As the early 2000s flood back into pop culture, UCLA’s own 9 Ball has risen to the top. Formed through happy accidents, the band is composed of vocalist Fiona Kuo, a third-year pre-law student, guitarist James Blue, a third-year electrical engineering student, sax and keys player Jai Raman, a third-year music industry and economics student, drummer Aiden Cheung, a third-year mathematics and economics student and bassist Leo Ellsworth, a third-year music industry student. This mix creates a chaotic fusion of their background and interests, resulting in a sound of their own.
“I think we’re kind of aspiring jazz,” Blue said, “We haven’t really come together and done the full jazz cover quite yet, but all of us are pretty comfortable improvising on our own instruments and that comes into it when we play indie songs and alt rock songs as well.”
Kuo said her first impression of Cheung dates back to their freshman English class — and it was rocky, to say the least. Adding on to that, the singer mentioned how Cheung looked intimidating. When their eyes met, Kuo said he made a face that came off as a dirty look. Even with that rocky first encounter, the two struck up a conversation after class one day and Kuo said they bonded over their shared experience of being a part of high school bands.
Kuo said the story of the other members joining, meeting Raman during her Winter quarter band ensemble class and inviting him to join after they clicked. Recruiting Blue after seeing his talent on Instagram and Ellsworth, whom Kuo said had always known but didn’t connect with until after a chance encounter at a fraternity concert.
The origin of the 9 Ball name is as unique as the origin story behind the band, Kuo said. The ensemble struggled to find a concrete time to practice and but the one constant was De Neve’s music studio, which Kuo said became a sort of haven.
“We would gather at De Neve’s music studio,” Kuo said. “One day, it was occupied, so we migrated to the pool room next to the studio. We were brainstorming a band name when Blue suggested 9 Ball, like eight ball, but nine”.
The group’s creative process is as chaotic as their namesake, thriving on spontaneous decisions with bandmates not being afraid to experiment at any moment, Cheung said.
“I just start playing like a random drum groove, then Ellsworth joins in on the bass with something random,” Cheung said. “Then James joins in, and then Kuo hops on the piano, and Jay hops on the sax.”
But due to the chaotic nature of these jam sessions, they forget to record their jams, wearing their jazz influences on their sleeve, Blue said.
The improvisational act is very much present in their set list, mixing multiple different genres from indie to alt-rock, Blue said. Decisions on what to add to their setlist are democratic yet still chaotic, Raman said, with the performers debating and voting on covers before they make the list.
As with any democratic decision, some things don’t get through all the way, Raman said. They’ve had covers of songs by Drake, Kanye and Clairo, but Kuo said one stands out as infamous to the group. When the group tried to play “Valerie” by Amy Winehouse, the band’s singer said it fell apart almost instantly because no one could agree on the key and that it was just a mess. Ever since, it haunts the group, Kuo said.
Their lineup isn’t set in stone and, as true jazz lovers, they enjoy a good improvisational bit, Raman said. During their practices, Kuo said they’ll switch around roles, with Cheung sometimes playing guitar instead of the drums, herself doing both vocals and guitar and Raman switching between keyboard and saxophone.
At the end of the day, the bandmates are friends and their chemistry is front and center, Kuo said, joking at each other’s expense but still caring for each other at the end of the day. For the lead singer, 9 Ball is less about rules and more about enjoying the process.
“It’s more of a hangout than anything super strict,” Kuo said. “We got so into it we forgot we were even recording.”
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Featured Image Photographed by Siena Hunt/BruinLife
