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| And now for a NEWS Summary... (Is this the end, or just the beginning?) 23rd June, 2002 We thought that it might be nice just to summarise some of the things that have happened since the split of Earthtone9: Karl Middleton has joined another band in Nottingham called The Blueprint. The band have been laughably coined a 'supergroup' (something I am sure Karl finds amusing) and also includes Matt Grundy (ex-Pitchshifter), Mark Clayden (Pitchshifter), Chris Billam and Will Burchell (Consumed). Look out for a recording by the end of this summer. You can keep an eye on further developments at the official website (www.the-blueprint.net). Owen Packard has taken more to the business side of music and is busy promoting new many bands with Headhoncho PR (email: owen@heropr.com). He also wishes to continue the side project band Standing Dead Centre with Dave Anderson. Other members include Ishmael Lewis (vocals) and Richie Mills (drums). Joe Roberts has gone into solo mode, writing and demoing his own material and is working towards the creation of a new band. Visit www.myjoeroberts.com where you can find out further details. Alex Baker has joined forces with three of the four original members of Pulkas to form a new band called I-AM-I. Simon Hutchby, the long time drummer who left the band last year, initially filled the role of drum technician for Vex Red and then joined a band called Ninedenine. If anything else of interest comes about from the ex-members of Earthtone9, then be sure we will let you know. All that leaves is to say a huge thank you from us here to the legends that were EARTHTONE9. Cheers!
Earthtone9 To Disband - Official
Press Release PRESS RELEASE After the completion of their London Garage show on Saturday April 13th, Earthtone9 will disband. After four years, three albums, two EP's and countless tours the five-piece have decided to call it a day. "This chapter is just at an end," says guitarist Owen Packard. "We've said all we had to say as this band and everyone is keen to move on to other things. We do, however, owe a huge debt of gratitude to numerous people, not Least of all Copro Records, Northern Music Management, past band members and, of course, the ET9 whiteshirt army. Thank you all for making the ride such fun. We look forward to seeing some of you again, and maybe serving you fries with your happy meal!" The band are due to start their final ever tour on April 3rd. "The last show (at the Garage) is bound to be an emotional affair," states bassist Dave Anderson, "We're going to be filming the gig for inclusion on a DVD release later this year, so at least the moment will be captured for prosperity. Hopefully we'll see lots of friendly faces there to see us off!" Frontman Karl Middelton had this to say: "Earthone9 is dead. We have always been a disparate group of people, for the most part the music that we made was our common ground. Constant touring under difficult circumstances and the added tension of living together has created an environment in which the band can no longer exist. The 'down-time' of the last few months has just confirmed what the four of us already new. This has been an incredibly difficult decision for us to make but it is for the best. File under irreconcilable differences. Our final act of unity will be to make this tour our best ever, bring some protective clothing if you are coming to any of the shows." For anyone wanting a last taste of the ET9 sound a new EP entitled Omega will be available from April 8th on Copro Records.
Earthtone9 Call It A Day Posted at www.myjoeroberts.com
in the Joe Roberts' Forum Yes, it appears that the end is nigh, earthtone9 is going to be no more after the April tour, and this comes as no surprise to many people. I was asked to provide a quote for use in a press release, and it appears below: "As many people are already aware, the future of earthtone9 has been hanging in the balance for a while, and in my view things have not been ideal within the band for a while. There has been no outward malice, just a feeling that we were not all pulling in a unified direction with where we believed the music should be heading, and how we wanted to be perceived by the people who listened to our music. I feel as though at some point, perhaps as long ago as a year (or possibly longer), in some quarters an obsession with commercial success usurped the enjoyment and satisfaction we all strove for from the beginning of earthtone9, and without that sense of a common purpose, it was inevitable I guess that eventually this would lead to the end of the band. In any band there must be compromises, simply because no one person can control all parts of how the whole band performs, writes and looks. But in some ways, I feel that the compromises became too unequal, and this left people feeling more frustrated by their feelings of impotence and irrelevance in deciding how the band operated and set its standards. Having said all of this, the last 6 years have been full of good times, laughs, stress, excitement, boredom and fulfilment and I feel grateful to have played my part in a band that achieved much more success than I ever dared hope for. I enjoyed the time we had, and feel that if we were to carry on as earthtone9, it would feel like a contrived and fake version of what should, by rights, be everything or nothing at all. There should be no lowering of standards with the intent of staying together regardless, and I trust that people who are fans of the band will appreciate this. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the friends we made, the people who genuinely cared (and still do) for the band and the music it made. The people who made me feel so welcome and who ultimately made the greatest difference to the belief I had in myself, and made it seem so much more important that we took earthtone9 as far as we could. To these people I am most grateful. Thank you." So there it is, I hope people will forgive my inability to say anything about this until now, when it is convenient for everyone in the band and at Copro for this to be public information. It's sad in a way but also it's a chance for me, not selfishly , to do other things and to get the rest of my life (which is a bit of a mess) in order. Once again though, a massive THANK YOU to everyone who believed in me/us. I will never forget how good it felt to realise that the music we made had a positive effect on people. That's what it was all about to me, not success in the commercial sense, not money, not swimming pools, just mutual good times for the band and the band's friends. Maybe I will get my own songs sorted and a band together enough to do something else. But whatever happens, earthtone9 has been great fun, and entertaining, and I do like to be entertained!
Omega EP On 8th April, 2002 a new EP entitled 'Omega' will be released. It will feature the following tracks: Amnesia, Revelation
and House Of Leaves (from 2001's Island
demo) The EP will be available through Copro Records.
And Now For Something Completely
Different Nothing much to say in the way of news except that the band have still not sorted out a full-time drummer and currently have as a stand-in, the fantastic Alex (drum tech with Pitchshifter). There has been for a while now, a website devoted to the wonderful Mr Roberts (et9's guitarist) and features his solo efforts as well as lots to do with what makes Joe tick. There are a number of Joe's solo musical creations in mp3 format to download. This site can be found at www.myjoeroberts.com.
Autumn European Dates Cancelled All of the current European dates have been cancelled due to too many factors conspiring against the band. The band apologies sincerely to everyone and have promised to try and reschedule. All of the UK dates are unaffected.
Autumn Tour Dates I'm quite late with this news, I have known it for a least a week now, but have just been too busy to post it, so except my apologies for that. However, the boys have announced a new UK tour during October, which they hope will include at least one date outside England, before they scoot off to Europe again, on the 17th (see touring pages). Support to be confirmed along with one or two of the venues. No new drummer has yet been announced - so expect Richie to continue to help out there.
Further Touring News Before the band release further details of their proposed tour in the Autumn - as mentioned in earlier news below - they have a couple of other live dates. The first is on 24th July, when they are off to Turin, Italy to play an open air show with old friends Linea 77 (it's their home town). Richie Mills will be performing drum duties. Then on Sat 11th August they will be headlining the CityJam Festival in Nottingham at Rock City. This is likely to be the last show in the UK for quite some time.
Dummer Quits Band There has been some nasty rumours floating around the Earthtone9 camp over the last month or so, and unfortunately we now have confirmation of one of them. It is with great regret Simon Hutchby - one of the originating members - has left the band. It was officially announced at 5:10pm on the 20th July, 2001 by guitarist Owen Packard who said: "si is no longer in earthtone9… we have all been working away at this band for a long time and si just wanted to do something else… looks like he will do a spot of travelling and then move on to pastures new… we all wish him well and are sure he'll find success in whatever he attempts next!!!" He went on to say: "i know some rumours have been flying round but there is nothing heavy going on… it was just time to move on… we had an amazing time together at the sardinian festival this weekend and we hope to stay in touch with the young sticksman…" The band are urging drummers to contact them if they think they could take-over the position of this mightily talented musician. Interested parties should write to them at: ET9 drummer, c/o PO Box 4429, Henley on Thames, Oxon, RG9 1GH
European Headlining Tour and New
Album On the tail of the depressingly sad news of Simon leaving the band, there is thankfully some potentially good news. The band should shortly announce dates for a full headlining European tour to take place in October. The exact details will have to be confirmed, but one of two support acts is likely to be a band called "Thursday" and there should be 5 or 6 UK shows. This follows comments by Owen Packard that the band would like to finish writing their next album by October. With the departure of Simon, we will have to wait and see if this is still possible, but it is understood that Richie Mills - the former Sunna and Blastcage drummer - will be standing in while they look for a replacement.
Live MP3 Downloads The Charity gig on Saturday 30th June, 2001 went as planned and turned out to be quite a laugh. Click the link for a review of the gig from the Stratford Civic Hall which includes some live pictures. Also, click this link for live mp3 tracks from the gig (be advised, the quality is not that great).
ET9 Cancel Scheduled Gigs! Yes, it is true! The band has cancelled all the gigs they had planned during June (including the two German festivals), as they need a well earned break. It has become apparent that the endless touring since the release of Arc' Tan' Gent last year has taken it's toll on the band. They need to have a short break away from each other and also need some time to dedicate to writing new material. They have still committed themselves to the charity gig in Stratford-Upon-Avon at the end of June (see touring pages).
Lyrics To New Songs On a more positive note, Oz has released the working lyrics for some of the new songs that are in development. The lyrics can be found by following the links below: Amnesia
New Song Titles To follow-up the information earlier in the month about the
band writing new songs, the lads have confirmed that there are four freshly penned tracks
which are called:
...but they made me an offer I
couldn't refuse... It seems that the lads have been getting propositions from
companies that they would be silly to turn down. It has involved them having to work
their sock off getting new songs finished and their planned downtime just ain't gonna
happen. To quote Oz "...a very nice man from a big company has offered us five
days studio time to demo new toons... we are having to work like crazy (and i mean crazy)
to get it done..."
Earthtone9 Downtime The boys have been touring more or less solidly since the beginning of February 2001, so at the end of the One Minutes Silence UK tour dates, they are taking a well earned break until the Evolution dates toward the end of May. Karl had a nasty throat infection on the last few dates of the OMS tour and indeed they had to pull out of the last gig (at the Liverpool Lomax).
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
updated Matthew Coleman's earthtone9 FAQ's (v1.1) have been updated and now have even more information about your favourite band. Once again well done Matthew. He also has a set of live earthtone9 mp3's (www.myopia.f9.co.uk) from their gig on their recent support of Fear Factory at the London Astoria on Saturday 14th April (broadcast by BBC Radio 1). The set consists of; Star Damage For Beginners, Withered, P.R.D Chaos, Yellow Fever and Tat Twam Asi.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
added to site I have added to this site a fantastic set of FAQ that have been compiled by Matthew Coleman (www.myoptika.co.uk) who is a big fan of the band himself. I would like to thank Matthew for all the hard work and effort that he has put into creating the document.
Evolution Dates postponed until
May Yes, the lads have managed to secure the prized support slot across mainland Europe with Fear Factory and then a UK slot with One Minute Silence. These are tours they would've been mad to turn down, but of course they do clash with the four Celtic Evolution dates. With great regret, and with hope of understanding, they have postponed these dates until May. The existing tickets are valid or a refund is available. For full details take a look at the touring pages.
Live MP3 Downloads The gig on Friday 23rd February, 2001 that was part of the
TotalFest1 weekend was broadcast live on the night (along with all the other bands that
appeared over the two nights) on TotalRock Radio (the station can be found on Sky Digital
[Ch950] or on the internet [www.totalrock.com]).
The 'tat twam asi' video on MTV/2 Shock, horror, probe... Earthtone9's video for "Tat twam asi" was played on satellite TV by MTV on their alternative channel MTV/2. There is a new weekly magazine that is aimed at new metal bands and is called "The Riot". It is shown on Thursday nights (and repeated on Saturday nights) at midnight, and on the 8th February they not only showed the video in totality but mentioned the remainder of the bands dates with Pitchshifter. At last some publicity for the band, but what next Oz and Karl on "Richard and Judy"!!??!!
Earthtone9 Message Board has
moved Yes, it's true. Due to overwhelming popularity, the message board has already used up the limited space provided by the initial ISP and Flathead had to look elsewhere. With big thanks to Copro Records, they offered to give the board a new home on their own servers and it is still available from the official site or from the link above. Thank you Copro and Flathead!
0..0..0 Remix There is, for a limited time only, a remixed version of the
song '0..0..0' from the Off Kilter album available as an MP3 download
from the official site (on the Sounds page) or via this link 0..0..0 (Nomad Remix). The remix takes the song on a journey along a far more danceable path and adds an almost industrial quality, but with a dance beat that is maintained throughout. I happen to like it, and think that it does actually add something (for a wider audience) to the song and lets it travel to distant civilisations that it would never normally get to visit. Well done to the band for being open minded and allowing us to enjoy a completely different view of their music.
** The 'tat twam asi' video ** The video for "tat twam asi" is complete
and it's awesome!. It was Directed by Stuart Brereton, Edited by Mike Crawford and
Produced by Nomad Pictures. For the moment there are no plans to commercially
release it, however it is likely to appear on the bands web-site and maybe released for
promotion to the likes of MTV et al (and will hopefully give the band some much needed
exposure).
** Fantastic Earthtone9 Message
Board ** Thanks to 'Flathead' (a real rock fan and a hard working nice guy), Earthtone9 now have a message board (full of features) available on the official site or from the link above. On the board it is possible not only to communicate with like-minded individuals with similar musical tastes, but leave messages for the band who will do their best to answer them. Also, there are messages left by band members for the fans to answer, so all in all an excellent facility. Well done Oz and Flathead! |
| Other news ...they are currently writing new material!!! I can't wait to hear it!
Previous Information ** The boys recorded a session for www.totalrock.com (TotalRock Radio formally Rock Radio Network) on Friday 22nd September. The recording took place just before the Colchester gig and it was broadcast on Saturday 23rd September on the Matt Mason's show. It also featured an interview with the boys live in the studio. If you missed it, write to info@totalrock.com and request another airing or ask them to add it into their archives (Just tell them that Rigsby suggested it!!) ** ** For a while, there was confusion with respect to who was going to be the bands permanent bass player. There has been a fair amount of uncertainty since the departure quite sometime ago now of Graeme Watts. Jamie Floate has helped the band out in the interim but the official full-time bass player for the band is now Dave Anderson. Dave is very happy with the situation and stated that things just "clicked" with him and the others members of the band and the chemistry is now spot-on ** ** Earlier this year, the band played the much vaunted "Lost Weekend" festival and on all accounts enjoyed themselves (and some of the other bands performing particularly 'A Perfect Circle' and 'Hundred Reasons'). There is still a streaming video of the Earthtone9 set to be found at Switch2.net, (this was supposed to be removed at some point as it was only originally posted for one month, but fortunately it hasn't *smile*). It features Karl dressed in nothing but his tattoo's and some cling-film wrapped around his waste. This was done, as you would expect for a bit of fun, but was also suppose to include Simon, who allegedly "chickened-out". Karl however, was not deterred and went on stage like it anyway, much to the amusement of the rest of the band ** |