially we sit at a table with the rest of the band, but decide to move to a quieter corner of the pub. There’s three guys sat across the room. The tape recorder comes out. Their eyes are trained. Great, an audience. Should’ve tried to claim I was from Kerrang! Then I may have been able to offer to give my first autograph. Instead, we do this interview lark. Those eyes might interrupt at times. They’re scaring me.

And, having spoken to Karl a few times before, I’ve made the potentially dumb decision not to write down any questions. Wing it Dave, wing it. Not a problem. Which is just about where we’re starting. So strap yourselves in, and once more, into the breach ....

"So, what do you want to talk about" is the opening gambit from me. Don’t really know mate. D’oh, means I’m going to have to think then. I’m sure there was a grin as he said it. "Ok then, in that case it’s start with the serious stuff. What’s happened to the hair in the band?" I wonder, seeing as Oz has undergone the snip this week, as has Simon, though with more unfortunate results. The hair? We’re trying to cultivate a kind of casual look for around Nottingham town is the deadpan response from Karl. "So are you going to be the next victim?" Absolutely not comes the instant reply.Nature’s going to sort out that for me. "You think you’re going to have problems" I protest while fidgeting with my hair nervously. Obviously you’re going to have to leave that out. Or I’m going to have to firebomb your flat. Nothing gets left out. And besides, I’m going to pass one of these on to the fire brigdage so at least they can nip round and save me quickly. "Ah no, the truth. Have to put my serious hat on." So with a small adjustment, we continue complete with serious hatted Karl.

"So, do you want to say anything about the new album?" Have you heard it? "Unofficially I might have done." Have you now. What do you think? D’oh. I hate it when things get turned around. It’s hard enough thinking what to ask, let alone what to reply. "It sounded good". So you like it then? "Well, I only heard it once, and was prevented from hearing the last track, the one that’s not going to be on the album." Oh yeah. The new album. I mean it’s just a continuation. It’s kinda pushing the ideas further than we did on the first album really. Trying to encompass all the elements we’ve done before and do them better, but without diluting the essence of what we’ve been doing anyway. So there’s sort of melodic stuff and extreme stuff, probably in the same proportion as the first one, but trying to push the boundaries a bit further. There’s no big game plan, no major change in direction at all really. It’s just better. Which quite possibly is what it always should be.

Now, if you’ve heard the debut, well, nice one to start with, but you’ll also know that they’re not the most obvious band around when it comes to song titles and understanding the deeper, intrinsic fundamental conceptual meaning of the lyrics. So is this one going to buck that trend? Is it doobery. Here comes the evidence. "So, is it going to be any more obivous this time, or is it going to be a continuation of the obscure?" Well, I know it is cos I’ve seen the titles, but that would spoil it for you dear reader. Yeah, yeah it is (going to be more obscure.) They’re obvious to me, but you have to read the words and I won’t give anyone the benefit of doing that to work it out. "So why is that then?" Yeah right Dave, like you’re going to get the answer. I’m just pretty tired of the obviousness. The thing at the moment is that you’re leaning towards the hardcore lyrics, they’re pretty obvious in their nature, about honesty and brotherhood and stuff like that. And I’m just not really interested in writing about stuff like that. So I come up with an idea and write lyrics about it and then the title is a parallel to the idea. It’s not necessarily about the song. Like it could be that we heard the music and decided it was that sort of thing and come up with a title from that. But there aren’y any specifics. I kinda like that Chris Cornell vibe rather than sort of straight ahead. "Do you think that people can read all that and think it’s sort of pretentious though and that it’s not something that "the kids can relate to" like fucking dead bodies in Jonathon Davis’ case. I mean, EVERYONE can relate to that!" Yeah, well I don’t really think of it as being clever he pauses, I don’t really about it that much actually. Which would’ve been a really boring answer. Thankfully he thinks a bit more about it now. It’s just a progression of an idea. We’re not going out, well I don’t think I’m going out of my way to make it long and clever. It’s just something that looks interesting on paper. So what do other people think it means? Is it really supposed to have any meaning? People are always looking for a sort of end in itself, and there isn’t a particular answer. It just may be a cool sounding word or I might have read them and thought, ‘ahhh it relates to that a bit’ and so that’s what I’ve decided to call it. But I don’t think there’s any wisdom to be gleaned out of anything.

No, not really. Does it bother you that you can sometimes look out and just see blank expressions in the crowd. No, it’s funny actually because people are trying to make an effort. Yeah, I have no idea what words I’m saying when I try to mouth along. I’m trying to sing. Just the idea, the melody. But I’m not really into that at all. If you want to get up onstage join a band. Not into the stage diving thing then? I mean it’s fine, but, it all ends in tears doesn’t it really, with damaged bits of equipment, people getting narked and people ending up getting hurt. So I don’t want anything to do with it really. If it went off I wouldn’t do anything about it really, but in an ideal world no-one bother. But it’s good fun to look at. Yeah yeah.

No, I’ve just got this thing where I dislike the fact that the mainstream press always look for an angle for a story. So what I do is give them a lie, and see if they run with it. So there’s nothing to do with the millenium? Nothing whatsoever. I just wanted Jason Arnopp to print something funny that I could laugh at. What you mean like a picture of himself? Well that would be funny, but I told him they were about millenium tension, and he printed it. Ah, it must’ve been Kerrang! then, cos I thought it was with the stuff that Copro sent out. My mistake. And yeah, I know, catty remark. Yep, a picture of me would give you a laugh, but I ain’t doing it, so tough.

Do you have any opinions though about the millenium? Is it going to be worthwhile or a damp squib. I think it’s going to be a good party. I don’t think anything is going to happen or that there’s going to be an apocalypse except that which the fundamentalists make. Do you think it will be a good party though. Will people be interested by the time we get there or are people just going to be sick of it? It’s hard to say. I always have a good laugh at Christmas, and that’s been going a little while.

The eyes are piercing, along with a few giggles from that corner of the bar. Scaring me. Gits!

How do you feel then about changing the name of the band to Indecision and becoming a New York hardcore band I ask in reference to the fact that Kerrang!, when they printed the pre-millenium stuff, used a picture of the band with the caption about Indecision in the "ones to watch" or whatever it’s called slot. Uh, well it was something that we had to do. We just thought that it was the right thing to do and time to move on he replies with the tongue firmly in the cheek. Obviously the questions that I answered earlier were fibs, and we’re actually completely into unity and relocated to New York. No, that’s yet again a fine example of Kerrang!’s inability to file things.

You can blame magazines, which I tend to do quite regularly, but do you think that they do serve a major purpose for bands? Um, I think they do to an extent, but I think that the underlying issue which always comes out of lack of coverage for underground bands is a self serving argument, because if they weren’t underground bands then they’d always be in the press. And because they’re underground, not that many people are into them, and major magazines will only put important bands in their magazine to make it more attractive to their readers. I completely agree with you that a certain amount of space should be designated to people otherwise they’ll never get a foot on the ladder. And underground? In a country of 55 million people, attracting 2000 to a gig isn’t really mainstream is it? Yeah, it is relatively speaking, a minority music. It’s just one of those things, an argument that gains a disproportionate amount of attention I think. It’s obvious to me that people like Kerrang! should be cultivating the music because they’re in a position to be able to do it and bring it to people’s attention. But I also understand that they are basically a commercial venture, and they have to put things in the magazine which are commercial. In a purist sense I think they cover the same things week after week and it’s purile and of no interest to anyone who has an inkling or an interest in music. But it has so much clout. Yeah.

And in a fine tradition set during most previous interviews, it’s time to take a complete about turn from here, and return to some stuff about the new album. Good job it isn’t a rollercoaster or something really. The g-forces would likely break your neck. Anyway, during the soundcheck, Karl mentioned how he’d had to visit the doctor during the recording of the album. Seems he was putting quite a bit into the vocals.

Yeah, I’m vegan. Sounds almost like you’re straightedge then if you were a hardcore band. Yeah, well I used to be into that actually because I’m a big Henry Rollins fan and I was just into that sort of vibe and really looked up to it. I still am vegan because I’m interested in that sort of lifestyle. I sort of believe in karma, so that speaks for itself. But the not drinking thing, it’s just one of those things that it became habitual going out and drinking. And I was like "why am I doing this?" "I don’t really know." So I stopped drinking. There wasn’t any sort of pre-meditated problem. But now, five years later it’s the same thing happening. I’m not drinking and not thinking about it. So sometimes I enjoy a bottle of wine, but I’m not a social drinker.

The reason that I was asking is because in the next issue there’s going to be something about sXe and veganism that I ripped off the Rock City messageboard. I proceed to tell Karl the same stuff I told Karl from Earth Crisis (confused yet?) about the message. My God, this sounds like a court trial. "Exhibit A muh’lord" This whole sXe seems to me to be quite militant in its attitude.

It’s cobblers innit! To use the technical term. Do you think the holier than thou attitude and the cowardice of saying you’ll spill someone’s drink and then walk away or point to someone else is going to endear them to others.I just think it’s boring. Boring to know that people are talking about things that people are not necessarily interested in. And you know if he’s really into hardcore, then he should be into honesty for a start. Which doesn’t particularly sound synonomous with his masterplan for stopping the world from drinking - spilling their pints. And the whole thing about sXe that makes me laugh is that Ian Mackye just came up with this idea to say that there’s loads of people getting fucked up, because that’s what punk was about. And he was saying that by doing that you’re as much a part of a systematic idea as the ART that you’re supposed to be against. That all sounds serious. He came up with an idea which was to think about what you’re doing for yourself, and now all of a sudden it’s developed into this huge militant idea which young teenagers buy into. And it’s just part of the package again. I think it has a lot of validity, but it’s one of those things where anything that ends up becoming a movement, ends up being diluted. And I fundamentally don’t agree with that. I mean, part of the problem is of course, until people get behind it and it becomes a movement then it can’t make a difference. But I’m just not into that ramming things down your throat. That’s the bit that I think isn’t going to make a difference. You either agree with it, or if you’re like me, don’t smoke or do drugs. Drink, but don’t think I’m dangerous, but then when I see things like that ...I mean. Yesterday I went to a hardcore all dayer in Nottingham, and there was so much about this there. And some people were wearing 2 crosses on their hands. What’s that? Does it mean you’re twice as straight edge as anyone else.

Just as a sideissue here. From what I understand, as much as what Karl said Mackye coined the straightedge term for, it also has it’s grounds in underage people having their hand marked with a cross when they entered a club. To indicate they were underage and therefore shouldn’t be served alcohol. Fine, no problem. Good idea and much more acceptable than turning kids away from clubs. This then grew to become a symbol of being straightedge and abstaining from drugs, alcohol and promiscuous sex. But, why the need then for 2 crosses? Sorry, let’s return.

I also found it kind of ironic that the end of the message was about a "vegan deathcore" band. Isn’t vegan and death a bit ... Yeah, well I mean, it’s all getting so, the parameters are being blurred more and more and ideas are being mashed together. Basically what you’re talking about is short haired kids playing death metal and wearing big trousers, talking about an idea that is 18 years old which was about being an individual. Standing there with the same fucking rucksacks on and the same fucking keychains. Rucksacks, keychains. My favourites. Well, along with Kerrang! of course. You understand it. It’s just ludicrous. But I’m sure that I was the same at that age.

The vegan part of it. Are you, me being nosy now, are you vegan because of the health thing or because of the animal thing. The whole animal thing. I don’t really have a problem with eating animals, because that’s like Darwinian theory, it’s just law, the way it is. But it’s way industry has been created around it that I don’t really like the idea. You got animals, kill them. That’s your business. But to set up and the whole idea of animals being fed animals is pretty repugnant to me. I was a vegetarian for a while and then it occurs to you that the same chain of events is occuring in the production of dairy products. And also I was interested in various Eastern diets. There’s a diet called the macrobiotic diet, which is basically vegan by default, and so that’s how it came about. I mean I’m a vegan in diet. I still wear leather because it’s pretty fucking hard to find clothes that aren’t. And how far do you push it? Y’know, if you drive a car, the interior is held together by horse glue. I mean where do you draw the line? You have to compromise in life and it’s very easy for people who are priveliged who don’t have to make these value choices to be holier than thou about it. It comes across to me sometimes as people just trying to be different for the sake of it. Hey, I know, why don’t you just not bother eating, because everyone eats. And also the bottom line is that it’s a commercial line. It goes hand in hand with music. If you say you’re a vegan straight edge then you’re going to have an audience that’s ready to listen to you, but you’re not achieving anything because you’re preaching veganism to people who are vegan, because that’s how you got your audience.

So what do you think of all this genetically modified food business. I think it’s pretty fucking scary is the immediate response. Because I eat a lot of soya. I’ve not really followed it that much. Basically what’s transpired is that Soya was the first genetically modified product by the sound of it. But, again, it’s just the idea of producing greater yields by manipulating nature. Eventually that is a cyclic thing that ends up causing problems because it’s not something you can continue doing indefinitely without there being repercussions. It’s like I go out and try to find something that says "not genetically modified" because potentially it could be a very dangerous thing. It’s one of those things, by the time you hear about it, it’s too late. It’s always the way. Do you think the media helps in this in the way they portray anything. It seems that the scaremongery tactic. You’ve also got the menengitis scare going around, e-coli. But it’s all sensationalism. And it’s probably disproportionate. Particularly this e-coli. The thing that strikes me is that hepatitus bug that manifests itself and there’s no antibiotic for it and it basically eats away flesh. It’s been happening for the last 20 years, but the cases have been very isolated. But there happened to be 2 in one hospital and suddenly it was epidemic. But the media gives you the story and so it’s like an idea already planted. It’s not you being given the information and formulating and idea, it’s it being given to you. But, by the same token, that’s their perogative to do that, because they provide an opinion. You can’t get opinionless news really. Because it’s subjective because someone’s writing it. Yes, but don’t they have a right to give as many facts as possible and it seems that they just give you one side. For example, it appears to have taken a few weeks of reporting before they’ve explained say what to look for in terms of meningitis. Well that’s it. You never get real information because it’s all soundbites. Soundbites are what sells. But BECAUSE it’s such a mass media at the moment and everyone seems to rely on TV and radio for their information, then it should re-enforce their duty to the public. But their duty is to earn money. Primarily. The fallback of that is to provide information. They’re all commercial interests. It’s not like an information bureau as such. I think that’s the problem. Everyone has their own agenda.

I’d agree. My personal opinion, is that if they’re on about doctors taking the role of playing God, well they already are by administering any medicine discovered this century.Death is a part of life, so by NOT administering any treatment, you’re effectively allowing nature to take its course. Yeah, I mean again, it’s a very contentous issue, and there’s the sensationalism again because like you say, it’s already in effect. So just by making a statement like that you’re not paying any attention to anything made after the invention of penicillin. If they have no quality of life and they are deemed to be able to make a sound judgement, then they should be able to make the decision.

The lead in to this is that just before Xmas in the States there was the case of Dr Jack Kervorkian performing an "assisted suicide" on television to bring the matter to people’s attention. Do you think that’s the wrong way of going about things? I think, I suspect that was a last resort. Well I believe he said he wanted to be arrested to prove the point. I’m not a very militant person, but you have to respect the fact that someone who feels very strongly about it has tried to take a specific course. And if that is what they deem to be the logical conclusion of that, that’s what has to be done. I mean it takes militants to change things. And then they bring something to the fore, and people agree or disagree with it, and it becomes a forum for discussion. People just speaking about issues doesn’t change anything I think. It’s too complicated really. Personally I think he was right. It provides people with a sense of dignity before they die, and that’s something they deserve. I think it’s obvious that it’s right, but I think it’s down to the popular concensous, and the people in power have to maintain a friendly image. You can’t make decisions like that because it affects other foundations. Like religion. The foundation of this country is religion, and one of the ideas of religion is that God giveth and God taketh away and if you legally give people the right to do something which is technically within their capabilities and therefore within their right, then you’re threatening other perceived important areas of culture.

Do you believe in God yourself. Yeah. Do you believe in the afterlife or reincarnation? I don’t really know. I think you can become very fatalistic if you don’t believe there’s a bigger picture than yourself. Either that or you become highly egotistical. I often wonder. I remember reading an article, where it was asked in America what people thought would be in Heaven or whatever. And most of them thought there would be a Baseball park And so I wonder if there will be something or not. I just think it will be what you want it to be. Because it’s a conceptual thing, it’s not a realistion thing, so given the nature of it, it will just be what you want it to be.

I certainly hope so. I’ll be able to see whatever gigs I want then, the people I want to like me actually will, and interviews like this well get typed up automatically instead of me working until 1.45am to get it finished. So let’s return to lighter things. The music. Thought of what to say about the album yet? What you hope it will achieve for you?

But people should be infected with the music Earthtone9 are currently producing. Since this interview took place, the album has been released, and Oz is back from Oz. Touring is underway again, and the reaction to the album from the mainstream press means that the E9 profile should deservedly start to elevate further.