How and when did Fire & Ice form?

In 2008 after Iron Boots called it quits me and Dave didn’t have any bands going on, Hunter from Bracewar asked if I wanted to start something new, I said “duh”. Me and Hunter jammed a couple of times to try and figure out a direction, we didn’t end up getting far so we recruited Groater from Down To Nothing, we practised a couple of times and got a little further, but the problem with Groater was, he was in DTN. They were about leave for a world tour and were in the height of their touring career. I guess somewhere along that Groater found out straight edge wasn’t for him which turned out to be a good thing for us because he could devote more time to this band and being a brand new band we had no guidelines to follow so he could unleash. We finally got a good idea of what we wanted and it was time to look for someone to takeover microphone duties. Like I said Dave and I weren’t active in any bands, I found one that I thought could be really cool and thought Dave could fit the bill. We got busy cranking out what would be Gods & Devils and Grim and finally recorded them in June of 09 and had our first show that August. Also Mark joined the band right after our first show.

I can hear alot of early punk and thrash in your music as well as a strong groove element. How would you describe your sound and who are your major influences?

Groove oriented hardcore is what I would call it. It’s still very much hardcore; it’s still aggressive it’s definitely fast and hard. I’d say it’s well rounded. I like that you see punk influence in the music, I feel like punk and hardcore have really divided themselves when once they were one and the same, I’d like to think we’re bridging that a little. Our influences range from Leeway to Red Hot Chili Peppers. We love hardcore so that’s our main influence.

You have a new full length album coming out in the summer. What can you tell us about it? How does it compare to earlier releases like Gods & Devils?

Yeeeaaa! It’s going to be called “Not of this Earth” it’s going to be coming out on Reaper Records which were real psyched on. We start recording this week actually. We’re going to the tundra that is New Hampshire for 2 weeks to laydown this bad boy with one of the best, Dean Baltelonus.

I feel like it’s not a far stretch from G&D or Grim, we’re drawing from the same influences as on everything else, just trying to tighten out game up. 

The album is coming out on Reaper records. How did you get involved with the label?

We’ve been friends with Patrick for a few years, he knew we were doing stuff with BBB but I think he realized our next natural move would be to do an LP and after our set at found n fury ‘10 I had a text from him asking if we thought we could pull off an LP, we said definitely and he told us he wanted to do it. It’s very casual, he just wants to put out quality hardcore records by quality bands that really believe in hardcore and in his eyes we fit that bill.

Fire & Ice have toured all over the U.S and Europe. How do the audiences differ?

I think Europeans tend to appreciate it more. Americans get to see great hardcore shows every week depending  on  where you live, they’re not so lucky, they have a good band come thousands of miles away and they let you know how much they care. Depending on where you are it can cost you a week’s pay for a shirt or a record or more! That’s real dedication. That being said we fucking love America. 

What future tours do you have planned? Any more UK shows?

We’re really just throwing around ideas right now, nothing definite. We’d love to hit every spot. Definitely UK again. Those shows we’re great, we want to hit uncharted territory

What bands do you like to play with? and are there any bands you haven’t played with yet but are hoping to in the future?

We love to play with Take Offense, Terror, Cruel Hand, Foundation, Nausayer, Suburbsn Scum, DTN, TUI dead end path 

Want to play with: 

Turnstile, underdog, Cro mags, h2o, I’m sure there’s 1000s of bands.

Will your earlier releases be getting a repress at any point?

I don’t know if BBB still has gods or grim but I know he has the collections which has both records and exclusive tracks so I doubt anytime soon.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Thanks for helping me crush this drive. NOT OF THIS EARTH 2012. See you at United Blood!

Check out FIRE & ICE here: http://www.facebook.com/FIREANDICERVA