Looking Stupid: Yo! It’s Jesse, is now still good?

Ace Mendoza: Yep

LS: How we doin, how’s today?

AM: Pretty great! Driving from a little outside Las Vegas heading to San Diego for our show tomorrow

LS: You’ve driven straight across the country from Toronto since Friday or so, ya? Any high/low lights?

AM: Ya we left Toronto Wednesday so it’s day 5 of driving. So far zero lowlights. Biggest highlight so far has been us staying the night at the Glenwood Hot Springs in Colorado! Couple of us must’ve caught something going around right when we left so it was a refreshing rest stop

LS: There’s definitely a hot new fever sweeping the nation rn, got me a couple weeks back

You’re the second person in a row to mention actually caring for your physical body on tour, is that something you guys try to make a habit of? Or did the Hot Springs just kinda come up

AM: Hahahaha I think it’s just the age we’re at. Couple of us have gotten into being physically fit and healthy in the last year. See how many pushups we can do in 15 minutes. Our drummer noah came over once and knocked out like 150 which ends up setting a motivating benchmark to try and do more. But we’ve all toured for years now so we know how it feels to not care for our bodies when we’re away from home for weeks on end

LS: What goes into tour prep for something on this scale? Does your approach change?

AM: This run honestly felt pretty easy for us to prepare for mainly because we already did a huge run with them in the Fall last year so atleast we have an idea of what we’re getting into. We learned a lot from that tour, what works for us, what we need to change to make everything about being on the road and playing these shows as comfortable as possible for all of us. We’re planning to run a few tracks we haven’t played live yet for the first time on this run so weve tightened the screws on those at jams. Also having 7 members helps a lot because we can divide different band responsibilities amongst everyone. So no one person feels overburdened with maybe the less exciting aspects of being on this kind of run.

LS: I was wondering about that last part while I was prepping for this actually – the potential positives of having that many members. Obviously there’s plenty of extra opportunity for complication, but how is it additive with regards to dividing and conquering?

AM: People always like to poke at how there’s “9Million” of us, but it’s honestly amazing. I’ve never been around a group of people that have been so caring for eachother, since we’re all in the band together because we’re all friends first. I’ve seen a fair share friendships implode on the road and it’s never happen with this band, even in the deepest stressful tour trenches we’ve had to crawl through hahaha. But as far as additive goes there’s little things such as every single member being a part of load ins/load outs. But then everyone brings something to the table. Looch hits Costco runs to grab liquid iv’s for the van. Things like that that’ll really make you feel like we’ll be alright on the road

LS: Was the first leg of this tour the first time playing in big open air spot? I know Greek Theater in Berkeley is…unforgiving

AM: We were just talking about how special that Greek Theater show was. Looking out and seeing an entire wall of people was so exciting. Then afterwards Jamie, Noah, and I found the perfect spot in the crowd to watch the Ethel Cain stuff. Gives me chills still thinking back on it!

LS: Then there’s the internet of it all, I love that you guys announced a new 7” single for tour right about when we started haha

AM: Hahahaha yes we’ll have a handful of copies with us. Big thanks to Osler Records for helping us make it happen!!!!

LS: Having done a first leg of the tour, what are some conversations you had as a group before you came back to it? Also, this leg is more concentrated in the midwest and south, throwing in a bunch of spots that might be less familiar to a hardcore background at times, is that exciting?

AM: Every single show feels incredibly exciting. The scale of it is still so vast and not something we’ve been accustomed to. We’re all fully aware of this special moment and opportunity we get to be a part of on Ethel Cain’s journey, and we’re extremely lucky and grateful that we’ve been able to be in these rooms and people are also watching us too. Like we get to play Red Rocks man…that’s so insane

Some of our discussions have been more on the logistics of the tour, but we’re always talking with each other to figure out how everyone can enjoy this band to our fullest extent. Even when it hits points where it becomes work, we’re all excited about doing it

LS: Speaking of divided tasks, what else are you multitasking on as we do this (I did some dishes, now I’m running to the market for a giant bottle cold brew)

AM: I was actually driving us through the desert before realizing I needed to swap with someone to do this hahahaha. But some small examples have been Noah and I handling the merch aspects for the band. We’re actually bringing Noah’s sister with us to hold down our merch stand for this run! Jamie books our hotels every night so we never worry about where we have to stay. Stuff like that!

LS: I know leading up to this tour, the tour was the focus, and what came after was unclear, do you find that playing these shows has influenced where you guys are going, wherever that may be?

AM: Yeah we started working on new songs at the beginning of the year! So we’re definitely gonna put out new music. Matt’s got a few more tours with EC after this run so we’re sprinkling in whatever 9M time we can in between. Overall though, we’re all on board with seeing how far this band can take us. In the beginning it really started as a fun project Matt wanted to involve his friends with (grateful I was included in this of course), but time has shaped us into a full band capable of doing anything we want and comes our way

LS: You have always been a multi band guy, did Best Wishes come from one of the 9million breaks?

Btw it’s been in my head since we talked about it, I think 7 members is like a sensible Slipknot

AM: Depending on which country we’re in, you could say we’re like Slipknot, Broken Social Scene, or Madness hahaha

Best Wishes started actually before I moved to Toronto! I think the connection comes from my old bands playing shows with Mil-Spec and Wild Side. Right after I moved, they needed a new 2nd guitar player so Codey asked me. And no guitarist in their right mind would give up a chance to rip it alongside Emmett Morris

LS: Madness! Live horns for 9Million when

AM: Anything and everything is possible

LS: Does playing that kind of music away from 9M scratch that itch in a way where that style of playing is off in a corner over there? Or do you bring some of that energy back to the mothership? Do you find that 9M has started to influence your playing outside of the band?

AM: I’ve been so use to playing in bands where I felt like I had to stay still or restrain myself a bit in order play things properly. Then when I joined 9M, we’d have a part of a song that would run on only 2 chords, and I’d have the freedom to move and express my excitement, anxiety, whatever feeling it is. All without worrying about messing up! But now I’ve figured out a balance of both. But it’s an incredibly fun band to play in in my eyes

LS: The freedom to meditate on a couple chords is a funny thing to point out, everyone talks about how punk is 3 chords etc etc, but the changes are so fast it’s not as common for players to meditate on how they’re playing the note for too long, there’s pockets for that in 9M

AM: The band’s allowed me to express my creativity in ways I never thought I’d try, let alone put out into the world. There’s a song, Forever Sweet Sweet Same, that started as a pandemic riff I wrote on an acoustic guitar. It was originally faster and I was a little inspired by Nick Drake in that moment. Eventually Matt and I jammed it then tried slowing it down and we kept an iPhone demo of the jam. That demo ended up being in the actual recording and I’m really happy it made it out into the world

All those dc punk bands from a decade ago wrote riffs that were notey as hell! Still incredibly fun it was just different that’s all

LS: I’m not your man for music theory, but my understanding of “The DC Sound” is that its got more notes than other regions haha

Is there a tendency towards any stylistic things that you’ve noticed playing music in Toronto vs. dc?

AM: I dunno I feel like I’ve been lucky to live in special bubbles that exist in both cities. DC embrace me and my friends DIY desires to play punk and hardcore. Toronto continued that but then also explore literally everything else because someone’s always interested.

LS: Getting back to your immediate surroundings (the van, this tour), What movies/media/music do you have loaded for this trip? What is influencing you? Is there anything in particular that you’re excited by and want other people to get excited about?

AM: Yesterday Noah and I ran the Verve’s first record driving into the sunset while Lia, Jamie, and looch were howling from the back of the van watching The Room on a tablet hahaha. Sometimes we’ll run described audio movies like Anchorman.

I wrote a handful of tracks not that long ago after feeling extremely inspired by artists from that Copenhagen scene with ML Buch, Fine, etc. Sent em around to some friends but maybe I’ll put them out at the end of the year.

LS: Described audio movies?

AM: Yeah a narrator describes what’s going on over the film so whoever’s driving knows where we are in the movie

Did not really work well but we we were trying to get everyone involved in the van!

LS: Ahaha so you’re just having a moment watching the glory of life on earth as “Already There” comes to its apex and Will Ferrell starts ripping the Jazz flute scene

AM: Exactly

LS: Sounds just this side of perfect

Anything else to add?

AM: Nah man no problem thanks for having me!!! Toronto and the DMVNC forever