NINE SHRINES BEAUTIFULLY CHAOTIC MADNESS

Baltimore SoundStage May 22nd 2017

Nine Shrines rolled into Baltimore not only to kick some ass but to drink some beer, and we’re not running out of beer anytime soon. Since Nine Shrines collectively came together in 2014, spawning from members of bands like ATTACK ATTACK!, Life on Repeat, and Strangers to Wolves, this five- piece band from Ohio are an explosion of what the music Industry needs right now. Empire Extreme got to talk to singer Chris Parketny and drummer Andrew Wetzel before they took the stage this night to demand the crowd to get rowdy and have a good time.

Empire: How’s the response been for the new EP “Misery” ?
Andrew: Its been great, they have been selling like crazy at the shows. It’s just great to see people come up after the set and compliment us and talk about how much fun it was to watch us play.

Empire: How was the writing process on that?
Chris: It took about six-weeks. We wanted to get it done in two-weeks, but we took a bunch of time off going out to the bars.

Empire: How’s the struggles been being in an established band then having to start from scratch again?
Andrew: Starting over from scratch is definitely an interesting experience, we all have done small coffee shops tour while we were younger and with my last band doing the bigger tours, just getting use to it all again. I already know what’s going to happen so spending a lot of time in the van, I spent 2 weeks before the tour writing down all the things that suck about touring in a van, and tried to figure out how many of these can I fix before the tour.So we built bunks in the van, we just know how to find food, beer and showers.This is a hell of a lot more fun experience than others were.

Empire. You guys are from the Cleveland area, what’s your intake of the scene there? And how do you feel about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
Chris: I actually haven’t been to the hall of fame yet, I lived here my whole entire life and haven’t had the chance to check it out yet. As far as the music scene, I grew up in it played in bands when I was 15 years old at local clubs and stuff. I know a lot of the club owners, I worked at a few clubs, I worked at Peabodys and the Agora. There’s a lot of good and up coming bands from there.

Empire: With Chris Cornell recently dying, if you could bring back any musician who would you bring back?
Chris: I’m a big Pantera fan, so I would bring back Dimebag Darrell, would love to see him play.
Andrew: I hope this doesn’t come off as cliché but having Kurt Cobain back would be pretty bad ass. I really love the whole grunge scene and Dave Grohl was my first favorite drummer.

Empire: Do you guys have any big pet peeves about the genre that you do?
Chris: I have a good one, all the genre elitist out there, that will only listen to one specific genre and bash everything else no matter what it is. That’s a huge pet peeve of mine. Like some kid came up to us in a Walmart parking lot, he saw we were in a band and came up and asked what band we were. I told him and he asked what kind of music and I was like kinda hard rock/metal. He went ehh I only listen to Prog metal, but I guess I could check you guys out. I was like you came up to me man, what the fuck? Ya people like that really grind my gears.

Empire: Any crazy tour stories you can share?
Chris: Ya a lot, I’m trying to think of any that are appropriate
Andrew: What’s the statute of limitations? We are like a weird shit magnet. (Cue in one the band doing a sound check) We don’t get pretty weirded out by anything, we already hit rock bottom. We’re living in a van. Ok we are in San Antonio and I just pulled up to the venue, and there’s a weird triangular shaped lot and loading dock. Both NonPoint and Hinders buses are parked back there. There is a spot next to them for us. So I’m getting ready to pull in there and the venue has lots of construction going on and there are contractors there. The electrician was standing there in the lot with a 24oz Budweiser  He is hammered and it is like 2:45 in the afternoon. He’s visibly wasted. There are two of them and we waned to park and they were like no let me move my truck I don’t want to get blocked in. Oh and important detail I got a Groupon for a dash cam for our van. So this guy runs to move his truck and there’s this dumpster in the way, and he backs into it.
Chris: About 10-15 times
Andrew: He is trying to move the dumpster with his truck, and his drunk ass friend is trying to coordinate the whole thing (again another sound check this time was for a full song) So we got the dash cam and its rolling (the band decides to do another song for sound check, so we take our conversation outside of the venue) So these two drunk dudes are backing there truck into this dumpster with beers in hand.
Chris: I’m talking and the dude goes back into the truck to get another beer.
Andrew: We had a small crowd watching them. I’m filming the whole thing on my dash cam. Best 40$ I ever spent. At one point the guy with the tall boy in his hand gets out and forgets the beer is in his hand and turns his hand and the beer is pouring out. He then throws the can down and goes into his truck and gets another one.
Chris: After doors opened that night, the same guy was up on a ladder fixing things with one hand and the beer still in the other. He’s doing electrical work and I’m like this dudes going to die.
Andrew: That’s a very small taste of how our day started that day. It’s never a dull moment when you’re with us.

Nine Shrines came out onto the  stage and just took the crowd by storm. With there high energy, kick ass music and lead singer Chris’s sporadic performance. Coming off a new EP that released in April of this year. I was completely blown away with Nine Shrines. They had such an amazing live performance and were incredible band to see live. If you’re into metal with a lot more substance in it, Nine Shrines is the band for you. During the set we got to listen to an amazing rendition of Garth Brooks “ Friends in Low Places” which was oddly played to perfection while Chris had a beer in hand. After the show the band hung out at the mech. tables signing autographs and taking photos with there fans. I was among them, purchasing the EP myself. Nine Shrines will be a household name within the genre and when this storm hits, it’s going to hit hard and never let you go.

About Author

Ron

Ron has keen eye for new talent, a love for the underground, and a tremendous passion for music of any genera. You’ll probably bump into him at a horror convention or some seedy club checking out the next need-to-know band.

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