A Chat with 9 o’clock Nasty (04.02.22)
From their EP Growl to their cover of Justin Timberlake’s ‘Sexy Back‘, Leicester-based threesome 9 o’clock Nasty has been blasting out our speakers and implanting themselves in our brain. We speak to the lads about their latest EP Politic, musical inspiration, future plans and what they would take to a desert island.
OSR: A rather dull and cliche question but how did 9 o’clock Nasty come about?
9 o’clock Nasty: We were already in bands when we met but it took many years before all three of us ended up in the same group. We met in Prague, Ted was on tour with an indie band and had been kicked out and was hanging about without a clue what to do next. Pete and Sydd were in another band passing through and Ted hooked up with them and worked as a roadie to get a trip back to England.
Years later we all needed a new place to live, just before the big Covid lockdown and we ended up moving in together into this huge house. When we unpacked there were two drumkits, four bass guitars, two guitars and four amps in the living room and we were trapped together in the house for months. We still live there; it is now Koala Studios.
Forming a band was inevitable at that point. It was that or we could have started a cult. Well, in a way, we’ve done both.
OSR: What inspires you to make music?
9 o’clock Nasty: Really? Each other. It’s that simple. We were all competent musicians before we started the band. We had all written songs and had those little notebooks full of words for unwritten ones. There is something powerful about the friendship and challenge of writing and making music with the right people. We were always this band; we just hadn’t realised it yet.
The other thing is probably other people’s music. It is inspirational. We’ve got into a few other bands through growing our profile and their songs inspire us and make us want to make more of our own. If you want to know who they are check out this playlist. Every song is pure gold.
OSR: What can you tell us about your EP Politic?
9 o’clock Nasty: We had three songs that had a loose theme of politics about them. All were ready, they sounded right together. We’ve been doing three-track EPs for a while now, one a month bang-bang-bang-bang-BANG. Politic and the next one, Sex, are probably the best we will make in that form because they fit together better as collections. We always, well Ted mainly, liked to lob a musical hand-grenade into every EP to get a “what the fuck” reaction from people. With these two we feel like we’re being more disciplined and coherent in what we do.
Politic unashamedly has an A-side. ‘King Thing’ is the lead track, the spearhead. We wanted that to be the first song people heard from us in 2022 because it encapsulates more than anything else what we will be putting out for a while now. It’s bolder and more willing to get busy with its elbows to make room. It’s been described as a 1980’s post-punk classic. It isn’t. Whether you think it is a classic or not, it is a 2022 post-punk thing. There is a real wave of great new indie bands rising up all over the world and the next few years will be ours. ‘King Thing’ is our opening statement in that conversation.
They are the last EPs for a while. We’ve been watching other bands and seeing what works this past six months and it seems to us that the best strategy to reach people is to get behind one song and promote it all you can for a few weeks and then release the next. So, from now on we will do a single every month and use LPs to collect all the other songs. It means instead of making three videos we only make one a month and we put more effort into it. When the March single, ‘Playboy Driver’, comes out you’ll see what we mean.
OSR: If you could change anything about Politic, what would it be?
9 o’clock Nasty: Everything and nothing. Every time we listen to any of the songs we find fault. We’re hyper-critical, but at the same time, there is nothing we can change.
‘King Thing’ started life a year ago as ‘King of Hackney’ on our first EP. We never finished it with hindsight and kept revisiting it like an old friend. One night Sydd created this absolutely monstrous drum track and Ted grafted the old song onto the new drums. Suddenly this very awkward and difficult song, that a few people loved but most people skipped past, turned into this beast. Our story with that song is over. It has landed.
‘Get Into Them Part 1’ was a pet project of Ted who loves to experiment with dance tracks that usually never get heard. This one turned into a Bhangra number, something we hear a lot on pirate radio and love. It was a strange, twisted creation and if we change it, we will break it. Thank you to the Bhangra Assassins, who know the form much better than us. Their feedback and confidence gave us the courage to put the song out.
‘Part 2’ was a magic moment. A late-night chat in the kitchen and a flash of inspiration. Very little has changed in the final version from that manic half hour. We can’t go back and find that moment, so again if we changed it we would break it.
OSR: What do you hope people take from your music?
9 o’clock Nasty: Hopefully a groove and a good sense of energy and pleasure. We try to make music you want to play to your friends, or music you want to put on your headphones as you cut through the crowds. We hope to amuse and surprise too.
VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED
OSR: If you were stranded on a desert island and could take only one thing, what would it be? No phones or boats allowed.
9 o’clock Nasty: One thing for all of us? The only thing we would agree on would be the toaster. That is essential. One of those wind-up transistor radios would be cool.
OSR: Describe 9 o’clock Nasty in one word.
9 o’clock Nasty: No. Seriously, the word is “no”. It is the best word to describe us both as people and as artists. As people, we probably belong in the awkward squad. It used to be that every year the world got a bit better, more tolerant and kinder. Now is the time to say no more nonsense.
Creatively, the hardest thing to do in a band is say no to an idea that will waste time or dilute something. We create music very quickly and then spend a lot of time taking things out. Refine, reduce. When you care about the people you’re working with and you want to make the best possible art, finding ways to say no that retain the bond, retain the sense of shared purpose, but don’t allow a shit idea to flourish, well, those moments of no are critical. We’ve got very good at telling each other no without it being a problem.
OSR: What advice do you have for upcoming artists?
9 o’clock Nasty: That is a hard question. Advice is a dangerous gift! The things we would say are a product of our own experiences and we would not follow our own advice. Do what you really want to, don’t alter your ideas to please other people, and work really hard at promoting what you do. Don’t be the star of your own bedroom.
Probably don’t feel you have to write a whole LP before you play a gig to 15 friends in a bar. We have friends who are incredible artists who are still doing that. It is fine if your joy is in there, we just don’t want to slow ourselves down with the mechanics of rehearsals and gigs, we have things to do! We aren’t lazy, we are actually too obsessive, but reaching an audience is much more about writing and media now. That said, we do want to play live, but not until we can do a good show to a good audience.
OSR: What is something you predict will exist in 10 years that doesn’t today?
9 o’clock Nasty: We’re positive about the future even though everything seems to be going to pieces. We think the world will have moved on in a host of ways after a crisis-torn decade. We will have some kind of fresh break from past politics and the climb back from environmental disaster will finally be happening. Hope so.
We also expect there will be sex robots and flying cars and a paste that can cure baldness.
OSR: What does the future hold for 9 o’clock Nasty?
9 o’clock Nasty: We will keep writing and keep releasing. We have a ton of material on the way. There hasn’t been a time in the last year when we didn’t have at least four months worth of songs ready to release.
The second LP is going to be special. The first, Catch Nasty, was a compilation of our songs so far, and we are really proud of it. The new one, By All Means Necessary, has some new songs that won’t have been released before and it allows us to try some longer songs as well as push out a lot of short, fiery ones. It will be out in May.
Hopefully, we will play live soon. Either we will do live-streamed events online or try some live gigs. Probably both. We’re determined not to do anything obvious, but that is easier said than done.
Long-term, we plan to become more famous than Coldplay and erase the misery of mewling faux indie music from the collective consciousness. We’re not messing about, we have ambition.
Many thanks to 9 o’clock Nasty for speaking with us. For more from 9 o’clock Nasty, check out their official website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
