HateTimesNine started out as a recording project by vocalist Travis Neal and guitarist Tracy Swider in San Diego, CA, in late 2005. After a month in the studio and recording a 3 song demo, it was evident that the songs and sound had definite potential. The band has now issued "Shadows", a twelve song collection of steady metal rockers the way they oughta be played: jammed to the brim with highly impressive dual guitar work coming from Jeff Poremba and Tracy Swider, along with the super charged double-bass drumming of Mikey Pannone, perfect low end rumbling from bassist Shane Monaghan, and passionate, deeply felt vocals from vocalist Travs Neal. The album was produced by Swider himself and immediately showcases the band's incredibly well honed heavy progressive/thrash sound with the stalwart tracks "In Darkness", "The Process Hate", and the epic "Leading The Fare", which is highlighted by Swider's incredible lead guitar solo work that easily rivals that of any of hard rock's best players today.
The Metal Den’s Randy “Rocket” Cody interviews:
Tracy Swider of HateTimesNine
Rocket: What first drew you to playing music?
Tracy: I was in 6th grade and a friend of mine could play the guitar, we were hanging out at his house and he asked me if I wanted to learn a song. He tried and tried to teach me but I sucked so bad he told me that I should just give up on it. I think I wanted to learn to play after that just to prove him wrong. I guess I showed that dirty bastard, haha.
Rocket: When exactly did you first start playing the guitar?
Tracy: When I was 11. Ummm, the exact time and date slips my mind.
Rocket: Did you ever take any formal guitar lessons?
Tracy: No, I never took any guitar lessons, but I did study classical music theory with a piano teacher. I had to transcribe all the lessons to the guitar so I think having to figure out how it applied to guitar from the piano really helped me understand it better. Everything else I've figured out on my own. Early on I did most of my learning by ear. I'd sit for hours and try to figure out songs from my favorite bands. Nowadays everything is so accessable through books and the internet that it makes learning guitar a hell of a lot easier. Everybody has an instructional video now. If you want to learn their best licks it's all right there for you. I had to do it the hard way, boo hoo!!! lol
Rocket: Who are some of your biggest playing influences of past and present?
Tracy: I really try not to be influenced by other players other than for motivation to be better. Most of the guitar players I listen to aren't in the style of music I play, but I've always been into players that move me with their writing. There are plenty of great guitar players out there that I can't really listen to because I don't like the way they write, or their writing comes secondary to their playing. Steve Morse is probably my all time favorite as far as writing goes, he can pretty much write in any style of music and that's very impressive to me. I really like Michael Romeo from Symphony X, I think his writing is very intelligent and he's a great player, his writing comes off as important as his guitar solo's. As far as players that I like just for their guitar playing, Allan Holdsworth is my favorite. I think he has the most unique voice on the guitar I could hear him anywhere and immediately know it was him. There is nobody that sounds like him, he's in a league of his own. To name a few others, Tuck Andress is amazing and so is Elliot Fisk, I also really like Frank Gambale. If you have never heard or seen any of them, go to YouTube and check them out, get ready to be amazed.
Rocket: What kind of guitars did you use in the studio for the debut recording from HATETIMESNINE called "Shadows"?
Tracy: I only used two guitars for the recording. Although I have a lot of guitars my two main ones for this style of music are both Ibanez. For all the rythm tracks I used a RG 350 DX. I set it up with heavier strings and raised the action so it would be clean and chunky. For all the technical stuff and solo's I used a RG 350 EX that's the guitar I use as my main guitar for live shows as well. Both guitars have EMG pickups in them. I also played all the bass on the recording. I had to borrow a bass from a friend to do it, but don't remember what kind of bass it was. It was a 6 string bass that was hard as hell to play, that's all I remember.
Rocket: What kind of amp rigs?
Tracy: Right now I'm using a Line 6 rackmount pre amp that's wired stereo into a Yamaha 6 channel keyboard mixer powered by a Mosvalve poweramp. That goes into 2 Peavey Butcher cabinets with 75 watt Celestion speakers wired at 4 ohms. The effects in my rack are a BBE Unimax 401 goes mono into a Boss GX-700 that splits stereo into a Line 6 Filter Pro and then into a Line 6 Mod Pro. Those are wired in the effects loop of the pre-amp. On the floor I have a Digitech Whammy Pedal, a Morley Bad Horsie 2, and a Boss RC-20 XL Loop Station for the intro on Whitenoize Lullaby. I run that back into a separate channel in my rack mixer so I can mix it into only one of my speaker cabinets. I control all the functions of the rack with a MIDI controller.
Rocket: How did this band initially form together?
Tracy: I started it as a studio project. The band was never supposed to be a band, it was just a recording project that I brought Travis in to do some vocals on. It moved on from there.
Rocket: Where was the album "Shadows' recorded?
Tracy: The drums were recorded in Flight 19 Studios in San Diego. Everything else was recorded in my home studio.
Rocket: With all the great releases that have come out so far in 2008, what's been your favorite metal album this year?
Tracy: I don't listen to music enough to know what's been released. I can tell you pretty much anything about sports that you want to know though. I listen to more sports talk radio than I do music. The only CD I purchased this year was Symphony X's Paradise Lost.
Rocket: I like to have fun with this next one. What's the funniest thing that's happened to you while performing live on stage?
Tracy: I was playing in Nevada in a cover band when I was 18 and a girl was dancing out on the dance floor, she lost her balance and hit the floor. Her dance partner tried to help her up but ended falling down too. She was laying on her back and couldn't get up so one of her friends came out to help her but slipped and hit the floor too. It was like some slapstick comedy routine, I was laughing so hard I could barely play. I think the band dubbed her "The Turtle".
Rocket: So who are some of the other unsigned metal acts that you've seen on the scene that impress you?
Tracy: I never go to see bands other than my friends that play in them and none of my friends play in metal bands. As far as bands that we've played with, I couldn't tell you. I'm always doing my pre-show warm ups before we play and after we play it's usually too chaotic to watch the other bands.
Rocket: Is HATETIMESNINE working on some new material? If so, what can we expect?
Tracy: I'm always writing music whether I need to or not. I have a bunch of ideas that I'm working on right now that I'll put into cohesive songs when the time comes. I'm always trying to write something that challenges me musically, I get bored easily so I always write something that sparks my interest and my playing ability. Some of the stuff I write I have to put on the back burner because it's too technical for what we're trying to do right now.
Rocket: What are some of the upcoming shows for HATETIMESNINE?
Tracy: We had to replace two members since we finished the recording. We had to go through the whole search thing but finally found two guys that kick ass and get what we're trying to do. Zach Phillips replaced Jef Poremba on guitar and Greg Ladny replaced Shane Monaghan on bass. We've been in the rehearsal process geting down the live set, but should be ready to play by December.
Rocket: Thanks very much for rocking this out with me. Best of luck with it all! Go ahead and give a shout-out to your biggest supporters.
Tracy: The biggest supporters are the fans, they're what makes the machine go. To all the loyal H8trs and metal heads \m/,c u in the pit.
i miss swidy…hope you see this mate and hit me up…Its a HARD KNOX life for me.. LMAO…