PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Nine Miles South are a “hard hitting, riff heavy and melodic hard rock band.” According to their own words. ” With a softer more blues oriented side as well as an overall country vibe.”
These guy’s are the real deal. A very new ( un-signed ) underground rock group, who have an amazing fresh sound that will please any ardent rock fans. Mainly playing gig’s around the London area, they have recently played at a music festival in Italy, and are looking forward to more dates in the future.
I managed to pin down band singer/guitarist Seb Mikkelsen for an informal interview about how it all began, songs now available on their Facebook page and what the future holds for the guy’s.
PM. Hi Seb, thanks for taking the time to chat with me.
“Yeah man no problem.”
PM. Ok, so we have yourself of course, guitar and vocals. Then there’s Ben Colman, guitar and vocals. Dave Wilson ( great name ) on drums and Andy Sleigh on bass guitar. Is that right?
“Hehe yeah those are my guys!”
PM. It says here on Facebook your all from the Guildford area, is that all of you?
“Andy and me are from Guildford. Well I’m originally from Faroe Islands, Denmark, Belgium ( moved too much ). Andy is from Guildford, born and bred.
Dave and Ben now live in Watford but spend most their time in Guildford. Ben, Dave and me used to go to uni together. Dave is still studying music in Guildford.”
PM. So how long have you all been together?
“Well the band started properly about a year and a half ago. But it was a different line up then. We had a different drummer and bassist. Dave and Andy have only been in the band for a couple of months.”
PM. Yerr, you find it sometimes goes that way.
It’s hard to find the right guys to gel with sometimes.
PM. Have you been approached by anyone yet? I mean do you have a manager or anything?
“We have a couple of guys working with us. Chiffi is the one who helps us out with online stuff when he has the time. He manages a DJ from Ministry of Sound so he’s quite busy. Another guy whose just started working with us getting us some gigs and helping us with promo and advertisement. But nothing on paper yet.”
PM. Ok, thats good. At least you have someone to help there. This gig your doing supporting Alabama 3. Your with them on the of 5th May at the Brixton Jamm, right? What is this and where in Brixton is it?
“Its an event hosted by Absent Kelly and Outlaw promotion companies. They have a night of music from different genres. Basically its an all night event. Starts at 7 pm and ends at 4 am. We were approached to ask if we wanted to support Alabama and we said yes. Only question now is if people will turn up. Should be an awesome night.”
PM. Bloody hell! thats a long night. I hope your not playing late on, you’ll all be tired out before you play.
“No, no thankfully not. I think A3 are on sometime before midnight so we’ll be on before them. We were told that we are main support. Well that is what the ticket says so we should be on at about 10 pm I’d reckon. They have yet to send us the line up times.”
PM. Who in the group is the main song writer? Or is it a collaboration between you all?
“Im the main lyrics and melody writer at the moment, except for ‘Money for you’ and ‘ Tired Eyes‘, Ben wrote those. But Ben and Andy are coming up with some great stuff. I’ll take a melody and lyric to them and thats when the song becomes what it is. Ben is fantastic at making something sound more.”
PM. So you come up with a good riff then add a few words to get started?
“Yeah sometimes it’s like that. Ben or me will get a good riff and we build on that. Gives the song a theme to build on. When I write just by myself I tend to play the songs a bit like Bob Dylan, just an acoustic guitar. Then I show it to Ben. He puts some lines over my boring chords, we figure out how to get rid of the chords and use two part guitar to fill the gap and that’s it really. Then we might see the need for a breakdown/riff. It’s all really just throwing up ideas to see if they work.”
PM. When I heard your song “Tired Eyes” it took me back to my youth! You,ve all got a real good earthy old school rock sound.
“I think that’s just the music we grew up with. When I was a kid I wanted to be in Black Sabbath ( still wouldn’t mind). I think a lot of the music we write aside from the present creativity, I don’t know where comes from.
We just want to create the music we’ve always listened to. But I’d like to think that were a bit different. ( As they all say) The new material that we’re working on is most likely the EP material which is a lot more modern, but still with roots in Country, blues and the southern rock from the olden days. Ben is a fantastic blues player and I think that comes across in his contributions to the band.”
PM. Yes, thats it! Black Sabbath.That’s the sound, you really have it there.
“I own every single album. Cannot get tired, well I only really listen to the ones with Ozzy.”
PM. Your sound is really very mature. you sound like you,ve been doing this for years
“lol, I’ve been playing guitar since I was about 7 or 8. I didn’t take it seriously till a couple of years later. My dad was a huge Beatles fan so I would always listen to him play their songs. Ben has been in bands since his early teens. Dave was in a quite successful touring band before this one called Fall Against Fate.
But i think the key is that we’ve all decided that this is it. So we take it very seriously. Not too seriously. We want to have some fun right?”
PM. Yerr,too right. Have fun for gods sake. life is far to serious.
“Yeah I think that’s why im incapable of doing anything else but music. also I hate the colour grey so can’t wear a suit!”
PM. I,m listening to your song The Road right now. These songs are really good, I,m very surprised you,ve not been snapped up yet. What age are you guy’s now?
“Ben is 21, Andy is 21, Dave is 23 and Im the oldest one 24.”
“Thank you for all this. This business would be so much easier to crack if everyone was on board like this.”
PM. lol, we do our best to help mate. This music industry can be real cut throat sometimes. I know it must be hard for you guys to get your music heard.
“It is hard especially around London coz there are so many bands that all want the same experience that we want.”
PM. Yes, I think you’ll find it’s pretty much the norm. We have some cracking bands in Nottingham, but they struggle to get air time too.
“Yeah absolutely. Rock city in Nottingham is that a good venue?”
PM. Rock City is the place to get heard around here bud. It’s one of the main East Midland’s venues. All the top bands have played there.
“Yeah, just looking at their facebook page.Yeah man, looking forward to starting something. It’s all great man. This is the exact kind of stuff we need. Some outside perspective.”
“Is this your main job?”
PM. Well I,ve been in construction all my life. I do this as a hobby really. But i do take it serious though.
“That’s cool. The guy that offered us the Italy tour is in construction as well. That’s the beauty of music. It can suit anyone, he manages a band on the side.
PM. So you,ve been to Italy?
“Yeah we came home a few weeks ago.”
PM. Oh great! Tell me more? How did it all go?
“It was fantastic. We played every night. One night we were asked to play for 4 hours. Didn’t bother us though. They were great, such great people, we miss them very much. Everyone was so appreciative of live music, they wanted our picture and autograph. They didn’t know that we were nobodies. So we forgot to tell them!
PM. lol, Thats how it all starts mate.
“But aside from that, on the back of it we’ve been offered to go back in August to play about 12 shows including a small festival, and also a few weeks in Brazil and Germany. So were gonna try our very best to make all of that happen.”
PM. If what your planning to do next is this stuff! Well, it could be looking good me ode.
“That’s the thing, don’t think any of us want to work the day jobs anymore!”
PM.lol.
“Brazil will be a tricky one. It was just mentioned in passing at first but then the guy kept going on about it telling us that we would get paid which would cover the flights. But we reckon it might just be talk.”
PM.Thats always a hard decision to make. I don’t envy you there.But your all young enough yet. No major commitments I take it?
“Nope. There’s very few things, I wouldn’t leave in five minutes. Plus Ben has a girlfriend.”
PM. I,ve got a random question for you now! Whats your thoughts on CABBAGE? I have my reasons for asking.
“The food?”
PM. Yes.
“Goes well with roast beef, potatoes and gravy. Oh and a beer of course! Hehe.”
PM. I hate the bloody stuff!
“Hehehe, I’ll eat anything.”
“Hehehe. You haven’t asked if I like brussel sprouts?”
PM. lol.I hate them too!
“Dave thinks that cabbage insists upon itself. Andy writes: nobody likes it or its freakishly small cousin the sprout!”
PM. Well i think we.ve done some back ground stuff, a few things about gigs past and future. You gave me a little on the band and how you got together. Future songs? Whats coming up?
“The material we’re working on at the minute is for me really exiting. Its hard to define it but it’s bottom line hard rock. But so much more dynamic with more power yet intricate. Ben has been playing a lot of bluegrass so his lead lines and solos do sound it. Andy is an all round grunge bassist so hell always deliver the punch.”
PM. When did you get the chance to record those songs on face book?
“Erm about a year ago.”
PM. Where did you do it?
“Watford, yeah we recorded it in a friends bedroom.”
PM. No way! You did that sound recording in a bedroom?
“Same with ‘ Never mind. Hehe yeah, very long days they were.Very cheap, it’s only with the latest recordings that we’ve actually got the chance to go in a proper studio with real gear and stuff. We did a demo of those songs in a studio at the uni we went to but they sounded horrible, so we threw them. That again wasn’t a real studio. just a fancy room with soft material on the walls.”
PM. So you recorded these on FB at a proper studio, is that what your saying?”
No the ones you hear were in a tiny bedroom. We tried to record them at uni but they sounded horrible.”
PM. My god, did you use a sound engineer?
“Yeah we got a school friend of Ben’s to help us out. He owned the computer and microphones and some compressors and interfaces.”
PM. lmao, well what ever you do when you get to the top. Buy that house and turn that room into a studio. The sound was awesome. You would really never know.
“hahaha. No we’re very lucky the guy was enthusiastic about the tunes so he put the effort in.”
PM. Just a bit, that sounds so professional.
“Haha cheers man. We’re getting a new mix through of the last track we played the other night. I’ll send you the file when it’s done. Have a listen and tell me what you think?”
PM. Cheers very much, i’ll look forward to that.
“Absolutely,will send it when I get it.”
PM. Ok Seb, I think i’ll have to call it a night now bud. It’s been great having this chat.
“Yeah man for sure. There are some live shots in my profile and a few on the band one as well. Thank you man for doing this. Much appreciated. Have a good night Dave.”
PM. You take care and keep the faith mate. ROCK ON \m/
“Yeah man you too!”
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