I-Nine

Wouldn't it be corny if I only made posts about bands and musicians that I like instead of the not-so-profound, late-night ruminations that this blog usually produces? Maybe they're both equally petty. Most likely, not too many people are viewing this anyway. Nonetheless, I will write what I want to, when I want to; and, right now I want to write about my experiences with a band called I-Nine.

I-Nine (see http://www.inine.com/ and turn on your speakers!) came into my life when they became part of the initial line-up of the 5th-annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival a couple months ago. They have an interesting story regarding their history and assembly that basically goes: they met at various stages of childhood and young adulthood, they sacraficed their college careers, and in the summer of 2004 the 4 of them moved into a 1-bedroom apartment together and lived there with minimal funds, making music for 8 months. Earlier this year they were nominated in the Best Song category by the Broadcast Film Critics Association for their song "Same in Any Language," featured on the Elizabethtown soundtrack. The addictive, powerful voice of Carmen Keigan and the soothing cello by Bryan Gibson aid in making I-Nine have their innovative sound.

I have to admit that I was a bit biased when I first heard I-Nine: I was intrigued by the prospect of the band being named after the crux of one of the most influential books by the most influential author in my life. I emailed the band a couple weeks ago using the contact on the website, expecting to get a generic response from a publicist:

Hello,

I'd say the chances that one of the members of I Nine is responding to this is about 7 to 2, but I want to say that I'm going to Bonnaroo for my third year, and I'm just checking out some of the bands that I'm not familiar with. I really like the sound of the band...the cello adds an interesting depth and the vocals are very powerful. Anyway, my question pertains to the name of the band. One of my favorite books (and author) of all time is Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle." In it, Dr. Felix Hoenikker, one of the "Fathers" of the first atomic bomb, creates a substance called ice-nine that turns everything it touches into solid ice. He hides it until his death, keeping only a little chip in a container, but eventually his children find it, and it essentially causes the end of the world when it lands in the ocean. Is your band named after ice-nine? If not, and there's no cool reason for naming it I Nine, I think you should tell people it's from a Vonnegut book.

See you at Bonnaroo,
Eric


I finally got a response today from Carmen, the vocalist:

Hey Eric,

It's so awesome that you noticed the vonnegut reference...I actually combined the idea of the end of the world from Cat's Cradle with the beginning of all things beautiful, Zeus and the nine muses, and came up with I-Nine. I rarely ever go into detail about this, so you are one of the first to ever receive a true response, but seeing as how you have pinned the tale on the donkey, I had to fill you in! Instead of Ice - nine, I meant for the name to be personalized... We all have the ability to create and destroy.... I-nine is the beginning and the end, sorta like joseph Campbell's myth cycle, it is a never ending turn of events..... haha all the good and all the bad baby spouting from a singular source - the self- the I - it's in the Eye of the beholder my friend... thanks for taking an interest and actually asking me about the name.... I wish I could shake your hand!

Carmen
www.inine.com
if you want to e-mail me again try:
-------@tmail.com


Needless to say, I will be seeing I-Nine at 'roo.