H-Town Rock Interviews: Icy Demons

Hello there Houston. We certainly have been busy as of late talking to bands for our series "H-Town Rock Interview," so we hope that you've been enjoying our conversations with a variety of bands. Recently, we had a chance to speak with Chris Kalis (Smart Cousin) of Icy Demons, a Chicago-area indie-pop collective who is opening for Of Montreal and Yeasayer on their Fall 2008 Tour. We spoke with Chris regarding the band's new album, Miami Ice and how the band goes about making music, especially since the members are perpetually involved in a wide variety of music-related activities.

H-Town Rock (HTR): Where do you derive inspiration for your overall sound, what with all of its interlocking layers and timbres?

Icy Demons (ID): Well, on the record that's mostly the work of Blue Hawaii (Griffin Rodriguez), as musician/composer/producer. Being a recording engineer, we have access to a studio all the time: The Shape Shoppe. If you want me to name someone that's influenced us to work like this I would say Brain Eno, but I think everyone in the band is playing each song in their own way and is influenced by something entirely different.

HTR: How does the band, with so many members in different cities and different other bands, find time to collaborate with song ideas, much less write and practice those songs?

ID: Everyone in the touring band lives in Chicago now. Pow Pow (Chris Powell) is on tour with Man Man right now, but we hope to see him again soon. So we have a regular practice schedule that we try to stick to, but it can become difficult with Griffin being so busy in the studio, and everyone involved in their other projects. Again, if you're referring to the record, those collaborations were less frequent and more spontaneous. All of the songs on the record were conceived and executed at The Shape Shoppe.

HTR: How do you feel that your own record, Miami Ice, has been received? Is there a certain song (or songs) that you feel are most representative of the band's sound? How do you usually present these songs in a live context?

ID: We play as many of the parts live from the records that we can, but often add to or "update" them for the live context. There isn't one particular song for me, but I don't really listen to the record, I hear the songs live when we're playing and certain songs sound better than others depending on how well we play them and how
into it the crowd is.

HTR: What did you think when Of Montreal selected you to open for them on their tour? What are you looking forward to most with this Fall tour? What are your thoughts on Skeletal Lamping (if you've even heard it yet)? Have you ever played with Of Montreal or Yeasayer in the past?

ID: We're really excited about it. Icy Demons has many links to the Athens/Elephant 6 scene and we are stoked to go out and support Of Montreal. I'm really excited to play on the west coast with Yeasayer, because the band has never played out there, and its excited to play all the show because of the larger capacity of the audience. We've haven't played with either band before, nor have I heard their new records, I'm waiting to see it live.

HTR: What are some of the top records you've heard this year? Do you have any movies or literary recommendations?

ID: I haven't read a book or seen a good movie in a while, but I can say that I've been diggin all of the new Madlib releases, and all the new Count Bass D music.

Icy Demons will be playing at Warehouse Live on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008.