Icepick

Receiving those Icepick ‘Goldrush’ EP copies from Not Just Words Records to distribute in Greece back in 2005 or so, was mind-blowing. That EP was definitely my hardcore cup of tea! The Dutch / Belgian scene of the times was very important for me back then and I couldn’t resist grabbing whatever release was coming out from the area. Fast forward to 2015 (or whatever the year was) and I get in touch with Alfons (the drummer) in social media concerning his fanzine Brain Waves, one of the most refreshing European hardcore zines of the era, to find out that Icepick is still alive! In early 2021 I sent out a few questions to Alfons and here you get his answers!

Pictures by Frido Stolte and Matt Gabell

www.instagram.com/icepick_hc brainwavesfanzine.bigcartel.com

Hey Alfons! How are you doing? How strict is the lockdown in The Netherlands? Any predictions when we can get back to that so called normality?

Yo Apostolis, I’m doing alright, thanks. Since the outbreak of this virus The Netherlands has been pretty lame on trying to control it and the numbers have been pretty bad. Today the government extended the lockdown with another month and pretty much everything will be closed until then. I think it won’t be until the end of May before everybody is vaccinated and even then it’ll probably take another year for things to go back to normal.

What would you keep from the whole pandemic crisis? What’s one thing that you wouldn’t like to get back when all this is over?

The reduced CO2 emissions around the globe is probably the only positive side-effect of this pandemic. I think working from home should be the new normal and it’s sad that it had to take a pandemic for people to realize it’s possible.

How’s life in the Icepick HQs? Working on new stuff? New members? Give us some insight of what’s going on!

So after our farewell in 2010 me and Martin always continued jamming together and writing new music, but it took quite a while to find the right group of people to re-form as a band. We’ve been playing a couple of shows with this new line-up before this pandemic hit and we’re working on a full-length album which we hope to record this year.

It’s been a long journey since the start of the band back in 1999. Line-up changes, break ups, reunions, etc. But what hasn’t changed at all is that unique sound that draw influences from Cro-Mags, The Icemen, Killing Time and 90s NYHC. What other bands have influenced you?

I’ve always talked about the Cro-Mags, Bad Brains, Leeway and The Icemen as being ‘The Big Four’ of hardcore. At least those are my favourite HC bands, so naturally that also influenced our sound. The music Mike Dijan wrote in the 90s was definitely an influence for our demo as well, but later on we drew more from thrash metal from the 80s. I gotta say Power Trip also inspired us a lot in, not only musically, but also to keep pushing as a band. Riley’s passing is such a big loss, we miss him dearly.

There was a weird situation with Jamey Jasta having a band called Icepick, too?

Yours was much older but Jasta kept the name. What really happened back then?

Yeah, even though we already made a name for ourselves in the European HC scene, they probably never heard of us when they put out their first song. At that point we thought it was a one song project for some compilation, so we didn’t think much of it and kept the name and released Goldrush. One year later all of a sudden they drop a full length album, which was messed up, because by that time we were already pretty well known. So I looked into claiming the rights for the name, but it was too complicated and would cost too much. When Reaper Records offered to release Goldrush, we considered changing our name, but when that didn’t happen we just kept it.

Besides Icepick, do you play in any other bands? Are you involved in hardcore in any other way? So, Brainwaves! What’s the urge behind running a zine in 2021? Do you follow the zine scene? What are some of your favorite zines of last year?

Right now I don’t have much urge to do a new Brainwaves issue, because me and my wife just released child #3. So between my family life, my work and Icepick, I’m already occupied enough for now. But who knows in the future. I’d love to interview the Bad Brains someday. I try to keep up with the zine scene though and always pick up a zine when I see one. I still have a lot to read, but some zines in enjoyed in 2020 are Rage! #1, Pressure Drop #2 and Soulcraft #2.

The Dutch scene spawned super important bands for the European hardcore movement, including Backfire and No Turning Back, among others. How’s the scene currently? Who’s carrying the torch? Any stand out new bands?

Between ’97-’99 I used to do a zine with my brother and a friend called Back To Back and we also booked quite some shows at different venues in our local area during that time. But after 6 issues me and my friend weren’t really into the style of the zine anymore so we stopped doing that one. I still wanted to be involved in hardcore, so I said to him let’s do a band and that’s how Icepick got started. During that same time we also had the idea of doing a different zine and that’s where Brainwaves zine originally came from. We did one interview with Mike Dijan (hence his influence on Icepick early on), which I finally put out in Brainwaves #1 in 2015. I was 16 when I started Icepick and never played in any other band. It’s kind of my child which I can’t let go. Besides the aforementioned things I’ve done some artwork for other bands and used to make flyers under the name Karma Geddon Flyers. The scene in The Netherlands could use some new blood I think. It’s mostly people from older generations that are active in bands or go to shows. Two newer bands that are worth checking out are Hawser and Pressure Pact which both released something new in 2020.

Any future plans for Icepick? Where and with which bands would you like to be your first show after all this ends?

Our plan for 2021 is to finish and record the new album and hopefully play some shows again. At this point it doesn’t really matter where and with which bands we could play as longs as we finally can play again. Before the breakout we were supposed to play a fest with Terror and a lot of other bands so it would be cool to start off with that one. I was rooting for getting World Collapse on that bill too, since they have Martin from Terror on vocals now. It would be sick to

play with Blvd. of Death and Chain Reaction too, which I’m sure will happen sooner or later. And whenever the rest of our buddies in Power Trip decide to play again, we’d love to share a stage with them again.

How do you deal with everyday life? How old are you and what pays your bills? I have to admit that your photography is amazing, you seem to travel a lot, too!

Well, thanks man. Traveling and photography are two other passions of mine and I try to do it as much as I can. Obviously with the current restrictions it’s getting harder, so I’ve been exploring and appreciating my own country more. I can’t wait for this pandemic to end though, so I can travel abroad again. My inlaws live in Indonesia and they haven’t met our two youngest ones yet, so we’re waiting for the moment we can go back. I’m 37 now and I run a business in travel, so also business wise I hope to see this pandemic ending soon. Between my family, travel, photography and my music, going to the gym keeps me sane.

That’s all! Wanna add sth? Feel free to do it! Stay safe!

Thanks for the interview! Stay healthy and safe and stay positive. Listen to Dynamo.