AB: You've gone from 'chaos' to 'reality' in your first 2 albums. How did you come to the title of your 3rd CD, 'Decoding the Soul'?
RJ: Well , the new cd title : DECODING THE SOUL , refers to figuring out what a person is like on the inside & in their heart ....thus to decode the soul . Alot of the lyrics on this cd deal with real life in general , we write about themes & issues that everyone has been through & deals with in everyday life. We are not a band that writes about demons & wizards , not fiction , but reality.

AB: How long did DtS take to form in your collective heads and become what it is? Would you characterize this process as easy, fun, difficult, hysterical ... ?
RJ: We had a few tunes demo'ed in 2001-2002 , then most of the writing came about in early 2003. Usually I write & demo the music, arrange the songs, then give a CD to the other guys, so they can learn the song structure, then adding their own parts & ideas . Our vocalist COREY BROWN writes all the lyrics & melody parts. Some times we offer him ideas, titles, & themes for songs, then he expands on
them. So overall, we took our time with this CD, and enjoyed the process of putting it all together.

AB: How did making the album compare with your first two? Do you think the process gets easier?
RJ: Yes. With this CD most of it was written by me before the other guys heard it. We recorded this time with Pro Tools, and that made things alot easier for the studio situation. Overall, things flowed well with writing & the recording process this time.

AB: DtS has a heavier sound than your previous efforts. Was that deliberate? If it was, why? And if it wasn't, how did it come to be that way?
RJ: I agree. This CD is bit HEAVIER in the songwriting, yet we also feel this is our most MELODIC CD as well , Some have also said that it is NOT AS PROG as our last 2 CDs, so, it is different. It's more METAL this time, more melodic as well . I always play 7 string guitars and this helps get a heavy sound as well.

AB: Rob, how long have you been playing guitar? Why guitar, why not bass or keys or ... bouzouki ?
RJ: I've been playing since I was 12, GUITAR always seemed more exciting to me than any other instrument. I remember seeing VAN HALEN & YNGWIE MALMSTEEN on MTV that really made guitar seem exciting to me ! I'm still excited playing the guitar, it's a fun instrument once you get going with it.

AB: Which bands have influenced Magnitude 9, and in what way? What about you personally?
RJ: We are all influenced by the melodic & technical metal bands:
FATES WARNING
TNT
YNGWIE MALMSTEEN
QUEENSRYCHE
RUSH
IRON MAIDEN
DIO

My guitar influences include:

RACER X
CACAOPHONY
TONY MACALPINE
SHAWN LANE
RONNI LE TEKRO OF TNT
JOHN NORUM

AB: What do you say when someone asks you to describe your music? Do you use labels, like 'prog metal' or something else like it?
RJ: Well , yeah ... We says its MELODIC PROG METAL. I guess that the best way to describe us, even though we are not as PROG sounding on this cd....More METAL I guess. We are more along the lines of FATES WARNING - TNT - QUEENSRYCHE than along the lines of DREAM THEATER. They are total progmetal all the way. We want to reach more people, more listeners than ONLY progmetal fans.

AB: What have you been doing individually and collectively since the 2nd CD's release? Are you guys fortunate enough to have been able to give up your day jobs?
RJ: Not yet.We all still work day jobs & have children & families. We enjoying music alot & recording + releasing CDs, it's really great . But we are not famous enough to sell enough CDs to make a living . Bands like DREAM THEATER are very lucky to be able to do that . Its difficult because this style of music is still somewhat UNDERGROUND in way , and not mainstream. If your mainstream like METALLICA OR NICKLEBACK and on the radio every 2 hours, then I think thats when you can givie up your jobs. Still we play music because we love it & have fun doing it. So If we can never get that lucky, we still feel lucky to be where we are and on a good label like INSIDEOUT, plus we are lucky to have familes & children.

AB: You've done your own version of 'Man on the Silver Mountain.' Do you cover any other tunes live? Are there any others that you'd like to do?
RJ: Actually, we really don't play live yet. So we are not sure what we would do. :)

AB: Since new disk is much heavier than your previous releases, is this the direction you plan to continue or is this just a "picture" of where you are at this moment? (something like that may work)
RJ: This is where we are for now, I guess every CD changes a bit , We will still go in the melodic metal direction , with touches of prog & neoclassical thrown in there. So DECODING THE SOUL is a picture snapshot of where we are now.

AB: Apart from your own band, who would you like to work with? The sky's the limit.
RJ: I've always been a TONY HARNELL fan (Singer for TNT , WESTWORLD). Also the guy that sings in PINK CREAM 69 would be cool to work with.

AB: Finally -- Where do you see yourself and the band, professionally and personally, in 10 years?
RJ: I see us writing more CDs, hopefully reaching more people & enjoying time with our familes.

New MAGNITUDE NINE cd release : " Decoding the Soul "

MAGNITUDE NINE website : http://www.mistchild.com/magnitude9
Magnitude Nine - Melodic Progmetal Band