IE: What’s up Dan? I want to start off with what's new with King Nine in 2016? I hear you have a 7 inch and a full length lined up with Closed Casket this year. Care to tell us a little about each and when they will be coming out?

Dan: Eventually we are going to get around to the full length record. It looks like we are going to be recording in what right now looks like April. The 7 inch is a single and like a B-side that will not be on the full length but the single song will be on the full length. That we already recorded, it's already done and it's already at the plant. I would say that should be out in about a month or two depending on how long it takes to get the records back from the plant. The full length will hopefully be coming out in the early summer. We still have to nail down our recording schedule and shit like that. We have been working on this for awhile and have been a typical NYHC band in that we say were going to get started and then we don't.

IE: How closely do you work with a label like Closed Casket? I would guess they are looking to get a new King Nine full length out there as soon as they can. When you tell me that you guys kind of know you have been slow with getting the new full length together does that put a strain on anything with you guys and the label?

Dan: (Laughing a little just before he answers) The thing is Justin who runs Closed Casket is just the fucking man. His deals are like "Hey, I want to put out your record. Whenever you guys want to do it let me know and we will do it". He is not in a rush or on a schedule which is how he does it with every band. My opinion and I think everyone elses opinion is that that's just fucking awesome. He couldn't make a band feel any more comfortable with how he operates like that.

IE: What are some of the new songs that you are working on that your itching to get out to the public and also play live? What songs do you think people are going to bug out over?

Dan: This one new song that we have been playing live for a little bit now is straight up my favorite King Nine song that we have ever written. That is the song that is going to be on the 7 inch single. It's called "The Art Of War" and I am really excited for people to hear it on a recording because when we play it live I can see people feeling it. I'm really excited for people to hear everything new were doing. Part of the reason why it has taken us awhile to do the new album is because we are writing songs and we are not settling. Every song we are doing we are trying to make an amazing song. We are not trying to half ass ANY of these songs but in particular there is one other new song that is technically untitled still. The lyrics are finsihed but we don't have a title for it yet. I would say the untitled one and "The Art Of War" are right up there as 2 out of the 3 best songs we have ever written. 

KING NINE @ SEATTLE'S RAINFEST 2015. PHOTO BY: KIABAD MEZA

IE: King Nine had a pretty good year in 2015 without the band really doing any extensive touring. You played big shows like the Black N Blue Bowl in NYC, Rainfest in Seattle, Not Dead Yet in Toronto and some others as well without going out on the road for any long stretches. What is the reason for the band not going out on full tours and can you see this changing anytime soon?

Dan: The reason we never tour is because all of us have real jobs. We try to do about 20 to 30 shows a year total and that is about the most we are ever going to do. It also keeps everything more exciting and fresh to us. I used to tour with bands and work for them and I would see how they would be on tour for 10 months out of the year and they would just be sick of it. With us, if we play like 4 shows in a row we are fucking pumped up for all of them. We play no shows where we are thinking "Let's just get this over with". When bands tour a lot they often fizzle out. To be fair this is not about every band. It is not true about every hardcore band but I do see bands that put out a great record and it sounds heartfelt and awesome. Then they tour a shitload off of it and when they get around to their next record or even their 3rd record you can feel it like losing steam because they are not living like real life experiences anymore because all they are doing is touring. To me hardcore has always been about living real life and then reflecting on it. It seems with a lot of bands that that is not the case anymore. I would never want to be in a band that writes the same dull ass shit over and over. 

IE: What does everyone in the band do for work since the topic came up?

Dan: Our drummer, Rutter is an electrician in the union. Our guitar player Gian... the crazy one.. is a pharmacist. Our bass player Nick is a bartender but he also goes to school and does a ton of other shit. Our other guitar player John, who is our newer guitar player works in a warehouse and must put in about 50-60 hours a week at work and I work 9-5 as an account manager. 

PHOTO BY: REBECCA LADER

IE: You are joking around saying you don't know what you are doing and you don't really have a musical background. When you first actually started the singing what were your experiences like? How did you learn? Did you go to other people you know in bands and get advice and what kind of advice can you give to someone new who may just now be in the same shoes you were in back then?

Dan: If I had any advice to give it would be two things. A: Don't worry about what your voice sounds like because the more crazy and different it sounds the more recoginzable it is, and the cooler it is. You don't want to have the same typical voice as everybody else. I got a lot of that criticism and feeling when I first started because I have more of... I guess a froggy type of voice (laughing). Don't give a shit about what your voice sounds like. If it sounds different you are probably on to something. The other thing is learn how to sing from your stomach. If you just go up there and scream your going to give yourself an insane headache. It literally still happens to me every once in awhile. You have to learn not to sing just using your head if that makes any sense.

IE: How did you find out about singing from your stomach?

Dan: The first couple of years being in bands I only sang from my head and it made me get wild headaches. It sucked. Vitalo from Backtrack was telling me he saw this thing with Freddy Madball and a bunch of other people and they were talking about singing and they were all talking about singing from their stomach and not their head. Vitalo used to get bad nose bleeds. He would sing from his head and his nose would just end up gushing blood. That happened for maybe the first 2 years of Backtrack at every single show. I learned it through trial and error and just kept trying it until I got it.

IE: I read in an interview with our friends from All Ages Hardcore that the name King Nine comes out of a card game reference and that you in particular are into cards/gambling etc. What kind of stuff are you into and how deep into do you like to get?

Dan: I get into all sorts of different things and right now for me is sports betting. With the football playoffs now here I am really into that and with the Super Bowl right around the corner I am getting into stuff with Super Bowl boxes and all that kind of dumb shit. Recently all I wanted to do is play craps all of the time and play blackjack and dumb table games. It kind of started with me and my friends and we all played cards together, forever... and we would play in Atlantic City, we would play in Connecticut. Stuff like Texas Hold 'Em, No Limit Poker, and that's where we all started gambling like a ton. I don't know if people know about it too much but there are a lot of underground poker clubs on Long Island and in NYC that have games ALL the time. That is where we would play cards most of the time. If you are ever interested in playing Texas Hold 'Em and want to go to a weird scummy place in some industrial lot that you have to knock on 10 doors to get into thats where you go. Not legally but you can gamble for real money. The movie Rounders is EXACTLY what it is like. 

KING NINE @ NYC'S BNB BOWL 2015. PHOTO BY: JAMMI YORK

I thought they were really good and I added some things, changed some things around a little and made them a little different. There are two different concepts in the song. Part of the concept that was really his concept is the importance of an organized work force. It is a pro-union song. You can hear that in the song. There are references to "brothers" and "we". It is a group thing that is saying you don't have to be held down by somebody because they control your wage. You can fight that with an organized work force. The other idea in the song is that media fear tactic that they use in basically every form of media and it works today. If you look at all the terrorist attack shit it really is awful but the odds of it happening to you are so fucking slim but people still walk around thinking a terrorist attack is going to happen to them and they have to do this and they have to do that. It's bullshit. Living your life like that.. you are losing out on living your life. We are not this conspiracy theory band where we think everything isn't true and false flags and all that kind of shit but even if everything the news told you was true when you really sit down and look at the numbers that they give the odds of something like that happening to you are so slim. It is almost pointless sometimes to watch the news because every single thing is fear mongering, clickbate type of bullshit.

IE: We already talked about you having the single and then a full length coming out this year. Does King Nine have any other plans already set up for the rest of 2016?

Dan: We really don't have many plans as of right now. I can tell you that we will be playing the United Blood Fest in Richmond this year because they are announcing the lineups tomorrow. We are also playing Foundation's last show in Atlanta. You know with it being their last show in their town that it is going to be a fucking awesome show and we are excited to just be a part of that. As far as stuff past those 2 shows... once the record comes out we will play a Long Island show, we will play a NYC show, we will do weekends here and there and we will get to as many places as we can. The one thing that we want to do that we haven't confirmed yet is play Japan towards the end of the year, maybe even like a year from now. It is funny to say but since the band started that has been like one of our biggest things.   

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