Happy New Year, Everybody!
Sorry for not posting anything in the last while, I've just been busy with a lot of things that have to deal with school, work, art, music, and personal stuff so being a creative person is very hard on the mind a lot of times. But BOY am I glad to have this new year start off with an ABSOLUTE BANGER of a band I discovered a few years prior and would love to share with all of yall.
Special Thanks to David Vaipan for helping me provide the files for their music to make this possible. I am proud to make this post and share to you guys a band possibly nobody but a few redditors and the members themselves have heard of.
It's An Icicle was a 3-piece indie math-rock band from Fresno, California that was active from May 2007 to August 2009. Originally starting out as a 2-piece with David Vaipan and Manuel Aparicio, they would be inspired by the likes of well-known twinkly emo math-rock type bands such as Algernon Cadwallader, Giraffes? Giraffes!, along with any project that had the Kinsella Brothers. After their first release, Kameron Johnson would be the third member to complete the trio with his twinkly, jazzy riffs that would add well to the new record, L'Chaim. They would break up following their West Coast tour in 2009.
Back in December 2021, I was up late at night listening to a Robert Frost interview on YouTube while doing homework. It was around 1am and everyone was sleeping. When the interview ended, I heard the acoustic song that played and instead of just leaving to another video like I usually do, I instead stayed to listen to it because I thought it sounded peaceful for the night. That was until it started to fade into another song that sounded different. I listened to it and once it had faded back to the acoustic song, I honestly thought I was hallucinating it from being up for so long. I played it back and sure enough, yup, it was real and I wasn't hallucinating or going crazy.
I kept repeating that part over and over again, thinking "God damn, this is good!" and then would try to decipher the lyrics to find the full song but to no avail. It wasn't until a few days later when I would have a redditor find it for me. The song was "Don Juan" and it came out with their first official release, It's a Bicycle. After listening to that song for a while, I just kinda stopped and didn't think to consider the rest of the Album for a while until the next month. That was when I realized that it just disappeared.
It disappeared off of everything where their music would be streamed and I regretted that I didn't listen to the rest of the Album nor had even saved it. That day, I began my months-long search for not only It's An Icicle's music, but who they were also. After months of searching, scrolling through many old articles, and posting way too many reddit posts in lost media subreddits, the drummer, David Vaipan, would discover the posts and would reached out to me and posting all of the band's recordings on a Google drive. This was a huge surprise on my end and I was all cheery with excitement when I finally got their discography and immediately saved it into my files, now having found their music.
Over a year has passed since and I made this blog in order to document and preserve music from any and all bands from the South West region of the US. This one is not really that old but is one that I MUST note and preserve for the time being. So I reached out to David to talk about It's An Icicle along with getting to know what the old Fresno Music Scene was like before it died.
This is basically the run down of it with David. Some things were either changed, skipped, or included for context.
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Me - Tell me a little bit about what It's An Icicle was
David - We started as a two-piece just jamming. We actually started jamming before and had a sort of fake band called Fat Free Water. Manuel was playing solo shows. I helped him record his solo record. Then we decided to start playing together. The music scene in Fresno at the time was hot. Tons of shows, tons of different bands - everything - hardcore, punk, math rock, indie, prog, different jazz groups. There was always a show going on somewhere. The name, It's an Icicle, is a reference to a few songs, but I only remember two: Trail of Dead's, "Totally Natural" and Elliott Smith's, "Last Call"
Me - I was to ask about the name and where you had got it from haha. what were some of the your guys' inspiration to your music?
David - As a solo acoustic / folk musician, Manuel was inspired by a ton of like 50's pop and folk. We referenced Chapin's, "Cats in the Cradle," in one of our songs. He dug guys like Louis Prima. He also referenced Bob Dylan in some lyrics. I can't really speak for him. I just remember him playing that. We listened to a lot of sort of pop jazz from around that time. Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald.
Me - what was your reason for playing the drums in It's An Icicle? Was it just because you guys needed a drummer?
Me - what was your reason for playing the drums in It's An Icicle? Was it just because you guys needed a drummer?
David - I was really into emo stuff. Get Up Kids, Saves the Day, Brand New, stuff like that. Then there was this new wave of emo that was more mathy like Algernon Cadwallader and we really loved that stuff. I fucking loved Dilute. I learned how to play odd time signatures by drumming along to Dilute everywhere. in the car, on the drumset. I even recorded and uploaded me playing through to one of their records in one take because I'd memorized the drums.
We played with guys like Giraffes Giraffes, Ecstatic Sunshine, Ponytail, Maps & Atlases. Manuel was also booking tons of shows at the time. He was doing it all by himself. Labels were contacting him to get it all booked in town. Usually we never played shows he booked because he didn't want to make it seem like self promotion.
Make Believe came through town and that was fucking fun. Manuel came back from the bathroom and was like, Dude, I pissed next to Tim Kinsella! Planets and SWIMS were locals at the time I think and they inspired the music scene. Guys like Hella were playing shows here too. I forget all the bands.
Me - Pissing next to one of the Kinsella brothers sounds like a total dream to a bunch of emo nerds
David - The music scene is ENTIRELY dead in Fresno now. Nothing at all. It's genuinely tragic. The music scene was so great. Guys like Appleseed Cast, I forget them all. But everyone was coming through at the time. The bookers and promoters got so popular and big that they all left town. I moved back some years ago and immediately regretted it.
Me - I'm sure there might be a few acts if you type in "Fresno" into the bandcamp tags but unsure if any of them would be to your liking
David - Yeah, just no shows happening at all. Nearly all of the venues shut down and Covid killed the rest.
Me - Best opportunity to have those DIY house/backyard shows imo
David - Yeah! I'll tell Manuel we gotta set it up. He has a sick place for shows.
Me - where did the third member come in? I forgot his name.
David - Kameron was the other guitarist. He came in after we recorded "It's a Bicycle." He was more skilled than either of us musically. He was always practicing. He'd watch TV and just practice scales quietly on his unplugged electric guitar. I had no idea what I was doing. I was probably the least skilled musician in the group. Kameron's musical influences were more like indie pop oriented. Toward the end I started learning more. Picked up drum books. Started learning jazz. But then we broke up.
Me - where did the third member come in? I forgot his name.
David - Kameron was the other guitarist. He came in after we recorded "It's a Bicycle." He was more skilled than either of us musically. He was always practicing. He'd watch TV and just practice scales quietly on his unplugged electric guitar. I had no idea what I was doing. I was probably the least skilled musician in the group. Kameron's musical influences were more like indie pop oriented. Toward the end I started learning more. Picked up drum books. Started learning jazz. But then we broke up.
Me - I can tell they were pretty jazz leaning for sure hearing him in L'Chaim
David - It just came naturally for Kameron. He didn't even dig jazz the way Manuel and I did. He's just talented. I was pushing us for like solos and shit and they told me to calm down.
Me - speaking of albums, where did the names of the song come from? Don Juan, Stay Gold Ponyboy, etc.
David - Stay Gold, Ponyboy is a reference to the movie, The Outsiders. The "Sally" songs were a sort of double reference to a girl I liked and one of Manuel's dogs that had passed away at the time. Don Juan might be a reference to Lord Byron because I may have been reading it at the time, but I think it's just a general reference to the Don Juan character. "Integrity" was Kameron's song. He was always too shy, so we named it that to try to lift him up a bit. "Either/Or" was a reference to Kierkegaard's book that I'd read around that time. Four fore for 4 is just homophones making fun of time signatures. "I Didn't Mean Fuck You, Bright Bulbs," is Manuel insulting a girl. I thought it was in bad taste, so I renamed it, "I Just Wanna Fuck You, Bean Bag," to underscore where I thought his head was at the time. The record title, It's a Bicycle was just something that rhymed. L'Chaim just sort of captured our mood. Our third record I posthumously titled, It's a Hammer and Sickle.
O! "Donkey Kong's Song" was a song I wrote on guitar. I was writing a ton of acoustic songs at the time. Manuel liked the lyrics and sort of rewrote it. He admittedly censored it because he didn't want to curse. Some of the venues we were playing were like churches that were renting out their spaces. Some of the guys higher on the music totem pole were religious, so he didn't want to offend them specifically. "Donkey Kong" was Manuel's way to sort of make fun of me.
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I also reached out to Manuel where I asked him a few questions about himself, the band, and what it was like at the time.
Interview with Manuel
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Me - Could you tell me a little bit about yourself?
Manuel - 33 years old. Born in Fremont, California 10-12-1990. Raised in Fresno, CA. Half Mexican Half English/Irish. I’m moving to Raleigh, NC in January. Started playing guitar at 12 years old because I didn’t make the soccer team. My middle school also put me in choir class instead of art, or wood shop. So back then it was thought to be “gay” but I didn’t mind it. That’s what started music for me.
Me - What inspired you to learn to play guitar? Any specific bands or artists?
Manuel - I was inspired by classic rock Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Santana, prince, billy idol. I was also going to Christian youth groups at that time with my best friend Jordan. Those groups often had worship bands. I watched them and one of the guys named Phil started giving me lessons. I never really learned to play guitar in the classical or tabulated sense though. I learned enough to find what I wanted to play on the guitar.
Me - when did you meet David and what made you guys form IAI?
Manuel - I met David at Hoover High School. I think he was two years ahead of me. I met him through a mutual friend named Kameron who was in guitar class with me at the high school. I don’t remember how it happened but we started playing music together in David’s parents garage. I was 14-15 at this point. We learned some covers and I wrote some original material. We went under the name Fat Free Water. I really hated playing covers.
Up until recent years I’ve been open to it. I think because I couldn’t read tabs as quickly as kameron. He was talented, especially for his age. Kameron wasn’t with us when we first started IAI. I was also writing and performing solo under Manuel A; I was also around 15 that I started to book shows in Fresno.
Me - How was the scene in Fresno at the time?
Manuel - It was good. Talented bands. Emo, hardcore, math rock, electro rock. There were a few venues and other people bringing in shows like that. I started booking myself at a local Starbucks. Then moved to the venues and house shows. Eventually I started a business, if you can call it that, called Fresno Indie. I booked a lot of shows during that time up until I was 19.
Me - How was the scene in Fresno at the time?
Manuel - It was good. Talented bands. Emo, hardcore, math rock, electro rock. There were a few venues and other people bringing in shows like that. I started booking myself at a local Starbucks. Then moved to the venues and house shows. Eventually I started a business, if you can call it that, called Fresno Indie. I booked a lot of shows during that time up until I was 19.
I was bringing bands like Maps and Atlases to Fresno when I was 15 years old. Meneguar, Woods, Tera Melos, and others I don’t even remember but it was a time to be alive in Fresno at that time. Brilliant red lights. Also filling my bills with good local bands. My favorites were A pageants end, Tree Wizard, Rademacher, Tokyo death March.
Me - wow, honestly impressive to do all at that while you were that young, honestly thought you were a bit older. What was the song writing process like?
Manuel - It just happened when it did. I mostly would write everything on my own. Because again I’m not a good guitar player. I need to practice everything I write. I had great, very supportive parents and honestly had to long of a leash. I was always able to write at home and looking back I was loud. Not too loud but loud enough that I’m surprised now they didn’t mess with me much. I’d record songs on my digital camera, never facing me and post them on MySpace.
Manuel - It just happened when it did. I mostly would write everything on my own. Because again I’m not a good guitar player. I need to practice everything I write. I had great, very supportive parents and honestly had to long of a leash. I was always able to write at home and looking back I was loud. Not too loud but loud enough that I’m surprised now they didn’t mess with me much. I’d record songs on my digital camera, never facing me and post them on MySpace.
Me - what are some of the songs on the records about?
Manuel - Relationships mostly. I should listen to them and get you a better answer on that. Don Juan I think is our best song, it's about drugs and relationships amoung friends.
Manuel - Relationships mostly. I should listen to them and get you a better answer on that. Don Juan I think is our best song, it's about drugs and relationships amoung friends.
Me - honestly, Don Juan is my favorite from all of the releases. Something about it just kinda captures me and really is the best IAI track made imo
Manuel - Yup. It’s a great one. I don’t really care for much of the other stuff. Until the end of us really.
Me - When did Kameron decided to join the band?
Manuel - After the local success of its a bicycle. We won that recording time at a battle of the bands held at Fresno state actually. The second album had pressures inside and outside the band. That’s why it’s just okay in my opinion. Everyone felt David had too much drums. Leading on to the music to follow.
Manuel - After the local success of its a bicycle. We won that recording time at a battle of the bands held at Fresno state actually. The second album had pressures inside and outside the band. That’s why it’s just okay in my opinion. Everyone felt David had too much drums. Leading on to the music to follow.
Me - what would you say was your favorite show/touring experience?
Manuel - Speeding through the snow covered border of California. We did a winter tour. The show in Seattle was cool. We were young and no body knew us. We played at this coffee/beer spot. But Seattle took care of us plenty.
Me - are/were there any other bands/music projects that you had worked It's An Icicle that you would like to include in the blog? Any upcoming things or are you just living life?
Manuel - Bitter Buffalo; Manuel A, My new name for everything will be Mannypoppy
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It's An Icicle is definitely a hidden gem when talking about bands from the Southwest and it's really interesting to hear their music and the stories they have yet to share. Manuel's knowledge of the scene and skills with communication at that time helped the band get shows and go on tour when they needed to, becoming a local sensation at the time. While it seems as they have been unknown to the broader public, I hope that this blog post will help spread the good word of It's An Icicle and have their music be more known than it currently is as of now.
All of their recordings were given to me via Google drive by David so I want to thank him once again for that. These recordings are also up on all streaming platforms so listen to them on there while they are still public. They were taken down once and so to prevent it from being potentially inaccessible again, I have provided all of their material below. I hope you listen to them and become a fan as I have done also. Special bands like these deserve the recognition they never got.
Everything linked below is just their official releases. If you want the full discography along with live recordings then click here.
1. Green or Blue, I Thought You Knew
2. Here's What They Say
3. Illuminate
4. Let's Go
1. Don Juan
2. First Time Donor
3. Hardcore Song
4. Illuminate
5. Kameron Escaped From His Cage
6. Sally Part 2
7. Stay Gold, Pony Boy
1. Sally, Pt. 2
2. Don Juan
3. Donkey Kong Song
4. Sally, Pt. 1
5. Dragon Mouth
6. Stay Gold, Pony Boy
1. Don Juan
2. New Moon
3. Odds
4. Pop Song op 2
5. Pop Song
1. New Moon, Opus 1
2. Don Juan, Pt. 2
3. Pop Song, Opus 2
4. New Moon, Opus 2
5. Odds
6. Pop Song, Opus 1
7. Cigarette Breaks
8. Jack's An Imaginary Being
1. Sequence 1
If you are an artist/apart of a band and want me to interview you or if there are any artists from the SouthWest US that you would like for write about then be sure to message me on my socials or leave a comment below the post!
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