Deep (not really) underground, surrounded by rock, bodies, and noise, I had one of the most unique listening experiences with the band 9Million, who are currently touring in support of Ethel Cain. They are a Toronto rock and shoegaze band, whose complex sound (the band plays with a total of seven artists on stage) captures both the alluring noise-wall effect of the 90s shoegaze scene and the energy and poetry of modern rock. Today, we’re interviewing Matthew Tomasi, the brain behind the 9Million project.
Just to start off, how do you go about discovering new music?
I think if I like a band, I’ll see what kind of label they’re on and then see what other bands that label puts out. All of us played in punk and hardcore bands growing up, so I think those smaller labels that are just putting out local bands are my way into discovering all the music that I did when I was younger.
Are there any bands in that scene right now that you are really enjoying that are kind of up and coming?
I’m really liking everything that total supply’s doing right now. They’re a label that’s based in Toronto and Detroit. The label’s run by two of my friends, and they play in this band, Pluto’s Kiss, that just put out a record. And 9Million is going to be doing our LP release show with them, like a joint LP release show to run at the end of November. It’s sick. They’re putting out a lot of younger hardcore bands.
What nonmusical art pieces kind of inspired that album for you?
I was reading a lot of Jim Carroll’s poetry – Basketball Diaries, Forced Entries, and The Petting Zoo. I feel like that’s maybe the first time that I’ve been reading books, and I feel like this is inspiring the music more than other stuff that I’ve read in the past. The whole chorus of Joe’s Song is actually a Jim Carroll poem.
Do you have any defining moments with shoegaze and rock music?
Coming up, I was definitely going to more hardcore punk shows as a kid. And I felt like, just the energy of those shows was just kind of unmatched to anything else, like going to a show, a big arena, when I was a kid, or with my parents. The first time I went to a small local show, I was just like, dude, this is so crazy. I want to do this. I want to play music.
But I think growing up with my friend Nicole Dollanganger and I think playing music with her and starting with her she’s kind of had a crazy cult following, like Ethel Cain actually played her first show opening for Nicole, and so playing with Nicole and seeing how her music has affected other people or been really important to them, I think that was like another big moment where I was just like, damn, this is really crazy.
It was like a really cool experience, witnessing it. And I feel like what I saw was how I felt going to smaller shows.
What is your favorite 9Million song?
I think “Creation” is my favorite. I think so far it kind of captures most of what I want the project to be. We’ve never played the full version of it yet. But I think once we play that in its entirety, I’ll be like, this is, this is the coolest thing.
What kind of emotions were floating during this album? How do you layer those emotions with the other band members when working with such a large team?
I definitely write about personal experiences, but I want people to be able to listen to the record and kind of interpret it in their own emotional way. It’s hard to touch on exactly what I was writing about for certain songs, but it’s a lot of relationship stuff, and it’s also supposed to be a life and death kind of arc throughout the whole record, where it’s “Creation” is actually the beginning of the record in a way, and then “Armageddon” is kind of like the rebirth of everything. Then everything throughout the record is life itself, and then “Forever Sweet Sweet Same” is the end.
What are you guys hoping to do next?
We’re planning on doing a little trip to, like, a cottage and doing a big writing session, just as the whole group. And then we’re doing the next US tour with Ethel Cain supporting again.
In between now and then, we’re just going to start working on new music and talking about doing a headline or a co-headline tour.
Do you have any dream co-headliners?
We’re trying to do some stuff with Graham Hunt. He’s one of our favorite artists of all time. But I think any of our friends, like we did our first tour with Glitterer. And I think we really want to tour with them again, because it was very nostalgic, because it was the first tour 9Million did. And we had such a good time with them. They’re just such good friends of ours.
Hi! My name is Jake Bennett, I'm a film and computer science student at UA. I'm also a member of WVUA's speciality show Loser Radio, an avid fan of indie rock, and a social media manager for artists!
