Pitchfork: Need New Body, Bablicon Members Form Icy Demons

Need New Body, Bablicon Members Form Icy Demons
Genetic monster-splicing intended for good of mankind backfires horribly

Six months ago, a handful of East Coast shows marked the debut of Icy Demons, a new band led by Bablicon bassist Griffin Rodriguez and Need New Body drummer Christopher "Pow Pow" Powell. At the time, the band was selling hand-packaged copies of their debut album, Fight Back, a potent and enticing mix of Need New Body's structured frenzy and Bablicon's freak-jazz exploration. On May 4th, Athens, GA's esteemed Cloud Recordings officially released a freshly mastered version of the record, adorned with some truly awesome drawings by Isaac Lin. Cloud's John Fernandez tells of how Fight Back came to his attention: "Chris is one of my favorite drummers, and when I heard he and Griffin were recording together I was already excited... I had [the album] in my car for a couple of weeks, I kept getting in, forgetting what I was listening to, and saying to myself, 'This is fantastic! What the hell is it?' and then I would pop it out to find it was Icy Demons, of course. I called Griffin and said, 'I want to put this record out' and he said 'Yes!'" Happytimes tracklist:

01 Young One
02 Icy Demons
03 Manny's
04 Bitter Moon
05 Detachable Face
06 The Silent Hero
07 Chimatown
08 Desert Toll / Spirit Guide
09 Simian Warlords
10 Wet Sweater
11 Vera May
12 Bowser
13 Bitter Sun

In spite of hectic touring schedules (Need New Body are currently in the midst of a nationwide tour with Hella, while Rodriguez is touring with HiM), Icy Demons have already begun work on their as-yet-untitled second album, presumably to be recorded at Chicago's Shape Shoppe. Opening for Need New Body at New York's esteemed Tonic last January, Icy Demons offered up a good deal of fully formed new songs, suggesting that the material for album #2 is already largely written. Though the band hasn't played any shows since a record release party in April, there are plans for an extensive Icy Demons tour later this year. And for those of you with a hard-on for the handmade, Need New Body is selling yet another hand-packaged version of Fight Back on the road, adorned with fancy construction paper cutouts.