#conundrum nine

I (Neena) got to check out Conundrum Nine during the House Riot Tour. If I didn’t know any better I would say someone went back to the ‘90′s picked up some random grunge kids and brought them back to form this band. The band originates from Boston, MA and they rock pretty hard. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I saw young kids with hair longer (and more tame) than mine but they blew my mind. It’s amazing to see so much talent in their age (14-18) and gives a good reason why art programs are important to keep in schools. It would be sad to see passion and ambition like that wasted.

Photo Credit: Kelsey Stanger

Conundrum Nine (@ConundrumNine) Dana Goodwin, 16  Keyboard/Vocals Jan Schwartz, 14 Guitar Jacob Schwartz, 18 Bass Cameron Roux, 15 Drums

How do you guys like tour? Jacob: Yes (me too Jacob.) Jan: I love traveling Dana: It’s great! Cameron:It’s awesome, day shows are weird though.

When did you guys start? Dana:Jan and I met at School of Rock, we went to Jan’s house and made our first album Jacob: Cameron wasn’t with us in the beginning. It was actually my girlfriend at the time’s little brother.

Who is your musical inspiration? Jan: What inspired me to start playing guitar was Metallica & Pain of Salvation Jacob: Yeah for me and Jan it was Metallica and then I started liking Buckethead and I worship Buckethead and Jan really likes Pain of Salvation. Dana: I can say I grew up loving Aerosmith until they kind of pulled me out of that and pulled me into stuff like Pain of Salvation, Animals as Leaders and a bunch of other awesome bands that I had no idea existed until I met these guys. Cameron: I kind of grew up with a pop background; I was always listening to the radio when I was younger. When I started to play drums, that’s when I really started listening to music. Foo Fighters by far were my favorite band growing up through elementary and middle school and like modern music--- Animals as Leaders is my favorite band. Matt Garstka is the man. Jacob: Yeah he’s awesome. Truly a wizard on the drums

What generation would you like to live in? Jacob: Honestly, I’d like to live in this generation. I love the music that is being made right now. It would’ve been cool if I would’ve been this age in like 2000 because a lot of cool music came out around then. Cameron: The ‘90′s. I’d like to live in the grunge era like Nirvana. Dana:The ‘90′s, I’m gonna say. Jan: 2020 Jacob:3000, yes. Dana: When we can fly

Is there anywhere you’d like to travel? Jacob: I want to go to Nepal Dana: I want to leave the United States, I’ve been stuck in the U.S. for too long. Jan: I want to go to Sweden and prog out Cameron: I don’t really know I kind of really like New Hampshire.

If you were a fruit, what would you be? Jan: Lemon. Is that a fruit? Yeah. Jacob: Are limes fruit? I don’t know... Jan: Yeah Jacob: I guess I’m a lime then Jan’s  the lemon to my lime. Cameron:I’d be a kiwi. A kiwi? I can see it. Dana: I’d be like... and orange. I don’t know I just named a fruit.

Did you guys watch the new Star Wars? Jacob: Not yet Jan: No Dana:No Cameron: Yes. I’m the only one. It was great. Han Solo dies. Jacob: Snape kills Dumbledore. You just gave away the ending of Star Wars. Yup I did. Ruined it.

What’s your story? Jacob: I guess let’s start with music because before that all I did was play video games. So, I played video games; I was a huge nerd and was not going anywhere in life. I had a Justin Bieber bowl cut, it was awful and then I started playing Guitar Hero at school and I got really good at it. In the adjacent room to the Guitar Hero room (kids play Guitar Hero afterschool) there were guitar lessons with this guy named Sam. I was really good at Guitar Hero but I didn’t want to play it anymore, I wanted to learn real guitar. So, the guy who taught the guitar was like “Yo, do you want to take lessons?” and I’m like “Yes.” I go to class and everyone’s lazing off; nobody’s taking it seriously except for me and maybe like one other kid and I grew a bond with Sam. We finished the program together and I played a Metallica song with him on guitar and he was like “I’m quitting this job; I hate teaching to kids who don’t care but you care. Do you want to do private lessons?” “Yes.” Then this guy ended up being mine and Jan’s mentor for like years and years ‘til he moved to Texas but he’s still our mentor; he’s pretty much a mentor to all of us. He taught all of us something; more or less. After I started with guitar I really got into music, I started playing bass and drums. It’s pretty hazy, most of it was being depressed until pretty recently in my life. It’s just up and down, it’s just part of life---being a teenager. Basically, a lot of bad stuff but now I’m in a really great place in my life and I’m staying here and that’s my story.

Jan: My story starts after Jacob got that teacher, he was my mentor too. He taught us for like four years; he would come over once a week and would teach us from 4-7 hours which was amazing. Then he left and it sucked a lot but then I met Dana and he taught me a lot too and we started writing music together and playing together. Earlier in the School of Rock when I didn’t really know him as well I would record with him cause there was a program there and we ended up recording so we basically both broke off of that together. Then he emailed my dad and we kind of ignored him for a bit because I didn’t really care but then we ended up getting back in touch and then we were just playing tons of music and he basically made me want to play music for the rest of my life so... I also make electronic music that isn’t really released yet. Someday...

Dana: So they basically explained everything that’s happened to me when I met them. I started playing piano 12 years ago when I was 3 or 4 years old. My grandpa plays trombone; he’s a really good jazz musician, he toured with Peter Frampton, he brought me up with music completely and taught me a lot of the things I knew before meeting these guys and going to the School of Rock. Same with my uncle who plays piano, he taught me classical and my grandpa taught me jazz and I grew up with that stuff until I got into rock. Then we started playing music together for several years and that’s it.

Cameron: I didn’t start off playing the drums. I actually played guitar for 3 months but then I gave up, I’m a quitter, no I’m not. My brother got a drum kit for Christmas and I started hitting that for a bit and I thought it was fun. Then I took lessons, from there I started to get more serious about it as I went on and grew older. My first band I was like 11 or so playing in a rock band and after that we broke up and I was in a pop band. It was kind of like a switch of genres which was like big. I was in that band for four years and that’s how I met these guys. My other band played with them and since then I’ve been working with a lot of other musicians and instructors, learning a lot, different genres. Just trying to get as tight as I can get and as good as I get.

Check out their music! http://mtthunderrecords.bandcamp.com/album/suzys-rollercoaster