MM9

Earlier this year, MM9 toured nationally on theback of the release of their debut album ‘The Air Between’.  This winter, the band have teamed up with Karnivool to warm up the country on what will be MM9’s biggest tour to date.  Drummer, Ben Ellingworth took the time out to chat with Chantel Bann about life on the road and why he is Lars Ulrich’s biggest fan. Or not.

 Was that one of the largest tours MM9 has done so far?
Definitely up there.  It was probably on par with a couple of others ones.  It all becomes a bit of a blur.  Last year I think we did, 68 or 69 shows. I looked at it the other day and it kind of shocked me and although they were really part of the one tour, it felt like it all kind of blended into one.  The one we’ve got coming up with Karnivool is definitely one of the bigger ones that we’ve done. It’s something like 24 dates

How would you compare headlining your own shows on the last tour and having to take the responsibility of pulling the crowd to supporting another band on their tour? Do you get to take a little bit of a backseat in terms of promo etc when you join another band’s tour and just take advantage of the fact that there’s already an audience there that you just have to win over with your live show?
It’s definitely a lot easier.  It’s just nice to step up and do a slightly shorter set. But I guess there is still a little bit of pressure to get your point across in a slightly shorter set, whereas we kind of like to over the hour, build a show and it’s always nice to have more space.  This time, with these tours, the shows can be a bit more stressful because generally you miss out on things like soundcheck and you’ve got to throw your gear up there pretty quickly, get the job done and get off again. It’s good in the way of promo definitely, but the shows tend to be a bit more tiring because it’s not so relaxed.

The Karnivool dudes are really nice dudes, really friendly and really accommodating so it’s kind of helpful.  The worst thing is going out on the road with a band you don’t really get along with.

 I think one of the coolest things about Australian bands, especially Australian hard rock bands, is this huge camaraderie between most of the bands where pretty much everyone has shared the stage with each other and it’s almost a bit incestuous.
Absolutely and if it’s not the two bands that have played together it will be members within those two bands that have played together in other bands, or were in bands together at one point, or even worked on each other’s albums.  It’s really nice to be at that point and run into the bands and people that you already know.

 I think Australia is one of the best places to be in an upcoming band because you do have to fight for your gigs a little bit more and the population isn’t as great as the States, where there’s a venue on every corner and you can kind of be a bit more choosey.  But in Australia, I think you’ve really got to step up.  I’ve said it heaps of times too, that one of the best things about touring, for me, is just realising that we have the highest talent per capita than anywhere else in the world. 

 Working in the drum industry and being in charge of a lot of the big drum sessions where a lot of the international big name drummers get to come out here and jam with our guys, I can tell you 100% that we have the best drummers, hands down.  That actually comes from the mouths of a lot of the American and UK drummers that just come out here and go “Wow!”. 

 Touring is very inspiring and I think it’s the best way to learn, you know, just throw yourself in the deep end with players that are better than you, or that you look up to and really respect, and I don’t think there’s a better way to learn than with that hands on experience and being able to watch someone who you really admire.  So that’s definitely my favourite part of touring.  I get all goosebumpy when I watch an Australian band just come out and kick arse over an international band.

 Just going back to the need for a shorter set, do you guys ever get into fights over song choices?
You know it’s funny, we had a meeting the other night where we were talking about what we would drop from the set, because there’s a good 4 or 5 songs that we have to drop out of the set and everyone’s got their own favourites and there’s songs that kind of just have to go in there that we wouldn’t drop, but there are a few now where I kind of go “Come on, let’s drop this one. We’ve been playing it for a while now…”.  It’s funny because there are some selfish reasons for wanting to keep certain songs in there - like it might be a little bit drum heavy - and I kinda go “No, we’re not losing that one!” But we generally agree to disagree.  We’ve been doing this together long enough to be able to understand that we do what’s best for the band even if we don’t like it. 

Everyone seems to talk about the positives of touring and how great the last tour was, but I want the dirt.  What were some of the low points of the last tour?
You’re going to think “Yeah yeah Ben, whatever,” but I don’t think there were any low parts in terms of the shows.  There were definitely crowds that were smaller than others but sometimes, and it’s such a diplomatic answer but, there are some shows where the crowds are smaller but they’re ten times more enthusiastic.  There certainly weren’t any shows that were completely embarrassing!  The low point would have been more about this time that we spent in small confines in a van for a long period of time when we went to WA.  We flew to WA, then drove two hours south to Bunberry.  We did that show and then the next morning we had to get up at 7am.  Over there, they call Bunberry ‘Funberry’ because it gets a bit rockin’ and when you go on stage, in between every single song, they scream “Let’s get fuckin’ rowdy! Let’s get fuckin’ rowdy!” and they get mental and they throw stuff at you.  You see people just diving and throwing chairs.  After the shows it tends to get a little bit messy so, you know, beers were bought and they’re a pretty convincing bunch of people too so at 7am we all had pretty sore heads.  We’ve got to travel seven and a half hours north to a place called Geraldton.  [sighs] Oh Geraldton. It reminds me of one of those nuclear testing places where they have a mock suburb, with these mannequins in perfect houses and then they let off a nuclear bomb to measure the effects.  That’s exactly what Geraldton was like.  You know, and people are a little bit crazy.  You travel for about 5 hours through the desert and then you get to this little place called Geraldton and you just go “Wow….what happens here?!” [laughs]

 Now what do you think is so great about the pairing of Karnivool and MM9 on this tour?
I think Karnivool are a band that, not only fans, but bands themselves really look up to and admire as far as playing and musicianship goes.  They are a band that I think that have just broken that [prog] mould and are just breaking new boundaries and they’ve got such a passion for exploring new music.  They’re always looking forward rather than backwards.  At the moment, I’m really into bands that are achieving things in music by looking forward - not by doing some things that have already happened.  I mean, we all borrow music and there are things that we’re influenced by and there’s obviously no harm in being influenced by musicians and having that come across in some of your songs, but I just find that in a lot of music these days – I can just hear the influences been worn on the sleeves so heavily that it just becomes a little bit contrived.  I think that Karnivool have broken a mould of prog rock and are just exciting to watch.

 Karnivool and MM9 – I like the mix.  It’s not going to be a big prog fest for everyone.  We’re going to offer something that a lot of people can move and dance to and it’s a little bit more electro, whereas Karnivool are just going to come on and rock everyone’s socks off with just their intensity of their sound and their ability.  It should be really interesting because a lot of people that like Karnivool are into bands like The Butterfly Effect and Dead Letter Circus and hopefully some of those people will come and watch us and just go “Cool, this is something I haven’t really seen before.  This isn’t the typical kind of prog band that normally gets put with Karnivool”.

 MM9 has been together for quite some time now (8th year), are there any kind of pre-show/tour rituals that you have that just has to happen for the shows to be successful?
I’ve got a little travel pillow that I call ‘Keith Richards’ because it kind of looks like him because it’s brown and old.  But there’s no kind of weird ritualistic thing.  It’s just about making sure you get your shit together before going away on tour.  You don’t want someone busting your balls over the phone because you’ve forgotten to do something.  I personally like to disappear when we’re away on tour and just get lost in a world of just playing music.  So I tend to go into super, super, crazy mode of just running around like a madman just getting everything squared away.  That’s my pre tour ritual I guess.

 Pre-show though, we’re a funny band in that we don’t really hang out that much.  We kind of just go off and do our own thing and I think that might have a lot to do with how we’ve managed to stay together for so long without killing each other.  I think it’s some really good advice for any band and that is, learn how to be cool apart and learn how to not have to say something to each other all the time.  Learn how to travel without having to talk to one another.  I actually really like having dinner on my own and it’s weird but it’s how we’ve always done things.  Giving each other their own space is really important.

 I’m sure we all have our own kind of pre show ritual but we’ve never really talked about it.  We kind of just meet a few minutes before we go onstage, share a bit of man love and then get on with it!

 Ok, I have one last question, and it comes from one of your adoring fans.  How did you become Lars Ulrich’s biggest fan?
Oh no!!!  Oh man! You know what? I’m trying to think of who would have asked that question because there are so many people out there that would pay me out about it.  Ok, I will admit it - As much as I am ashamed – I own a Lars Ulrich signature snare drum and I’ve never been able to live that down.  It’ll just sound like I’m trying to justify myself now but I didn’t buy it because it was a Lars Ulrich snare. I bought it because it sounded really, really good! I brought it to rehearsal and I was trying to hide it from everyone and everyone was like, “Is that a checkerplate Lars Ulrich snare drum?” and I went, “Yeah, can we not talk about it?” Ever since then, everything I do always comes back to Lars Ulrich.  All my friends just kind of say, “Yeah, but are you as good as Lars?” They always pay me out.  I have a real problem with Lars because that guy, I think, is the epitome of someone who forgets just what music is all about.  I could give you a two hour answer on why that guy should stop collecting art! [laughs]

 Ever since I was a child, my favourite drummer has been Nico McBrain and he never won a best metal drummer award because it always went to Lars Ulrich.

 Catch MM9 supporting Karnivool at the following:

21 Jul 2010 - Capitol, Perth, WA - SOLD OUT
22 Jul 2010 - Capitol, Perth, WA       
22 Sep 2010 - Club Coffs, Coffs Harbour, NSW
23 Sep 2010 - The Miami Tavern, Miami, QLD
24 Sep 2010 - The Step Inn, Brisbane, QLD
25 Sep 2010 - Plucked Duck, Goondiwindi, QLD