PROLOGUE (1995-2002)
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 nonexistent 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 amplifer 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 ½ size Carlo 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 vocals, 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 backyard, 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 too last, as musical taste differences between Matt and the
original trio led 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 APs, with Zas on
vocals 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 crowd 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 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 APs would play along with two other bands from Sayreville, Sgt. Donut and
Strike Four. Johnny and the APs 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 audition, 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,
although 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…