First of December and first Headline Act! Looks like the whole band mucked in on this one as well. Take it away, Icantdie…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
SAM: Bridgend and Swansea. I’m from the nice part of Swansea.
How did you meet?
ADAM: I knew Kyle from previous bands we had gigged together locally and saw he was after a drummer for a new project. My band was no more so I got in touch. We found Sam a little while later through friends but didn’t know him before.
SAM: I knew of them before but Kyle messaged me asking to try out so I auditioned and we are here now.
KYLE: Pretty much a combination of those two, Icantdie had existed as a solo bedroom band with hired musicians at the time. Sam and Adam were the first lot to offer their time to it. We just clicked after that. Probably because when all have the same background. Me, Sam and Adam have lots of mutual mates and me and Adam have gigged together a few times in previous bands.
How long have you been playing as a band?
SAM: I think I’ve been in this band just over four years.
KYLE: Yeah! Four years for Sam, Adam had been 5 I think. But the band has been going for 6-7 years. But the first two was in development stages. Like writing in a bedroom on a laptop y’know?
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
KYLE: I allllwaaaays get asked this and to be honest I’m glad. It’s kind of the point.
The idea came when I saw bands on huge festival line-ups whose names were the craziest I’d ever read. Then when I’d look them up, and they would say in interviews that it was their first ever gig playing that festival. I’m like, REALLY?!?! Are you serious?!?
So I wanted to have a band name that stood out on line-ups like that. I didn’t think about it much, then I was watching an episode of South Park and the character Kenny said “I Can’t Die” and I thought…”that’s it! Put it all in one word like a hashtag and that’s it!!”
That’s pretty much how it came about!
What are your influences?
KYLE: I am insanely influenced by trio bands and good songwriting in the form of the melancholic . Muse, Biffy, ETID, Dillinger, Reuben, InMe, Hell is for Heroes, Billy Talent. There is a big list. Hell! I even have been moved by new bands like Press to Meco.
SAM: For me it’s old school stuff like The Cure and Type O Negative is what made me wanna pick up a bass. The band overall is influenced by bands such as Every Time I Die, Billy Talent and there’s a little bit of Muse in there too.
ADAM: ETID, Biffy, Frank Carter
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Describe your music. What makes you unique?
KYLE: I feel, what makes it unique is its simplicity in sound, yet huge from the listener’s perspective. We have songs that want to have fun, want to be crazy, freakish, with lyrics that are comical and yet not afraid to be serious either.
ADAM: Frantic, heavy, melodic. I don’t think there’s a 3-piece out there doing what we do.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
KYLE: Lyrics are tough to write, especially when writing about your perspectives. That’s why with this band, I didn’t want to be serious. I wanted to have fun with what I wrote. So most of our songs are just angst, aggression, cynicism, even cantankerous attitudes.
I always run my lyrics with the other guys to see what they think and most of the time they never pick up on the hidden message. Like “Counter” our latest single. Took Adam and Sam till our recording day to realise that the song is about gaining weight and farting!
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
SAM: I think over the last four years it’s close to 40/50 shows I may be wrong. The more the better.
ADAM: We aim to have as much energy and fun as we can.
KYLE: I think Sam’s close on the numbers. We’ve played a lot but we’re happy that the England-Wales ratio is growing now. I suppose our shows are very energetic, we strive to get the crowd involved and are not afraid to make an impression.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
SAM: Kyle throwing his Fender Telecaster in Fuel Bar on a solid steel stage and then me going around the whole club telling everyone his mum had bought it for him for Christmas.
KYLE: I totally remember that! Still use that Telecaster. Mine was a show in Newport at Mcanns. We played in a basement called “The Pit” and the show was a hardcore show called “Kick A Bin” where fans threw a bin in a mosh pit and tore it to shreds (I don’t think that was part of the show…)
And may I remind Sam, that he threw his bass on the floor the same way I did at the end of that show!
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
KYLE: My Gear is an Orange Rocker 30 head, with a Marshall 4×12 AX cab. My guitars are a MBC-1 Cort Matthew Bellamy Sig, and a Fender Black Dove Tele with P-90 humbuckers. My effect pedal is a Line 6 M13 Stompbox modeller. I also use Jim Dunlop USA Nylon 1mm Picks and D’addario Strings .
SAM – A Fender Precision Bass running through a Darkglass Alpha Omega. Don’t forget the Tortex plectrums too!
ADAM: Premier artist series kit. Zildjian cymbals (a customs and a custom crash/ride) Gibraltar hardware, tama double pedal, Gretsch maple snare. Vic firth sticks.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
KYLE: we’re promoting our latest single “Counter” which features our good friend Sean Smith (Ex-The Blackout/Raiders) along with a live compilation music video of all the gigs we’ve done this year.
What are your plans for the next 6 months or so?
SAM: We are planning to record just before Christmas and get some new content out over the next few months. We can’t wait to release what we have been writing!
KYLE: Yeah! We’ve really been excited about how good the new material is! We don’t know how or when we will release it, but we decided to just hit the studio and at least we have material to release! Oh, and gig like hell!
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
SAM: I would love to support Cult Of Luna, and to open for us I’d probably say our good mates in Brasher.
ADAM: ETID headline, Raiders opening.
KYLE: It would be hard to choose to be honest. There are so many good bands unheard, so many bands that have been good to us and just bands I want to cross of my list. Since Sam chose Brasher and Adam went with Raiders (go check them out!) I’d support Jamie Lenman (or a Reuben reunion) and have our mates Zookeeper open. They were class.
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