PostPunkd: For a while you guys weren't on my radar for some reason and I'm really happy that the band is coming to Houston.
Elias: Thank you.
PP: Since you're mid-tour right now, how's it going?
E: The tour is going great.
PP: Now I'm not actually much older than you are but-
E: Oh ok, how old are you?
PP: I'm 21 so I'm only a couple years older than you guys and -
E: I'm 19
PP: Yeah, that's what I heard. That's amazing. So what is it like touring the world at such a young age?
E: People are treating us really well. We met a lot of people who's been over our expectation, just treating us really well. The only thing that's annoying is that we can't drink.
PP: [laughter] Yeah, I was going to ask about that.
E: We manage to do it sometimes but it's hard.
PP: Yeah, I'll bet. You'll learn that the US is still a really puritan country in some ways. Sort of in the same vein, do you think people underestimate you because you're younger or are you getting the respect you deserve?
E: Uh- I don't know. People haven't really been- can you ask the question again?
PP: Yeah sure. Since you guys are younger how have you treated by older musicians and do you feel like you've been getting credit.
E: Yeah, well a lot of the bands we've been playing with have been very nice and bought us beer and stuff. We met a lot of great people so far.
PP: I really like the record, what are some of your influences? Who are some people who inspire you, music-wise?
E: I'm not sure because it comes from a lot of different places and I think like you unconsciously use all of the music you listen to. So I'm not sure how to address it.
PP: This is the band's first LP but have you recorded any singles before it?
E: Yeah, we did a 7 inch before the record.
PP: Are those available anywhere?
E: I think they're all sold out now but our Danish label might have some left.
PP: Could you tell me a little about “New Brigade” and what it was like recording it?
E: We recorded it in like 3 or 4 days. We didn't really use overdubs. Like we played all the music together and we did vocals after that but there wasn't really any overdubs. We just played the songs a couple times till they were right. That's kind of the recording process. We didn't have a producer or anything.
PP: 3 or 4 days is a short recording time. You guys must have been working really hard to get that.
E: Yeah, I guess it was just the method of naming the songs. We didn't need that many attempts.
PP: Can you tell me about the name of the band, Iceage. This might just be me interpreting things but I hear a lot of Joy Division in your guys' music and some of the energy of it and the band name has always reminded me of the Joy Division song “Ice Age” but where do you think the band name from?
E: As for the Joy Division thing, yeah I really like Joy Division -we seem to get compared to them a lot but I don't think we really sound like Joy Division. But we didn't take the name of their song. We just kind of brainstormed words and then it became that.
PP: You don't sound just like Joy Division. You sound like all sorts of things. I appreciate how experimental the music is. It's not just straight punk or straight anything. Did it take you guys a long time to write songs?
E: Yeah it did. We can't just like- just write a song in ten minutes. We spend a lot of time like finding the right parts and melodies and stuff. They are written over time. The ideas are pretty spontaneous but -what can I say- we use a fair amount of time to get the songs right.
PP: It definitely sounds like that. While I would call Iceage punk it seems a lot more thoughtful than a lot of the punk I'm used to hearing in the past couple years. It's a shorter record but it seems like every note is more thought out than a lot of punk bands I know can just sit down and write a song. And that's not always good [laughter]. It's good you spend a lot of time.
E: We don't want anything there that doesn't have to be there.
PP: That's a great quote. One of things that the bands does that made me think 'oh this must have taken a lot of time' is how the band uses lots dissonant tones, lots of noise, in a very calculated way. I love that.
E: Thanks.
PP: On your tour, how many cities in the US have you been to so far? -and Canada too.
E: So far we played two shows in New York, one in Philadelphia, one in Baltimore. Now we're playing one in Pittsburgh tonight.
PP: This is something I've been wondering, after doing some internet homework and listening to the album a couple of time-
E: Thanks, we appreciate that.
PP: How long has the band been together?
E: We started doing Iceage in late 2008 -but we've known each other since we were small kids.
PP: What's the band's plans for the future? Have you started recording or thinking about recording your next album?
E: We've been recording- and we are writing. We've written over half the songs for the next album so it won't be too long.
PP: Since you guys had a major taste of the music industry and touring, definitely more than most bands with members of your age, is there anything in particular that pisses you off about the music community in general?
E: Yeah. I've felt a lot of things but there's a lot of people interested just because a lot of people talk about it, not because they actually relate to the music. That's what I don't like. A lot of business people want to- want to lick our asses because they want to work with us or whatever.
PP: Yeah, I'm sure you're encountering a lot of that now.
E: It can be annoying but it's also good because like- a lot of people get to know about it. That's good. Like I wasn't expecting that people would sing along the lyrics for songs so far away from where I live but that's amazing because it happens.
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