If there is one absolute rule in the unpredictable universe of 9 o’clock Nasty, it’s that playing it safe is never an option. The Leicester-based art-punk disruptors have built up a killer reputation on defiance, turning raw attitude, filthy basslines and unfiltered human madness into an art form. We last spoke to the band a couple of months ago in support of their single 5 foot 2 – never ones to sit back for long, they’ve since released another amazing track titled Check the Neck. Find out more about the song below!
By Jane Howkins
A brand new single was released recently titled Check the Neck. What can you tell us about the track?
We’ve dabbled with techno before – but always working with a DJ or someone else from that scene as a collaborator. This is our first hard dance track that we wrote and produced entirely ourselves, and that’s coming out of a greater sense of confidence in what we do. When we put something out in a particular genre, it always has to be good enough to stand on its own two feet in comparison with other music there – there’s no value in novelty. The song grew out of that immense sample at the beginning. Cut and cut and cut until it fit the pattern of the beat to perfection.
Check the Neck has a distinct old school hip-hop sound. Is that something the band is interested in pursuing more in the future?
We’ve certainly swung into that area before with Unkle Natur and 5 foot 2 which are unashamedly hip-hop – but a form that we hope is respectful and fits naturally with us – we don’t want to ape or parody. We’ve gradually been moving towards a more beats and electronica heart to what we do, the guitars come out less and less often as we get better at expressing ourselves with a barer and cleaner sound. It’s harder to get to something good when you don’t cover everything with that wash of noise and we love the spare, almost skeletal sound of the drums with minimal overdub and vocals.
Check The Neck is probably the least sparse thing on the new album, it’s an aggressive wall of sound.
I know you’re currently working on your new album The Dirty South. How does it compare to your previous record Chaos (which came out earlier this year)?
It’s cut back. Simpler and more naked. We want every sound to be working hard, every movement to be for effect. The songs are more personal and more tied into real life. Check the Neck came out of our first experience of going for cosmetic surgery to sort ourselves out a bit. Apparently it was the first time a band all checked into a clinic at the same time, but we were able to work out some tunes while we recovered.
One of the things I love about your music is there’s a serious political bent to it, but you’re also not afraid to have fun. How do you balance these two approaches to music making? I suppose it’s important to have both humour and serious messaging as a band?
Even the most sincere political expression will have something stupid or awkward about it. Pomposity is just as annoying when it is righteous as when it is corrupt. We like to grab nonsense by the balls and twist a little. Juice things up. We write in a very fluid way, so an entirely straightforward theme in the first demo can take several unexpected turns later in the process. Many of our songs have two or three different lyrical ideas running through them. One of the standout songs we plan to release soon. Pale Ryder, started out as a quite sexual expression of desire, until Brock made it about cowboys and Ted made everything a euphemism for kinky nonsense behind the bins.
Does the band have any side projects on the go at the moment?
Yes but nothing we want to announce yet. We haven’t had time to do much collaboration with other artists this year, which is a shame, as that’s always really rewarding, We may have some solo stuff in the works to drop over the winter, but Dirty South is very much the number one priority.
I hear you played at Wigfest over the summer. How was the show? Did you have any more festival dates? Last time we spoke you said you don’t plan to tour much – have you announced any tour dates since then?
We have had terrible experiences of festivals in the past. Well, it is probably fairer to say that festivals have had bad experiences with us. The time Brock jumped off stage to disrupt a picnic to one side of the arena has gone into local legend and didn’t endear us to a certain demographic of festival-snacking-attendees. We give 100% and we need the audience to get on board with us.
Wigfest was the absolute opposite. It is a small festival, but when we did our thing, we probably had the best mix of hardcore dance floor reaction with other people that got into it by the end, and just enough people who were really taken aback and rather stunned to keep us feeling like we’re living on the edge. It’s a superb festival we would heartily recommend.
Do you have anything else exciting lined up for this year?
We have a couple more singles ready to go – in particular being possibly the purest expression of what we’re trying to create to-date. That said, it’s been nice to take bit of a step back and concentrate on song writing and looking for fresh ideas this year, and we will probably carry that on for a while yet.
We will be looking to set up a series of gigs in 2027, aiming to get to places like York and London and Brighton and Bristol. It’s always a risk, until you open the door you never know how many people will come, but we’ve almost got to the point that we can pull a crowd if we get our promotion right. There will be at least one Leicester hometown gig. We plan to make it an all-dayer with a number of bands we love and want to share the stage with, the working title is the Leicestersexual Festival.
Do you go to many gigs yourselves? Who have you seen live recently?
Obsessively so. We don’t see many ‘big bands’, although we are going to see De Staat on their tour, an act that had a huge influence on us and are a big inspiration. Locally, we would perhaps namecheck a few that are worth your readers watching out for – Bad Toaster, Boilers, Rogue Notion, Velvet Crisis, Death Valley 69, Boilermen (who are in no way related to Boilers which confuses us no end) and Twisted Widows (who are widows and may well be twisted, although the evidence is limited).
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you, and thank you to the people that bother to come to live gigs and support acts on Bandcamp and buy merchandise. Music feels a little healthier now than 4 or 5 years ago and may those positive signs continue.
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