Interviews: Ninth Degree

On this new occasion, we have had the opportunity to interview the Alternative Rock band, Ninth Degree from the UK. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1.Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it or came out just like that?

We actually spent the first 2 months or so brainstorming ideas. We then had a massive list of around 20/30 possible names and got our friends and family to vote on them. It ended up being a tie between "Fool's Paradise" and "Nth Degree" and the band voted for "Nth Degree". Unfortunately, we realised there was a pretty popular song from the 2000s called Nth Degree which would make it hard to google us. So we went for the next best option "Ninth Degree".

2.Why did you want to play this genre?

Thankfully, we don't really feel confined to a genre. We just started playing and writing the songs we enjoyed playing live. I think we ended up with more of a rock edge due to our guitarists Cameron and Reece both growing up being heavily influenced by Classic Rock and Metal greats such as Slash, Jimmy Page, James Hetfield etc.

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

Yeah, Hamish, Reece and Cameron went to school together and Hamish and Cameron have played in bands together since they were 15 or so. Ninth Degree was formed when Hamish and Cameron's last band Misselbrook & Watt disbanded due to their drummer leaving for university. The five of us were all studying at the University of Edinburgh and Connor and Murray were friends who had been to quite a few of the Misselbrook & Watt shows. It just seemed logical that we would invite them to join the band as the permanent rhythm section.

4. Each band member favourite band?

Cameron - David Bowie

Hamish - Queen

Reece - Rush

Connor - Bryan Adams

Murray - George Duke

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

Cameron, Hamish and Connor are the core songwriters in the band and we typically are all inspired by the drive to create something new and exciting. We are always trying new songwriting styles and arrangements to see what works best.

6. Where was your last gig?

Our last gig was at a venue called Church in Dundee, Scotland and was the night before the UK went into a national lockdown.

7. Where would you like to act?

We would love to tour Germany and other Central European countries.

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

We're all massive Queen fans so that would be the ultimate deam, as for more realistically, we always enjoy playing gigs with RumRunners, Stay For Tomorrow, The Marx and Still Sinking who are other great scottish bands!

9. Whom not?

We're always happy to try out new styles and so don't really have anyone we wouldn't want to try and work with. Maybe not Morrissey, he's a bit of dick now.

10. Any of you has ever suffered from stage fright? Any tip for beginners on how to beat that?

Connor and Murray both had never played in bands before Ninth Degree. Their advice is to just not overthink it and make sure you are as prepared as possible for the show.

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

Queen, Green Day, Catfish And the Bottlemen, Rush, Franz Ferdinand and Neil Young

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?

We've been requested to make a Ninth Degree branded cowbell a few times. We might consider it for the next release.

13. What do you think of your fans?

They mean the world to us. Every single person who listens to our tracks, comes to our shows, buys our merch or even just shares our posts online really matters to us.

14. What do you think of our site?

It's really great what you guys are doing to promote smaller bands around the world! We definitely need more sites like yours!