(Editor's note: This Q&A previews Icky Blossoms SXSW send-off show on Saturday at Slowdown. Midtown Marauders and Pony Wars open, cover is $7 and the concert starts at 9 p.m. Also download their first single, "Babes," here. See their SXSW schedule at the bottom.)
by Dylan Bliss
Many bands come together as friends. That’s not the case with Icky Blossoms. On keys and vocals, Sarah Bohling says, "I just showed up, not really knowing anyone but Dylan (Strimple), and was really nervous, but then it was fun. They just never told me to stop coming."
The members of Icky Blossoms got cozy as they spent a month in L.A. recording their debut LP for Saddle Creek Records. Working with new friends, recording tools and a capable producer, they worked to remix old songs and cultivate new ones to fill out the record.
Icky's mission statement is to "get people to move in any possible way, shape or form." Their growing support has come from Omaha, which has led deftly into a two-record deal as well as a coveted slot at SXSW this year. Bohling, Nik Fackler (vocals/guitar) and I struggled to keep a three-way conference call together as they discussed the culmination of their promising new ordeal.
Hear Nebraska: Tell me the story of Icky Blossoms. How and with whom did you get started?
Nik Fackler: It was a natural progression. Derek, who was also in Tilly and the Wall and started Flowers Forever as sort of his own punk-rock project, played with me a lot as he was writing stuff. He was always changing out band members. There was this moment where the band was me and Derek and Sarah and a few others when the music started to change.
There was this idea of experimenting with pop music and more electronic music with Ableton. The music changed so drastically in the way it was being written, we thought, “Maybe we should change the band name.” Flowers Forever was playing these new Icky Blossoms songs for a while until we sort of made the switch.
Sarah Bohling: Dylan was playing keyboards, and I met Derek. Derek heard me do some back-up vocals for a song he was working on and said, "Hey, I didn't know you sang. You should come practice with us sometime?"
NF: We said, “Man, this girl’s got a sweet voice. Make her sing everything (laughs).”
HN: You've been into Saddle Creek artists for years. How did you react upon being signed with them?
SB: Derek and Nik, I think, knew about it a bit before I did. They called me one night and said, “Sarah, we need to have a meeting… about the band.” I thought they were kicking me out. When someone says something like that you always think of the worst. When they told me, I flipped out, called my dad and mom and they were like, "Oh my God, teenage dream."
HN: You're playing SXSW this year. Any worries or reservations?
NF: We kind of know what to expect from SXSW. Our music is really dependent on a great sound system, getting those sounds to really come through and fill up, getting people dancing.
Video from Icky Blossoms' studio vlog:
HN: What can we expect from this new record that you haven't incorporated in IB singles or demos thus far?
NF: The quality of production is way different than the previous records. It was sort of just us recording vocals and such in living rooms. This was with a real recording studio with great mics and a great engineer, lots of great suppressors. For me, a lot of the difference was in Sarah's voice. I think Sarah's voice is so crisp and nice now. The quality of the recording allows you to hear more of the parts and it's more “big” sounding.
SB: I listened a lot to the old recording of Temporary Freakout right next to the new recording. I always thought the old one was really sweet. I was like, "Damn, this rules." Now I listen to the difference and I'm like, "Whoa, what the fuck were we doing?" (laughs) It's a whole new world when they know exactly what to do with the frequencies and everything.
NF: There's this science of mixing music and making it sound a certain way. We've all kind of had the intent making the record sound big and professional and high quality as possible so it can play in the clubs. We also were approaching it that way with the producer, so there's a big difference between the singles and demos we've done in the past.
HN: Are there any central themes to the upcoming record, or is it more a collection of songs?
SB: The theme is just to get people in any possible way to move in any way, shape, or form. They're all very different songs.
NF: They came from really different places, and they were all written mostly over the course of this last year when we were making this transition from punk-rock music into dance music, a year of experimenting and learning. When recording, we got to apply all that we'd learned over the past year to all the songs, but the songs themselves were written while we were still exploring this world, not really knowing what we're doing. When we made the record, we did know what we were doing.
Video from Icky Blossoms' studio vlog:
HN: Tell me about your trip to California to record the album with new equipment and production.
NF: It was crazy, ‘cause we were in L.A., but we weren't. We were way up on the outskirts in this compound up in hills. They had this heated swimming pool that we swam in literally every day. We worked nights, so we got started about 3 in the afternoon and ended at 3 or 4 a.m. and got in the pool to talk about how good of a job we did. "We did a great job today, guys (mockingly). Such a wonderful job."
It was insane work, every day. We would show up with a few songs already written, and so we had to write some lyrics on the spot. Having your whole world surrounded by all this music is a beautiful thing. It's an awesome thing to experience as a creative person. You always want to go away to this secluded place for a month and just non-stop work, it's like a dream.
So we all had to just live this dream and work with this producer, whom we all trusted to kind of make the record we wanted to make. We were all on the same page, so it was like watching it unfold in this new way with a new brain involved in the process just had this refreshing quality.
Plus, there's this whole new cast of characters in our lives. People coming in and out, the engineer and roommates. It kind of felt like summer camp.
SB: Yeah, it was the first time I'd spent a lot of time with Derek and Nik working on stuff. Between school and working, I pretty much just went to practice. We would hang out every once in a while, but it feels like we've all kind of bonded.
NF: I went out there being like, "I'm gonna figure Sarah out (laughs)."
SB: "Girl, you a riddle, and I'm gonna solve you."
Ingrained Talks With Icky Blossoms from Ingrained on Vimeo.
HN: How do you feel about music piracy? Does it help or hinder your records/fanbase?
SB: It definitely helps.
NF: It hinders making money, but it helps getting your music out there. There's no avoiding it. It's not even piracy anymore, it's just how people consume music now. That's the way I look at it. People are used to consuming music for free once it's digitized, and whether you're a musician or a filmmaker, you know it's going to happen.
SB: The people that really believe in your band is going to buy your stuff. They might download it at first, but then they'll be like, “All right, this is someone I want to support.”
NF: CDs are trash anyways. Who keeps a CD as this sacred object they have? Nah, it just ends up in your back seat as trash, and then you're just creating more trash in the world.
HN: What's next for the band?
NF: This Saturday we have a show at Slowdown. We're trying to raise some money to go to SXSW. Talking about piracy and all, it's really hard for a band to make money these days. We're really using to this show to support the album and such, and thrash really hard. I'm really excited to hurt myself on stage again.
SB: Yes, bleed all over the stage.
Icky Blossoms plays these shows in Austin for South by Southwest:
March 15: Waterloo Records – 2 p.m.
March 16: Lamberts BBQ, Saddle Creek Showcase – 7:30 p.m.
March 17: EMOs East, Made Decent Party – noon
Dylan Bliss is editor of Seeds Entertainment, which is published as part of The Dailyer Nebraskan every other Tuesday. Reach him at dylanbliss@hotmail.com.