Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Music

Meet the band

A profile of a band with local ties.

By JULIE GARISTO
Published May 25, 2006

The Nine Volts

Members: Brian Collen, bass; Conrad Wilson, vocals and guitar; Paul Brenton Sikes, drums, backing vocals; and James Mitchell, guitar

Home base: Port Canaveral

What they sound like: "We probably think we sound like the unlikely combination of the Band and Hüsker Dü," Sikes says.

Wilson: "Or a cross between America and Dinosaur Jr."

Sikes: "Audiences probably have a different opinion, based on whatever reference points they find. We are 'a little bit country and a little bit rock 'n' roll.' "

Tampa connections: "Conrad, James and I have known various members of Zillionaire, and before that, the Washdown, for years," Sikes says. "The New Granada (Tampa music label and promoter) connection kind of grew out of that."

Wilson: "I love playing Tampa! It's a beer commercial: good music, good friends, good times! People in beer commercials are always having fun."

Why the name: "We were sitting around our studio as I was changing batteries in my pedals, which instigated a conversation about the overlooked importance of the 9-volt battery in the signal chain," Wilson says.

Sikes: "It has occurred to us that the lowly 9-volt battery is probably one of the unsung heroes of guitar-based music . . . and that's kind of how we view ourselves: a bit square, with plenty of electricity on the inside, but largely unnoticed. Obviously, we are working to change that now. The other genesis for the name comes from the mythic practice of actually testing a 9-volt battery by placing it on your tongue to see if you get shocked, which is really just a preteen warmup for heavy drug use later in life."

Wilson: "That comes right after spinning in circles until you can't stand up."

Reel-time Voltage: "If our band were featured in a movie, it would have to be directed by Jim Jarmusch, if only because our music prefers to be played in black and white, through a jukebox in a deserted bar," Sikes says.

Wilson: "I would like to be featured in a Paul Thomas Anderson neo-hayseed movie; that would be interesting. I would love to work on a David Gordon Green soundtrack also."

Guilty pleasures: "Conrad and James refuse to feel guilty about loving NASCAR," Sikes says. "Brian and I refuse to feel guilty about being in a band with Conrad and James even though they love NASCAR."

Check 'em out: 9 p.m. Friday, New World Brewery, 1313 E Eighth Ave., Ybor City.; www.theninevolts.com and www.myspace.com/theninevolts.

- JULIE GARISTO, Times staff writer

[Last modified May 24, 2006, 12:48:44]