Welcome to something very exciting, I'm so happy to be bringing you an interview with an epic, emerging band who are storming across the UK at the moment.
I'd like to introduce you all to The Ninth Wave, a Glaswegian group with all the ferocity and determination of a tidal wave. Their sound is unlike anything you'll hear from other contemporary artists; it is timeless and yet ahead of it's time, pop rock that is unapologetic, provocative and in a league of it's own. These compelling renegades have attracted attention from BBC Introducing, Amazing Radio, Dr Martens Presents and are next year supporting fellow Glasgow icons CHVRCHES, at the Hydro Arena.
The Ninth Wave have been kicking around for a couple of years now, and have already cultivated such a strong identity for themselves both musically and aesthetically. Their sound is unmistakable and gripping, as is their artwork, personas and music videos. They're often linked to the 80s genres of new wave and post-punk, as they have previously credited Interpol and The Cure as influences. A touch of these 80s heroes can be heard within their tracks, but The Ninth Wave have an originality that transcends everything they create. This isn't juts about the music, this is a mentality that will punch you in the face.
Co-vocalists Haydn and Millie have such powerful voices that equal each other in depth, but stand out in their own right. In my favourite single of theirs, 'New Kind of Ego', Haydn's deep tone parallels perfectly to Millie's higher harmony to create such potent echoes throughout the track. In this anthem they cry out 'Did you forget to tell me?', calling out some poor individual's miscalculation that they could wrong the members of The Ninth Wave and get away with it. As a pre-Christmas treat, just last week they released an outstanding cover of The Pogues beautiful ballad, 'I'll Love You 'Till The End', which they completely transformed into their own. The video as well is a fantastic example of their visual ingenuity and style. The Ninth Wave with their no-bullshit lyrics, dauntless musical compositions, and visionary artistic style, create a force of infinite potential.
I was lucky enough to catch them at Off The Record in Manchester last month, and then again last weekend at Years End Festival 2018, held between Manchester's O2 Ritz and Gorilla venues. I was kindly given the opportunity to interview Haydn, Millie and Lewis (drums), before their set and hear first hand about their upcoming releases in 2019...
INTERVIEW
Q: I have to talk about this because you dropped it just yesterday; The Pogues’ cover. It’s great, and the video is beautiful, where did that idea come from?
H: I don’t know, I guess the kind of song it is, it’s not what we normally do, so we just thought it would be nice to do something like that…
M: Have a happy song for once
H: Yeah for once
M: All our songs are about sad things and Christmas should be a happy time. And I guess that’s kind of where the video ties into it, it is two angels but then they’re not very good at what they do so they get their wings taken off them. It’s merging the [elements]; not making it too happy by putting our own spin on it.
Q: Lyrics are one of my favourite things that I look for in a band, I like there to be a little bit of poetry. And you’ve said you write sad songs, what inspires the stories that you tell?
M: You can’t write lyrics to a song if you don’t understand what they mean yourself, so it always has to come from past experiences or something that you’re thinking in your head. So I think that’s what makes them really listenable, is that they’re not just pulled from thin air, it’s what’s actually happening.
Q: So you guys have bought out a couple of EPs now and lots of singles, is an album next for you with 2019 just round the corner?
L: We’ve recorded the album already. We’re dropping it in two parts; so the first part will be out at the start of 2019, and then the second part at the end of 2019...That’s the way we’re doing it, to make the songs make more sense, rather then just throwing out all the songs at once, we thought it would be better to do it in two parts. But once they’re both out it’s just one album.
Q: Is there an element of duality within it? Is that why you’ve split it?
L: There kind of is now, it didn't when we were recording it. But once we’d picked the tracks, they kind of make more sense now; the first part has a theme and the second part has another one.
Q: When I’ve read past interviews you’ve done, you guys said you tend to evolve and adapt your music. What’s influencing you right now? What has inspired those songs?
L: Being in the studio did it, there were a couple of songs that completely changed when we were in the studio. One of the songs is called ‘Human Behaviour’, its on the album, and that was originally just like a rock demo, and then there was a point when me and Millie were sitting in the studio and she was playing piano, she was playing the chords and I was doing like a jazz thing, and then it just became like ‘Pyramid Song’ by Radiohead. So stuff like that, when you’re just all sitting down, working it out.
Q: Do you guys experiment a lot?
L: Yeah with instruments, just cause the studio we recorded it at, it’s got a wide variety of synths, drum machines, mad stuff and like mics from 1950, so it meant us going a bit crazy with that.
Q: You guys have been generated quite a lot of hype recently as a new band, even though you’ve been going for a while. Are you guys ready to take that next step? are you scared? nervous?
M: It’s exciting, you can’t be nervous with things like that. We’re ready.
Q: I bet you’re just glad that it’s finally coming out and everything you’ve been working towards the past couple of years is out there.
TNW: Yeah.
Q: I was thinking of how to describe your music the other day, and I figure it’s kind of like falling down a darker and more sinister version of Alice’s rabbit hole. What else is down that rabbit hole? Is there anything else you’d like to explore?
L: Well we did all that on this album that comes out, it’s not just massive choruses anymore and huge guitars. There's a lot of things that we’ve never done before, but I guess we’ll just keep doing that until people start to hate it and then we’ll stop *laughs*.
(I don’t think anyone’s gonna hate it anytime soon.)
Q: My home town’s originally Leeds, have you played any of the venues around there?
L: Yeah we did Live at Leeds and we did a show at, what’s that place called? It’s a venue with the glass…
H: Oporto, we played there twice.
L: Yeah, Live at Leeds was there and just a gig, a random show there. They were both really nice, they were filled.
Q: What’s your favourite thing about Glasgow and that music scene?
H: It’s really cheap to live there, so if you’re a band and you start off, you can develop how you sound, and the people that you meet. I feel like in London, if you have like a rehearsal studio it’s probably like £1,000 a month, but Glasgow is so cheap you can take your time rather than forcing everything.
Thank you so much guys, good luck with your set tonight.
REVIEW
The Ninth Wave, as well as being incredible musicians, are also the most captivating performers. Haydn began their set face to face with the crowd, immediately drawing a number of soon-to-be fans into their sound. As they kicked off their set, their intoxicating riffs, moody melodies and the timbre of Haydn's voice, echoed around the tight pocket of the O2 Ritz Basement. They also looked cool as hell, as per usual.
The Ninth Wave had the entire audience under their sombre spell as they played some of their gutsiest numbers, including 'New Kind Of Ego' and 'Reformation'. A state of hypnosis had taken over us all as the velvety 'Sometimes The Silence Is Sweeter' poured through the speakers and into our ears. Haydn and Millie make such a formidable front team; both of them throwing all the authority of their voices and their souls into the performance. As Millie had said in the interview, you could feel the passion in their performance as the weight of the lyrics pierced the crowd. The Ninth Wave are such a fun band to see live; the intensity with which they perform and the enthralling quality of their music, results in a total possession by their sound, only breakable when they see fit to release you.
Finishing their set with their insidious track 'Swallow Me', Haydn again decided that he wanted to perform this one on level with the crowd. He stood before us as he delivered the first verse, the track starting off gently, (by post-punk standards), and as the track's atmosphere rose, Haydn too was filled with the soul of it. The rousing instrumentals of Millie and Lewis that were emitted from the stage, amplified the suspense and Haydn dropped to his knees and then to the floor, as the remaining members of The Ninth Wave rocked out on stage. He rose to his feet to cry out the final lines of; 'Swallow me, swallow me, swallow me, swallow me...punish me, punish me, punish me, punish me, so swallow me, swallow me, swallow me, swallow me' as the track reached it's climax and cut out completely. It was a great way to end their set, and I can confidently say they had the whole audience fully converted as they wrapped up their show.
I had so much fun on Saturday at Years End Festival, I also got to check out some new bands I hadn't encountered before such as BLOXX and Saytr Play who I now love. I also caught Spector headlining the O2 Ritz stage and Cassia as they finished off the music at Gorilla. I'd like to say a huge thank you to The Ninth Wave for answering my questions and a huge thank you to Distiller for granting me access to the event.
I've linked to all of The Ninth Wave's social media below so make sure you follow them in time for the release of their album in the new year, I can't wait! They've got a couple of shows lined up for 2019 already as well, so if you're nearby do not miss the chance to see them. You will not regret it, I promise you.
I wish you all a magical Christmas and a lovely New Year with your loved ones. Let's make 2019 one to remember rather than another one to moan about hey? See you soon.
Holly
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