Updates

Well well well!   It's been a while, but we're still here, still alive and kickin'.    And how have you been?   We hope you and yours are doing well.   Can you believe it's July already??   

Like busy little bees behind the scenes, we've been making preparations and shifting things around.     It seems like it's been forever since we've poked our heads out of the sand, but that's about to change, at least it is for a little bit.

Which leads us to today's announcement:   Let's take a moment to welcome our new addition (or New Edition for you Bobby Brown/Bell Biv Devoe fans), fiddler extraordinare Ken Roberts!  Ken is now a full-fledged member of 9 Castle Close and we're super-excited to have him onboard.   Ken has been a standard on the Celtic scene for a long time now and he's one of the best fiddlers in the region.  

Already known for his other group, the Roving Rogues, and for his teaching at the Riley School of Irish Music,  Ken teamed up with 9CC after doing some jamming with Kevin and Larry for a trad side project.    That blossomed into his showing up for a show one night and joining us on-stage.    Then he showed up at the next rehearsal, so we figured we had to keep him!      And we're so glad he accepted the invitation.   He's already jazzed up our rehearsals and he's going to make the live shows even better than before.     The mix of Ken's fiddle along with Larry's pipes and the rest of the band is sounding better than we even imagined.    So make sure you don't miss Ken's debut with us on Friday, July 24th at the Dayton Celtic Festival!  

Speaking of the Dayton Celtic Festival, we hope you can all make it out.  It's a tremendous festival, it's family-friendly and it's FREE!    Great music, great food and cool little shops to buy clothing and all sorts of other things, so why miss it??    Great national acts such as Gaelic Storm, Scythian and Slide will be performing.   As for us, we'll be taking the Five Rivers MetroParks Stage at 8:40PM Friday night and again at 1:10 Sunday afternoon.    While you're there enjoying the atmosphere, make sure to thank at least one of the many volunteers that donate their time and energy to make this such an enjoyable event.

For those that didn't know, we now have our own official Facebook page as well!    Check it out!   We'll update that from time to time and we'll try to keep it different than our MySpace and Official site, just to keep it interesting.

Well, we're off!    We'll update you with more info soon!   

Cheers and God Bless!

-9 Castle Close
http://www.reverbnation.com/9cc

Great time at The Claddagh

Well, we had a great time playing the Claddagh this past Sat. night.  Lots of friends, lots of dancing and drinking, a good time was had by all.  We'll throw a few pics up soon.   Big thanks to J.T. and the staff there for being very open and friendly, we really appreciate it and hope to see you guys again soon!

 

We have been completely slacking on updating this blog, we've had our heads buried in the sand for a while now.   We aim to change that and actually keep you more up to date on what's happening in 9CC land.    More pics, maybe some video blogs, that type of stuff as we keep working on this album.      So keep an eye out here.   Talk to ya soon!

 

Patrick

 

 

Seamus travels again!

St. Paddy's Day Fallout!

Well, its taken a couple of days for us to recuperate sufficiently from one hell of a Paddy's Day.   You guys know we've taken some time off, but we kicked the door in this weekend with two back to back shows.  We started out at The Pub in the Greene and warmed up with the lunch crowd.  The Pub in the Greene isn't a big place for butt-whooping, whiskey-slinging bands like 9CC (remember its an "English" pub--not an Irish Pub).  We didn't expect much because, we know their moms told them not to jump around until 1 hour after they'd eaten.  But the place really got hopping by the second set and everyone had a great time...and the manager was already trying to book us back in as soon as possible!  We'll see if we can do it!

Then, there was the Dublin Pub.  What can we say about that awesome place...even on a bad night, the Dublin Pub loves them some Celtic Rock.  Paddy's Day at the Dublin Pub is like nothing you've ever seen!  We laid down 2 straight hours of Celtic Rock - 9CC style - and the place went crazy!  We even had a special guest, champion Highland dancer Erin Petkus, join us for a set.  You guys loved her, so we plan on having her back as much as she'll join us!  So, thanks to Steve and the staff at the Dublin Pub, Erin, all our roadies (Matt, Hugh, Ky, Shannon, & the rest) and all of you hardcore Celtic rock fans for coming out and supporting us.  YOU made Paddy's Day the best Paddy's Day so far!!!

We're still working on the CD and hope to have it out and in your Guinness soaked hands by the Dayton Celtic Festival this year.  That's the last weekend in July for you folks with the wrong priorities.  In the meantime, stay tuned to our website: www.9castleclose.com for details and news about shows, etc.  While you're there be sure sign up for our email to get notifications immediately.  Also, tell your friends to add us on myspace (and soon Facebook). 

And one last thing...be sure to mark your calendar for our next show on Saturday, May 30th, at The Claddagh, Mason, OH.  We're gonna bring it big.  So YOU bring your friends, your sister, and your sister's hot friends to the show!  We're gonna be brining Paddy's Day back again on May 30th!  Don't miss it!

Slainte!!!!

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Dublin Pub Last Saturday

Wow!  Thanks to everyone who came out to the Dublin Pub last Saturday night...I didn't think we could pack that many folks into that place!!! The place was standing room only...and barely room to do that!  The show started with Miami Valley Pipes and Drums kicking the night off with a couple of sets. It was so packed that there was no room for them to stand!  Then when the dancers came up, we had to re-arrange the tables just to have a place for them!!! So, despite being packed up like Guinness filled sardines, the crowd stuck it out for one hell of a party!  Thanks to Billy Crafton Photography for coming out and hangin with us. 

First show of the year is down...next stop--St Paddy's Day!  There's 2 chances to catch us on Paddy's Day: 
1) We play from 1-4 at The Pub In the Greene, Beavercreek, OH
then we play:
2) from 6-8 at the Dublin Pub's Annual Paddy's Day Blow Out!!!!
Hang around after our show when Homeland takes the stage....there will be an special surprise for you 9CC fans that are also Homeland fans!

So, see you on Paddy's Day!!!

Wow!

Man, what a fantastic night we had at the DubPub last Friday!   The crowd was noisy and rowdy and everyone had a great time.    Big thanks to Erin for dancing and to the Miami Valley Pipe and Drum band for playing in between sets, that was very cool and nice of you guys to do, we really appreciate it!     And thanks to Annie for coming out and bringing her Irish dancer friends Molly and Colleen, you guys did an awesome job dancing and hopefully you guys will come out and do it again!

 

Being our home away from home, DubPub has a special place in our hearts and we always have a blast playing there.   And we can't wait to do it again on St. Pat's!   Make sure to come out and spend the day listening to great music and hanging with great people.    Then close out your night with us and then the fantastic Homeland closing the night out.  It's going to be a great time!  See you all there!   

New site and stuff

well well well....we finally have a new website up and running.    Hope you guys like it.   Browse around and feel free to let us know if you find any problems or lack of content or what have you.  

 

Big time fun this weekend at the DubPub!  We're pumped about finally getting out of the basement and playing in public again.   Feels like it's been forever since we've gotten out.   A lot has happened in the past few months, some good and some not so good, but we've come through it all with a renewed energy and purpose.   We've got a few new songs we're going to try out at this Sat. and see how they go over.   Hopefully you guys will like them as much as we do.  They're not your standard Celtic rock-type stuff, but life would just be boring if we followed the same patterns as those before us.   We prefer to use them as general loose guidelines instead of rules.

 

Anyway, gotta run.  Enjoy the site!   See you on Sat.   And listen to 89.5 WDPS-FM in Dayton this Friday between 2-4:30 to hear the interview and radio debut of 'Say It'!   

 

Later!

Updates! Finally!

We've finally had time to get some things on the calendar so we can get out of the house and play some music again!   It's been a long layoff and we're happy to start getting back into the swing of things again.     We're doubling up on St. Patrick's Day again this year, but this time in reverse.  We'll be at the Beavercreek Pub on the Greene at 1:00 pm until 4:00 pm ringing in the holiday.   Then we head over to the Dublin Pub for the biggest St. Patrick's Day bash in Dayton!  We take the stage at 6:00 and get the crowd nice and warmed up for the fantastic Homeland who will follow us and close the night.  It's going to be an incredible night of music, so make your plans to take off day after as well!

As a warm up party, we'll be hitting the DubPub on Saturday, Feb. 28th for 4 hours of music, dancing, singing and drinking!     We're going to be trying out a batch of new songs, but no worries, we'll still throw in your old favorites as well.   It's an exciting time right now, we're ready to get back into doing what we love!

 

We also want everyone to know about a very important event coming up on March 7, that 9CC is not involved in but very much supports.   The University of Dayton branch of the Cosa Meara Company of Irish Dance is having a benefit for an Irish dancer out of Chicago, Jayne Zenker, who is now a freshman in college and is awaiting a liver transplant.    There will be plenty of Irish dancing and some great music going on.   All proceeds from the benefit are going to Jayne to help cover her medical expenses.   The benefit will be at 2PM on March 7th at UD's Boll Theatre.  And although scheduling conflicts prevented us from performing at the benefit, a few of us in 9CC will be there to show our support. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions regarding the benefit.   You can also download a flyer for the event and share it with your friends by going to http://www.9castleclose.com/dl/benefit_flyer.jpg

 

That's it for now, but we should have some more big info coming soon so check back often!   Peace and love to all!

Hey everyone,

Well, 2008 is coming to a close.    We'd like to thank each and every one of you for making it an incredibly fun and exciting year!     We truly appreciate your support.

 

A wise man once said that if you can't look back on the past year and shed tears of joy or tears of pain, then it's been a wasted year and you haven't lived it to the fullest.   With that said, we've shed tears of both.    We've said painful goodbyes to some friends and family, gone for now but they're forever in our hearts.   We've also welcomed some new additions to the families in the past couple months.   

 

On the music side, we managed to squeeze out our first gig ever together as a group, our first St. Paddy's Day performances (what a busy weekend that was!) and our first festival performances, not to mention our first road trips together and tons of other fun stuff.      We met a lot of fantastic people, we've played with some fantastic musicians from all over the US and Ireland and even had YOUR help in deciding on our first t-shirt designs.     The list goes on and on, and we are so glad that you could come on this journey with us.

 

There are a few people that have made the journey especially enjoyable and who have put in a lot of time of their own to help us out:  Roger B. (thanks for all the support and for all the video footage that you shot and gave to us), Shannon, Andre and Kylin for their help setting up and tearing down (especially to Kylin for not kicking us out of the basement on those loud 9am Sat. morning rehearsals) and Billy Crafton for some excellent photos and being a great guy to work with and know.   And of course to our families for all the patience they've had with us, not just now but in general.   Musicians are a hard lot to put up with, you know?

 

So, on behalf of all of us in 9CC (including original bassist extraordinaire Todd "Hollywood" Hale, we love ya buddy!), we'd like to wish everyone a Joyous and Merry Christmas!   You have made every step taken this year well worth the price. As a token of appreciation, please check out our YouTube channel and see some of the new videos we've uploaded.   We look forward to seeing you all in 2009!

 

Merry Christmas!

 

9CC

Kevin, Larry, Mike, Ryan and Patrick (and Todd!)  

Updates and Holidays

Hey all,

Well, it's been a long time since we last updated everyone on what's happening in 9CC land.   First off, we're still in gig-free mode.   We're working on new songs to unveil early next year.   A few of us in the band have had some family issues to deal with lately, which obviously takes precedence over music right now.    But, as time and situations allow, we are still working.    We've scheduled a couple shows next year already, Feb. 28th and of course St. Paddy's day.   Both gigs right now are at the Dublin Pub in Dayton, OH.   More dates will be added after those.

 

As most of you know, Larry is now playing with The Kreellers as well as with 9CC.    We first met The Kreellers at the Dayton Celtic Fest and they're a great bunch of guys.   Larry is looking forward to playing some dates with them and we're happy for him to do so.   It's giving him a good outlet to play out more while the rest of us the time to take care of our own situations.   So, to answer the question that we've been asked a lot lately, no, Larry has not left the band, but yes he is going to be playing with The Kreellers from time to time as well.   It's a win/win for all parties involved right now.

 

So mark your calendars for Feb. 28th at the DubPub for some good times, good pints and good music (and some new music).    We hope to see you all out there for a craicing good time!    We hope everyone is having a happy Thanksgiving and that the rest of your holiday season is filled with joy!  

 

See you soon,

9CC 

A New Addition

Hey All,

Well, we're a little late on spreading this news, but we have a new addition to the 9CC family!   Ryan and his wife Jen had their second son, Miles Edward Gross, on Octobler 11th!   Baby boy came in at 8 lbs, 12 oz.   Everyone is doing well and older brother Samuel is super-excited to have a new baby brother!   

 

On the music front, we're finally starting to get back into the groove of things after a longer than expected break.   It's been nice, but we're all ready to get back to work.    More news on that soon.     

Quiet After the Storm

So, Hurricane Ike whipped through our stomping grounds with more winds than we've ever seen here in the Cincinnati/Dayton area.   Most of us lost power for a few days, and some still don't have any as of this morning.   Check out this video  http://www.9castleclose.com/media/storm.wmv   to see some footage from the wind blowing trees around.   That was the light part of the storm, just before it got really gusty.    Just from looking around us here, I can't even imagine the damage in Galveston and Houston.   Just insane how much damage those storms can do.    If you're so inclined, we urge you to step up and help out with hurricane relief.   Check out RedCross.org for information on how you can help.

 

As for us here, we're taking a couple weeks off to relax and enjoy the family time.   But we're hitting the studio hard again next week in hopes to finish this thing by St. Patrick's Day.    We're talking about a possible few surprises between now and then, just for you guys, but we'll give you more info on that as we figure it all out.  

Weekend in Review

So our Indiana trip is over, we're all home, safe and sound.   We had a blast!   We met a lot of really cool people.    Bill and Dave at Fionn MacCools are good guys, thanks a lot to both of you for being patient with us during our sound issues.   You have a great place there and we hope to see you again soon. 

 

Nine Irish Brothers was a big party!   Apparently that's just how they do things in Lafayette.  They may have made us Purdue fans (might be a stretch there....)   The crowd was very responsive and really seemed to enjoy themselves.   Heck, they even grabbed a whistle and joined in the fun!   Maggie, thank you so much for inviting us up to your pub, you guys have a great thing going, very warm and inviting and we loved it.    We'll be posting pics and maybe some video footage of the weekend soon. 

 

 It was a nice way to cap off what has been a pretty great year for us.  Not really even a year, just 6 months, our first gigs being on St. Paddy's weekend 2008.     We've exceeded the expectations we had of ourselves, kept very busy and grown as individual musicians and as a collective group.     One more show to go then it's off to finish work on the CD.    So don't forget next weekend at the AOH's Halfway to St. Paddy's Day party.    Pretty fitting way to end our  6 month run.   Check the link to the left of the page for info on that.     We hope to see all you local Dayton folks out there.