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| The first roots of ICE began to grow way back in September 1995 when the dynamic duo of Big Len and Toth met for the first time. Big Len met Toth, sitting in front of him in Mrs. Pastrick's 6th grade social studies class. The two immediately became friends, sharing a great love for music, mostly Green Day at that point. They began to talk about how great it would be to have a band, and started to write songs for their then non existent band. Sometime in 1996, the first version of No TV was written, but it would not be until the summer of 1997 that the dreams of a band actually started to become a reality. Another good friend, Slopez, said he would join the band as a guitarist, and got himself a nice cheap electric guitar and amplifier for Christmas in 1996. This never materialized into anything, however. In The Basement in the summer of 1997, Big Len, behind the crappiest drumset you could ever imagine, and Toth singing and playing an acoustic guitar with only three strings, made their first attempt to play music. They called themselves Shred, and recorded their song, No TV, onto a mini-cassette recorder. In the fall of 1997, Toth borrowed Slopez's electric guitar and amplifier to make the band a little bit more official. When November 1997 rolled around, Toth finally got his own guitar and amp, they had a small birthday party in The Basement, and the dynamic duo showed off their stuff for seven or eight of their friends. In the following months, a few more parties in The Basement, the duo played songs such as No TV, Free Delivery, Medicine Man, Toilet Bowl Blues, and Alone in My Bedroom. In the midst of all this, they would gain another member of the band. Johnny America, then known as Pat Chan would join the band as a bassist early in 1998 after buying a 1/2 size Carolo Robelli bass guitar. Also, Marc Nietubyc joined in on keyboard on a few songs, giving the band's songs a little, but not too much, more depth than just guitar and drums. In May of 1998, Big Len was bought his Mapex drumset as his 8th grade graduation present, never again having to play on the world's crappiest drumset. Marc drifted away from playing with the band over that summer, and soon the band was just a trio, with Toth on guitar and vocal, Chan on bass, and Big Len on drums. they were to remain a trio until February 1999 when Toth invited another guitar player, Brian "The Guy" Zas along to play with them. They renamed the band Qebeheshnuef, and started to write some riffs to new songs. They did play in front of a few people at a party in Toth's backyward, performing Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit, but this never really materialized into anything. The band then went on a little hiatus, and during this time, Pat Chan discovered his true talent, playing the guitar, after taking that up. So when the trio got back together in late 1999, they had two guitarists and no bass player, which was fine by them. They began to play pretty much only covers at this point, but they carried No TV along with them, giving it a total renovation to a version extremely close to the one now played. There was just one problem, nobody was a big fan of Toth's vocals so they decided to look for another singer. They found the answer, at least temporarily, in Matt Revel, in the summer of 2000. Still playing mainly covers, and of course No TV, the band was now renamed Eighty Three. A recording of No TV was made in The Basement, onto the computer, but this band was not to last, as musical taste differences between Matt and the original trio let to Matt's leaving, making the group a trio once more. Later in 2000, the band was looking to audition for the school's variety show, so they hooked back up with Zas as a rare three guitarist, no singer band. Under the name City Against Trees, they auditioned for the variety show in January 2001, playing an instrumental version of Metallica's For Whom The Bell Tolls. They didn't make the cut, but that didn't stop them for the time being. Renaming the band once again, now calling themselves Johnny and the AP's, with Zas on the vocal and guitar, Pat Chan and Toth on guitars, and Big Len on drums, they played at a party in March 2001, this time in front of a fairly large crown of about fifty, compared to previous outings, this one was pretty major. The band performed a whole bunch of covers, including Blink 182's All the Small Things, NFG's cover of My Heart Will Go On, Lit's My Own Worst Enemy, and Metallica's For Whom the Bell Tolls, Enter Sandman, and the Master of Puppets, and not to forget No TV. They got together with Pauly Montigay on bass to play at a school sponsored breakfast in May 2001, where they performed a cover of New Found Glory's cover of Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On. Around this time, the band decided it would be best if Zas played bass instead of a third guitar. Then in June 2001, it was party time again. At a party in Toth's backyard, Johnny and the AP's would play a marathon of a set, playing for almost two hours hurling cover song after cover song at the party, plus yet another performance of No TV. The band kind of parted again in the late summer of 2001, and when they came back together, they found themselves a trio yet again. But not for too long, as then-freshman Jeff Dingler would join the band as the new bass player, after impressing Toth with his talents. This form of the band never really got too far, playing pretty much entirely covers of Metallica songs. The band had another chance to play at a school sponsored breakfast, so they jumped at it of course, but at that point did not have a singer. Scrambling to find a singer the night before, they got Mike Salum to do the one time only stint. Under the name the Tom Gorman Band (after Toth and Chan's favorite AP Chemistry teacher), they performed a cover of Weezer's Buddy Holly at the breakfast. Time was drawing nearer to the school's variety show and to the true beginning of ICE, but the latter will be saved for the second part of this history. The band decided to try out for the variety show yet again, this time under the name 13 Knots. It was supposed to consist of Toth on guitar and screaming vocals, Chan on lead guitar, Dingler on bass, and Big Len behind the drums, but that isn't how it went down. At the autition, Dingler was nowhere to be found, so Q-Money, who was in the other act with them, had to fill in on bass. At the last second the band decided to perform Metallica's eight minute Master of Puppets, althought they were only allotted five minutes of time, so despite the judges telling them to stop playing with two minutes left in the song, the band continued on and finished the song, needless to say, this act did not make the show, but the other act did. |
| PROLOGUE |
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| Go to www.mp3.com and search for ICE (N.J.) for samples of our music |
