by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
WHAT: Despised Icon, The Red Chord, Through The Eyes Of The Dead, All Shall Perish, SYNT
WHEN: June 7th @ 8 pm
WHERE: Thee Imperial
Despised Icon got their name just before they were due to take the stage for a show. The current band frontman, Alex Erian, then on the drums, cribbed the name from two metal bands he was fond of and put them together.
“We thought it sounded cool, thought it sounded heavy,” said Erian during a recent interview with EU, “Also, you know, an icon is something you look up to and calling it ‘despised’ sort of makes it , like, more human.”
The primarily Canadian-born band has become a familiar name in the metal circuit, making their rounds all over the world. When they aren’t on stage or doing an interview, they mostly speak French amongst themselves.
“Our guitarist is from Boston, but he’s slowly learning our slang as well.”
The six member band consists of Alex Erian, Eric Jarrin (guitar), Al Glassman (guitar), Sebastien Piche (bass) and Alex Pelletier (drums). The band started out in 2002 with a female lead as the singer, but when the band started to get serious about touring, she left the band.
“Back then I was playing the drums instead of screaming,” said Erian, “Now we have this kick-ass drummer who’s like a thousand times better than I ever was…We started out just having fun…[that]was the main incentive. Finally we’ve reached the point where we make decent money on tour.”
“We’ve gotten to tour a good portion of the world…playing with some of the bands that have influenced us the most, like Supplication and Morbid Angel…even Unearth. We toured the death metal circuit and metal core as well.”
They’ve played everything from small venues of less than 200 to venues that seat thousands. When it comes to venues, Erian says, it’s not the size of the crowd that matters, but the depth of their enthusiasm.
“Some of my favorite venues have actually been in VFW Halls…We played in a strip joint once, a bowling alley, [even] a Karate Dojo. We’ve also played in House of Blues all over the U.S…We’ve played huge venues but we’ve played small ones…It’s not really a matter of how many people attend your show, it’s mostly a matter of having people that are into it…The more people kick and scream and do whatever during our set, the more we’re into it.”
He and the band want the audience right there in their face having a great time. Their pet peeve at venues seems to be barricades that keep the audience at bay.
“I f*cking hate barricades. They’re so lame.”
The band’s newest album was released just about a week ago and Erian is excited about playing cuts from the new album, particularly ‘Fractured Hand.’
“ ‘Fractured Hand’ is one of my favorite songs on the new album. I wrote the music and the lyrics…so it’s one of the songs I’ve worked the most on. It’s not the best song, structure-wise, but it has some of the most memorable riffs on the album…our album leaked [on the Internet] about a month ago and so kids were writing us about it… ‘The Fractured Hand’ was one of the songs people talked the most about. I can’t wait to play it.”
Despised Icon, along with The Red Chord, Through the Eyes of the Dead, All Shall Perish and SYNT will be playing live in Jacksonville on June 7th at Thee Imperial.
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EU Critic’s Choice Awards
