rockyourlyricsRYL: Your new EP “CONTROL” is out now; are you preparing something special for your fans?
*Mikey Lopez*: Yes it is! Go get it people!!! We try to always do something special for our friends and fans. We’ll be back out on the road one more time before the year ends…that’s always special…ha! We also have an official video for the song ‘Goodbye’ debuting on the 10/28, as well as a lyric video for the song ‘Bullet Tooth’ featuring our friend, Heidi Shepherd of Butcher Babies that we’ll drop on you all later in the year!
RYL: How was their reaction when they listened your new songs? Which is the one that obtained the most success so far?
*Mikey Lopez*: From what we can tell the reaction has been awesome! We don’t pay much attention to any reaction that isn’t favorable…unless it comes from one of our parents 😉
All the songs have been getting positive reactions but the main standouts seem to be, Time Bomb, Feel This, Goodbye, Control, Under Attack and Bullet Tooth. That’s actually ALL of the songs so I’d say that’s a favorable reaction!
*Thunderwood*: We haven’t taken a poll yet, but Goodbye is among the most mentioned, Time Bomb gets lots of live requests, and of course Butcher Babies fans are stoked that Heidi Shepherd sings with me on Bullet Tooth.
RYL: How do you write the lyrics of your songs?
*Thunderwood*: There really isn’t a fixed formula for any of the 9E song production, but it definitely is filtered through us all. Micah (drummer/programmer/producer) had his hand in a lot of the core song ideas all the way to the final mix, and we all contribute quite a bit so we’re really blessed to have so much control of all those aspects within the band.
RYL: Tell us everything about “Under Attack”…
*Thunderwood*:: Under Attack started out as a quick demo idea with a drum n bass backbeat and some guitar riffs. We knew it needed an aggressive statement- something defiant, a foreboding declaration.
It’s the story of someone losing an ally who they may have needed down the road but it’s too late: the damage is done. “Who’s gonna watch your back- when you’re under attack?”
RYL: Is there a verse among the new songs that you particularly love?
*Thunderwood*: My favorite tidbit is I the opening of the second verse on Time Bomb: “The dust settles on a burning horizon”. I just get a very vivid, immediate photograph every time I sing that- it jars my emotions a bit.
RYL: What has been the most difficult thing in preparing this new EP?
*Mikey Lopez*: Cutting down to six songs from the original 12 that were going to comprise the full length version.
It can be hard to pick six songs that are intended to make a certain statement at this point in time when you may have wanted to keep them intact to make a different statement at a later point in time.
Regardless, we’re thrilled with the result and we’re also happy with the songs that are left over that will appear on our full length release due out early next year.
RYL: Tell us your plan until the end of the year, will you be on tour?
*Mikey Lopez*: Oops, I kind of answered this question inadvertently earlier, didn’t I?!
A tour is being planned out right now and we intend to see the good peeps across the US for a third time this year!
RYL: Do you remember the day you wrote “Time Bomb”?
*Thunderwood*: I was sitting on a train, traveling up the California coast, hearing the mechanical clicks of the cars against the track and I got a flashbulb in my head of a clock connected to something very powerful and explosive.
I opened my laptop and started programming a song- emulating the beat I was hearing.
RYL: Which is the last song you wrote (not included in the album)? What inspired its lyrics?
*Mikey Lopez*: We’re writing new songs this very minute!
The last song that we completed is called, ‘The Damaged Ones’. It’s an anthem for all the people out there that are damaged goods and think that they can’t crawl out from under it all.
There’s a sliver lining though because you can pull out of it!!! One small step at a time.
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