It’s been quite a while since we’ve caught up with 9 O’Clock Nasty – after hearing their new track Unkle Natur, I decided it was time to have another chat! It’s quite a unique sounding tune, mixing a few genres together in glorious style – check it out at the bottom of this interview!
By Jane Howkins
It’s been a while since we last spoke to you. How are you doing?
We’re good thank you. Busy, it’s been a mad few months. When you see a suggestion of people being interested and more listeners, there is this urge to push as hard as you can, as fast as you can. We’re learning to stick to plans and be disciplined. We’ve been doing a lot of writing and recording – about half the next LP is already finished – and we’re just starting to rehearse for live shows.
You recently released a new track called Unkle Natur. What can you tell us about the record? Where did the title come from?
As with most of our songs, the title and lyric came from a conversation. We were talking about how, when we were kids, everyone thought of nature as a mother-figure. Protective. Kind. Now, nature feels dangerous. Not an enemy, but something friendly that could go mad and wreck your house at any minute. So we came up with the idea of nature being a mad uncle. Friendly and loved, but with a pocketful of pills and lots of bad advice.
Musically, it comes from an effort to strip what we do down and keep it simple and direct. For most of the time we were working on it, it was just a loop with a beat and a bass-keyboard line. Over and over. Grinding down. We lightened it up in the end but there is still a relentless quality to it.
How has the reception to Unkle Natur been so far, and where can the track be purchased?
Good. It hasn’t set the world on fire but it’s had a good number of plays and downloads and some kind reviews. For us, the best place for people to get the song is Bandcamp as we get paid fairly there.
Do you have any more singles planned for the near future?
Lots. Crowland will drop in January, which sets out the premise for the next LP. It’s another very dark and driven song. Full of impact. We try to build the big chorus into everything we do, and Crowland has a great hook to it. After that we have three more all ready to go, one of which is our first effort at doing a proper disco record.
Are there any plans to release an album or EP anytime soon?
Not until the summer. The next LP will be called This is Crowland and will contain all the new singles and some new songs. We’re just working on what will be the closing track Walk Towards the Bomb, which we hope will come as a real eye-opener. There is probably a snarling punk-heart to what we do, but it is good sometimes to write a song that is just an open, emotional rollercoaster.
Are you looking forward to the holiday season? What does a typical Christmas look like in your household?
The last few years we’ve celebrated the holidays together with family and friends, but this year we’ll be doing our own thing a little bit. 2023 has been an odd year, it feels like a lot of change is coming, so this holiday season is probably one to grab hold of the ones you love and squeeze them even harder than usual.
Unkle Natur has a very unique vibe, adding hip-hop and punk together. What/who are you most influenced by when making this song? What have you been listening to recently?
My starting reference for Unkle Natur was Being Boiled by the Human League. It’s a song that’s always fascinated me, for that absolute minimalism and grandeur. The early versions of Unkle reflected that empty but almost orchestral feel. As a band, we constantly add layers and delete them and Pete Brock brought a strong hip-hop influence to it and took it from being quite measured and precise to being unhinged, lost on the very edge of madness. That tension between something that is geared to stick to a tight plan and process and something that is on the edge of explosion at any moment is at the heart of the song.
Do you have anything else exciting coming up over the next few months?
The new singles and some live dates. We don’t play live very often, so when we do it’s a big event for us. We want the show to be more than just three sweaty blokes shouting, so we’re building quite a few surprises and twists into it. Expect dance moves, theatre and a lot of energy.
Do you have any tour dates lined up for the UK?
Yes, we’re in London on 6th January at the Hope and Anchor. It’s a venue we’ve wanted to play for YEARS. First time in the capital, we’re really fired up for it. We’re playing with two other bands we love, The Qwarks and Otara.
In March we go back to Brighton to play again with The Qwarks on the 8th.
There will be more announced as we go. We’re actively looking for venues that will tolerate our Leicester-hillbilly-madness.
Any last words for the fans?
As we said earlier, this year feels like the end of something. Like we’re all about to step into something new. Give the ones you love an extra hard squeeze. Come and see the shows and let’s make whatever comes next better than what went before.