Some bands just strike immediately with everything they do and represent. The Ninth Wave - with their inviting mix of glam-noir sounds, looming darkness and a penchant for more than simply the usual band conventions - are already drenched in a philosophy and style that catches the eye from the first moment you plug in.
The band are gathered outside on a chilly winter night at London’s Sebright Arms before one of their biggest headline shows to date - and there’s a sense of gritty optimism for what’s ahead. “Over the last year, our sound has evolved a lot,” chimes in drummer Lewis Tollan. “That could change with what’s ahead, but I think we’ve got to that point image-wise where we have an idea of what we want to be.”
Fusing a callback to the new romantic swagger and post-punk melodies that the 80s embraced, there’s a glorious mix in play. The shimmering pop sheen of tracks like ‘Heartfelt’, ‘Liars’ and standout heavyweight ‘Reformation’ are laced with a darkness, like the sound of a band emerging from the bleakest moment with panoramic hooks and dreaming of the heights they could one day reach. Immediately drawing nods to the likes of Interpol and The Cure, it’s an insatiable cocktail that could only have come from the streets of Glasgow.
“It all came together quite naturally,” explains Lewis. "I’d been in hundreds of different bands in Glasgow and it just kinda slowly came together. I started to see Haydn more on Sauchiehall Street, and one day he asked me to play drums - I think that kinda thing happened for everyone,” he continues, turning to nodding heads and the cracking of smiles.
The beating heart of Glasgow city centre, it’s the sort of place you’ll catch staggering groups after a big night out, busting groups ready to kick-start a huge one and enough characters and mysterious figures emerging in the middle of the night to shape all sides of humanity. There’s a reason why it’s a city that has been voted both the most friendly place in Europe, as well as the most violent.
