9yrs

9yrs is a crisp, danceable, alt-pop rock indie 5 piece from Toronto. The band has a 90’s influence with ringing guitars and shimmery energy like the happier little sister of angst-ridden grunge. Catchy guitar riffs, propelling rhythm and belting vocals never quite give away the real meaning behind the songs though the listener is invited to choose their own adventure.

Formed in 2007, by singer/songwriter Ivie Lewis and songwriter Derek Lewis, the band started out as an acoustic duo before quickly deciding that they wanted to veer left from the singer/songwriter circles and electrify things to a new genre.

Later that year Derek and Ivie were joined by drummer Donn Dixon, formerly of Skaface, Spinecracker, and Chrome, who with all his experience, had plenty of skills to deal with anything thrown at him. Also that year, guitar player Mike Lawson from RosesDead and Out of Options joined 9yrs. Mike provided a complimentary force to Derek’s strong guitar presence and filled out their sound. The band spent most of 2008 developing their original music and proudly released a three-song demo cd produced by Scott Komer at The End of the World Studio. By the end of that year it was time to get out dad’s garage, as it were, and bring the music to the masses.

9yrs started playing live in Toronto and the surrounding area in January 2009. Still without a regular bass player, they played shows with a few different musicians and also a few challenging shows with a laptop on bass. About a month before 9yrs played a nostalgic show at The Phoenix Concert Theatre, Bryan Richards, formerly of Citizen Kill and Tacoma Redd, joined the band just in time to save the day and thankfully retire the laptop from bass duty.

The 2010 North by Northeast Music festival listed 9yrs as “crisp, alt-pop rock, driven by guitar and bright, energetic choruses. They’re carrying the torch set out by Blondie, Bette Serveert, and Metric”. Their music cab be heard on various episodes of “The Cool Guy Files” and on the independently produced “6.0 – Season 2” about Ryerson University’s figure skating team.