PART A (2000-2002)
FIVE AND THEN THREE
The very beginnings of the band ICE began back in late 2000, in Miss Pellegrini’s Television class, where Rich “ICE” Torok, Q-Money, and Toth were classmates. For a few of their video projects for the class, they would incorporate Vanilla Ice and various white rap themes, such as using the Ice Ice Baby lyrics for an anti-smoking Public Service Announcement, and even penning their own four line rhyme for the graduating class of 2001.
However,
the true beginnings of the band to become known as ICE started when Toth began
speaking to Big Len about performing Ice Ice Baby in the talent show for kicks.
In late 2001, he found just the right person to spit the rhymes, Rich "ICE"
Torok. Acquiring Q-Money on bass, the first grouping of ICE had come together.
At the beginning, it was meant to be a one-time thing, but as the time drew
nearer, the quartet became more and more enthusiastic about it, and decided they
would continue with ICE. But first, in February 2002, the band known as ICE
performed an amazing cover of Vanilla Ice's Ice Ice Baby at Sayreville
War Memorial
High School’s
Twelfth Annual Variety Show. ICE had the crowd going absolutely nuts by the
line, "turn off the lights and I'll glow", when ICE did just that, with help
from a pair of blacklights on stage. After stealing the show, ICE decided to ask
Pat “Johnny America” Chan to join them as lead guitarist, because it wasn't
going to be a one-night-only deal.
In the weeks following, Toth and Q-Money collaborated and began to piece
together their very first rhyme, which became known as I-C-E, and was a hit
among the people they showed it to around the school. In the following months,
ICE began to play together almost every day, and put together a few more songs,
such as Untouchable, The 70s Squad, and King of Flow. One day out of nowhere,
Toth broke into No TV, and the band performed it flawlessly as if they had been
playing it constantly. The band would get the chance to perform at a school
sponsored barbecue in May 2002, where they played their own I-C-E plus a short
rhyme over James Brown's I Feel Good as a dedication to the school principal,
Mr. James Brown, the Godfather of Soul. Also, the quintet performed few other
covers such as Metallica's Fade to Black, MC Hammer's U Can't Touch This, Sir
Mix-a-Lot's Baby Got Back, and the Sugarhill Gang's Rapper's Delight.
Chan would soon be dubbed Johnny America as the band began to piece together more and more songs to prepare for their first real show. In late July 2002, the band finally got their music recorded, in the legendary Basement. They recorded a six song demo, which they called “And in the Beginning… There Was Rock” and they started to sell to friends and random people around town for $1. Only 117 original copies of this demo were made. The following week, ICE, Q-Money, and Toth attended Club KROME’s Summerslam, featuring Trace of Shadows, for whom Q-Money’s older brother played guitar. While their, they met with KROME’s booker, and booked their own show for August 14, 2002.
August 14
came, and ICE was definitely prepared to rock. They played a 45-minute set
which included most of their songs plus a few necessary covers as well as an
encore of their song "Untouchable." The crowd was very into the music and as
ICE wrapped up their set, an envelope containing tickets for another show, the
Stone Pony the next week. The following Tuesday, August 20, ICE played the
Stone Pony in
Asbury Park. Playing basically the same set with a few variations
in another 45-minute time slot, ICE rocked the place.
Little did they know, this would be the last time Pat and Len would play as
official members of ICE...
Tensions had been growing between the band, and there was an obvious split in interest with Toth, Q, and ICE taking one side, and Pat and Len on another. To make a long story short, after the dust settled, it was agreed that Pat and Len would no longer be a part of ICE. Toth would take over lead guitar duties, and the hunt for a drummer was on.
ICE got another offer to play at KROME, but were unable to due to not having anybody to drum. College began, Toth and Q went to Rutgers, and ICE was not too far away at Kean. The three kept jamming together in Toth’s dorm room, working on a good amount of new material. The search for a new drummer seemed like it would never end, and at times it looked real bad for the future of ICE.