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The Icebird 'Tendency / Freak Out’ single is out now! Check it out on Spotify!

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Best of 2007: Icebird's Top Ten Albums DECEMBER 19, 2007

If you like songs that are fast, heavy and noisy, then LA trio Icebird may just be up your ear-splitting alley. Comprised of Barry Monahan (guitar and lead vocals), Kate Wise (drums and vocals) and Mike Monahan (bass and vocals), Icebird brings an energy and exuberance to rock that shines with each pounding performance. The band recently released a follow up EP titled "Championship Bloodline."

Looking back at the tour earlier this fall, lead man Monahan reminisces, "Our favorite performance was performing for some of the most enthusiastic metal heads you've ever seen in Oakland, CA at the Stork Club while we were out touring the west coast. At that same show, we also got to follow one of the most amazing bands we've ever seen, Greenhouse Effect from Oakland. It was a revelation." The three kindly took a break from recording their new album to tell us what inspired their own music this year.

1. Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound 2. Blonde redhead - 23 3. Yeah Yeah yeahs - Is Is 4. Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs - You Can't Buy a Gun When You're Crying 5. White Stripes - Icky Thump

(next five after the jump)

6. Greenhouse Effect - Blast Shield Down 7. Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil 8. Justice - † 9. Webstar presents... Caught in the web 10. Big Business - Here Come the Waterworks

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Icebird “Magnitude” album review by Slightly Confusing to a Stranger Icebird hail from a little stardust-tinged town called Los Angeles, you may have heard of it - on the coastal edge of California. You need to know about Icebird, a trio that immediately jumps out of the gates on Magnitude - their debut release on LA's Flying Squirrel Records. This is an LP that visits ground infiltrated by past "rock" giants Unwound (the instrumentation), Sonic Youth (Barry Monahan's unkempt, coarse delivery; again the style) and - before I drop this, remember all the good you new about them - Nirvana (hear: "My second guessing"). Particularly on the latter example, you have Barry on lead vocals and guitar (he flunked guitar class twice!) as well as Kate Wise, drummer / vocals, lending her spectacular voice all seamed together by brother Mikes (Monahan) 4-string pattern holding. I must add, they rip through a ferocious number called "Hollywon't" that revels no distinguishable lyrics - only a little over a minute of free-form fury, that lead's into the albums closer "Ababa Bababa" that holds nothing back.

There's no catch here, no glam or gimmick - just 3 talented friends entering a recording space, picking up their tools and laying down a true rock album. For a debut record this distant from the current 'norm' to see light is one blessing - but for said album to also be the initial release on an upstart label (Flying Squirrel) is a treasure and a sign of, hopefully, things yet to come. Sure, some kids are gonna be confused as to why there are only 3 members in a band - versus 7, and why the music they are hearing isn't immediately fit for selling common automobiles on commercial television - but hopefully a band like Icebird can reverse some of the damage done to our warped youth. A damn fine album, enough said!

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Icebird “Magnitude” Alternative Malta album review

The tip of the Icebird

No matter how they sound, when you hear a group play and you feel passion and love for the music then you know the band’s great, and trust me Los Angeles’ Icebird have loads of passion for their art and it brims over with every song.

Although to classify this group as post-punk would be wrong I would definitely call this arty (but not farty) rock with tinges of Joy Division, Sonic Youth and Television scattered throughout. Completed by the sheer wall of noise the band creates you know you’ve got something good here. Jagged guitar lines, droning feedback and dominant basslines feature heavily in the album. One gets the feeling that the band is one big sparking ball of energy ready to torch the world, screaming (and yes the vocalist screams) its way through. But it has melody cranked up to eleven and the tunes have a way of drilling their way into your head. Plus its a forty minute rush that doesn’t flag once, so its got your attention from the first (and opener ‘The Clap The Burn The End’ makes a statement) to the last note.

If I have one complaint I would say its the production. If it was less muffled the band’s fury would come thru better, but it doesn’t stop you from enjoying this album. So yeah, cool by name and cool by nature. The Icebird cometh!

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Icebird Magnitude January 2006 Rumbles album review by Terrascope.co.uk

Coming on like a tightly coiled ball of energy, Icebird have managed the difficult task of recording their (no doubt) live intensity in a studio setting. Their debut album “ Magnitude” sounds like a down and out Dinosaur JR sharing a bottle with Shellac and the wipers, the whole album crackling with noise; a non stop avalanche of bass heavy riffs, chaotic guitar and powerful drumming, that rattles around your brain in joyous abandon. You may have heard it before but rarely is it done so honestly, a band worth tracking down.

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Icebird and The Movies July 20, 2006 Live at The Derby 4500 Los Feliz Blvd Los Angeles, California 90027 The Derby Presents: Indie Rock Night

Featuring...

The triumphant return of ... The Movies With Special Guest... Icebird

The Derby 4500 Los Feliz Blvd Hollywood, CA

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Icebird • Magnitude • Flying Squirrel Records

Impact Press Winter 2006 album reviews

Los Angeles has always been the breeding grounds for young and dangerous new rock groups. Having said that, Icebird are among the new wave of young groups who draw their influences from a time when people were more willing to say what they mean and just plain rock out. If you're a fan of The Stooges, Sonic Youth or The Pixies this is highly recommend to you. (RP)

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Here’s the before and after mockup for Chermak Compilation release party in 2009. The sweaty one-armed Simpler Times beer can didn’t make the final cut. Bummer. These posters eventually got wheat pasted all over the ‘hood.

Alcohawk was recorded & mixed by our buddy Timothy James @ Chermak Studio.

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Icebird Magnitude album review

Semtex Magazine Reviews Independent Music Publication http://www.semtexinc.com Icebird plays the kind of post-whatever that’s punk enough to be cool, even these days. I mean, it’s clear, listen to the production of these songs and the purring sound of the guitar and you’ll know these guys don’t care much about being on the hippest national radio show. Genres aren’t to be taken seriously as well, and instrumental skills are of secondary importance. Forget tonal chords and music class, this is a loose clash of ideas and garage attitude.

Icebird is a trio, from the US of A. They released this debut album called Magnitude earlier this year and the overall mood that hangs over it is to be situated somewhere between Joy Division’s Closer, KRMTX’ Plaster Hounds and Nirvana’s Nevermind. I guess you know what I mean: this is not the most happy record in the most cheering production.

Musically, Magnitude changes directions like the needle of a seismograph. This one song is like it’s off a crappy street punk band’s demo, another one sounds like a raw, tortured and aggressive version of Nirvana. Sonic Youth and The Fall pass the revue as well, and I even hear a sneering version of Franz Ferdinand. All played in the sound of Chromatics’ Plaster Hounds. Can you imagine so much dirt? It’s very abrasive and has a fuck you / I don’t care attitude all over it, much as if it’s coming out of the darkest underground rock venue. Every song is incredibly simple with monotonous bass lines, drumming and seemingly uninspiring guitar riffs, but in the end it’s very effective and to the point. There’s some fucking great songs on here, like The Starting Line, Ohio or My Second Guessing, where drummer Kate Wise gives vocal support. I guess that, after the revival of the eighties, the nineties are coming back. Grunge is in the air kids, I can feel it. Fucking hell. This album has so much dirt and desperation all over it and yet I’m caught by its genuineness. I’m sure you’ll all hate it, but can you believe I started to love this record?

[bytte]

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ICEBIRD DANTE'S INFERNO CIRCLES OF HELL T-SHIRT at Big Cartel

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Icebird at the Troubador

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(via https://open.spotify.com/track/7uZ9d02VW2JEVelcLS91t6?si=O7_mWnUTSl_zj_dJV6l_jg)

Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!

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Ababa Bababa by Icebird

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ICEBIRD “Magnitude” - Flying Squirrel Records September 2005 review Culture Bunker Noise www.culturebunker.com

If they gave awards for song titles, I’d nominate Icebird for their “The Clap, The Burn, The End.” This garage trio from LA gives a down and dirty tour of the rock gutter on their debut LP. Led by the tall, thin, hairy and beardy Monahan brothers, Barry and Mike, who sandwich drummer Kate Wise. The Icebird sound is powered by note based noise and underground song structures. Forget chord patterns, this is more sinister and loose, like The Fall, Mudhoney and something obscure like... Flesheaters. Clearly they’re influenced by the outsider indie bands of the late 70s and early 80s, as well as protopunk like Stooges. On “The Starting Line,” a simple propulsive beat allows some room in the song, space for Barry to get a little weirded out with tortured vocals and a monotone bass line. Throughout, the guitars are abrasive and on the offense, the songs are unwelcoming and aggressive - the way underground rock used to be and should be again. This record is fairly lo-fi and appears to have minimal, if any overdubbings and studio effects, like it was basically recorded live in the studio. I think this is a great way to capture some energy and vibe, a good move for a debut, rather than let the studio monotony suck the life out. Many of the leads and guitar-bass interplay sound almost goth, like a garage version of Bauhaus (think of “In The Flat Field”), but faster and without the pretense. There’s a song here called “Birthday Party,” and that should be a clue as to part of their ancestry, although nowhere near as self-aware. This is gritty, underground noise. -- Sid Arthur

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The legendary, original 2005 Icebird Magnitude Album Cover T-Shirt is back at the Icebird Shop.

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Icebird with Cinder Cone and Adam Taylor’s Imperial Highway at Old Towne Pub in Pasadena, CA. 🤘🤘

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Icebird “Alcohawk” silkscreened punk flyer. Post no bills, Los Angeles. Not bad for a 5am wheat paste run around town.  This show and compilation was put together by our buddy, the man they call Timothy James, of the Movies.

CHERMAK COMPILATION PARTY July 29th, 2009 9PM @ BORDELLO 901 E. 11st St. Los Angeles, CA 90012