You have previously released 2 EPs, your debut self-titled EP followed by Prosthetic Boulevard. How different is the experience of recording a full length album compared with doing an EP?

MM9 – Each recording process for us has been a completely different journey, each time we have approached it differently, with The Air Between we had a much bigger budget to be able to stretch out a little and really get into sounds and try out some cool things. Dan has always been at the helm of a lot of the production side, we also had Evan McHugh recording and co producing and finally the awesome Mike Barbiero (Metallica, Anthrax, Guns’n Roses, Thrice, Cypress Hill) Mixing and really putting so much love into it. We learn’t so much in making this album, So many lessons learnt for the next album to come.

Any plans for a second album yet?

MM9 – We have already started throwing up ideas, we have the ability on the road to write and record so as soon as we hit the hotel its Laptops out and straight into it. I actually really enjoying coming back straight after a show and getting stuck into new ideas, it’s not the most rock’n roll thing to do after a show but it’s when i feel most creative. Hopefully we will start demoing ideas towards the end of the year, with the hope to have a new album out early to mid next year.

How do you all get involved with music? Any other musicians in your families? Who were your early music influences?

MM9 – I think it was watching my brother rehearse with his band when i was like 9 or 10 years old and noticing that the drums were nice and loud and looked the most fun, so i got right into drums around that time, and have lived and breathed it ever since. It was also a great way of surviving not being a surfer or a sport guy in high school. I think it may have been the fact that i could play tonnes of Slayer and Sepultura songs that stopped me from being seen as the quiet weird kid in school, all the surfers were like “nah dont throw your sandwich at that dude he can play Angel of Death” its a great survival tip for young kids who don’t wanna surf or play sports at school.

Where does the name of the band come from?

MM9 – Its from the sci-fi book and David Lynch film Dune, We have just folded space from Ix…Many machines on Ix. New machines.” i was a fan of the book and film, however one night in a pub after many drinks, i saw it written on the bathroom wall and read it as Many machines on ix the roman numeral for 9, and it just went around in my head for a while, brought it up with the guys when discussing many other names and it just stuck.

Dan, you used to make music under the name Switchkicker. How does the experience of working with MM9 compare to that?

Dan from MM9 – It’s a totally different experience. In Switchkicker, everything from the songs to the artwork was on my shoulders. In MM9 I can write a track, or part of and hand it over to the other guys to then turn it around into a MM9 track. It’s cool not to have the pressure of a solo project at the moment and throw all my musical energy into MM9.

Do you do anything specific to warm up for a live show?

Dan from MM9 – Ahhhh….I should! I just try not to talk. I should know better, but I’ve found the best thing to do is relax. Ben – for me its heaps of stretching out, eating a good meal, love heaps of rice before a show, and just get hydrated.

What are your goals for the band for the future?

MM9 – The same thing we have been doing for the last 8 years, work really hard to create and to bring people a memorable live show. So its lots more rigorous touring and plans to take it O.S.

Ideally, what other bands would you love to work with in the future?

MM9 – I think it would be more about Producers, but there are definitely artists within those bands that are fantastic songwriters and producers, A dream of mine would be to co-lab on a track with Richard D James (Aphex Twin) Liam Howlett from the Prodigy, Bjork, Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland (Crystal Method), Chris Vrenna. There is also just so much great Australian talent and we are lucky enough to share stages with them, but the songwriters and young producers and engineers like Evan McHugh and Forrester Savell are completely world class. I’m really getting into some new acts like Metals, Sailmaker, Lo, and faves K-oscillate, DLC, Pivot, Electric Horse. Way too many to list.

Any secret plans to dominate the music world?

MM9 – I don’t think any band would make it a secret that they want to dominate the world! We’ll just keep touring and writing and then we’ll see what comes of it.

The news was broken on Twitter: “Today is a very sad day in metal. End of an era. Peter Steele passed today. I loved my friend…our idol…my heart is with his band and family…

“He passed of heart failure today. Just spoke to Kenny [Hickey, Type O Negative guitarist].”
Steele was previously rumoured to have died in 2005, when an image of a tombstone bearing the singer’s name was posted to the group’s website.

Share/Bookmark

Download

• The Broken
• Here We Are Juggernaut
• This Shattered Symphony

Share/Bookmark

“With the completion of our last album, ‘Golden Rule,’ we feel that we have said all that we want to say as a musical group,” the band said in a statement on their website.

Share/Bookmark

Secret and Lies would have to be one of my favourite albums of 2009. Bertie Blackman is one of Australia’s best kept secrets, though previously she was a indie rock, folk pop artist her latest offering Secrets and Lies has seen her take a new style, a more electro pop rock hybrid. She really took this style and made it her own and the results are an amazing album full of wonderful storytelling set to some catchy tunes. Bertie Blackman is sure to become a well known artist with some of her songs now showing up on American TV shows. Secrets and Lies is just full of sharply-arranged arrange catchy songs.

Download

• Heart
• Thump
• Byrds of Prey

Download

• Disconnect
• Not Like Anybody
• Hold Hold, Fire

Recommended Listening

• Sick Puppies – Tri-Polar
• Skillet – Awake
• Birds of Tokyo – Universes
• Chevelle – SciFi Crimes

Share/Bookmark

Download

• This is the Line
• Driving Nails (String Mix)
• Feel as Though You Could

Recommended Listening

• Chevelle – Sci-Fi
• Emery – Sail in Shallow Seas
• Element Eighty – The Bear

Indie rock band Shearwater’s sixth album The Golden Archipelago was released earlier this month and it’s a spectacular follow up to their previous album Rook. For those who don’t know who Shearwater is; a side project for Okkervil River members Jonathan Meiburg and Will Sheff, although Sheff is no longer with Shearwater and Meiburg is not with Okkervil River as of 2009. Shearwater has always been an under-rated gem that consistently delivers fantastic albums. The Golden Archipelago is no different; a truly magical record, with a landscape of sound and floating vocals. The Golden Archipelago is a sonic dream that will carry you way to a magical place.

Recommended Listening

• Shearwater – Rook
• Shearwater – Palo Santo
• Okkervil River – The Stand Ins

On the 6/3 the music industry lost another great songwriter. Multi-instrumentalist Mark Linkous took his own life on Saturday, Linkous was the creative force behind behind Sparklehorse. A statement from his family says, “It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear friend and family member, Mark Linkous, took his own life today. We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts. May his journey be peaceful, happy and free. There’s a heaven and there’s a star for you.”

Linkous will be remember for albums like Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot and the colaberation with Danger Mouse Dark Night of the Soul.

Recommended Listening

• Sparklehorse – Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot
• Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse Present: Dark Night of the Soul

Tomorrow, In a Year is an opera based on Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species”. A collaboration between The Knife with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock. The Knife is commonly known as a casual listen, but Tomorrow, In a Year is a completely different kind of wonderland, its starkness embodying the density of the entire project. The Knife decided to make slight adjustments to the opera for this audio release, but never seeing the opera, I don’t know what is different about it. You will never be hearing an album like Tomorrow, In a Year by anyone else any time soon–not even by The Knife.

Recommended Listening

• Hot Chip – One Life Stand
• The Juan MacLean – The Future Will Come
• Röyksopp – Junior