9Electric went into the studio in early 2018 to record a new song – their first time in the studio since member changes revamped their lineup. They went in to write and record a song, and came out three days later with an unprecedented confidence, an undeniable chemistry, and the first indication of what their future held.
Welcome to Megalith, an album as true to the rock royalty that inspired it, as it is to the band members that created it. “Our only goal going into the studio was to write and record a song that defined what 9Electric is in the year 2018,” says frontman Ron Underwood. “What we discovered was akin to addition by subtraction – new blood brought new energy, and Mike and I were able to write like we’d never written before.” Joining Underwood and guitarist Mikey Lopez on the new album is returning bassist Ginny Eck.
The single “The Light” features Carla Harvey of Butcher Babies. “The Butcher Babies and 9Electric have a lot of history,” explains Harvey. “We played some of our early shows together in Hollywood, and have both undergone a lot of changes over the years. When I heard ‘The Light,’ I thought it was a great opportunity to showcase a side of both me and the band that a lot of people might not expect, and I’m really excited about how the song came out!”
9Electric is: Ron Underwood (Vocals), Mikey Lopez (Guitars), Ginny Eck (Bass) and Nick Ramirez (Drums).
Music Madness caught up with band’s frontman, Ron Underwood, to talk music and the new vibe of 9Electric. Check it out below…
Music Madness: Congrats on 9Electric’s new album, Megalith.
Ron: Thank you very much.
Music Madness: This is the band’s second album; however, since it’s a fairly newer version of the band, does it unofficially make it your first album?
Ron: Yeah. When Micah, the original drummer left the band, we knew that it was going to be quite a bit of a different sound. He brought a lot of the electronic postproduction to the table, which I’m a huge electronic music fan. In my former band, we toured with Ministry and plenty of electronic artists. I loved that aspect of this band, but when Micah left the band, it was kinda like, “Let’s reinvent, let’s really challenge ourselves to get back to basics, and let’s let the music speak for what we have to work with right now, if we just had to strip it down.”
Mikey and I, our first instruments are guitar, and so that’s kinda where it gravitated. That’s where the production, the writing, the core ideas were from a guitar riff and that interested me just as much as something that would’ve been completely electronic-based.
I feel like we, in a lot of ways, made a guitar rock album. Not to say it’s just a guitar rock album, but there’s a lot of riffs in there and some really cool solos.
Music Madness: I was curious if it made an overall difference in the band’s direction and obviously, it sounds like it did with regards to the bands overall sound.
Ron: Yeah, I feel like there’s a little more earth put back into what we were doing. I think we were really lucky to be able to work with Shawn McGhee, who’s one of the coolest producers I’ve ever gotten to get in the studio with and for the first time I think we were really able to capture what we do live, that energy at that high level, onto a record. I think it freed us up to not think about the recording side of it, ’cause it was just fully on him to worry about that, rather than a band member within. It just freed us up to perform our asses off, and I was so stoked about that.
Music Madness: That’s awesome. At the end of the day, albums are great, but your live show is what brings the fans back. It could be the best album you’ve ever heard, you go see them live, and it just doesn’t correlate to a live performance.
Ron: I totally know what you mean. That’s the complete foundation of whatever kind of philosophy I carry with me as a performer. I was 12 or something like that and my favorite band in the world was coming through town. I went to see them and I felt gypped. The sound was bad; the guy was in a crap mood. Maybe it was just an off day, but really, what I took home was that was a missed opportunity.
I feel like the artist dropped the ball and lost me a little bit and I really took that to heart, I really want to give people that moment. ‘Cause it really comes down to a moment, and its two different things. You have the album or the song … I’m more of a song guy than an album. I think there’s some amazing songs from bands that I’m not really a big fan of, but I love one song, therefore, I’m a fan forever because they have this gem that they’ve given me in my life.
Then there’s the live show, which is you’re actually sharing a moment with somebody, and it’s never going to be the same moment ever again. I just feel like it’s a missed opportunity if you don’t treat it with that kind of respect. These people are there, they worked their asses off all week, and they’re coming to see your show. You had better be present for them.
Music Madness: Have you had any early feedback on the album? What’s next?
Ron: The response has been awesome, and we put out a video with it, which features Carla Harvey from the Butcher Babies.
Music Madness: I am a fan.
Ron: She is a blast to work with. Not a lot of people know this ’cause her stage persona and her vocal performance is so intense, but she’s really a sweetheart. She’s totally professional, just a reliable person. When it comes to studio work, a lot of times it’s hit or miss when you do a collaboration, you don’t really know what you’re gonna get. She is just consistent, kicks ass, and really funny.
Music Madness: That’s important. Will we be seeing 9Electric in Florida in 2019? Any tour update?
Ron: We’re piecing together some stuff around those main dates, and I have nothing to speak of just yet, but we will be hitting the road this year.
Music Madness: Awesome. The band is Cali based…are you from Cali?
Ron: I grew up in Phoenix, and just came out to LA through the necessity of music-biz stuff. When I wasn’t on tour, I started making music videos for my friends’ bands and that became a completely secondary career, and it’s been non-stop. If I’m not touring or recording albums with 9Electric, I’m shooting videos for bands, and it’s been great. I really like working with up-and-coming, fired-up young chappies.
There’s always something to be learned, and then you pass on a little help to these young guys, and see them through. I feel like a coach, “Hey, what do you think, coach?” When it’s their first video ever, that’s exciting for them, so I want to make it fun, I want to make it cool.
Music Madness: That’s awesome. Did you get an opportunity pick Carla’s brain on the Butcher Babies success and how they have built a loyal legion?
Ron: No, usually when I’m collaborating, I’m usually just whacking away at the problems at hand. I wish that I had more time with her, and talked about that kind of stuff. We met up with her to lay down some vocals; she was leaving to go to Russia to play and right when she got back is when we finished up.
I wish that I had a little more time to babble on about that kind of stuff. But yeah, they’ve built a great following. Every time I see Butcher Babies, their live show just really impresses me. There’s not a lot of bands that can do that kind of intensity and keep it up, and I think people would be surprised if they’ve never seen them.
Music Madness: I totally agree with you. So, is 9Electric working any additional videos?
Ron: I shot a few, just performance stuff, and then I’ll probably supplement some storyline. I don’t know, I’m really into a lot of macabre, bizarre art so we’ll see where it goes. This whole album, it has a philosophical theme to it, a little bit of occult intrigue, ancient cultures, lost civilizations and things like that. We’ll see how we can tie it into some video stuff.
Music Madness: Earlier we were talking about the creative process. Do you have a favorite part of that process?
Ron: I’m really a fan of all that stuff now, and more than ever after having worked with Shawn McGhee, because he made it so easy to be creative and stay creative. He’s a guitar player, he’s been in bands, so he’s coming from the same place that we were as band members, and knew how to appropriate whatever the process was gonna be. A lot of the songs on the album, I had no lyrical content. I maybe had an intention or an idea, or a core theme, but going into the actual vocal booth, most of the time I was writing stuff on the fly, I had my notebook, and I’ve never been able to do that, just on my toes like that. So there was no overthinking, there was no, “What do I do?” It was just try something, either it works or it doesn’t, and let’s move on. It was a really cool process.
Music Madness: Do you guys have a favorite cover that you play?
Ron: We used to do this mashup, it was Rammstein and then it was STP’s “Sex Type Thing”. That was fun. On this album, we actually do “I Don’t Want To Be”, by Gavin DeGraw. We had to 
change some chords around in the chorus just to darken it up a bit and I love playing that one live, it has these big huge drums.
Music Madness: I always ask a fun question…Do you remember your first concert?
Ron: Oh, man, I think it was Lollapalooza with Alice In Chains/Primus.
Music Madness: Right on. Like old school Alice In Chains?
Ron: Yeah, yeah, Layne was still alive. It was not too … I think it was the Lollapalooza with Rage Against the Machine, I was a wee young chappie, and I was just blown away.
Music Madness: Dude, that’s a hell of a show right there, with bands that people would die to be able to see again.
Ron: Oh, yeah.
Music Madness: Any parting words on the album. (Laughing)
Ron: I am really proud of it; I’m really happy how it turned out. I think it is the most introspective or honest music that I have been a part of, and that’s cool for me. I don’t know if it’s cool for everyone else, but check it out, see for yourself.
Learn more about 9Electric here!
Interview by Steve Carlos