BY THE BOOK
Ice Nine Kills’ songs inspired by classics
Inspired by classic tales, Ice Nine Kills wrote its recent album, “Every Trick In The Book.”
The album, released in December, features songs based on classic stories.
“Every song was based on a different novel,” Ice Nine Kills frontman Spencer Charnas said. “It was a different creative process because the material, the basic outline of everything, was already there and it was our job to step in and give our own spin on those classic stories. I think the most difficult element of that was making sure to respect the source material, and we had to keep reminding ourselves that these were classic stories for a reason so we better do them justice.”
Some of the classics included George Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Dracula,” and “Go Ask Alice.”
“We knew that kids would be somewhat familiar with at least the titles of most of these, because they probably had to read it on a school reading list,” Charnas said. “We’re hopefully showing the kids that it’s cool to read and it provides you with an escape as much as music.”
The band faced some challenges when writing “Every Trick in the Book.”
“There were some roadblocks along the way, but at the end of the day we were very excited about the concept,” Charnas said. “I think that’s what kept us pushing through some of the obstacles that we faced. So you know we’re saying to ourselves this is a great concept, and kids, I think, are really going to latch onto this because there are so many layers to this album. You can enjoy it just listening to it, and you can also really dive into the lyrical content and either be inspired to read those books for the first time or revisit them and see how we sort of gave the Ice Nine Kills treatment to these stories.”
Expect to hear the new music and more on Ice Nine Kills’ current headline tour.
“Our new album seems to be the most popular one that we have ever released,” Charnas said. “For this tour, where we’re headlining and have a long time to play. We’re playing most of the songs off (‘Every Trick In The Book’) and a handful of fan favorites off (past) releases.”