Shiver to Shine: The Rise of 9Million and Touring with Ethel Cain

Photo by Jed Anderson @latexmansion

Toronto’s 9Million are living proof that great bands can grow out of unexpected beginnings. What started in 2019 as a project between friends turned into a seven-piece force reshaping the edges of alternative rock, and 90s nostalgia. Their sound is expansive and cinematic yet rooted in the raw energy of Toronto’s punk and hardcore scene that shaped nearly all the members and still pulses through their DNA. The band–Matthew Tomasi and Danielle Clark (vocals), Lia Lepre (keys), Looch Man (guitar, vocals), Jamie Fastlane (bass), Noah Aviles-Betel (drums), and Ace Mendoza (lead guitar, vocals)–first turned heads with their debut single ‘Shiver’, which featured the haunting vocals of Ethel Cain. Four years later, that early connection has come full circle as 9Million join Cain on a massive world tour, playing to audiences across the U.S., UK, Europe, and beyond. Along the way, they've built a reputation for immersive, wall-of-sound performances that reflect the collaborative spirit of a group too big to be boxed into one genre. Their 2022 album Between Us and 2024 single 'Honeysuckle' hinted at their restless creativity, while their newest self-titled record 9Million cements them as a band ready to define their own lane. From being denied at the border three times on their way to U.S. shows, to pulling off festivals in Toronto, to preparing for their biggest hometown album release show yet, 9Million continue to push forward with an energy and sound that refuses to sit still. They’re not just a shoegaze band, not just a rock band…they’re something in between, something larger. We sat down with 9Million to trace their origins, unpack their sound, and look ahead at what’s next for one of Canada’s most exciting new exports. 

How did 9Million first come together? 

9Million: It first started off as a project in 2019 with the first single and video ‘Shiver’ being created and released in 2020. We got asked to play a show and Matt pulled together a bunch of us to recreate the sound live. It stuck and from there, we just kept going. 

Where did the name 9Million come from and what does it mean to you?

9Million: It’s a reference to The Jesus and Mary Chain song ‘Nine Million Rainy Days.’ We were really into their album Darklands, and it felt like the spark for the project. They’ve always been a thread in what we do–our album Between Us takes its name from one of their songs, and we even covered ‘Sometimes Always’ on our last mixtape. 

How has your hometown of Toronto influenced your music and identity as a band?

9Million: We all, apart from Ace who is American but now lives in Toronto, came up in the same punk rock scene in Toronto so through that you hear all kinds of different alternative. All the bands that were present when we were coming up really influenced how everything gets put together for us. Every scene has its own sound, and Toronto was influential to us in that way. It’s all through this same scene that we were able to come together and make this kind of music. It’s reflecting off what we all liked coming up into the scene–not just punk and hardcore but other stuff that people in that scene would be into. Even The Jesus and the Mary Chain was one of the first bands people in the scene put us on to and we thought ‘this is the best shit ever.’ 

Photo by Enoch Chuang @enochchuangphoto

How would you define the Toronto music scene at the moment? 

9Million: The hardcore punk scene is still really strong. Our friend Greg and Sardé have this fest called Not Dead Yet that brought people in from everywhere. Ace even played it with some of his old bands, and it was a place where we met people who are all in the scene. Now we collectively do a fest in Toronto called More Reality, which follows in the footsteps of what Not Dead Yet built. 

What’s it like writing and performing as a seven-piece band? How does that shape your sound?

9Million: Originally, the idea wasn’t to be a live band at all. But once we started, the goal was to make the live show sound like the recordings. That’s where being a seven-piece makes sense: it captures the full scope of the production. It could work as a smaller lineup, but this way feels truest to the music. The actual process of making music has become more collaborative, especially on the new album. 

Your debut single ‘Shiver’ featured Ethel Cain’s vocals, and now you’re touring with her. How full circle does that feel?

Matt: It feels surreal. That single came four years ago. Hayden and I have become really great friends over the years. I first heard her when she opened for my friend Nicole Dollanganger. We connected after that and she sent me demos, including Golden Age when it was complete, which we ended up putting out on Noah and my label Homie Shit Magazine. That was actually the label’s third release. To see how much her project has grown and to have been alongside that from the beginning is a priviledge. It’s also, of course, been great that she was down to bring us along for this tour. 

Would you have expected that when you first started out you’d be touring the world with her?

9Million: Definitely not. This is our first time in Europe as a band. Our earliest tours were with Glitterer, and Ethel Cain about two years ago, and we’ve also been out with Angel Dust and Fleshwater. We’ve been lucky to hit the road with bands we love and friends we’ve made along the way. 

Photo by Jake Ballah @church.in.hell

How’s the tour in the U.S. been so far? Any challenges on the road?

9Million: The shows have been great, but the border was a nightmare this time. Matt made it through, but the rest of us were denied at the border three times. First it was because we didn’t have a carnet for our gear, so we had to reroute through Canada to Vancouver and get one. Then it was over merch–we had to leave some behind and ship the rest. It was messy, but we figured it out. Normally it’s simple, so this was definitely the roughest start we’ve had. But once we got through, it’s been smooth. 

Your sound blends shoegaze, alt-rock, pop, and synth-wave with a 90s edge. What shaped that blend, and how intentional was it?

9Million: It was definitely intentional. Matt’s been recording bands for years, and this started as a way to experiment with different sounds. That’s why we called the early releases mixtapes. They were more collections of ideas than cohesive records. People often label us as shoegaze, and while we’ve got elements of that, we don’t really see ourselves that way. It’s like when Elliot Smith was called folk…it’s not wrong, but too narrow. At the end of the day, we’re a rock band. If people ask, ‘what kind?’, we just say ‘N/A.’

You’ve just released your new self-titled album 9Million. What’s the next chapter of the band post-tour?  

9Million: Right now it’s hard to look beyond the tour since so much energy went into preparing for it. Once we’re back, we’ll start writing again. There are some B-sides from the album that didn’t make it out, so maybe those will surface. Mostly, we want to ride this record as far as it’ll go and see what other touring opportunities come up. Five days after we get back to Canada, we’re playing a show with Wednesday, then our own album release show in Toronto at the later end of the year. The only challenge is our gear’s getting shipped back to Nashville, so we’ll have to do a twelve-hour drive to pick it up before those shows. 

Listen to 9Million on Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud and follow them on Instagram