(New) Icky Line Wiki

The Icarus Line was formed out of the rashes of high school punk group.Tragedy struck the band in 1997, when Tim Childs, drummer and close friend, was killed in a car crash. It was shortly after recording their first EP as Kanker Sores on Recess Records, and also four songs for a split 7” with Treadwell. The last show Kanker Sores played together was at the Che Café in San Diego, with Jenny Piccalo and Locust. In 1998 The Icarus Line arose from the ashes of Kanker Sores, with Aaron Austin on drums. Almost straight away they toured the East Coast with Ink and Dagger and they took along with them their demo tape comprising of the four Kanker Sores songs initially recorded for the split. Soon after this they released their first EP, Highlypuncturingnoisetestingyourabilitytohate on Hellcat records. All these songs were also Kanker Sores songs.

2000 brought with it yet another drummer, this time Jeff Watson. Copies of Buddyhead’s first ever release, a one-sided 7” titled Kill Cupid With A Nail File, were given out at a special Valentine’s Day show. In March the band began to write their first full-length album, Mono. By October recording had started at the Rotund Rascal studios in Hollywood with Mark Trombino, but halfway through they stopped working together due to ‘creative differences’ and the band continued recording with Alex Newport at Messenger’s Studio in the winter. On December 8th, The Icarus Line played their first headlining gig at the Fais Do Do in Los Angeles.

The next couple of years were spent touring almost all the time, all over the world. On May 14th 2001, The Icarus Line performed Mono in its entirety at the Troubadour to celebrate its release on May 8th. Then came a tour with Dillenger Escape Plan in the summer, and after that a five-week tour with Cave In which finished in the middle of December.

The band kicked off 2002 with a eight week tour of Europe, and Feed A Cat To Your Cobra was released in the UK. A further world tour from May to October followed including dates in Europe, Japan, Australia and the US. Jeff Watson quit the band and soon after became a member of The Hells while Troy Petrey from Toys That Kill replaced him. Two John Peel sessions were recorded this year, the first while The Icarus Line were in the UK on their two-month tour, and the second while playing at the Reading festival in the summer. This was the summer in which the famous Stevie Ray Vaughan incident took place. At the end of the year the spilt 7” 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 5th 2003. The Icarus Line’s sixth drummer, Troy Petrey, left the band and Jeff ‘The Captain’ Watson returned. The first show they played back together again was at the 3 of Clubs in Hollywood on March 3rd, just before SXSW in Texas, which was Jeff’s last show with the band in 2002. Lance Arnao also left the band and Don Devore (ex Ink and Dagger) took his place.

Penance Soiree, The Icarus Line’s second full-length release and first record on their new label, V2, was recorded during the summer of 2003 in Hollywood, and mixed in London in the Autumn. There wasn’t as much touring this year as previous ones due to this, just a few dates supporting the likes of Primal Scream and A Perfect Circle at the beginning and end of the year.

Also this year, Joe Cardamone and Don Devore started up their side-project band, Souls She Said and recorded their first EP, Rub The Sleep Out which was released on June 24th in the UK. Other members of this band include Ryan McLaughlin from Ink and Dagger, Ryan Rapsys from Euphone, Dale Jimenez from Need New Body and even a special guest appearance of Travis Keller (co-founder of Buddyhead), doing some back up singing on one of the tracks.

In 2004 the band released their second full-length album, Penance Soiree. Radically different from their debut, the album was clearly influenced by bands such as The Birthday Party (band) and The Stooges. The album also featured a noisy, washed-out guitar sound reminiscent of the Jesus and Mary Chain. In the year 2005, Aaron North left the band and later joined Trent Reznor in the reformed version of Nine Inch Nails.

In 2006, the band released a new track on their MySpace profile, which was then officially released in November along with 3 other tracks on an EP called Black Presents. The third full-length titled “Black Lives At The Golden Coast” came out in May 2007 to mass critical acclaim. 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 bands sound toward a more blues based sound compared to the atonal style on “Black Lives”. Most live footage of the band from this period show progression toward a dual guitar chemistry. After a world tour with The Lemonheads and Wolfmother they returned to Los Angeles to build a studio(Gang Bang Park) and start a new record with the newest touring line up including, Joe Cardamone, Jeff Watson, Alvin DeGuzman, James Striff and Jason Decorse.