Mike IX Williams

Michael D. Williams, known professionally as Mike IX Williams (pronounced "Mike 'Nine' Williams"), is an American vocalist and songwriter, best known as the lead singer of New Orleans–based sludge metal band Eyehategod. He is the former associate editor of heavy metal magazine Metal Maniacs and has also worked on other projects.

Williams' vocal offerings have been characterized as "tortured laryngitis screams."

Early life Williams was born in High Point, North Carolina.

Eyehategod

Williams was invited to join Eyehategod by Jimmy Bower in 1988. Since then, all of the band's albums have featured his vocals which have been described as "tortured laryngitis screams",

For the recording of Dopesick, Eyehategod's third album, Williams went through several issues. At the time, he was living in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn in New York City so he had to travel between there and New Orleans, Louisiana frequently for the recording sessions, which took place at Side One Studios. a sludge metal band, which also featured fellow Eyehategod band members Jimmy Bower and Brian Patton, and Crawlspace. in which he is the vocalist. Williams stated in 2008 that his desire with this band is to make people explore early hardcore punk.

Along with all Eyehategod members except Jimmy Bower, Williams formed Outlaw Order, another sludge metal band, where he provides vocals for the band.

In 2005, Williams' first book, Cancer as a Social Activity, was released. The book includes old lyrics and portions of collages that Williams assembled for Eyehategod which date back as far as 1988 as well as unreleased stuff, written during the period of two or three years before the release of the book. The book also shows Eyehategod's history. It was mostly written in New Orleans and New York City but there are also part which were written while he was traveling.

Early 2013 saw the emergence of Corrections House, an industrial project involving Williams plus members of Neurosis, Nachtmystium, and Yakuza.

In 2004, Williams and longtime friend Seth Putnam of the band Anal Cunt had plans to start a band and write a record consisting of all anti-cop songs. It is currently unknown if any material was written or recorded.

Williams used to be the associate editor of Metal Maniacs. Williams recalled, "There was a dead body round the corner from me. I saw someone pulling an ATM down the street, chained to the bumper of their car. Things got pretty hectic."

In the 2020 book Raising Hell: Backstage Tales from the Lives of Metal Legends, Williams stated he looted a pharmacy after the hurricane and "didn't get busted until three days later".

Inside the apartment they could hear gunshots and at one time, upon leaving the building, Williams' partner was confronted by a person who attempted to rob her. Williams intervened on her behalf. In order to escape the violence, Williams and his partner slept at the apartment of a friend. The following morning they borrowed a car and traveled to Morgan City, Louisiana, where Williams received word that his house had burned down. and jailed. Bail was set at $150,000; an amount Williams was unable to afford. With help from his lawyer, Williams filed for a bond reduction which was rejected by the court on the grounds that Williams was a threat to society. Williams was anxious at this time as his friends and associates were unaware that he was in jail. Williams recounted that his experience in jail was punitive in nature rather than rehabilitative; he expressed his belief that prison employees are sadists, and was quoted saying, "I think they like to hurt other people and like to see other people’s misery." Later, Phil Anselmo paid the bail money to have Williams released. By the time the hurricane hit, he had stopped using heroin The funding goal was later achieved, and Williams successfully underwent the surgery in December. He recalled the situation in 2021, where he was quoted saying: "I was a goner. I’m quite pragmatic so I just said to myself, ‘This could be it. I could be gone soon.’ I wasn’t really scared at all. I just thought, ‘If I go, I go, and if I stay, I stay.’ And I was great with staying, you know!"