Born and raised
in Florida, DJ Icey has been mesmerized by electronic
music ever since hearing the synthesizer breakdown
on The Edgar Winter Group’s "Frankenstein".
"My mom had that album and I would play that
middle part over and over wondering how they made
that sound,” Icey recounts. “I was
little and thought it was so cool".
Rising to worldwide prominence out of the fertile
Orlando electronic music scene which has spawned
the likes of Kimball Collins, Jimmy Van M, Chris
Fortier, and Baby Anne, Icey cut his teeth at
the legendary EDGE nightclub in the mid-90s, and
even persuaded The Chemical Brothers to play their
first show Stateside there. When The Edge closed
in 1996, DJ Icey hit the road… and has stayed
on it since.
Discovered by BBC Radio 1 DJ and longtime A&R
kingpin Pete Tong, Icey became the first American
producer to sign to his ffrr label in 1997 as
an artist, and then the first American DJ to be
selected to record a prestigious "Essential
Mix". With over 200 12” singles under
his production belt, the “King of Breaks”
has SoundScanned over 300,000 units in North America
alone. Playing 125+ gigs per year, Icey is a touring
maniac. But that doesn’t keep him out of
the studio during the week working on new tracks,
constantly trying to push the envelope to make
his fans sweat on the dancefloor. The new material
is then cut on dub plates and tested out on weekend
gigs: “There is nothing better than finishing
a tune and seeing the reaction from a crowded
dancefloor right after finishing it," he
beams.
2003 sees DJ Icey releasing Different Day, a new
album of all original material. Different Day,
Icey’s second full-length artist album to
date, embraces futuristic breakbeat interwoven
with house sensibilities, while keeping the energy
level peaking throughout. From the haunting mid-tempo
title track to the funky sounds of “A Little
Louder,” the aggressive “Freaks in
the House,” and the beautiful vocal tracks
“Searching” and “Dreams,”
Icey continues to reinvent the very sound that
he helped bring to the masses back in 1994. Having
remixed the likes of Deelite, Groove Armada, Faith
No More, and Paul Van Dyk, Icey still prefers
to have friends “who can sing their asses
off” do his vocal tracks, rather than famous
vocalists.
Says Icey, I wanted to make a record that would
bump in the clubs, but still be vibey for listening
to at home or in the car. |