"Heavy Weighs" Shot At Success For I Nine

By: Brett Hickman

Monday January 14, 2008

Carmen Keigans, pop-rock band I Nine's singer, is young. Very young. This is what I kept reminding myself when speaking to her a couple of months ago as the band were starting a tour as openers for Train singer Pat Monahan. While answering my questions, though exuberant at times, Keigans was a bit flighty overall. I sensed a distinct disconnect in her when discussing her music and was a little put off at first. The prevailing wisdom is that those who are making music (or any art) do so out of an undeniable, burning passion for it. But here was Keigans giving off a vibe that making an album and going on tour wasn't as exciting as it should be for a newcomer.

What got Keigans really excited, though, is when she talked about making the video for the band's "Seven Days Of Lonely" (see Links). Coming from a theater background, walking onto a video set had a certain allure for her that making records would not seem to have. She spoke enthusiastically about the costumes available for the shoot and bristled when I described the band's look as "goth" (a look that goes against the band's rather soft, radio-friendly music) in their press photos. But, in a music scene where Evanescence are still wildly popular, it's not surprising to see the band's handlers trying to market them in such a light.

And that's the key to the feeling I had while talking to Keigans. That, while not concentrating on what they'll say to the press so much as to how the band can be sold and marketed, someone is holding the I Nine's strings. From the change in the band's sound early on (they were an acoustic outfit without a drummer until recording Heavy Weighs the King), to their look, the band just feel like they stepped off on the wrong foot. As if they're being manipulated and twisted into something that they're not. The record industry's free fall is such that they're clinging to the tried-and-true so much that they continually attempt to tell you that a hamburger is really foie gras. And that sort of thing doesn't work anymore. People are fed up with the smoke and mirrors routine and want something at least a little more pure than what they've been served.

I Nine have an underlying purity. They're young and they can write a decent melody (evident by the songs just on their MySpace page), just let them make the music and stop interfering already, suits. I Nine may not ever change the world with their music, but a decent song unfiltered by the greedy powers-that-be can have positive effects on people.

Static Multimedia: How long have you been together?

Carmen Keigans: It's been about three years, but we've known each other since we were kids.

How did you guys get together?

CK: The boys started playing (Matt Heath - bass and Bryan Gibson - lead guitar/cello) in sixth grade. They've been playing forever. They used to be the cool guys in school. I was in random stuff. The chorus or plays in our town. They all knew me as the girl on the soccer team. We hung out but they didn't know I sang. It wasn't until I was a senior in high school that they knew I was a singer. I was hanging out with Matt one day and Matt had these lyrics written but didn't have a melody and I'm good at improv so I started singing it. Our friend and bandmate Brian Whittman (guitar), who's been our friend forever also, said 'you guys should be in a band together' so you can attribute this band being together from Brian's desire for all of us to be playing music together.

Where are you from originally?

CK: We were in Columbia, South Carolina (by way of Orangeburg, SC). That's where we started. We basically started writing songs not knowing where it was going to go. We got here and we recorded a demo. We all just packed up to Norcross, GA and lived their in a one-bedroom apartment. We were in Atlanta for about six months before we got signed. We never actually got to do our professional demo that we were planning on doing because we got signed off of a live recording we did at Eddie's Attic in Decatur (GA). We signed to J Records but I think that they're the same (as Arista).

What has been the evolution of the band since being signed? Has there been a lot of input from the label or have you been left to your own devices?

CK: The best answer to say is that we had never been in a studio before. So a lot of what happened to the band was just being exposed to what can happen when you're in a studio and all of the possibilities of what can be pulled out of the music. We've continued to write as much as we can but it's turned into a whirlwind experience. The coolest part is when we're in the studio something that was an acoustic song can be turned into a rock song. We played acoustically for so long that we had these songs that we didn't know could be as rock or pop-rock or radio friendly at all. Those kinds of things have happened because we had no idea before how to do that. How to maneuver around the studio like that. So I think that people who might have heard us very early on would say "well you know they were an acoustic band without a drummer, but now they're a rock band with a pop-rock or alternative rock CD' so that's different for us.

Did you have a producer guiding you towards this new sound?

CK: I don't think it was any one producer.

You worked with different people?

CK: We worked with a bunch of different people. We worked with Brian Howe (Hinder, Daughtry), Chad Kroeger (front man of Nickelback), George Drakoulias (and others).

Who writes the lyrics? How does the songwriting process happen?

CK: I've done all the lyrics for the songs so far. The guys usually bring a different idea or sometimes I'll have a melody in my head and Bryan will play it right back to me. Sometimes we'll just disappear to the mountains somewhere and sit around and have 200 ideas and then it's a matter of pulling from the best.

What are you looking forward to now that you're hitting the road?

CK: I actually enjoy being on the road. I don't think that everybody's cut out for it. I don't have a place to live really. Brian and I don't have apartments. We just have a storage facility where all of our stuff is. Basically, we get in the van and sleep in hotels and that's what's normal for us. Is that funny sounding?

No, that's pretty normal sounding, actually. Has there been anything special that's happened since being signed?

CK: It was before we got signed. We did a song for Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown. He's probably the most famous guy I met and was kind of in awe of. And we got kind of star struck by his wife (Nancy Wilson).

Heavy Weighs the King is coming out when?

CK: They say early '08. When the label heard it they got really excited and I thought it was going to get pushed to before the end of '07, but apparently it takes about 90 days to get a record out.

How did filming of the video go?

CK: I was nervous and didn't know what to expect. But when I saw the cameras and the sets I got excited. They asked me what I wanted to look like. And I told them I wanted to look like a witchy rock star. So they had me done up really cool. I loved it. We did one for Elizabethtown but it wasn't the same. This one was: come up with ideas, what do you want to happen next...I get off on that stuff.

The press photo for the band is a lot different than the music would indicate. Almost goth-inspired. What's the idea behind the juxtaposition of the band's look with the sound?

CK: I didn't mean for it to be goth. I'm a big fan of Fleetwood Mac in the 70s and I wanted it to look older. I liked the guys in the older clothes and they pulled out some old Hollywood stuff for me. I don't know what they called that era. They weren't hippies, but they were hipsters of the time.