Ed: What was the main driving factor in getting Ichabod started?
Greg: Our love of music and getting something out of music you cannot get anyplace else. Music is as close as you can get to God without going to church.
Dave: When Ken and I started the band years ago, the main goal was to write the type of music we ourselves most wanted to hear, yet no one else seemed to be doing. Oh, and the never-ending quest for the perfect riff of course.
Ed: What has kept Ichabod going?
Ken: That�s easy! This band has almost fallen apart in the past, but with the current lineup everyone is pretty focused on the goal of creating interesting and truly original music. No one is lazy when it comes to the music so collectively that drive keeps us going.
Phil: The bond of brotherhood between the four of us.
Dave: Actually, only Phil and Ken are blood brothers, but we do have that type of bond.
Ed: How do you feel that Reaching Empyrean differs from your other albums?
Greg - It�s the first Ichabod album with me playing on it.
Phil: With �Empyrean, we had a shamanistic approach where we tried to express a collective thought-energy, like a river of sound. This has been a common idea and practice with each recording, but I feel this record reached the highest level of thought for us thus far. Whereas Let the Bad Times Roll hinted at these possibilities but had more of a punk rock urgency.
Dave: It�s by far the most intricate undertaking we�ve been involved in. The recording process was painstaking because we were trying to maintain an analog type of purity while at the same time layering dozens of tracks of ear candy and psychedelia on top of it. There were times when I thought Steve Austin was going to get one of his assault weapons and finish the recording for us once and for all.
Ed: After the release of the new album, Ichabod have gained a lot more press and critic/fan attention. Do you feel this is putting pressure, good and/or bad, on you in anyway? Are you prepared to run with that pressure ball and make us proud?
Ken: I feel like the pressure has been good thus far. I think we�ve been prepared to run for a while and now that there has been more attention it has been rewarding and confirms things that we�ve known for awhile.
Phil: Until the end.
Dave: We love the reaction we�ve received from the critics and press, but it hasn�t yet translated into massive sales or a huge following. Most critics want something different as they�ve �heard it all before,� so at least we know what we�re presenting is original. But the average �Joe Music Fan� doesn�t necessarily want to be challenged like that. It�s a dilemma that any unique sounding band faces when coming up.
Ed: What are some of the band�s non-musical influences?
Phil: Love, life, thought vibrations, the unknown, ideas, sadness, belief, nature, photography, books, alcohol, psychedelics, art, everyone, and everything.
Ed: You guys are slated to play the The Second Annual Sweet Leaf Festival on May 14, 2005. Whose set are you looking forward to seeing? Any set you�d rather go to the dentist than sit through?
Ken: Well there�s that band We�re All Gonna Die. Somehow we always get stuck on shows with those guys. They won�t leave us alone. Nah - ha ha just kidding! What you see here for this fest mostly is a collection of bands that we�ve teamed up with and became friends with over the years. There�s not one I don�t want to see. My ears will bleed after that night. Especially after Today Is The Day devastates at the end of the night.
Dave: Well, since we hand-picked the bands like Ken said, it only makes sense that I�m extremely excited to see and hear every single performer on this bill.
Ed: Coca-Cola or Pepsi? (Answer Coca-Cola or I�ll spread rumors about the band�s sexual status.)
Ken: Diet Pepsi when I want the diet soda. Coke when I want regular Soda. Weird huh?
Greg: Coca-Cola. What sexual status? Is there something you�re trying to tell us?
Phil: Fountain Coke
Dave: RC Cola. I watch out for the little guy.
Ed: Do you purposely vary your sound so as to not be pigeonholed or is the song writing process a natural flow?
Ken: I think we consciously make the effort to vary the song sounds. I think one of the big things we do is to go out of our way, while writing new material, to try our hardest not to have one song sound like a song that�s already been done.
Greg: It`s a natural flow. To me music is about emotion. Depends on the mood and what inspired that mood to write the song. But there is no set way of doing it.
Phil: Davo?
Dave: When I write songs or parts, I try not to think too much about them. Just go with what sounds good based on my mood like Greg said. I think too many modern bands are afraid to jump around within the context of an album for fear of being labeled too ambitious. But we ARE ambitious, and I�d rather model an album�s development and variety on Zeppelin, Sabbath, or the Stones than on some underground one-trick pony.
Ed: You guys are based out of Boston, a.k.a. The Mecca of Metalcore. Are you well received locally? Are you shunned due to the lack of spin-kick and karate choppable riffs? Would you consider donning women�s jeans and a tight, tight collared shirt to draw more fans?
Ken: We haven�t been very well received by those crowds when we have played in front of them. I sort of came out of the beginning of that scene with my old band many moons ago. But even back then I would listen to everything and anything from the Jesus Lizard to Sepultura.
Greg: We do ok. We have a select group of bands that we like to play out with. No, I do not see the point of donning something to get an audience. People who are in that shallow state of mind have no worth to me whatsoever; leave that for the Oasis rip-off bands.
Phil: Dave wears women�s bloomers�
Dave: Ahem�.All of us came out of the 80�s/90�s Boston kung-fu-core scene, so I won�t say that there is no influence from it in Ichabod�s music. As a matter of fact, our first record was a lot closer to that style than what we�re doing now. Hell, Greg even played in Blood for Blood at one time!!! But we�re all older now and want to zone out and get mystical rather than clobber someone. When we played Boston with Black Dahlia Murder the kids were just standing there asking why there was a �stoner rock� band on the bill. But we still have a few parts here and there that the kids can go hoopy to now and again.
Ed: What is each band member�s �Top 5 Albums of the Moment�? And if you are feeling ambitious, what is each band member�s �Top 5 Albums of All Time�?
Phil: At the moment...
U2 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
Nirvana - Incesticide
D-E-V-O - Duty Now for the Future
The Dead Milkmen - Bucky Fellini
Muddy Waters and Howlin` Wolf - Muddy and the Wolf
All time...
The Who � Quadrophenia
The Doors - L.A. Women
T-Rex - Electric Warrior
Ken: Ones I keep constantly spinning recently...
T-Rex - Slider
Witchcraft � Self Titled
Trouble � Self Titled
Deadboy and the Elephantmen � Self Titled
Neurosis - Official Bootleg 2
Greg: Too many to mention.
Dave: O.T.M.:
My Morning Jacket - It Still Moves
Neurosis and Jarboe � Self Titled
Omegalord - Hammer Down
Trial of the Bow - Ornamentation
Flogging Molly - Drunken Lullabies
O.A.T:
The Verve - Storm in Heaven
Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
Only Living Witness - Prone Mortal Form
Kyuss - Blues for the Red Sun
Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced?
Ed: How do you guys balance your everyday life and commitments with touring, practicing and recording?
Greg: If you want to play music, even as a hobby, you have to make sacrifices. We think this band and the music we play is worth it. I don`t really have any problems with that. But it does cut into our vacation time, ha ha.
Phil: There is no balance. My life is a bleedin� mess.
Dave: I�m with Phil, there is no balance. There�s just endless debt and lamely having to explain time off requests to your boss.
Ed: Favorite beer(s)?
Ken: Sam Adams and Blue Moon
Greg: A lot of them.
Phil: Samuel Smith`s Nutbrown Ale.
Dave: Without a doubt, Hazed and Infused by the Rockies Brewing Co. as far as domestics go. As for imports, I�m a sucker for Leffe and Duvel.
Ed: How do you feel about musicians who need to take their shirts off to perform? Is that really necessary?
Ken: Yes! If they�re female.
Greg: You are starting to sound like The Noise Board (a Boston area musicians� website)! Who gives a fuck?
Dave: I prefer those half bare chest tutu things like Freddy Mercury and Quiet Riot wear.
Ed: At this point, I would like to give Ichabod a �free-form rant� moment. Talk about whatever is on the mind(s) of Ichabod.
Ken: This is prime time for either Greg or Phil. I�ll keep my lips shut.
Greg: Rosebud was his sled.
Dave: Thanks to you, the SR community, all of our friends and bands we�re friends with. You make this long and winding road worth navigating.
Ed: Thank you for taking the time to answer my dumb questions. I appreciate it.
Phil: Don�t be so hard on yerself.
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