Before leaving high school, Adam and Vince started jamming with Andrew Bryant on drums, who was the percussionist of Live Bait; but after doing the funk project for a while, they were ready to focus on writing and recording original material. They started as a trio, playing in the style of The Police and Rush (one of their songs was called “Rush” as an obvious reference). Michael Hull later joined on guitar, and the band was able to play more complete sounding songs, but still maintained the energy of a power trio. The band name was picked after Vince finished his calculus homework on limits.
Their first recording was originally engineered and recorded by Hans Rotenberry in 1999, in Kingsport, TN. One of the songs, “Demons“, was written and later updated and remastered by Vincent in 2022.
After playing a while in Knoxville, TN, Michael decided to move to Nashville to attend school there in 2000 – 2001. Andrew, who just moved to Knoxville, met a guitar player who had moved into his dorm, and asked Stanton Edward to jam with us. We set up in the basement of Drew’s dorm, since he was an RA and had the keys to the unused communal rooms, and began modifying the sound more in the direction of The Police combined with Jeff Buckley, Grateful Dead, and The Black Crows. (The Police’s “So Lonely” became a signature encore for the band).
Stanton had a full rack and mixer console with a DAT (which were like VHS tapes for audio), and we began to record new songs. We didn’t know exactly what we were doing with recording methods, but we captured some interesting ideas. Many of the ideas came directly from the aftermath of 9/11, with fears of bombing and general existential dread. “All Bombs Away” was a signature Police style piece that became a fan favorite. “Fireflies” was a more traditional sounding bluesy song written by Adam (about Vince) that also become a fan favorite, since it gave Adam a chance to sing emotionally and Stanton to fly on the guitar solo. Vince was able to recut some parts and remaster from the existing file:
“Fireflies” (A. Gray, 2001)
“Freebase” was also a demo cut during the same sessions, and was a fun 60s style jam that gave the band a chance to explore their experimental and jazz sensibilities (but with dumb lyrics about drugs). The reference to Oversoul was a “bother” band that we played with regularly around this time. This track was only lightly updated to keep the vintage sound of the cut:
“Freebase” (Gray, Edward, Bryant, 2001)
After a year, Stanton also decided to move to Nashville, where his career as a guitarist would take off. He didn’t leave immediately, so it gave the band time to find a new guitarist. J.C. Haun was a well-know guitar player and band leader in Knoxville, playing in bands like Left Foot Down. He had already loved our sound and had seen many performances. Stanton performed with the band and J.C. for one last show at Blue Cats to trade off licks (and places in the band) on this tune:
“Tailors of the Dreaming Sea (Live)” (A. Gray, Haun, Edward, 2002)
The last song written with Stanton was a psychedelic prog tune that we also played at that Blue Cats show. We only have the board mix, so this track was updated with new parts; but only with the intention of capturing how it sounded in the room (and a little added flare of how we wanted it to sound).
“Syd Barrett” (Live) (Gray, Bryant, Edward, 2002)
Haun joined up and helped modify the sound to be bigger and more of a straight head Southern/Modern rock direction. Stevie Jones later joined on the keys/organ with a Leslie cabinet to beef up that kind of sound as well. The band went into the studio to cut an EP; but for some reason, we never finished all the songs. The only mix available is “Kamikaze Plane,” in which everything was cut, until we noticed that the snare track was unusable. Whether it was money issues or not, the band never recut the snare/drums and what is left on the track is a replacement drum machine snare.
“Kamikaze Plane” (A. Gray, 2003)
Limit Nine was active in the Knoxville/East TN and Tri-Cities music scenes between 1999 – 2004. Line up included: Adam Gray, Vincent Gray, Andrew Bryant, Michael Hull, Stanton Edward, J.C. Haun, Stevie Jones, and John Montgomery.
Limit Nine came together for a reunion show in 2010, playing at Barley’s Taproom, where they had played many shows before. “Seasons” was one of the last songs written by the band, after learning that the brothers’ father was diagnosed with ALS.
