RA: “To be upbeat and lively but not set in its way. The consistency of the album’s sound belies again the notion that Test Icicles were somehow just inspired amateurs.ĭH: “We knew the we had to write in.” In fact, each song was individually recorded by the member who wrote it. Peek beneath the howling guitars and vocals and there are complicated song structures and even more complicated layers of instrumentation. Hynes has commented that the band used almost every possible instrument while recording. Missing from most reviews of “For Screening Purposes Only,” then, is a sense of the album’s musicality. Far from punk prodigies that have just picked up their instruments, Atwell and Mehran have been making music in their bedrooms for years. The British music press has thus opted for a prefabricated narrative - DIY-ers just learning to master their instruments - that makes the group distinctly uncomfortable. The band’s sound, though grounded in an aggressive guitar-driven, punk-derived sound, also melds so many other influences - Pharrell Williams, Sonic Youth, Radiohead, Pantera - that it is difficult to fit them into any clear category. SM: “What do you think the ‘Biggest Mistake’ is about? Listen to the lyrics. If I went back in time and saw myself and told myself what would happen. The other band that went on before us said call it Test Icicles. RA: “And we got into the show the next day too because they liked us.
We wrote four songs and one of them was ‘Circle. RA: “From the onset, it was for one reason, for one gig.”ĭH: “It was to get in to see The Unicorns. Not bad for a band that began, essentially, as a joke. And to add to the commotion, just last weekend they broke the British Top 40 with their latest single, “What’s Your Damage?,” an unlikely fusion of insistent guitars, distorted vocals and a strangely melodic bridge. The band has actually toured more than they ever practiced (last rehearsal count: eight). I haven’t stayed out since 10:30 in ages.” We never go out we never get f**ked up we don’t sleep with loads of girls on tour. We are always painted as being really happy-go-lucky, but we are the least happy-go-lucky party kids ever. Rory Atwell: “But sometimes we play terrible and everyone loves it and sometimes we play really well and people will be ‘What was that for?’ ” Japan Times: “Then how are your shows not completely shambolic?”ĭH: “They are. Our first tour started the day after we finished recording.” Python” seem just as at home blasting from an AM radio as they do in the grotty clubs that Test Icicles have seen far too much of lately.ĭevonte Hynes: “We hadn’t toured ever until we recorded the album. Their first album, “For Screening Purposes Only,” has been critically acclaimed, propelled by gloriously thrashy post-punk guitars that hammer out infectious riffs.
Since forming in the suburbs of London less than 18 months ago, the band has been caught in a typically British maelstrom of super hype. Third member Sam Mehran would rather be napping. Devonte Hynes, who admits publicly that the shock-metal band Slipknot changed his life, would rather be back at the hotel watching “Twin Peaks” DVDs. Rory Atwell, the band’s eldest member at the ripe old age of 25, is still somewhat game, but his younger bandmates, both just 20 years old, have a different agenda. Test Icicles have been in Japan for less than 24 hours, and nearly a quarter of that has been spent talking to journalists.