A chat with Ice Nine Kills at Slam Dunk 2017!

Interview number 2 from Slam Dunk is with Ice Nine Kills frontman Spencer Charnas. The Boston based theatricore quartet released their latest single featuring the UK’s very own Sam Kubrick of Shields the day before the festival. Find out how that came about, why you should check them out and the story of a car […]

Interview number 2 from Slam Dunk is with Ice Nine Kills frontman Spencer Charnas. The Boston based theatricore quartet released their latest single featuring the UK’s very own Sam Kubrick of Shields the day before the festival. Find out how that came about, why you should check them out and the story of a car crashing into a venue they were playing.

This is your first UK festival, how do you feel about that?

Really excited about it, we’ve heard about the festival for a long time so getting to play it is really great. I love a lot of the bands on the show, a lot of them influenced me to start playing music, like Goldfinger, Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake.

Are they ones that you want to catch over the weekend?

That stage pretty much.

It was your first time playing in Glasgow last night, how was that for you?

It was great. We’ve never played in Scotland but the crowd reaction was really good.

Do you have any plans for another full UK tour soon?

We have been offered some things in the Winter but I can’t really confirm it yet. We should be back really soon.

So hopefully then! Following the festival, you play a sold-out show in London alongside I Prevail and Oceans Ate Alaska at the iconic Underworld, are you looking forward to that?

Yeah, last time we played in London it was definitely in Camden, I can’t remember what it’s called but it was great, it was a great show right in the market there. Do you know which place I’m talking about? It’s like a restaurant bar up on top.

Dingwalls?

That’s exactly it! So yeah, really looking forward to going back to London.

Yesterday, you put out a new single Enjoy Your Slay which features Sam Kubrick, which is an absolutely incredible track. If I remember rightly, you gave fans the option of two stories to pick from for the track, how did you narrow it down to those stories?

Thank you so much! Basically, what happened, our last album Every Trick In The Book, every song was based on a different book. Once that came out everyone kept saying to us “oh you guys should do this book, we love this book, we wanna hear Ice Nine Kills’ interpretation of it.” So the two that we kept hearing the most about were The Shining and Psycho, so we thought “lets make those two the choices” and put the creative control in the fans hands and The Shining won! And we’re really excited about how it came out. We became friends with Shields on our last UK tour and we soon discovered that Sam was Stanley Kubrick (producer/director of The Shining)’s grandson so that was such an amazing connection to the legacy of the story. We love his voice, his scream and we thought it would be a great idea to get him in on the song.

It tied in really nicely and added a really great touch to the track. I’ve already listened to it so many times already. Will you be playing it today?

Thank you so much! Yep we will be.

Brilliant! Every Trick In The Book received rave reviews on its release, are you currently working on the follow-up to it?

That’s what we’re going to be doing all summer! We’ll be working on the new album!

Have you got any plans in mind for what you’re going to focus on with it?

We’ve got a few ideas but I don’t wanna give it away.

That’s fair enough. I can’t wait for it. This is only your second time in the UK so a lot of people may not have seen you live yet, can you give one reason why people should come and check out Ice Nine Kills?

I think that our songs, we put a lot of work into our songs, not only the music but lyrically and I think that if you’re looking for something that’s a bit more challenging. We try to write stuff that, every line we try to make “tattooable” you know? We try to really incorporate our love for phrases and metaphors and puns and things. I think that if you’re looking for something that is a little bit clever, I think that you can enjoy what we have to offer.

Lets talk about your clothing company Kleaver Klothing, the designs are based on horror stories. How did you come up with the idea to create it?

I think I was just looking for another creative outlet oustide of the band for stuff that could be more creepier, more crazier, more horror-centric. It just naturally and organically picked up out of my interest in creating something like that.

Check out the merch: https://www.salem666.com/

We always end with some random questions. Describe the person sitting to your right as tomorrow’s headline?

Uh, The Invisible Man.

Where has been the craziest place you’ve toured and why?

Lately, playing in places like Pittsburgh, just the crowds go so insane, crowdsurfing the whole time, moshing. It’s awesome.

Have you got any funny tour stories?

One time we were playing in Florida and a car drove through the venue, through the front of the venue. The show still went on. I think he was trying to kill someone, we never got the full story.

Finally, is there anything else that you want to say to our readers?

Make sure you check out the new song Enjoy Your Slay and be on the look-out for our new album next year.

Thank you for speaking to us today.

 

Elizabeth Birt

May 30, 2017

Band management assistant. Goth princess and lover of all things music and sport.

@lbirt1993

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