Iceage was formed in 2008 by Johan Surrballe Wieth, Dan Kjær Nielsen, Elias Bender Rønnenfelt and Jakob Tvilling Pless. The musicians were just 17 years old when they started making music together and they haven’t looked back since. All born in the early 90s, the band grew up listening to the tail end of the 1980s punk movement. It was their early exposure to this music that influenced and guided their own musical journeys.
The members of Iceage have worked with various record labels including Escho, Posh Isolation, Dais, Big Love, What's Your Rupture?, Tambourhinoceros and Matador. The opportunity to work with American, Danish and international labels meant that the band was exposed to a wide and varied audience from the very start of their career.
The band’s three EPs, “Iceage”, “Lower/Iceage” and “To the Comrades” were intrinsic in winning the band the attention they have received over the years. In 2011 the group released their debut studio album, “New Brigade”, to both the Danish and US markets. The album was well received and won the group a solid fan base, which they have built upon with extensive touring.
The success of this debut album paved the way for the release of 2013’s “You’re Nothing”. This album was a big critical success and even earned a 4 out of 5 star rating from the Allmusic website. The group released two singles from this album, “Ecstacy” and “Wounded Hearts”.
2014 saw the release of “Plowing Into the Field of Love” on the Matador label. The album has demonstrated Iceage’s talent and capabilities. This is a group that certainly has ideas and material in abundance. Fans of the group are certainly impatient to see what they’ll deliver next.
There is some really exciting rock music coming out of Scandinavia lately and the UK is beginning to pay serious attention to countries such as Finland, Sweden and Denmark, the latter being the homeland of post-punk outfit Iceage. The Copenhagen quartet may be young yet they seem to have an appreciation of rock and punk that surpasses their years by quite some way and their live performance really encapsulates the basement frenzy of classic punk from back in the 80s.
It feels as though the boys have an immeasurable amount of energy when stepping onto stage and this could be down to their youth but anyone would likely to be completely worn out if you got onto stage and thrashed out music in the way Iceage do night after night. As token of gratitude the crowds attempt to match the energy so the whole room is manic at times whilst the crowds surge towards the stage and the four musicians attempt to obliterate their instruments. For those yearning for classic punk and momentous rock, look no further than Iceage.