post-hardcore
Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. Like the term " post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad conste ...
band from
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, California, active from 1998 until 2015.
Career
1998–2003
The Icarus Line's roots started from a high school rock group, Kanker Sores. Tragedy struck the band in 1997, when Tim Childs,
drummer
A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums.
Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...
and close friend, was killed in a car crash shortly after recording their ''Pivot'' EP as Kanker Sores on Recess Records, and also songs for an aborted split 7” with Treadwell. The last Kanker Sores show was at the Che Café in San Diego, with Jenny Piccolo and The Locust.
In 1998 The Icarus Line formed with Joe Cardamone on vocals, Aaron North on guitar, Lance Arnao on bass, and Aaron Austin (formerly of Naked Aggression) on drums. Before even playing a single show, the band booked an extensive East Coast tour with Ink & Dagger. The Icarus Line played their first show at The Melody Bar in
New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Hellcat Records issued the band's first release in 1998. The 7-inch EP, ''Highlypuncturingnoisetestingyourabilitytohate'', consisted of older songs the group had created while still Kanker Sores. Their next release, the '' Red And Black Attack'' EP, was released that same year on the New American Dream label. 1999 saw the band release a split 7-inch with Ink & Dagger, followed shortly by the "Kill Cupid With A Nail File" single on Buddyhead. 2000 found the band finally recording their debut album, ''Mono'', across different sessions with
Mark Trombino
Mark Trombino (born May 23, 1966) is an American multi-platinum record producer, musician, and audio engineer. He has produced, engineered, and mixed tracks for many artists including Jimmy Eat World, Blink-182, The Starting Line, Finch, Motion ...
and Alex Newport. Recording was swift, unpolished, and essentially "live".
In 2001, the band embarked on an eight-week tour of Europe, and the "Feed A Cat To Your Cobra" single was released in the UK. A further world tour from May to October followed, including dates in Europe, Japan, Australia and the US. That summer, while performing at the Hard Rock Cafe in
Austin, Texas
Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...
during
SXSW
South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
, North smashed a guitar display case and removed one of
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stephen Ray Vaughan (also known as SRV; October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (band), Double Trouble. Although his ma ...
's guitars, an incident that became infamous.
Jeff Watson quit the band soon after, and Troy Petrey from Toys That Kill replaced him. Two
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...
sessions were recorded, the first while The Icarus Line were in the UK on a two-month tour, and the second while playing the
Reading Festival
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading, Berkshire, Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend ...
in the summer of 2002. At the end of the year a split 7-inch with Burning Brides was released, featuring covers of two Misfits songs.
The second single from ''Mono'', "Love Is Happiness", was released in the UK as a limited edition EP on May 5, 2003. The Icarus Line's sixth drummer, Troy Petrey, left the band and Jeff "The Captain" Watson returned. Lance Arnao also left the band and Don Devore took his place on bass.
'' Penance Soiree'', The Icarus Line's second full-length release and first on their new label,
V2 Records
V2 Records (or V2 Music and V2 Benelux; V2 being an abbreviation for Virgin 2) is a record label that was purchased by Universal Music Group in 2007, sold to PIAS in 2013 and partially acquired by Universal in 2022 (as part of larger PIAS 49% ...
, was recorded during the summer of 2003 in Hollywood, and mixed in London that autumn. There was not as much touring this year as previous ones, just a few dates supporting the likes of
Primal Scream
Primal Scream are a Scottish rock music, rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie (vocals) and Jim Beattie (musician), Jim Beattie (guitar). The band's current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes (guitar), Simon ...
and
A Perfect Circle
A Perfect Circle is an American Rock music, rock Supergroup (music), supergroup formed in Los Angeles, California in 1999 by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool (band), Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. A Perfect Circle released three of their ...
at the beginning and end of the year.
2004–2010
In 2004 ''Penance Soiree'' was finally released. Radically different from their debut, the album was clearly influenced by bands such as The Birthday Party and
The Stooges
The Stooges or Iggy and the Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, were an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave Alexande ...
. The album also featured a noisy, washed-out guitar sound reminiscent of
The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid, who are the two founders and only consistent members of the ...
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN (stylized as NIИ), is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988. Its members are the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Trent Reznor and his frequent col ...
.
In 2006, the band released an EP called ''Black Presents''. The third full-length, ''Black Lives At The Golden Coast'', came out in May 2007. Due to personal differences, Don Devore was released from the group before the release of the record. Guitarists Jason DeCorse and James Striff joined the band pushing the band toward a more blues based sound compared to the atonal style on ''Black Lives''. After a world tour with
The Lemonheads
The Lemonheads are an American alternative rock band formed in Boston in 1986 by Evan Dando, Ben Deily, and Jesse Peretz. Dando has remained the band's only constant member. After their initial punk-influenced releases and tours as an indep ...
and
Wolfmother
Wolfmother is an Australian hard rock band from Sydney. Formed in 2004, the group is centred around vocalist and guitarist Andrew Stockdale, who is the only constant member of the line-up. The band has been through many personnel changes since t ...
, they returned to Los Angeles to build a studio (Gang Bang Park), and start a new record with the newest touring lineup including Joe Cardamone, Jeff Watson, Alvin DeGuzman, James Striff and Jason DeCorse. In August 2011, the band released the album ''
Wildlife
Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...
'', characterized by the greater prominence of frontman Joe Cardamone, who, in addition to lead singer and primary songwriter duties, further expanded his responsibilities to include producing and engineering.
''Wildlife'' was tracked at
Sunset Sound Studios
Sunset Sound Recorders is a recording studio in Hollywood, California, United States, located at 6650 Sunset Boulevard.
Background
The Sunset Sound Recorders complex was created by Walt Disney's Director of Recording, Tutti Camarata, from a co ...
in Hollywood completing the band's trilogy of albums recorded in all three studios on the premises. Greg Gordon engineered the sessions with Bradley Pike assisting. All of the songs were tracked live as a group to analog tape. Overdubs and mixing were completed at Joe Cardamone's home studio in Highland Park, California. As he had never engineered his own mixes, the final product was unpolished and exploratory. This attempt polarized critics; some criticized the record for sounding unpolished, while others applauded the album's intuitive nature.
The first single, "We Sick" was released on February 23, 2010. Annie Hardy from Giant Drag is featured on several of the tracks on ''Wildlife'', and also appeared on organ for some of the Los Angeles live performances surrounding the record release.
Ariel Pink
Ariel Marcus Rosenberg ( ; born June 24, 1978), professionally known as Ariel Pink, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter whose work draws heavily from the popular music of the 1960s–1980s. His lo-fi aesthetic and home-recorded al ...
is also credited as making "Baby Noises" in the liner notes.
2011–2015
After the release of ''Wildlife'', the band minus James Striff and Jeff Watson embarked on a world tour for most of 2012, touring with
Killing Joke
Killing Joke were an English rock music, rock band formed in Notting Hill, London, in 1979 by Jaz Coleman (vocals, keyboards), Paul Ferguson (drums), Geordie Walker (guitar) and Youth (musician), Youth (bass).
Their first album, ''Killing Joke ...
. Lance Arnao, the group's original bass player, reemerged to join the group for the tours and to record what was to become the ''Live in London'' LP. Jeff Watson was also replaced with Ben Hallet on drums. Following the UK/European tours The Icarus Line returned to tour the US with
The Cult
The Cult are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Bradford in 1983. Before settling on their current name in January 1984, the band had performed under the name Death Cult, which was an evolution of the name of lead vocalist Ian Astbury ...
, culminating in a sold-out homecoming show at the Hollywood Palladium.
In late 2012, Joe Cardamone, Alvin DeGuzman, Lance Arnao and Ben Hallet began the writing process for the next yet-to-be-titled full-length LP. New songs "Salem Slims" and "Junkadelic" were featured in the 2012 live performances.
In August 2014, the band released their seventh full-length album, '' Avowed Slavery''.
In October 2015, the band released their eighth full-length album, '' All Things Under Heaven''.
After DeGuzman was diagnosed with
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
, and becoming disillusioned by touring with Scott Weiland, Cardamone quietly left the group at the end of 2015, pursuing a solo career. DeGuzman died in October 2017 after a two-year-long cancer battle.
In media
The Icarus Line were the subject of the 2018-released independent feature film '' The Icarus Line Must Die'', directed by filmmaker Michael Grodner. The film, released by Dark Star Pictures, stars Cardamone as himself, and features musicians such as
Keith Morris
Keith Morris (born September 18, 1955) is an American singer and songwriter known for his role as frontman of the hardcore punk bands Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Off!. Born and raised in Hermosa Beach, California, he formed Black Flag at t ...
,
Ariel Pink
Ariel Marcus Rosenberg ( ; born June 24, 1978), professionally known as Ariel Pink, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter whose work draws heavily from the popular music of the 1960s–1980s. His lo-fi aesthetic and home-recorded al ...
Wildlife
Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...