Ian Read is an English

neofolk Neofolk, also known as apocalyptic folk, is a form of experimental music blending elements of folk and industrial music, which emerged in punk rock circles in the 1980s. Neofolk may either be solely acoustic or combine acoustic folk instrume ...

and traditional

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

musician, and

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

ist active within

chaos magic Chaos magic, also spelled chaos magick, is a modern tradition of magic. Emerging in England in the 1970s as part of the wider neo-pagan and esoteric subculture, it drew heavily from the occult beliefs of artist Austin Osman Spare, expressed ...

and

Germanic mysticism Ariosophy and Armanism are esoteric ideological systems that were largely developed by Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels and Guido von List, respectively, in Austria between 1890 and 1930. The term 'Ariosophy', which translates to ''wisdom of the Arya ...

circles. Read was a member of

Sol Invictus Sol Invictus (, "Invincible Sun" or "Unconquered Sun") was the official Solar deity, sun god of the late Roman Empire and a later version of the god Sol (Roman mythology), Sol. The emperor Aurelian revived his cult in 274 AD and promoted Sol Inv ...

, and founded Fire + Ice in 1991.

Early life

Read left school at 16, and at the age of 17, he became an adherent of

Germanic neopaganism Heathenry, also termed Heathenism, contemporary Germanic Paganism, or Germanic Neopaganism, is a modern pagan religion. Scholars of religious studies classify it as a new religious movement. Developed in Europe during the early 20th century ...

and began studying

Germanic paganism Germanic paganism or Germanic religion refers to the traditional, culturally significant religion of the Germanic peoples. With a chronological dating, chronological range of at least one thousand years in an area covering Scandinavia, the Bri ...

Music career

In 1987, Read joined Tony Wakeford's

along with Karl Blake. Read recorded three albums and an EP with Sol Invictus before leaving to form the band Fire + Ice in 1991. Ian Read founded an all traditional folk band named Figg's Academy that played a couple of gigs, notably in 2008 at the

Wave-Gotik-Treffen The (WGT; German for "Wave Gothic Meeting") is an annual world festival for "dark" music and "dark culture" in Leipzig, Germany. 150+ bands and artists from various backgrounds (gothic rock, Electronic body music, EBM, Industrial music, indust ...

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

Fire + Ice

Read founded Fire + Ice in 1991 after several years as a member of

. According to their sole website, "The heartlessness of the

modern Modern may refer to: History *Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Philosophy ...

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

consumer society Consumerism is a socio-cultural and economic phenomenon that is typical of industrialized societies. It is characterized by the continuous acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing quantities. In contemporary consumer society, the ...

ruins the lives of many. FIRE + ICE takes the purity and philosophy of early music and melds it into a message redolent with powerful seeds of

honour Honour (Commonwealth English) or honor (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is a quality of a person that is of both social teaching and personal ethos, that manifests itself ...

truth Truth or verity is the Property (philosophy), property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth, 2005 In everyday language, it is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise cor ...

loyalty Loyalty is a Fixation (psychology), devotion to a country, philosophy, group, or person. Philosophers disagree on what can be an object of loyalty, as some argue that loyalty is strictly interpersonal and only another human being can be the obj ...

and the bond of true

friendship Friendship is a Interpersonal relationship, relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague. Althoug ...

." His work as Fire + Ice have had a large amount of influence on neofolk music. The band played

in 1999 with a lineup that included Ysanne Spevack and

Julia Kent Julia Kent is a Canadian cellist and composer from Vancouver, Canada, and based in New York City, United States. She has performed as a member of Rasputina and with Antony and the Johnsons. Musical career Kent creates music using looped cello ...

. The band followed up by releasing a split

7-inch single In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...

with the neofolk song

The Unquiet Grave "The Unquiet Grave" is an Irish / English folk song in which a young man's grief over the death of his true love is so deep that it disturbs her eternal sleep. It was collected in 1868 by Francis James Child as Child Ballad number 78. One of the m ...

recorded in London in 2000, featuring vocals and viola by Ysanne Spevack as a duet with Ian Read. It was released in Germany by Tesco Distribution on blue vinyl with a letterpress foil gatefold cover.

Other pursuits

In 1996, Read was named as a Rune-Master within the Rune-Gild. His master work was the

Fire + Ice ''Fire Ice'' is the third book in the NUMA Files series of books co-written by best-selling author Clive Cussler and Paul Kemprecos, and was published in 2002. The main character of this series is Kurt Austin. Plot In this novel, a Russian ...

album ''Rûna'' that included a self-written and sung galdor (or

galdr A (plural ') or (plural ) refers to a spell or incantation in Old Norse and Old English respectively; these were usually performed in combination with certain rites.The article ''Galder'' in ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (1992) Etymology and or ...

) of the

Rune poem Rune poems are poems that list the letters of runic alphabets while providing an explanatory poetic stanza for each letter. Four different poems from before the mid-20th century have been preserved: the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem, the Norwegian Rune ...

. Read presently holds the position of Drighten in the Rune Gild and co-published the periodical ''Rûna'', which ceased after 24 issues. Read became the leader of the English branch of the

Illuminates of Thanateros The Illuminates of Thanateros (IOT) () is an international magical organization that focuses on practical group work in chaos magic. The idea was first announced in 1978, while the order proper was formed in 1987. This fraternal magical society ...

(IOT), in the early 1990s after founder Peter Carroll stepped down as leading

Magus Magi (), or magus (), is the term for priests in Zoroastrianism and earlier Iranian religions. The earliest known use of the word ''magi'' is in the trilingual inscription written by Darius the Great, known as the Behistun Inscription. Old Per ...

. Read is currently the editor of the IOT's '' Chaos International''.

Discography

With Current 93

He participated to the sessions of

Current 93 Current 93 are an English experimental music group, founded in 1982 by David Tibet. Much of Current 93's early work was similar to late 1970s and early 1980s industrial music: abrasive tape loops, droning synthesizer noises and Tibet's distorte ...

's album ''Swastikas For Noddy'', therefore he appears on this album and some subsequent albums containing remixes of this material: * '' Swastikas For Noddy'', 1987 * ''Looney Runes'', 1988 * '' Earth Covers Earth'', 1988 * '' Crooked Crosses For The Nodding God'', 1989 * '' Swastikas For Goddy'', 1993

With Death In June

He participated to

Death in June Death in June are a neofolk group led by English musician Douglas P. (Douglas Pearce). The band was originally formed in the United Kingdom in 1981 as a trio. However, after the other members left, in 1984 and 1985, to work on other projects, ...

's album '' Brown Book'' and the tracks have appeared in subsequent Death In June's releases as well: * '' Brown Book'', 1987 * '' The Cathedral Of Tears '', 1991 * ''Braun Buch Zwei'', 2009

With Sol Invictus

* ''

Lex Talionis "An eye for an eye" (, ) is a commandment found in the Book of Exodus 21:23–27 expressing the principle of reciprocal justice measure for measure. The earliest known use of the principle appears in the Code of Hammurabi, which predates the wr ...

'', 1990 * ''

Sol Veritas Lux ''Sol Veritas Lux'' is an album by the English neofolk band Sol Invictus. It combines the first Sol Invictus release, the mini-LP '' Against the Modern World'', with the second release, the live album '' In the Jaws of the Serpent'', onto one CD ...

'', 1990, compilation of the tracks from the EPs '' Against the Modern World'' (1988) and ''In The Jaws Of The Serpent'' (1988) * ''Trees In Winter'', 1990

With Fire + Ice

Albums

EPs

Videos

Compilations

References

External links

Detailed Ian Read discography
at

discogs.com Discogs ( ; short for "discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''The N ...

*Ian Read authored Rûna magazine issues 14 to 21. {{DEFAULTSORT:Read, Ian Living people Chaos magicians English folk musicians English occultists Year of birth missing (living people) English modern pagans Adherents of Germanic neopaganism Performers of modern pagan music Sol Invictus (band) members