NO ICE

Photo by, Jeanette D. Moses

Meet NO ICE

A rock and roll avalanche. No ICE has successfully restored my faith in THE SCENE. Helmed by the magnificent Jamie Frey, NO ICE electrifies listeners with passion and gusto. It is music meant to be played loud and with friends screaming along.

Down below we get into hair salads, toys, and the music industry. Check it out.

TV VIEWING TIPS A a Mad-lib by, NO ICE

"Everybody Loves ADOLF": Tonight we learn what happens to a FROTHY husband when he forgets it's his anniversary and invites his buddies over to the house for an all-night poker PARFAIT.

"Monday Night EARLOBE. Ball": The New York FREEMASONS play the St. Louis KITTENS in a game that will decide who goes to the SUCCULENT Bowl.
"60 GRAPEFRUITS": Investigates the TRANSGRESSIVE practice of laundering counterfeit TUMBLEWEEDS through POST 9/11 banks in the HAMBURGER Islands.

State of the NUN.Speech: The President is scheduled to deliver his MILLENNIAL address before a GENTRIFIED session of Congress, telecast from the House of SENATORS.

Would You Rather

eat a hair salad, or get a moose massage? Why?

I had to google what a moose massage is, sounds pretty rapey. I'll pass and take the hair salad?

Some Questions With Jamie Frey from NO ICE

What is your favorite restaurant in New York City? What do you get there?

I have lots of favorites, but the place I eat the most is probably Green Bo Deluxe on Bayard St. in Chinatown. I go there often enough that if I poke my face in, I usually will get seated pretty fast. I like to go with at least 4 people. I order Soup Dumplings, Yung Chao Fried Rice, Sauteed Snow Pea Leaves, Rice Cakes with Chicken and then either Peking Duck or a Whole Fish with Scallions and Ginger, or if possible both. Afterwards, I walk to La Bella Ferrara on Mulberry Street and I get a Cappuccino and a Cannoli. As you can tell, I live a very charmed life.

What was the best piece of advice you ever received?

When I was in college, I was a writing student and for a brief period wanted to fashion myself into a writer similar to Chuck Klosterman, who I worshipped at the time, He once said "If you really want to be a rock star, you really have to start with the premise that you are going to be so successful at this one improbable thing, so much so that you don’t create a backup plan. Because you will take it when things get tough. You can’t be like, “I want to be like Prince, but I also want to go to architecture school.” You’re going to end up an architect with really weird clothes.

With it being about three years out from the release of your album "Come On Feel The NO ICE" how does it feel looking back at the work you put out?

It's always funny to listen to your old stuff, even weirder to hear stuff in the more recent past in some way. It's easier for me to separate myself from something I did ten years ago. The songs I wrote and when I wrote them on that record seem like ancient history, but I did listen to it around when we were tracking our new record and it didn't really make me cringe, I can hear myself growing on the record and so many great performances captured in Mama Coco's. I have to feel pretty good about that one, it definitely has a lot of feeling on it and captures a really good feeling from the people involved, I'm happy to have the late Dan McLane of The Harmonica Lewinskies singing backup on a couple of songs and one of the tracks has his distinct laugh at the end, that will always be very special to me.

If you could make one change to the way the music industry is today what would it be? 


Damn, there are so many things I would do differently if I were God of music, or had any real power in the situation, here’s just a few. I would bring back radio with DJs who have the freedom to do their own programming. I would put women and people of color back on rock radio so kids don’t grow up thinking rock n’ roll was exclusively white male nonsense. I would try to reintegrate music in a populist capacity instead of everyone trying to sell to niche markets based on consumer groups, ignoring race, age, gender, etc. and try and promote great music that speaks to everyone, music with real feeling. I'd take a bunch of the men in charge and replace them with women. I would create a Union type scenario for professional musicians, so performing live wasn’t relegated to being either hobbyism or wage slavery, to try and solve the class issue in music, which is a huge elephant in the room. I would reopen the Brill Building and hire myself and some of my peers to write songs all day so we could quit our day jobs and write hits full time.

Can your music be broken down into a formula?

As one may have noticed, I’m not the most sophisticated guitar player or musician on the planet. I surround myself with much chopsier musicians to play my relatively simple tunes. I’ve noticed many of my songs are around 3 minutes and thirty seconds, which might be part of however my brain works in songwriting. I don’t know the rules well enough to adhere to them or break them, I usually just come up with a title, that might be the chorus and when it’s ready, I knock the whole thing out very quickly. Most of the things I’ve gone that people like I’ve completed in fifteen or twenty minutes. The less I have to think about how it goes, the better it usually is. I definitely am a student of the classic songwriters so if my songs structurally resemble Carole King or Holland/Dozier/Holland or The Beatles, it’s not a coincidence, I've spent so much time listening to that music, but I don’t think about it in any scientific or mathematical way, I don't think in formula. I hate Math, it wasn’t my best subject in school. 

Being a band with a lot of members what is the creative process like?

I write the simple tunes, words, and chords, I come up with some ideas for the arrangement and we get together and bash it out. I have a lot of trust in the intuitions of the members of NO ICE, once we get a song in the set, that’s usually when it comes alive. It's actually amazing to hear the band play a song I wrote, it can turn a sad song into a happy song.

What is the all-time best toy from your childhood? Why?

My favorite thing as a child was a stuffed animal of the Velveteen Rabbit called “Velvy”, I have no idea why I am sharing this with you. 


What bands touring in NYC right now are doing a great job?


A few of my very close friends have started an amazing band called Frida Kill pretty much exactly one year ago. I filled in a bit while they were getting it together but once they solidified their lineup they’ve been gigging like maniacs and getting better at a rapid rate. They’re one of the realest punk bands in years, in the Riot Grrl tradition, actually transgressive while being catchy and fun. My favorite new band in years. Some of my other favorite acts to see and play with are Joanna Sternberg, MPHO, Shilpa Ray, Rose Blanshei, Irrevery, ESSI, Weeping Icon, ZZZwalk, The Glitch, Old Table, No One and The Somebodies, Shelter Dogs, The Regrets... I’m actually working on a new record with them right now. 


Can you give us your essential items for surviving summer in New York City?

A beach house and a car to get there. Please invite me, I can bring some charming friends if you like. I'll get you stoned, cook you delicious meals and play your favorite hits on the acoustic guitar or piano the whole weekend. Nobody wants to be in NYC during the summer. It's a hot garbage city full of agitated, sweaty people. Everyone who can leaves, believe me.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

If you're reading this, you probably love rock n' roll. To me, the general thesis of rock n' roll, wether you're into punk, heavy metal, indie, soul, folk, funk, disco, hip-hop, millenial noise music, The Beatles, Dylan.. whatever, is about freedom and community. The freedom to express yourself, be who you want to be, live how you want to live, love who you want to love, no matter your race, sexuality or belief system, and getting people together in the process to create a greater entity or culture, form groups. I honestly believe that Bernie Sanders is the social change that rock n' roll music has been building to this whole time. In the 60's when this culture was exploding, he was out in the streets marching for Civil Rights. When Black Flag and The Minutemen were planting the seeds of the American DIY underground community during the Reagan years, he was helping start America's longest running all-ages venue. He has been with us the whole time, Sanders and the movement has me inspired in a way I haven't been since I discovered Black Sabbath and The Ramones, realizing there was this whole other world of possibilities, who I am allowed to be, the possibilities of what my life could be like and the power of my own voice. I strongly believe that he is the best person in available to correct all the injustice in this country, all the compromises to the freedom of all the various communities under attack by our hateful President and his cronies and subjugated by the economic disparity that defines so much of the possibilities of life as American citizens. Bernie Sanders is rock n' roll. Bernie Sanders is punk as fuck. Bernie Sanders has got soul. Thanks for listening.