Track two on the second MEANS Mag compilation is IceBenders- Their Heads to Small.
Post-Punk Manchester vibes in the area for this one, and ever so funky and uber cool bass line with the dead pan spoken word of John Bennett where we can all come to our own conclusions on influences.
IceBenders are from Sydney Australia and their musical genre is described as Experimental JuJu Dub, which has a heavy reggae feel to it.
The bands line up is Chris Bright on drums, Ed Ken Sebben on Bass Guitar and John Laidler on Pedal Steel and Keyboards.
The sound of the Pedal Steel is a pretty unique addition to this sort of stuff – a box shaped steel electric guitar which has legs and 10 strings where you alter the pitch by using its pedals and the strings are plucked while being pressed with a movable steel bar,, which might sound extremely technical but gives lush almost wah wah slide guitar sound which is heard throughout this track. Sounds amazing!
Chris, Ed and John describe themselves strictly tongue in cheek one would hope unless they been smoking something crazy on the Gold Coast sun drenched beaches, a hired gun for the KGB, a jockey in Guam and one as “Silencio”. I guess working out which one is which is almost irrelevant at this point unless you are potentially smoking something crazy too.
Michael Conboy
meansmagazine.com 