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The Icarus Line Information
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'The Icarus Line' is a rock band from Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. The band is known for playing a very abrasive form of rock music both compliant and contrary to music trends from the late 1990s and early 00s. The band has also received considerably notoriety for their loud, energetic stageshows and for their seemingly reckless or 'tough' attitude off-stage.
Line-Up
'The band's current line-up is':
*vocals: Joe Cardamone
*guitar: Alvin DeGuzman
*bass: Don Devore
*drums: Jeff 'The Captain' Watson
'Former members include:'
*guitar: Aaron "Icarus" North (now with Nine Inch Nails)
*bass: Lance Arnao
*drums: Aaron Austin
History
The Icarus Line was formed in 1999 with Joe Cardamone on vocals, Alvin DeGuzman and Aaron North on guitars, Lance Arnao on bass and Aaron Austin on drums. They released the Red and Black Attack EP later that year. In the year 2000, Austin left the band and was replaced by Jeff Watson on drums. In 2001 they released their first full-length album, Mono, on Los Angeles record label Buddyhead records which was (and still is) co-owned by North. Mono was regarded by critics as a fresh take on punk and was influenced by such bands as Born Against and Refused. The band spent the next two years touring to support the album. By 2003, Arnao had left the band and was replaced by Don Devore on bass. Devore was formerly a member of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania rock/punk band Ink & Dagger which also released some albums on Buddyhead records. In 2004 the band released their second full-length album, Penance Soiree. Radically different from their debut, the album was clearly influenced by bands such as The Stooges. The album also featured a noisy, washed-out guitar sound reminiscent of the Jesus and Mary Chain. In the year 2005, Aaron North left the band and later joined Trent Reznor in the reformed version of Nine Inch Nails. The remaining members of The Icarus Line still tour and are recording a new EP, "Black Lives At The Golden Coast". This is due to be mixed in November with Alan Moulder and a release date is yet to be confirmed.
Attitude
The Icarus Line is particularly well-known for their on-stage and off-stage actions which show their sense of bravado and anti-mainstream sentiment. Notorius incidents the band has been involved in include:
*During a live show at the Hard Rock Cafe, breaking into a memorabilia case at the club to take out the framed guitar inside, in order to play it. Unbeknownst to the band, the guitar had once belonged to Stevie Ray Vaughn. The incident was widely reported in rock journalism circles.
*Spray painting the tag '$ucking Dick$' on a van that belonged to popular indie band The Strokes. The band initially tried to claim it was nothing to do with them, but admitted to the graffiti in a later interview with Kerrang! magazine.
*The Icarus Line's guitarist is one of the co-owners of notorious Buddyhead records, and the Buddyhead website, which is known for publishing the phone numbers of famous celebrities on its Gossip page and for its no-holds-barred reviews of records which are often profanity and insult laced.
*Being banned from playing at The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, California after Aaron North threw his guitar into the club's expensive light-system.
*The band is also known for going into the crowd during performances and getting physical with members of the crowd. The band has also been known to insult and verbally attack their own audiences. The band has also been known to incite anger in audiences by not following current clothing trends and styles in the rock world and by insulting members of the audience and other bands who follow stylistic clothing trends, especially those in the fashioncore trend.
Influence
One of the earliest marks of the Icarus Line was how they appeared in the majority of their concerts and shows dressed in all black with the exception of a red necktie (thus explaining the title of their EP: Red and Black Attack). The point of this uniformity was to remove any aspect of fashion or style from the band and force onlookers to focus on the music instead of caring about what the band members had on. However this anti-fashion statement was turned into a fashion statement itself when the rock band the Hives used this uniform set-up for its own performances and music videos, substituting the red tie for a white one. Ever since then, although the Icarus Line still prominently uses the colors black and red, they have stopped using the black & red-tie uniform in performance to avoid any association with the Hives.
Discography
* Highlypuncturingnoisetestingyourabilitytohate EP (1998)
* Red and Black Attack EP (1999)
* Mono (2001 [re-released in 2003])
* Penance Soiree (2004)
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