Necessity and Fate Create IB6-UB9

This article was published on 08/10/2011 on http://eugenedailynews.com and is re-posted here with permission.

Nancy Glass, EDN

Had it not been for the Mother of Invention and a simple act of Fate, the band IB6-UB9 might not be in existence today.   This Eugene based, metal, pop, rock band consisting of four talented musicians are bonded not only as band mates but as life-long friends.  Despite everything they  continue to perform, almost if immune to the  “eat ‘em up and spit ‘em out” machine, known as the music business.

Rod Meckle

Founding member bass player Rod Meckle (pronounced, MEK-LEE) explains “the band was formed  back in 1998 when I got a call from a promoter.  This promoter knew my band,  EISENBLAKK, had broken up but was in need of a good opening act for a touring national act. He wanted to know if I had an act that could open up the show. I asked who is the national act?  He said Dokken!  Well, I didn’t have anything together but I told him I did!
Knowing I had just two weeks before the show, I started piecing together the band.   Ironically, about a month earlier, I had run across an old drummer friend, Shane Thomas. I had not seen him in about ten years.  I called him up and said “we got a gig opening for Dokken!”  “What??” Thomas said.  “We don’t even have a band!”
I then remembered another friend of mine, Timothy Potter, the guitar player for a band named ARIVAL, was looking to get something going with a new band.  I stopped by a friends house and as fate would have it, Timothy Potter was there!  He then, turned me on to the X-Piracy lead singer, Shane Thornton, who became our lead singer.”
Within days these four musicians became a band.  Putting together a set of covers and a hand full of originals in less than 2 weeks, they found themselves at The Mill Camp opening for Dokken.  “We slayed that night” remembers Thornton.  It was a packed house… it was awesome!”  Everyone in the band agrees that onstage, that night, the chemistry was right on the money.  Meckle remembers, “after the show we all sat down and felt we had to keep this thing, whatever “IT” was, going.  We all played off each other and worked so well together.  We couldn’t walk away from it after just one show.”

Timothy Potter

Then there’s the name.  Potter explains “Shane Thomas and I were on a construction site with friends Carl and Frank tossing out band names.  “Gary Busey’s Butt.” “Scratch and Sniff Car Crash,” you know all the stupid names you could think of when trying to come up with a cool band name.  Carl Faught, mentioned the idea of a cool license plate, IB6 UB9.  Then Frank Nixon said it would make a cool band name.  That night at rehearsal, I remember saying to the guys, ‘what about that name IB6-UB9?’ And it stuck”. Thornton elaborates, “of course we liked it because it had the rock and roll sexual overtones.  But also, both the 6 and the 9 are the yin and the yang of everything in the world…it’s an offense defense. The heaven and hell.  the Comedy the Tragedy… all parts of the circle of life.  But it’s so rock and roll.”
The creative forces of the band, Thornton and Meckle, got their start musically at a very young age.  Thornton explains “I started singing at one year old. No lie. I remember putting on concerts for my parents, singing along with Neil Young and CCR records, using a comb as a makeshift microphone. I picked up my mom’s guitar at age twelve, she showed me a few chords and off I went.”
Meckle started playing drums in 3rd grade.  But then switched to guitar in 4th grade because he had a music teacher that inspired him to learn acoustic guitar.  He chuckles, “there was also a girl I liked that thought it was really cool that I was going to play guitar.  I thought this is a “win-win” situation… I could do something I really liked and girls would dig it. However, in the  7th grade I switched to the bass.  I was trying to get into bands and it seemed like everyone was a guitar player.  I discovered Gene Simmons when I listened to my first KISS record and said to myself, yeah, I’m going to be a bass player.”

Shane Thornton

Creatively the songwriting is a group effort.  Both Thornton and Meckle come up with either a riff or a vocal melody which is presented to the rest of the band.  Thornton explains “this is what we call “chumming the water” or the song writing frenzy.”  Meckle chimes in “sometimes I get inspired by an emotion and sometimes I get inspired by just sitting around and  playing in my room.”  The collaborative effort allows for everyone to input ideas for the arrangement until everyone likes the end product.”  Thornton continues ” listening back to yourself really helps with the final arrangement because then you get to be the third-party listener. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell if something sucks or not when you are actually playing the song.”
Over the course of the next 13 years, life got in the way of the band.  At one point the bass player, Meckle takes a hiatus to get married and have kids; opening the subsequent revolving door of bass players until Meckle’s eventual return.  “When you have family life, and you’re married to four other dorks” says Thornton, “sometimes you need a little break” finishes Potter.
The bands discography includes their first self-titled four song EP, that has the song “Lookin’ Like Love”. Released in 1999, this song spent 6 weeks at number one in the rock genre on MP3.com.  In 2003 the band released “Get It Up Power It Down” which had enough good songs to maintain their loyal fan base and attract the attention of an Australian record label In 2008. At the urging of David Moors of SunCity Records, the band recorded the 14 song “Rock Stars & Racing Stripes” CD and anxiously prepared for its international distribution.  However, that day never came.
“I don’t mind talking about this” says Thornton.  “They dropped the ball, and I’m still angry about that whole situation.  This guy from SunCity Records was trying to keep alive all the metal bands from back in the day; bands like Cruella De Ville and Johnny Crash. He loved the IB6 stuff and said he wanted to put it out. We had a contract and nothing happened!“  Potter interjects.” A refrain sung by many a band and musician over the years. In the record companies defense, around that same time the City of Melbourne had a huge fire.  They lost a lot of people and a large warehouse. “We kinda cut them some slack, I mean, we’re a whole world away.  But then it came close to the end of the three-year contract, and we’d not even heard a word from them. We were going to do all the distribution ourselves through iTunes, Amazon, you know, all the usuals,  but SunCity Records was going to take care of all that.

Shane Thomas

June 2011 marks the expiration date for the SunCity Records Contract.  And like any professional, the band has yet another CD in the works.  “We just about have another CD finished up” explains Potter.  The working title for the band’s fourth release is “Devil Horns and Angel Wings.”  “We always try to do a yin and yang kind of title explains Thornton. Thomas chimes in “I like keeping the number of songs on the CD to 10.  I’m almost done at that point.”  “It started off at ten songs” says Potter, “but seems to be slowly growing to fourteen.”  Meckle adds ” it’s sounding great.  I’m very excited about it. A lot of people are going to really like it. It’s real straight ahead rock-n-roll…real and from the heart.”  The record has a tentative release date of this November, some of the tracks recorded thus far are “Upside The Wall,” “Say My Name,” “Alien Nation 1990′s” and “Whiskey.”

IB6-UB9

Listening and watching  these guys during the interview, I can see what makes this band work… it’s the rapport.  They all have known each other for over 20 years and have an obvious commitment and loyalty to one another.  They have a regular Tuesday/Thursday practice schedule they’ve had in place for thirteen years.  “Tim, drummer Shane and Rod are funny” says Thornton.   We have so many laughs! The coolest part is the lack of ego and the humbleness in our band. We all work and play very well together.”  Meckle adds “that is why being in this band (I like to call it my family) is so worthwhile.  We are like a family of brothers.  We don’t always see eye-to-eye but we always make certain everyone’s voice is heard and everyone is an important piece of the puzzle; if one piece was missing it would never work.”
The band tries for honesty in their songs. Songs like “Whiskey“, which is on the new release, doesn’t glorify drinking but conveys the good and the bad of excess; which audiences can relate to; they’ve also “been there and got the Tshirt.”
In addition to the songs the band’s live performances deeply connect with audiences.  The chemistry and all out fun on stage comes very naturally for each member of this band. Meckle adds “my favorite part of what we do is getting up on stage and flipping that switch inside me and putting on a hell of a show for our fans.”

Check out the band’s Reverb Nation website:  IB6-UB9