Music, Style & Culture

First On: Ice Black Birds

We caught up with Ice Black Birds in a quick fire question round

The easiest, and by far the most interesting, way to find out loads of potentially useless information about someone is to ask them loads and loads of questions in a short space of time.

We caught up with Ice Black Birds to put them through the standard DIY quick fire drill.

Hello. Who are you? Where are you from? Where are you based now?
Hello my name is Sam Denniston from Ice Black Birds. We are all from Brighton and currently still live there.

What role do you play in the band?
I am the singer and rhythm guitarist but sitting to my left is George Grinling who is the lead guitarist. He's going to help me answer your questions.

Why is your job better than everyone else's?
At the moment we're all really enjoining getting to visit lots of different countries and seeing how people react to our music. Its a lot of hard work at the moment but it seems to be slowly paying off.

Where did you meet?
George and I have know each other for a very long time; we went to school together. We met Dan and Ollie at University. The usual kind of band story really. I wish I could tell you that we all met on an old wooden ship called Matilda but that would just be a lie.

Why did you decide to form a band?
To enable us to share the music that we had been originally just creating for ourselves in our bedroom. We thought what we were doing was good and we wanted to see if at least some of the public agreed!

Are you working on an album?
Yes, we have all the songs pretty much written, its just a case of finding the right people to work with now. We hope to have it out towards the end of this year. We don't want to be a band that take ages to release albums, we plan to release quite a few bodies of work in a short space of time.

Who do you want to win Dancing On Ice?
Good question, I don't actually know anyone on it but George said sadly "ME"

Are you enjoying SXSW?
Yeah it's an amazing atmosphere. There are so many people here and its so, so hot! Everywhere there's a drum kit, there is a band playing!

Who's the best person you've seen there so far?
White Denim. We really think they are the most creative, best live band around at the moment.

If you could be reincarnated as anything, what would it be?
A Honey Badger.

What's the strangest experience you've had as a band?
We got attacked by two snakes out here in Texas, it was terrifying. George saved the day by ripping an ear-melting solo which drove the snakes wild with amazement and they just rocked out for hours until they feel asleep. Then we gently put them in next door's yard.

What did you expect from The Vaccines?
We really liked the singles but haven't heard the album yet - reckon it will be a goodun!

Describe your new single in a sentence.
A garage blues track with a Woodstock solo.

22:22 Single by iceblackbirds

What new music should we be listening to?
There is a really cool new band from Brooklyn called Bear Hands who we love. Girls are also doing it for us at the moment.

What's your favourite time of day?
Bed time, baby.

If people can't get to SXSW, how can they see you play live?
They can see us at:

MARCH
22 White Heat @ Madame JoJos, London
31 XOYO, London

APRIL
2, The Green Door Store, Brighton
29 Club NME at Koko, London

22:22 is released on Monday 21st March 2011.

IBB Songs by iceblackbirds