The Lucky Nine Interview

Daniel Carter, guitarist for Lucky Nine is poised and ready to answer our fine Claire Bailey's questions... read on, dear music lover...

Room Thirteen: Please could you introduce yourself and explain your role within the band?
Daniel Carter: Hi I'm Dan and I play guitar in Lucky Nine.

R13: Where are you now and what are you doing?
DC: I'm at home with Ben and we're going through some stuff for Download.

R13: Could you give a brief explanation of how you all got together?
DC: It all started when 'A' were writing 'Hi Fi Serious' and Hundred Reasons were writing their first album. 'A' had a studio in London where we used to rehearse and Hundred Reasons would use it too. I would go into the studio in the mornings to demo stuff I had been working on that wasn't really suitable for 'A' to record. When Hundred Reasons got into the studio in the afternoon I would show them what I had done. I had a bunch of stuff written that wasn't really songs and I thought I would get a load of people to sing on it. Colin was the first to get back to me and said he would sing on three of them. He came down to Brighton and at the end of the three songs he asked if could sing on all of them. Of course, I said yeah go on then!

R13: As both Colin and you play for other bands; do you find there are any conflicts of interest?
DC: Not really as we know the score and there aren't just two of us; there's Jay, Ben and Richie who make up Lucky Nine. It's no real problem.
R13: How do you choose which band takes precedence?
DC: It's done on a first come first served basis. Recently Lucky Nine played at the 'Give it a Name' festival and a bunch of 'A' stuff got booked over that period too. I had to say to 'A' I can't do this and I can't do that. In the end I was actually in Europe at that time and had to fly back from Hamburg to play. If stuff's been booked, it's been booked, and that's the way it has to be.

R13: Do you find recording difficult as you have to fit around so many schedules?
DC: Yeah it was awkward but that was more to do with the guy who's studio it was rather than Hundred reasons or 'A'. Whenever we had time off we were like, "yeah let's go in and do this", and he would be busy. We were working round everybody's schedules.

R13: With prior commitments, how is the writing process broken down?
DC: On the first album, I recorded everything with Richie drumming and then Colin sung on it. When it became time to tour, we got a full band together. Everything shaped up differently as it was a band rather than just Richie, Colin and me, so we re-recorded the whole album again.

R13: Did you find you already had a fan base due to 'A' and a Hundred Reasons?
DC: There are comparisons made and I do think people are more aware about us because of 'A' and Hundred Reasons, but because of the type of music it is, I don't think people who listen to Hundred Reasons and A would be particularly interested in it. They are always going to be a help though, as they will be aware of other things that we have done.

R13: Do you have plans to release an album?
DC: The album has been done for about a year now. It's a case of getting it mastered and getting it out.
R13: Do you have a name for it?
DC: 'True Crown Foundation Songs - Hymns of History and Hidden Ritual'.
R13: When can we expect it to be released?
DC: It was originally Aug 8th but it's been put back to September 8th.
R13: Is it what you expected?
DC: It's a good representation of where we were at the time, but already we are writing more stuff now. We have most of the second album written now.

R13: As both 'A' and Lucky Nine are playing at Download are you looking to party the night out?
DC: Not really, as I've got to keep my head together. 'A' are playing on the main stage and normally we would come off and get together with all the other bands but Lucky Nine are playing at about 8pm. Then when we finish the set we're going straight out to Germany.

R13: Have you had any thoughts to your set list?
DC: Yep.
R13: Do you know what you're going to be playing?
DC: Yep.
R13: Are you going to tell me?
DC: Yeah, we're playing a few tracks off the album and some off the EP!

R13: What sort of show can we expect?
DC: I have no idea... Hopefully a decent, well run, smoothly operated, professional one. But knowing our luck it won't be!
R13: What's the worst case scenario?
DC: Everything breaks, everything goes wrong and we end up smashing all our equipment!

R13: Are you at all nervous about playing at all?
DC: No I'm excited about it all. I'm actually a bit gutted as I thought I was going to be hero of the day because I was the only one playing two sets but it turns out that Frank from Anthrax is doing two sets too. [Frank also plays with Helmet.]

R13: What does the rest of 2005 hold for The Lucky Nine?
DC: The album actually comes out in June in Japan. I shouldn't really say that though, as Hassle have already been "hassling" me to make sure that doesn't happen.

R13: So it's a bit of a "sore point" then ... moving swiftly on ... Will you be doing any touring?
DC: Yes, we're going to be touring out in Japan by the end of the year and then touring when the album comes out. We're also hitting our mates in other bands for support slots too.