The 9s are a funky group of guys that have recently taken the
Omaha, Nebraska music scene by storm! Their music is made up of a timeless mix of
funk and
pop tunes with an amazing sense of sexual
groove. I was lucky enough to happen upon them while at Summer Fest 2000 in
Rock Island, Illinois, and I have loved them ever since. For a while, I was actually quite
obsessed. I couldn’t go to a swim meet without their
CD, and I had to listen to "Heart Pimp" before swimming the 500 yard
freestyle, just to make sure I would have a good song in my head during the
duration of the event. I haven’t seen them in
concert since Summer Fest, but only because these boys rarely venture out of
Nebraska. However, they have promised to come back over to
Illinois again!
Overall, one word seems to express them perfectly:
Original. Make no assumptions about this band. If you haven’t heard from them yet, you will soon. They are much bigger than smalltime flops. They have opened for
Maceo Parker and the
Parliament Funkadelic!! There are now some small
cult followings of 9s fans from around the
US (mainly Nebraska, Illinois, Iowa, and New Jersey).
The band members are:
Craig Balderston – Bass, Vocals
Jason Birnstihl- Guitar, Lead Vocals (with a deliciously attractive quality reminiscent of Jarvis Cocker)
Dan Maca – Drums
Justin Palmer – Synthesizer, Vocals
Mitch Towne – Electric Piano, Organ, Vocals
To date, they have two albums:
The 9s (Their hit
debut album):
1. Me, You and Everybody
2. Spin
3.
I Don’t Want My Girl Doing Things I Can Get The Other Girls To Do
4. Heart
Pimp (my personal favorite)
5. Back To Blond
6. Dough She
7. Can’t Stop The Groove (another great diddy!)
8.
Calumet
9. M.M.J.B.S.
All Night Music:
1.
Good
2. All Night Music
3. Last
December
4. Your Woman
5. Little Hey Hey
6.
Driving Home Naked
7. It’s Waiting For You
I must also inform you that their CDs are fairly cheap, under ten bucks, even though they are of very high quality and worth the investment. For more info, go to: www.the9s.com.