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TromBonus - 61 - Ice Nine Kills
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If you're still walking on sunshine then this episode is for you! Rob and Engineer Joey sit down to do a full blind listen of the first two albums by modern metallers Ice Nine Kills! Both have only heard the Reel Big Fish song and are going in completely unaware as they listen to the entire Pop-Punk-Ska years compilation and INK's official debut, Last Chance To Make Amends. All the while they comment on the bands evolution, their love of a schtick and their long hard journey to superstardom.
The Heptember 2024 bracket is open to determine the greatest Reel Big Fish cover of all time at www.challonge.com/heptember2024
Hosts: Rob and Joey
Engineer: Joey
Editor: Cutman
Skassociate Producer: Chris Reeves of Ska Punk International
Merch: www.checkeredpast.ca/merch
Patreon: www.patreon.com/checkeredpast
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Transcript
Introduction of Hosts and Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
blawa wa It's another trombonus episode, it's just Rob engineer Joey an apocalypse full of dreams as we so obsess over horror movies and serial killers and blind listen to the first two records of Ice Nine Kills on Checkered Past, the SCOD cast.
00:00:42
Speaker
What up Checkerheads, welcome to Checker Pass the Skycast with Selene and Rob, the show where a Paul Allen defensive, etc. and ah Patrick. God, I can't do this. All right. This one's really terrible. Uh, I might just skip this part. okay Wait, it wasn't going to be Patrick. bain Yes. Kate Kaitman in the 45s.
00:01:08
Speaker
i got half we got you got it Explore the history and the impact of a different band each episode and hope to bring in new fans along the way. I couldn't do it. Joey actually had to finish it for me. hat true eight kate men in the forty five I'm Robin. This is my co-host with the most toast engineer, Joey. Did you get what I did there? That was pretty obvious. That's American Psycho. yeah Straight up characters from American Psycho. yeah And there's a reason for that. So um we're gonna skip through what we normally pick it up where we left off because of the recording time, but also because we have a lot of stuff to get into this episode. This is a weird trombonist that we're doing. So it's been a while since we've
Ice Nine Kills' Ska History and Early Music Exploration
00:01:50
Speaker
done a blind listen. meanwhile
00:01:51
Speaker
It's been a while. um And it's a so now since we're in heptember or in were the pre preamble of heptember in the pre show, we talked a little bit about the band Ice Nine Kills and their cover of Walking on Sunshine featuring a real big fish. So we liked it. I didn't know it had varying degrees of enjoyment from the from us. yeah um But I realized that before that song, I had never heard an ice nine kill song ever.
00:02:20
Speaker
That was my absolute first time ever. I think I had heard one or two. I think when they put their last album out, but maybe a video or something was enough for me to be like, and I was like, no, y no, thank you. ah And I had no idea that they had a ska history, that they were apparently a ska band at one point. I only learned that when the when that single dropped.
00:02:42
Speaker
yeah and I don't know to what degree they're a ska band, I don't know anything. i cant I'm coming into this absolutely blind. Lots of prep on this episode. A lot of, I did no prep. Like this last time we did a a blind list and I did the same thing. ah Even when we did Sim, somebody else gave us the music and I didn't listen to any of it.
00:03:00
Speaker
um Which was very fun. That's a that's a highlight episode. Yeah. Um, so this ah seemed like a good opportunity to do another blind listen um So there's ice nine kills had two records. The pop punk ska years is what one is called and Another one called last chance to make amends before they shifted their style to a more like modern metal style Yeah, so I eliminated any intros or interludes I could find so I don't know if I do did it properly, but I don't know. um But apparently those are the ones that i'm we're supposed to listen to. So is there a lot of ska? Maybe. Maybe there is like barely any. Maybe there's just like a tinge of it. Maybe this is going to be like that fucking Hoobastank album that everyone is like, oh, it's a ska wreck. And you listen to it. And you're like, there's like no ska on this. Like, what are you talking about? There's a ska. Yeah. Like, does that make it ska? I don't know. So that could be the case. This is really just an exploration.
Transition from Ska to Metalcore
00:03:53
Speaker
Did they have horns? Do you know? i No, I don't believe they did. Okay. Yes. So before I play the first track, what do you know about this band? What is your impression of them? My my view of this band is that they seem to be very popular Yes, I have a huge following, but they came into metalcore after I dipped and they are way too fucking cheesy metal. Like to sorry, cheesy wouldn't be the word too much modern metal influenced metalcore for me. I like more hardcore.
00:04:30
Speaker
based metal and Nowadays metalcore is, it all sounds like architects or something. like it's yeah It's kind of gente. It's kind of just breakdowns with singy parts and then screamy parts. and I kind of liked when it kind of was more hardcore with metal.
00:04:45
Speaker
and now it's more metal with a little bit of break down. No, now it's modern rock metal with breakdown. like now And now it's shifted so much into the realm of modern metal or pop metal, I would say that is yeah it doesn't appeal to me personally.
00:04:59
Speaker
ah but They seem to be a band that's fucking killing it. Yeah. So good for them, I guess. So what I know. So that's about what I know is that they're like part of this modern metal thing that's happening kind of right now. They almost like pre are because they've been around for a minute. Yeah. so They're almost like before your sleep tokens. Yeah. I feel like they didn't like before. I don't ah knock them for jumping on the bandwagon. I don't I don't think they were bandwagon jumpers. I think they shifted their sound.
00:05:29
Speaker
or or they maybe saw the change coming and shifted their, so you know what I mean? Like, I don't, I don't think they were like, Oh, this Scott thing isn't working out. Let's shift to this really corporate style of metal core. I think that was just their, their natural shift, or a bad yeah they mean that which is Consciously yeah good good for them. Yeah, and the other thing I know about them is that there they there's a gimmick to them And that's the serial killer horror movie. Yeah, yeah particularly an obsession with American Psycho. yeah like's like kind of their whole heart Yeah Yeah, and they have like I like the misfits or do like a whole horror thing, but it's like a movie or stuff is the misfits right? so They're more like
00:06:08
Speaker
the late 90s type of horror, right? And so I know that that's the other thing about them. So the first song I played, before we get into those two records, their biggest record is called The Silver Scream, so they have fun. And this is the top streaming song on Spotify at 75 million streams.
American Psycho References in Ice Nine Kills' Music
00:06:30
Speaker
This is a popular band that I have never heard of. which is starting to sound like my whole thing. And people are gonna be like, Rob, you should know who they are. And I'm like, I'm sorry. I have not heard this band before. So this is a virgin listen to a song called Grave Mistake. And this is like their number, like their top. And this is not from one of these albums. This is like a newer one. This is from, okay, Two Puns, Back to Back. Well, Grave Mistake is the song. It's good. Silver Scream is the album. Really? So they're having a good time. Yeah. All right, so let's hear this.
00:07:07
Speaker
So I'm already feeling like they're a studio band. Yeah, a little My Chemical Romance. oh yeah that's yeah yeah Spend the money. sit down Also like Atreyu was doing this back in the day. this shirt pretty yeah I should get the years. I think that is important.
00:07:25
Speaker
Now that Rob's not anything but obsessed with finding out what's been happening. If this is like a 2007 song that makes a lot of sense, right? Yeah, this is almost like full blown emo. Like radio emo. It's like almost butt rock. Oh yeah, a little bit. Like three days straight. Yeah. Yeah.
00:08:10
Speaker
Yeah, I think there's definitely more... thought out. Like, yeah, me, Wes, me, Eddie, that's a good word for me.
00:08:22
Speaker
That's not the worst thing I've ever heard I mean it's not for me, but I get it I get the appeal we listen to like modern rock playlists at work and shit And I'm like that would anthem that would fit in between like a fucking whatever and a new Nickelback song and a Later event sevenfold song. I do you know what I mean. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, this is absolutely Sonic 1 0 2 9 like Yeah, or even or even just like the like metal XM. You know what I mean? That's serious. Yeah, that has big serious energy for sure. big Serious energy. OK, so that's 2018. We're going to spin this back to before 2006 even. So the 2000 and 2005, I think, is when this dark times, the dark times. Yeah, they're in the dark ages ah before even these guys would have been doing this ah in during the post third wave.
00:09:14
Speaker
whoa yeah if you want to talk about things that i coined yeah okay so if we keep saying it it'll become a thing that's right okay so from from the album or a compilation the pop punk ska years this is a song called sign here okay that's more ska already more pop punk more pop punk yeah
00:09:41
Speaker
bass players like to play high on the neck with her. Yeah, is this my first band? Boy boy, this is a different band. but be
00:10:01
Speaker
the lyrics are kind of like uh sounds like it's sort of a little bit of a sellout type of thing going on they
Influences and Early Ska Experiments
00:10:10
Speaker
must love real big yeah serious sp a new house
00:10:30
Speaker
This is just like everything else is good high school. There's like an alternate universe where this band went in a wildly different direction. You know what I mean? Like that's what I'm learning. They didn't discover breakdowns. Yeah. that'll never All right. Okay. Yeah, I mean, that's yeah, that's a pop song. Yeah. Big time. Like early 2000s. Low budget pop punk. Man, we really took a 180 between those two songs already. I'm feeling like whiplash. That's wild. All right. This next song's BFG. Big fucking giant. Oh, big fucking gun.
00:11:10
Speaker
So Ska Watch, no Ska so far. Yeah. there There was that little real big fish harmony. Yes. No Ska. And that high neck bass part. Yeah.
00:11:51
Speaker
But what was it? All the action? No balls or whatever? All balls? No, whatever. I bought the CD based on the first single and I listened through a half of it and I threw it out the window of a car in high school. That was my most punk rock moment. I right. Well, that one's a bit of a wash. i'm not I mean, that's fine. Yeah. no um But how I feel about uh civil plan currently aside from like being a angsty teenager being like this is in punk rock and like wasting 30 fucking dollars throwing a brand new CD on the window um but i i i felt i had to do what i felt at the time uh but that being said
00:12:36
Speaker
the guitarist and singer were in a band called reset and reset was like a fast political punk band. And they were good when those guys were in the band and then they split and started simple plan, which is, I mean, we're talking about the sell out thing. So they that they chose to sell out too, which is fine. Good for them.
00:12:56
Speaker
Uh, they just, they're on that Disney CD. They're fucking making the money. So it's good for them. But reset continued on as a three piece and put out better music after. So if you like fast, like kind of early propaganda with like out the jokes, almost, uh, reset, fucking check, check it out. It's good. And they were big friends with, uh, like to this day with fat Mike, like, I think and like Pierre is still like good buddies with all these like,
00:13:26
Speaker
you know, like business punk guys. How he like, I mean, good, good on them for being in the pop punk scene for so long without much controversy, right? But also like,
00:13:38
Speaker
How many tours did they go on with that Headley guy? Yeah, right. You know what I mean? Bowling for soup is like the same. Like it's a little too squeaked, squeaky clean. You know what I mean? Like I'm like, I haven't like, it's just a little too. Not for me. Oh, too much. Like I need a little bit of dirt on the finger. Yeah. All right. This next song is called We Ate Gilbert Grapes. That's funny. I like that. OK, Ska watch. Still no ska, but maybe.
00:14:26
Speaker
like, you know, this is also kind of reminding me of the matches. Or some 41, early some 41. Yeah.
00:14:50
Speaker
And Ice 9 kills us from, let's confirm where they're from. They feel Cali by the way. I don't know, they feel Northeast even here. Oh you're right, Boston. Ah ha! Good, i good ear. Good ear.
00:15:09
Speaker
This is so some 41A. Yeah. Yeah. Now it's some 41A. It's almost like they're playing a different band. Okay. Yeah. It's it's like they're running the gamut of pop punks. Yeah. They're like all of the different kinds of pop punks. Let's just do one of each kind of pop punk. There'll be a Ramones core song in here somewhere for sure. Okay. So let's begin. Okay. This song is called She's the Same. We're track four. There's only nine tracks on this little compilation thing.
00:15:35
Speaker
There we go. We got some Scott like Oh with horns Fake fake or fake horns real copy Oh, yeah
00:16:01
Speaker
okay this is real post third wave scott yeah really that wasn't just an accident when i said that i kind of like the fake horns i love fake horns i like these fake horns for some reason it's got to give me like common sense kid vibes This is not the worst post-third lane Scott song ever. No, and they do a good job with the fake horns. Yeah. They sound good. There's a little key change in there. Yeah, it's good. All right. You know what? i
00:16:40
Speaker
I don't know how to feel about it. I got to get through the whole thing. yeah This is actually not the words. All right. Yeah. A punk thing and probably back to a ska thing. Yeah, probably. Maybe I'll listen to it one day. All right. So Polly Esther is the name of the next song. I don't think this is the Mad Caddy song, but that would be fun if it was.
00:17:02
Speaker
Okay. it I think it might be. Isn't that how long the Mad Caddies one starts? Maybe not.
00:17:23
Speaker
I thought he was doing a fake English accent at first, but he was just saying it weird.
00:17:35
Speaker
Yeah, no, this is not a song about how much he hates cops. They were they in high school? It's got to have been, right? Had to have been. So this was released in 2009, but it's a mix of demos. OK, so anything probably for four or five years or earlier than that. It could have been anything. Before their first official record. Oh, it says here, recorded in 2002. Oh, OK. All these songs were recorded in 2002. Yeah, probably high school. one yeah the one i Yeah. The lyrics are definitely high school. yeah
00:18:11
Speaker
I mean, that fits into the post-third way. Like, they really are checking all the post-third way boxes. Truly. Okay. All right, I'm getting it. Yeah. yeah that This is like, ah we're just like uncovering layers of an onion here. Yeah. Like, I i didn't realize I was going to learn so much, you know?
00:18:29
Speaker
but Scotch, Ska Watch, two Ska songs. And we're, we're on, that was number five. That was, I was not expecting that many. That's like 40% Ska so far. I, that, yes. I thought we were going to walk in this and it was going to be like barely any Ska. I went in with low expectations on the level of Ska on this, but that's actually doing it. Yeah. All right. This next song is called Seventeen. I wonder if this is a cover. And also about someone of the age to be in high school.
00:18:56
Speaker
Alright, this has got some groove. Blinkway A2 style pop punk. They seriously are just like all of the big bands. Let's just do a song like each of them. And if I was in high school, I probably made the same decision. Oh, for sure Blinkway A2. Call it.
00:19:15
Speaker
Really to call it also. They do have like two vocalists going on now, and I don't think they do that now I Think it's just the one guy and he's like, right? yeah the leader he's their
00:19:31
Speaker
So what are you doing? This is like straight Buddha style. I was gonna say Cheshire cat. Yeah, absolutely
00:19:40
Speaker
Oh, my world for an AFI style one.
00:19:47
Speaker
You know what? If I had heard this when they recorded it, I would have been wicked into it. Yeah. For sure. Yeah, me too. I would have been 15. Yeah. Yeah, this would have been right at my challenge. Like, even 2002, this would have been me. I would have been graduating. Like, I would have been listening to this shit. Oh, yeah. OK. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. For sure.
00:20:09
Speaker
It's pretty good. It's not bad. It's pretty good. This is pretty good. Spalding is the next song about basketballs, I assume. I assume so.
00:20:27
Speaker
You know, for like 2000s high school band, decent recording. Yeah, pretty decent songwriting. Yeah. They're actually like able to put it. You can see where they can like the stylistic shift between this and their later sound is pretty stark. Yeah. But you can see where they had the talent to write music at this point. Yeah. And like a lot of this stuff is pretty simple because it's like pop pop.
00:20:59
Speaker
Well, and they're but they're doing a lot more aping. They haven't really, like... Yeah, yeah, realized their own sound. yeah But that being said, none of it has been or tonight really simple. You know what I mean? Like, like it's been pop it's been simple because it's pop punk, but it hasn't been simply written like people who can't play it. You know what I mean? Like, they clearly can write songs and can play their instruments already. And those all the songs usually have some kind of, like, change-up that happens in it, or, like, it's not, like, necessarily first-chorus, first-chorus. like Yeah.
00:21:29
Speaker
Oh, little gang vocal there. And like a pogo thing. They like the pogo. I think they wanted the kids to dance. Yeah. oh yeah Yeah. Yeah. All right. yeah We've got two more tracks left on this. Oh, and now it's not like it was going to go into a little slow breakdown thing. That's fun. Because next song is called Saturday.
00:21:48
Speaker
It was stuck at night on our Could Have Been A Misfits song.
00:22:12
Speaker
Wasted opportunity. Fucked it up, ink.
00:22:22
Speaker
That what you're supposed to call them is that their nickname is ink? That's how it's... whatever. What's i mean it something what's it called when you just take the first letter of each word? Yeah.
00:22:35
Speaker
It's a name for that acronym acronym acronym
Musical and Thematic Evolution of Ice Nine Kills
00:22:47
Speaker
All right, this one's kind of man that one didn't do it for me no, but that's it was all right All right. Let's finish this off with a song called
00:23:02
Speaker
trying to get some information just a milling calling just kick it off with a milling calling
00:23:39
Speaker
yeah they're not on the uh serial killer bandwagon yet no they're they're on the pining after girls bandwagon i feel like every single song except for the first one which was about uh selling out no but even that was about a girl yeah yeah it was like a girl girl selling selling out
00:24:07
Speaker
Just waiting to see if it does make a change.
00:24:14
Speaker
I think we've got another one. That's not the worst. I didn't mind that. Yeah. All right. So, okay. So that's that's the PopPunk Ska Year's or demo, 2002 demo. Right. ah So we went through it. So how would you how would you rate that? I don't know, like four out of six and a half.
00:24:34
Speaker
Give it one out of two tones, maybe, right? Like the other thing I used to do. ah That's, ah yeah you know what? Like I went in, you know what i mean not expecting much. That was a good five out of six. Yeah, five out of six. ah i I was pleasantly surprised. Yeah, the Ska songs were like pretty easy. There was two bad Ska songs. But they weren't, they weren't, yeah they didn't feel like throw away. They didn't feel like we got to write a Ska, like they felt like well-realized songs because you can feel the real big fish influence on them that they definitely wanted to write a ska song right yeah totally and and they didn't have acid no and again the fake horns on that one song were pretty fucking ripped fucking good that sounded great yeah what was that song called she's something she
00:25:23
Speaker
She's the same. Okay, so she's the same. Stand up for me. Ska watch two Ska songs out of nine. Not bad. They're back to back. That doesn't that's not really good from a flow perspective. But I think ah sonically, I would guess that they lumped the releases together. Right. So maybe they just did them chronologically. Maybe they did. Maybe they recorded two Ska songs at a time.
00:25:44
Speaker
or something like that because those last two songs sounded similar and not as good as number seven did. So I'm i'm guessing it was just the chunks of songs they recorded maybe. So so far so good. Yeah. I feel like this next one, just based on the like the artwork and the year and stuff is going to sound quite a bit different as well. So I'm like tempering my expectations that some crazy is going to happen. But ah just an interesting journey that we're going on right now. Also, their name is ah based on Ice Nine from Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, which was like a fake, I feel like it was a drug. I think it was a drug. Ice Nine kills. Oh, okay. Because I ah ah kind of hate their name.
00:26:26
Speaker
You kind of had their name? Yeah. It's something. It it it just doesn't roll off the tongue. I will say that if you're reading Kurt Vonnegut, you're probably reading Harlan Ellison. So that's all kind of makes sense. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It all kind of. And yeah, like I now that you've explained it, I get it and I dislike it less. Yeah. But it just it doesn't. It's not a name that rolls off the tongue. for ink ink yeah ink ink is fine Okay, cool. So let's take a break. And when we get back, we're going to listen blind, listen some more to the first full length by the band ice nine kills.
00:26:58
Speaker
be
00:27:12
Speaker
Welcome back to Checkered Pass. Joey and Rob here talking Ice Nine Kills, and we're going to blind listen to another record. This is an album called Last Chance to Make Amends. This is the first official full length that the band put out in 2006. It was released on self-release. It was self-release. I know that they are eventually a fearless band, but I think that comes a bit later. they At this point in life, they knew fear.
00:27:40
Speaker
they They didn't know fear. They didn't get the t-shirt yet. They didn't get the gt get those t-shirts yet. So they couldn't get signed in Fearless. They're like, according to your t-shirts, you do have fear. and That's how you got signed back in the day to Fearless Records. You bought all of the band, no fear shirts. And then Fearless would show up at your show and be like, oh, these guys don't have any fear. They're on all the label.
00:28:02
Speaker
uh all right so it says uh yeah uh 2006 a self-release so that's an interesting thing we'll see i also noticed that there's a american psycho reference already on this album so i think this is where things start to go into that or the serial killer thing realized their vision. Yeah. So that's just based on track titles. But again, I have not listened to this first time. Let's start with track two after the intro. Last is the intro. A clip from American Psycho wouldn't know. I did not listen to 44 seconds and I was not interested.
00:28:51
Speaker
Oh wow. They sure found the double kick pedal between those other songs and now. Yeah that was that was not heard on the pump on Sky Years. Nope. Oh yeah here we go. 2006 for sure.
00:29:13
Speaker
Yeah like if I would have heard this when I was into this type of stuff. the vocals would have just been a little too whiny for me right at that because at that time i like i liked bands that sounded like this but all screamy right basically was my thing this doesn't still this sounds very of its time oh yeah warp tour warp tour this is this is a warp tour band yeah and uh Very interesting because like that other song that we heard that grave mistake song it doesn't sound like this either No, maybe in the like guitar tone a little bit. Yeah, this still feels like independently produced Okay,
00:29:58
Speaker
okay so it's still like but it still gives you like it's not as polished still Yeah, it's definitely a little on the rough side, but we have definitely moved into the hot topic. Yes. Drive through records, fucking Warped Tour thing. Yes. Definitely. We're in that zone now for sure. Yeah, we've we've moved out of 2002. Yeah. Into 2006. We moved out of going to the first warp tour and into being on the eighth warp tour. yeah Just like accepting the warp tour for what it was. yeah yeah yeah yeah That's how I felt in 2006 when I just showed up and I'd be just like, this is warp tour, I guess.
00:30:39
Speaker
Get me into the inflatable spritzing thing. Yeah, let me stick around until the band I like will show up eventually. yeah Going a whole hour of bands I don't have care for at all. And being like, what do I do with my time? And then having to choose between two stages for two bands that I do want to see. Yeah, because they randomize the fucking lineup every time. So dumb. Anyway, this next song is chapter two. But track three. The track three. Chapter two. Also, it's a minute and a half long, so I'm a little curious if there's actually any music on here.
00:31:18
Speaker
found some tricks in the studio at least whoa
00:31:31
Speaker
Yep, a little love in Blink-182 still, yep. But, like, Blink-182 from this time. Yeah. Like, yeah Miss You, Blink-182. Yes. Yeah. Did you like to do some, like, like backing vocals, like, you know? Some woes. Some woes.
00:31:52
Speaker
So I don't know if it was just that one song we listened to, but they do have like a kind of a not quite dual vocal style, but almost it like really blasts off for the last 30 seconds, but I don't think so.
00:32:19
Speaker
uh no it didn't seem like it was blasting off anywhere no um i like the title of this song oh yeah this next one is called build a bridge and jump off it jeez louise that's fun little thing for me and the nights
00:32:39
Speaker
And I'm now looking it up. That album Silver Scream is literally all the songs are based on movies. Oh, so that grave mistake song is based on the crow. Oh, OK, that's funny. I like the crow. It's a good movie. I am not excited for the new one, though. I saw a trailer for it and I was like, Oh, not great. So so far with this album, what I'm noticing is it doesn't get somewhere fast not very quickly i don't know track number two there was pretty rocking but this is yeah there's no double double kicks on this one not yet definitely more in the radio rock realm yeah carrying a little less about getting the kids poe going
00:33:33
Speaker
That's that'd be a next for me. and I'm clicking it. Yeah, I'm not this one is not ah doing as much for me for sure This song is called I do and I don't and according to my notes here. This is a reference to best in show i don't know if it's actually about it but Which is a fantastic movie if you've never watched I love best in show god damn it it's good
00:33:58
Speaker
Do all the songs start like this? Yeah, it feels like there's a lot of the clean guitar thing and the telephone guy voice. Telephone guy voice? I love that. that's Real big fish? Yeah. Love in the air and bear thing, right? Telephone voice.
00:35:00
Speaker
Yeah. They're writing for the girls at the Warped Tour. You can have a little like, I never liked that. Those are the thing in the metal community where it was like, you wrote the ballast for the girlfriend, but we didn't know. Yeah. It's like, ooh. Yeah, it's not good. You know what I mean? Like, that's not good. No, I like, it's a weird, it's a weird kind of misogyny for sure. Yeah. Like, just play music and don't give a groove or masculine vibe and everyone will like it. You know what I mean? Like, don't be a meathead, I guess. Yeah.
00:35:30
Speaker
Yeah, they've almost like ventured into meathead territory. It's like a little bit, a little bit. I mean, that could just be this style of music at this time. I don't think our product at the time. Yeah. It's still very expensive. Yeah. Yeah. And that's pretty middle of the road.
00:35:47
Speaker
All right, this next one is that American Psycho reference we mentioned. Murders and acquisitions. I believe the the the quote is murders and executions, but whatever, it doesn't matter. This is the song. This way it's like mergers and acquisitions. Mergers and acquisitions. Mergers and acquisitions. Do it again, clean guitar thing at the beginning. Voice 2. Scott Watch? No Scott. No Scott. Waiting for it. They would be real out of place. It would be. Holy shit, if they throw just some Scott in,
00:36:22
Speaker
What's that guitar thing that's happening like the tone of guitar that they have on this Like, what is that? That only... I don't know, it's weird. It is
Ice Nine Kills and the 2006 Music Scene
00:36:49
Speaker
and the uh harmonies are less fun yeah the harmonies are more boring i will say overall they're less fun on this yeah this is just like much less fun and i understand they're this but it's interesting to go from this into what i think is kind of like a I think they mean to be fun now. Yeah. I think they're having more fun than other current medical medical. Yeah. Like, I don't think all the remains is having a lot of fun these days. Like, they're riin they're they're playing near death metal, but they're not having fun. You know, we get to wait for this. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. um That was rough. Yeah. I didn't care for that one either.
00:37:30
Speaker
so um But yeah, they almost this is a weird comparison, but they're like the Powerwolf of their genre in that they have like Powerwolf. Powerwolf. OK, so this is like one of the biggest. I definitely heard of Powerwolf. Powerwolf is probably one of like the big power metal bands that tour right now. They're from Germany, right? They have a huge stick. So their stick is they all dress like priests.
00:37:52
Speaker
okay they only sing about vampires and werewolves and blaspheming god like that's their whole thing and everything and there's church organ on like every song it's a whole thing right it's not serious even in the slightest like even by power metal standards okay they are not taking themselves seriously at all yeah um but it's like a big fun gimmick that literally even if you're not a fan of the genre you can go out to it and have a good time because it's just a like it's over the top and it's so it's a whole thing it's a whole production it's theatrical and like the biggest sense of the word right there right doesn't require you to be serious about it no it's at all you don't they're not they're not out there thinking that they look cool
00:38:37
Speaker
No, no, like they're nothing. They look cool. They're probably just like, this is fun. But but I feel like that makes a difference to the audience, right? Like, and especially in a metal at a metal show. yeah if If the audience at a metal show is watching a band that has a big stick like that, that thinks they're serious.
00:38:57
Speaker
He's looking at a picture. This is a picture of Power Wolf for face like he's having a great time He's having the best time. Look at that corpse pain. It's insane. That's a fun this. Oh the album artwork is next level Look at all them. Look at that. That wolf is just Romand blessed blessed and possessed is the name of the hashtag blessed and possessed They haven't a song called Sanctified by Dynamite. Like, it's like, you know? Yeah, I would do it. Oh, yeah. Who isn't? Like, yeah, that's great. I'm saying that this band gives me that not at this era in the more modern sense. Yeah. Give me this vibe. Yeah. They're having some fun. They're spraying some cheesy blood around. They're wearing, they're wearing suits. They're doing their thing. You know what? If that's the show, like if Ice Nine Kills comes out and they do a whole thing where like they all dressed in like Patrick, you know when Patrick Bateman has the plastic on? I think they do. I think they do that whole thing. That's fun. I'd go see that. That's all right. Yeah, who's having a bad time?
00:39:57
Speaker
that's like more bands need to harken guar. And I feel like that's what they're doing a little bit, right? yeah and Like that happened to i having a little bit of fun, making the thing, but their shtick is like kind of serious in that it is integral to the band's image. You know what I mean? But yeah. Okay. I'm getting i'm getting somewhere with it. You know what I mean? Okay. So we got what, three tracks left? This one's called what I really learned in study hall.
00:40:26
Speaker
I don't care for that. Oh, Grandpa Guitars. No clean guitar! I guess it's clean. I mean, it's clean. There's no distortion on it.
00:40:37
Speaker
You definitely doin' this type of Evo thing! You know? Yeah, that drive-thru thing, eh? Yeah.
00:41:00
Speaker
I'm surprised how little metalcore... Yeah, this one doesn't have... Like that there first songer song had double kicking and riffs. Yeah. But we haven't had much double kicking or riffs since. No.
00:41:18
Speaker
You think it's all acoustic? Yeah, I think it's all acoustic. Yeah, they got it. I mean, unfortunately, that supports your horrible theory that this album was for the girls. But just like shoehorning an acoustic song towards the end, right? Yeah. Gross. I'm not caring for that. All right. Cinder blocks and thank you knots, It's been more of course. You know, I had to have all year. like, yeah, Evo. You have kind of a non sequitur long Yeah, definitely. ass song title. Yeah.
Rise to Fame and Style Shifts
00:42:03
Speaker
So, Ska Watch, no Ska. No Ska. Yeah. We've, we've...
00:42:19
Speaker
Not the song, but this album. But who? Wikipedia and also Reddit. The Reddit article I was reading to prepare for this. Reddit. Come on, get your shit together, Reddit. Come on. Oh, telephone voice. It's in the game. Yeah. It's later, but it's still there.
00:42:47
Speaker
Oh, back to a slow thing. Okay. All right. No, Scott. No, Scott. One more song called Family on Ties. Let's get this over with. Come on. Give me some riffs, boys. Finish it off with like
00:43:42
Speaker
Man. Hit tempo.
00:43:57
Speaker
it is already informing their more butt rock sound later right because like a this if you made this more modern rock this would be butt rock radio material for sure right
00:44:15
Speaker
This album is just not for me That one song had riffs. It was good. This makes me miss this makes me reverse nostalgic for 2006 Bad feeling like I just don't it doesn't it makes me remember that I had a hard time with music at this time, right? Like there was not a lot for me happening you were like, where's all the Scott? There was like no Scott and they're like have some riffs even breakdowns. You're like, no, I No, I didn't want that either. And I was writing for a metal magazine at that time, too. And it was just like, I was just like, what is happening? Yeah. And so as a big power metal fan, that's like a terrible era for power metal, because like all the bands went into a breakdown direction or all went mid tempo.
00:44:57
Speaker
like right Nightwish and Camelot released what I think are the worst fucking records around that time. Everybody was just bailing, oh, Sonata was awful at that time. That was the worst era of Sonata. Anyway, it was not a great time to enjoy. Rob's style of music was not thriving in 2006.
00:45:21
Speaker
um overall not my favorite but no i will say i did learn a lot about this band in ways that i was not expecting by going through their records and honestly i if i felt like like if i was just in like a like an early pop punk or kind of early 2000s late 90s pop punk fucking zone and i was just listening to a bunch of that stuff i might put on that pop punk ska years yeah that that was some fun early 2000s pop punk. Like if it was mixed in, if those songs were mixed into like a playlist with like, you know, same era blink and fucking whatever, like those style of bands, I'd be all right. I wouldn't, I wouldn't switch the song. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, this, uh, this other album, they definitely moved in a direction that I was not a fan of at the time and not a fan of now.
00:46:14
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's not for me, but yeah. Very hot topic. Yes. And very at the time, like. I mean, they weren't not making money, I think.
00:46:26
Speaker
At this point, I'm sure- At this point, they were- So let's- You know what I mean? Let's do a little, we have a few more minutes and I know I had a plan potentially planned, but I'm not gonna do it. I'm just gonna roll through sort of what their other albums kind of looked like. So just so that we have done a bare minimum of research on this. Okay, so by two thousand so in they have released an album called Safe Is Just A Shadow, a full metalcore progression at that point. Right.
00:46:53
Speaker
They have songs like that are metal core jacket. Yeah. but but ah Buildings burn. People die is the name of a song. Newton's third law of knives to the back. ah You know, yeah, real like it's on fire type of shit. ah Very much so. So and it's still self release. So they're still on their own at this point. The next album is called The Predator Becomes the Prey. woo And that was on an on an on this is when they joined Fearless.
00:47:21
Speaker
Okay. Okay. So this is when they bought the no fear shirts. They got what year was that? This is 2014. They're not that prolific. They go like four years without releasing records. Like it's very like spread out. Wow. um Yeah. Their third album, 2014, and they have ah songs like the coffin is moving. The fastest way to a girl's heart is through her rib cage. That's that's straight up like a tree style. Like those are, yeah, those could have been song titles from those first couple of a tree records. and And they have, ah yeah, Tyler. Oh, they have a featured vocalist by the guy from Woe Is Me, whoa another metal metalcore band. And now now here's where they spent no time. 2015, they turn around and release release another record. And this one is all about books.
00:48:10
Speaker
Animal Farm, Dracula, Romeo and Juliet, go ask Alice. Yeah, they're really in that in that vein. um Okay, and then the silver scream is next 2018 again back to their like wait a few years to put out a record.
00:48:24
Speaker
um Oh, ah hilarious that, and I don't know how I didn't have this on here, because if I did any fucking research beyond this, ah the horn section of Less Than Jake is on a song. oh It is the end about it has the horn section from Less Than Jake.
00:48:42
Speaker
I'll throw that out. You know what? I'll just like tack it to the end. Play it out is whatever this horn song is less than Jake is. We'll see. Tony Lovato of Messed is on a song. Oh, they're bringing back the ska.
00:49:00
Speaker
but That's a band. We're still happy. Oh, yeah, we gotta do a mess I feel like I feel like that's a band that I'm gonna love listening to until I listen to the lyrics and I'm gonna be embarrassed But I loved it when when I was a kid especially because you have to think about your your pal ah Being involved with them like basically speaking of your pal. Oh my god. I even talked about it fucking John Feldman Oh feldy Uh, he's got a production credit. I was going to say on this band's 2021 album. I was just going to bring, I was just going to bring him up in, in, in a reference to the fact that there is less than Jake on a track does not mean that track will have Scott on it. No, because we learned that from that felt the less than Jake thing, yeah the terrible country song that just came out.
00:49:53
Speaker
this newest album has crazy okay so jacoby shaddox is on a song whoa doing a cover of hip to be cut my life into pieces bro that that band will not never die right uh cork is it's only jacoby shell Corpse Grinder is on a song. What? Yeah. Which album is this? This is their newest one, the which is The Silver Scream 2. Welcome to Horowind. I would listen to this. That's crazy. Corpse Grinder? My little Bluetooth. All these people are on this album? but That was awful. My my but Bluetooth thing died in my car. Yeah.
00:50:29
Speaker
so i And by the way, I'm not done with guests. So I'm going to tell you yeah i was go real quick. I, I, my Bluetooth thing died in my car and then I didn't want to listen to the radio. So I just ejected and then put in the CD that was in my car. yeah Turns out it's a MP3 CD that's got like a dozen albums on it and they are all.
00:50:49
Speaker
mid-2000s hardcore albums like evergreen terrace and stuff like that oh and then i kind of mixed in some like belvedere and stuff so it's all like fast or mid-2000s hardcore right and i'm on that tip now you know what i mean i might as well just listen to this uh okay matt good canada's matt good has a production canada's matt good just production uh uh just production uh Oh, no, a different Matt Goode. Oh, there's two Matt Goodes. Oh, watch out. Oh, this is a Matt Goode from first to last. Yes. Oh, OK. Not not Skrillex, the other guy. What else we got here? Brandon Saller from Atreyu. There you go. There's the Atreyu guy. I knew he was going to have to show up. Brandon's the guitarist, I believe, isn't it? Brandon would be the singer. Oh, he's the singer.
00:51:41
Speaker
ah Let's see here, sorry, I had another crazy one. Oh yes, Jordan Terrell of Hollywood Undead has a production credit on here. Oh boy, our favorite Op Ivy covering band. Isn't this insane? That's insane. What a list. And that album is the one that has the quote unquote real big fish. No, that's from a comic book.
00:52:03
Speaker
Yeah, that's just like a different, that's not related to anything. That was this just a thing that came out in 2020. And this was from 2021, so. Oh, so this is a few years old already. Yeah, and that's their, so they might, so I guess they're due three years later, they're probably due for a new record. What if they just go like ah fully like power-up, like, ska metal. Oh, man. Wouldn't that be insane? Would that be bananas, right? Oh, my God. Anyway, sorry. So we've gone through their careers. So they're in a different space now where they're getting, like, massive producers. Yeah, and they're a huge band. Yeah. Like, they're, like, honestly a gigantic band. And it seems like only as of, like, six years ago, like, they were squirreling away since they started in 2000.
00:52:46
Speaker
And it took them probably 15, 16 years to really like get their sound and get their style to a point where now they've got ah a thing that people just ah gravitate to right and love. And now they're just like rocket to the moon. You know what? I was going to say, I don't have much to complain about as ah as far as like like good for them. Yeah. They're doing their thing. Their music is mostly not for me, but like.
00:53:12
Speaker
Good autumn. They know fucking they've been busting their asses, man. and That's that's what I'm learning is that they've they've hustled and they've paid their dues and they did it. And they seem to have, like I said, like like we were talking about, like they have a sense of humor about themselves and not like super, super serious about this whole thing. I mean, walking on sunshine.
00:53:30
Speaker
Yeah. Like the covered choice itself. The covered choice itself. It should tell you what you need to know. Yeah, exactly. Right. So like they're having a good time. That's cool. All right. We did it. We did it. Nice nine kills. We inked. Thanks for listening to Check or Pass. Hit us up on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at Check or Pass Pod or send us an email. Check or pass pod at gmail.com.
00:53:47
Speaker
Support the podcast you can sign up for the checkerhead patreon to get the episodes uncut in both audio or video format Or you can buy some merch at checkerpass.ca our trombonuses are Engineered by Joey, but this one will be edited by cut man our trombonus theme was provided by Keelan and next week We have round one part one of heptember 2024 the real big skirmish And until next time I'm Rob but I'm Joey. And any mortal words of Ice Nine kills, you'll find no escape once you're captured on Pod.