Old Pictures I Took: The Icarus Line at the Hard Rock Cafe in Austin, SXSW 2002

my favorite SXSW memory: The Icarus Line vs. Stevie Ray Vaughn

it’s SXSW time again and in celebration of Indie Rock Spring Break i will reshare with you guys my absolute favorite SXSW moment ever back in the year 2002 when The Icarus Line fucked with the ghost of Stevie Ray Vaughn. 

i was at the Hard Rock Cafe (the LEAST rock n’ roll venue possible) to catch The Dead Low Tide (a band made up of former members of The Murder City Devils), Sparta (a terrible emo band made up of the dudes from At The Drive-In that didn’t have afros) and the headliner of the night…The Icarus Line. after being underwhelmed by the Dead Low Tide and bored outta my fucking mind by Sparta i was really ready for some loud noisey punk rock, and if there was one thing The Icarus Line knew how the provide in those days it was loud noisey punk rock. their shows were always chaotic and a little bit antagonistic which had the effect of turning off a lot of kids. by about 4 songs into their set most of the crowd had ditched out and there were maybe 15 or 20 people watching the show, me being one of those. guitarist Aaron North and singer Joe Cardamone seemed extremely agitated at the lame crowd and the even lamer venue and before long Joe was climbing behind the drummer and tearing down a huge SXSW sponsor banner. the bouncers were obviously pissed about this and you could tell they were ready to pull the plug on the Icarus Line’s set, but before that could happen Aaron North grabbed a microphone stand and walked over to a glass case on the side of the stage that held an autographed guitar by Texas legend Stevie Ray Vaughn. before anyone knew what the fuck was happening Aaron smashed the case open and grabbed the guitar. i thought he was gonna smash the thing. before anything could happen the bouncers rushed the stage and the show was over. someone snatched SRV’s guitar from North and then he ran out of the club before anyone called the cops.  i had been taking pictures the entire set and was lucky enough to snap a photo of the exact moment that the microphone stand shattered the glass case. of all the crazy shit i have seen happen at a show, that was the fucking craziest. 

some video evidence too: 

New Music i am down with this week: The Icarus Line's Wildlife

the Icarus Line’s new long delayed album Wildlife is out finally. the Icarus Line were one of my favorite contemporary bands back in the early part of the 2000s. they came out of the late 90s Noise Rock/Post-Hardcore scene and turned from a Jesus Lizard soundalike into one of the best bands around by combining Fun House era Stooges, Psychocandy white noise, Spacemen 3 drone, and GN’R sleaze into a perfect hardrock blender with their 2003 record Penance Soiree. unfortunately no one was paying attention and the album went mostly unnoticed. they followed up that with the pretty solid Black Lives At The Golden Coast which was more eclectic and also was pretty off most critics radar.

and now 4 years later we have Wildlife. while not as instantly satisfying (but what really is?) as the previous records it’s still got some solid gems for fans. “King Baby” is a pretty good opener with just enough T.Rex stomp & groove, “Sin Man Sick Blues” is totally channeling the motherfucking Dead Boys, the single “We Sick” is a nasty little slab of punk blues, and my personal favorite is title track “Wildlife” which sounds like pure Lust For Life era Iggy. a few of the 13 songs feel like filler and i wish there were less mid tempo tracks and more rippers like Sick Blues…but still if you love your rock n roll strungout and in the gutter then The Icarus Line aren’t gonna let you down. recommended.

Most Underrated Album Of the Decade

back in the summer of 2004 a little band from LA called The Icarus Line put out an album that was some kind of motherfucking kick ass good called Penance Soiree. and it totally restored my faith in the power of stripped down/feedback drenched rock and roll and also reminded me that all a record needs to do is rock you hard and you will love it forever. unfortunately not many people cared enough to follow my blind love and devotion to a band that was mostly known for being assholes and smashing glass cases containing guitars once played by Stevie ray Vaughn. (an event that i witnessed live in shocked amazement) well that was your loss America. it’s been a few years now and the Icarus Line are still where they were back then, an underground LA rock band that not many people care about. but that never changed the fact that they had made one of the best albums of 21st century rock and you should still buy it if you are into that kind of thing.

Penance Soiree sounds like Drive Like Jehu, The Birthday Party, Jesus & Mary Chain, and Black Flag all got in a fight while doing tons of coke off a strippers tits and then the survivors started a band that could only play fucked up Stooges' covers. fuck that! that’s the easy review. this shit sounds like god talking to you the first time you did really strong acid and discovered that you were stupid for being too punk to like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath so then you threw away your Jawbreaker records (which you later had to rebuy) and bought Black Sabbath's self titled album and then just listened to "The Wizard" over and over again until you fucking were a wizard.

this is so fucking heavy. like Sabbath heavy not like retarded metal from Norway heavy. which is to say the kind of heavy that kicks you in the ass. these riffs will cut down fucking trees. and it's loud, like jesus lizard loud where it splits your ear drum in two and you like it. it's the perfect soundtrack for a night of hard drinking and dirty sex with a girl whose name you never bothered to learn. i'm sure you can find it in a used cd bin somewhere or you can steal in online. it's worth the space on your itunes, trust me

Icarus Line Heart Stevie Ray Vaughn

among the coolest things i ever saw in my whole life, easily top 5 would be when Icarus Line guitarist Aaron North smashed a glass case containing a signed Stevie Ray Vaughn guitar at the Hard Rock Cafe in Austin, Texas during SXSW 2002. i had no idea until right now that there was some video of it.