Attila Fehérvári - bass guitar
Subjectively
I think he came with perfect knowledge to the first rehearsal even though he had a very short time to learn the set. If you get into a ready performance, first you learn the existing lines, then when you feel comfortable enough, you gradually implement your ideas. At the mixing of our first concert I was really surprised when I listened to his lines note by note and realized that he skipped the first learning phase and he completed the existing lines with his own ideas, which were all better than the originals. I heard from my musician friends that when he gets into a band, even as a substitute, nobody likes to let him leave.
Jamie Winchester - rap
Subjectively
I think, for a few years both of us were playing in Enikő Almási's Band and that was when I made the first 9:30 album. For the rap part of the first number (Cars, planes, boats and trains) I was looking for someone and Jamie offered to do it. I don't know all of his productions but I am almost certain that it was the first and the last time (as well) in which he could be heard as a rapper.
Tibor Tátrai - guitar
Subjectively
I think I planned to have a talk box solo in the first number of the first album (Cars, planes, boats and trains), and from here directly came the idea that I had to call Tibusz because nobody else in Hungary could handle this rare effect like him. As he didn't have to play his own genre, he was trying hard and I could tell he was not very satisfied with the recording, though listening to the final version everybody else thought the opposite. Well, such is the fate of perfectionists...
Sandra Grant - vocals, saxophone
Subjectively
I think when Sandra and I did the Brainwash remixes in 1995 (Taking Life For Granted, Dedication), we started to record a new tune (which was An Illusion, and that was when I was asked to write the 9:30 album so we decided to put it on that CD. Sandra then returned to London then soon moved to Antigua with her family and lived there for many years and it was only a few years ago that she returned to England (again). So that was our last project together.
Sándor Födő - percussions
Subjectively
In spite of the fact I can rarely do it, I very much like to play with a percussionist, because if we are lucky there are lots of things they do instead of me or they reinforce what I am playing. In a less lucky situation we produce a chaotic rumble but this is a different subject... I noticed when we played together for the first time with Sanyi, that during accompanying a solo certain dynamic steps and accents developed "by themselves", exactly the moment I wanted them. As I was not used to this, first I looked around, surprised; where did that come from? Then I was relieved to notice Sanyi's drumstick on the China cymbal for example.
Veronika Harcsa - vocals
Subjectively
I think when I invited her to do the backing vocals for us upon Orsi Kozma's recommendation, I became really sad after the first rehearsals that she couldn't have a bigger part because we were short of time. Her voice is extremely unique, like no one else's. After the concerts most of my acquantances sitting in the audience regardless of age and gender fell in love with her. I think it is also important, even though she is not proud of that, besides her music degree she almost received a degree in information technology at the Budapest Technical University. If I am not mistaken she only missed her last term (or even less) and she says it was due to the lack of interest that she did not think she would take the final exams. It's my mission that every time we meet I bug her with it, so she might change her mind.
Bea Tisza - vocals
Subjectively
I think I rearranged one of János Nagy's nice little pieces that was originally arranged for a symphonic orchestra into a 150 bpm crazy, rave-ish electronic nightmare, it was Awakening. Even if the melody was originally played on the flute and it was virtually impossible to sing at 150 bpm, so I thought I needed somebody to sing it. Not too many people could have done it. Orsi Kozma is the other one...
Gábor ˝Skeki˝ Skerlecz - trombone
Subjectively
When we were left without a trumpet player at the end of the 90's, Skeki joined the band for a while upon Zsömi's recommendation. It's a pity that the trombone has some technical limitations compared to the trumpet because otherwise it was great to play with him.
Gábor Winand - vocals
Subjectively
I think I have known him since the beginning of the 80s' but we only worked together the first time on the studio recordings of the 9:30 Collective in 2003. When we needed a male singer for the chorus of Momentary Fame who would be able to build a chorus and could improvise at the same time, he was the only one we thought of.
Gergő Mits - bass guitar
Subjectively
Miki Birta brought him in the band in the end of the 90's. He was extremely well prepared and motivated, as if he were afraid of this new task - he really wanted to prove himself. Anyway, he proved himself not only then and there, but on various other occasions as well.
Viktor Hárs - acoustic bass, bass guitar
Subjectively
We've known each other since the beginning of the 80's, having playing together a few times, but the first evidence of this was on the Momentary Fame album. After having recorded the double bass line for the title track, he came to the studio with his band to record a demo and I heard an instrumental piece I knew was a work of art. A few months later I figured if I changed the arrangement, it could be on Momentary Fame as well. That's when I found out that originally, it was meant to be sung, so it had lyrics. Then it was up to me to do my stuff. I had a very definite idea concerning the arrangement and later I was told about the bass guitar recording that no one had ever instructed him so much on how to play his own song. I think it paid off and that's how we made Our French Connection.
Kornél Fekete-Kovács - trumpet
Subjectively
As fate would have it, almost immediately after his move to Budapest we found ourselver shoulder to shoulder in the band called Rózsaszín Bombázók (The Pink Bombers). So it did not require hard brainwork to deduce who to invite for the 9:30 trumpet recordings. At the time of recording and during the first 1-2 years he was one of the most stalwart, stable members of the band, but sadly the co-operation was disrupted due to his involvement in other works.
János Kormos - guitar
Subjectively
I think we met at the beginning of the 80s' in the music school, but our first opportunity to play together was at the 1996 recording of the 9:30 album. He arrived, "Hello", guitar on shoulder, amp in right hand, bag of the effect pedals in left hand. He went right to the recording room, plugged in everything in 2 minutes, the sound was immediately perfect, turned the music on, the first take (Ikaros) was perfect, so was the next tune. Unplugged, guitar back on shoulder, amp in right hand, effects in left, "Good-bye". The whole thing was like a musical tsunami: quick and effective.
Frankie Látó - violin, sub-human scat
Subjectively
I think nobody else would had been able to do the violin solo of Awakening, just like to complete that wonderful task I created for him in The Next Station Is: Fineistan.
Endre Sipos - trumpet
Subjectively
I think he joined us for a few concerts after Kornél Fekete-Kovács. I think he liked the task which was different from the daily routine.
Tamás ˝Tobzi˝ Kovács - percussions
Subjectively
I think Jancsi Nagy recommended him for the recording of Our French Connection. He brought with him the discipline of classical musicians without their stiffness and blandness and since then he has proven this ability in various other productions...
Gábor Kovács - keyboards
Subjectively
I think he is one of the most talented musicians I've ever met. We met when we were 16 at a small band rehearsal of the music school. I formed our first real band with him and Norbert Marius. Since then I have been looking for every opportunity to play together so it was obvious that I invited him to the recording of the first album of 9:30, where he wasn't only performing but composed as well.
Norbert Marius - bass guitar
Subjectively
We formed our fist band when we were sixteen. After the first two semesters at the jazz faculty, the constraints were too much for him, so he left and went out to Berklee, then he moved on to New York. He did not return to Hungary for at least 15 years, and he hardly comes ever since. When he is here, we usually record an improvised jam session, enough to produce rather interesting things later. One of these recordings led to the composition of e.g. Miles Who? (Time to Change My Life)
Hajnal Magyar - vocals
Péter Agárdi - keyboards
