STREET BEAT:   MUSIC PROFILE

9 m.m. Is Not Shooting Blanks!

by Ernie Thomas


     Although only armed with a “full clip” for the last eight months in
regards to their membership, Chicago’s industrial/nu-metal outfit – 9mm –
has amassed enough rock ‘n’ roll fire power to sell more than two thousand
copies of their 4-song CD, Dance Of The Dead.  

    In only a very short time, this quintet have won over hundreds of local
music fans, including a few regional “heavies” like Mike Wengren of the
platinum-selling band, Disturbed, Rebel Radio air personality, Scott
Davidson, and Midwest BEAT’s own mack daddy, Tom Lounges.

    “We don’t do anything half way,” said the band’s vocalist/lyricist,
Peter Moran.  “We are all completely into making 9mm a name that everyone
knows!”

    Moran’s bold statement and bravado is backed up by accomplishment. 
Although the nucleus of the band came together in February of 2000 when three
former band mates from an early ‘90s group (Outrage) reunited, it was not
until several months later that they actually stepped on stage to give their
first public performance.

    “Originally, it was just me and Dan Gash our guitarist and our drummer
Mike Semerau who got together to woodshed and do some writing,” says Moran, a
transplanted North Side rocker now residing in Hobart, Indiana.

    “I heard crickets for the first time in my life when I moved to N.W.
Indiana last year,” he says.  “The quiet out here has been pretty conducive
to writing for me.   The other members still live in the city, so it’s a
little harder on me than it used to be (driving time), but I really believe
in this band and things have been going really well for us.”

     The final shells slipped into the chamber when bassist Sean Alan and
keyboardist Suneel Victor were added to the 9mm line-up.   “As soon as those
guys came on board, we got into the studio (with Mike Sheffield of Gravelbone
producing) and started recording some of the songs we’d been writing for
those many months,” said Moran. 

    “Our CD has been doing very, very well for us,” he continued.  “We sold
out our first 1,000 copies in about six weeks and then went through a second
batch.  And that’s just through online sales and selling them at our live
shows.”

     The CD’s foreboding cover art is reflective of the dark and disturbing
music within.  Moran’s girlfriend, Theresa Keitzman of Hobart, portrays the
ethereal and vampiresque beauty on the cover.  “I shot those (photos) with a
digital camera in our backyard,” said Moran, “and then worked with them in
Photoshop until we had the eerie effect we wanted.”   
    
    With a third pressing of Dance Of The Dead  (which features three
original songs and one hard-edged cover of Depeche Mode’s “People Are
People”) being snatched up by their quickly growing fan base, 9mm will soon
return to the recording studio with a cache of new songs for a forthcoming
full-length CD.

    “Loud, intense and very spontaneous is the only way I can describe our
live show,” said Moran.  “We have an awesome light show with strobes,
lasers, glowing face paint and just some pretty remarkable effects.  We are
all about putting on the show of a lifetime and making sure people leave the
show talking about what they just saw and heard.  In fact, as we boldly state
in our official bio, the ultimate goal for us is to make a Kiss concert look
boring!”