INTERVIEWED BY LAURA BITTNER
PHOTOS BY HANNAH PEARSON PHOTOGRAPHY
Hailing from Radford, Va., BOTTOM OF THE NINTH is a four-piece band made up of guitarists/vocalists Garett King and Alex Alcantara, drummer Lane Smith and bassist Damon Thompson, BOTTOM OF THE NINTH are known for their “pop punk smoothness” and being one of the best bands in their area. Focused on having a good time, writing catchy jams, and growing together as a band, BOTTOM OF THE NINTH have poised themselves with true musical professionalism upon the release of their latest EP, Some Place New. We had the opportunity to discuss with the band members about how BLINK-182 covers inspired them to change their musical direction from hair metal to pop punk, as well as the one time the played part of their set naked. everyday.
How long have you been together as a band?
This band, probably about a year. Yeah, tomorrow it will be one year, to date.
Are you guys doing anything special for that day?
I guess we’re going to get drunk for it (laughs).
How the band come to be?
It mostly started out from doing covers. It’s a really long story. We started this band our freshman year of high school; that’s when we were only playing 1980s hair metal. That was in 2008/2009. We also had a few member changes, and then one of our bass players said, “Hey, let’s cover a [BLINK-182] song,” and that actually turned us on to pop punk. [It] just changed our whole perspective on what we wanted to do. So we updated our arsenal of music. [Before that, we had been playing] rock n’ roll, baby (said in a British accent).
Where did you get the name BOTTOM OF THE NINTH?
We were sitting at a Waffle House looking at the All-Star menu, and that’s about it.
Do you have an album in the works? What are your future plans?
This year there will be more touring than any other year. [We are] going as far south as Georgia, North, and as far East as Tennessee.
What other local bands do you like to play with?
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO BOTTOM OF THE NINTH
We played with HERO TO HUMAN. [I’m] pretty sure we’re the only pop punk [band] around for three hours.
What is your stage presence like?
Running and moshing. Our pop punk jumps are off the hook. All over the show.
Q: What’s it like playing shows when it snows? Does the snow affect things, and, if so, in what way?
The snow could be positive and negative. When people want to be inside, it’s positive because they would want to be at a show. But it’s also negative, because people might not want to go anywhere.
Tell me about a crazy show night you’ve experienced.
One night [we] decided to play our show completely naked. The crowd initially was calling us pussies for not doing it, but later the crowd was chanting [for us to do it]. Alcohol was involved; it was more of a party than a show. Everyone had a good time. They got to see everything they wanted to see.
