With the help of a genre-defying mishmash of sounds and screams that make up their debut album, 'For Screening Purposes Only', Test Icicles have got the UK wrapped around their little finger – and they're wondering why. Indigo Clarke writes.
With a dose of straight-up sincerity from teen front-man Sam Merrann, just hours before the band jets off on their Japan tour, the interview is underway. "Test Icicles, the album, it was all very impulsive and not thought out. We had been together three months with no repertoire or real material when we got signed [to Domino Records UK]. That's why the album sounds really, really not well-rounded. It's lame, the lyrics don't mean anything and…we…suck…cock."
Wow. That seriously came out of nowhere – and with that unexpected admission, Sam, large dark eyes peering from beneath a shock of black hair, trail's off. Is this all part of a cleverly crafted rock'n'roll campaign? Are they borrowing 60s punk precursor The Who's habit of rubbishing themselves, their fans and their material? – I mean, what's more subversive than dissing your fans and declaring your own work meaningless? Well, if not, and the Test Icicles are actually suffering from some kind of Woody Allen/Groucho Marx style, "Who'd want to be in a club that would have me as a member" melancholia, then they seem to be the only kids in London that aren't buying their hype.
From their scruffy vintage metal band tee's and coiffed do's, to their on-stage 'fuck shit up' antics and their cacophonous (or as they describe it, "Psycho-death-thrash-hip-hop-punk") music, the Test Icicles are nothing if not painfully hip. Their hit UK debut single 'Boa vs Python' offers dark synths against a catchy chorus, while 'Catch It' showcases the band's schizophrenic style, with screaming vocals and techno breaks followed by a screeching, sprawling guitar solo. Airwave favourite and second single, 'What's your Damage', is an equally loud, discordant journey. It's also worth a mention that the trio, lead vocalist Sam (19), Devonte Hynes (19) and Rory Aggwelt (25) also happen to be pretty easy on the eyes; so, where else were the restlessly inventive, and photogenic, Test Icicles to go but up in a city where fashion rules.
Precocious Sam isn't taking kindly to the continual praise of his band's "Not thought out and thinly spread," music. The question has to be then, why has London and beyond taken such an instant liking to the resentful rockers? They were offered a recording contract from one of the UK's most prestigious labels (The Kills were quoted as saying they wouldn't sign to anyone but Domino) after just three months together. According to Sam, whose low voice wavers between good-humoured laughter to embittered sighs, their easy success can be put down to, "Shallowness. London's really based on fashion so maybe people looked
at us and thought we looked cool."
Fashion aside, Test Icicles do have something to offer. Their frenzied tunes, coming apart at the seams with influences so varied that the eventual sound betrays nothing of its composite parts, have been receiving rave reviews in everything from NME and I.D, to blogs across the internet – and there is a reason for this. Perhaps audiences were getting disillusioned with complacent contemp-rock and art-school band after band playing clean indie sets because crowds have been scrambling to Test Icicles' consistently sold-out shows across the UK, and now Japan, to be part of a spontaneous, reckless live experience.
In avant-garde style, Test Icicles began as just another in a series of projects for the trio. "We had a group of 30 friends, we would hang
out and make music together," Sam explains casually. "We would come up with band names then play for a month at random, shitty London clubs then quit – Test Icicles was just the next project in line. It began as a joke because we were unemployed and bored. Test Icicles was meant to last for a few weeks, but it just kept going and going…and it's
still going."
From various corners of the globe – Rory from outer London, Devonté born in Texas, relocated to Edinburgh and then to England, and Sam, born in Miami onto Australia at Seven, then to New York at 16 followed by London – the boys came together to form a band that references their cultural and musical backgrounds, resulting in a genre-swallowing sound. Explains Sam, "Our album took influence from our surroundings and underground American noise bands. It was also a reaction against some contemporary British music that seemed a bit staid, generic, crap, unimaginative and a little too willing to please."
While they may have adoring fans for, says Sam, "An album we don't like, that we made because we were broke, bored, were offered money and took it," their legacy may end up being something that even the self-effacing Test Icicles will be proud of – providing impetus for young musicians to find audiences for their music, whatever genre. "Maybe when people see us live," Sam considers , "with all our stupid posturing and clothes, they will realise they can probably do something better than the Test Icicles. So from our band someone might be inspired to make music that really means something."