Iceage Cobra - Rock ‘n’ Roll Stage Moves 101

Sadly, I missed Iceage Cobra’s last Chico, CA, show by mere seconds. Stepping into Off Limits as their last chord rang out, I got the feeling I had just missed a slice of damn good rock ‘n’ roll. Listening to their album, Brilliant Ideas from Amazing People, only confirmed it. With a twist of AC/DC’s machismo riffing, T. Rex’s glamtastic sexuality, a devilish sense of humor and a full arsenal of sweet licks (and now featuring bassist Ben Harwood, formerly of Vindaloo), they recently brought their show back to Chico. Synthesis flipped through the Iceage Cobra photo album with frontman Jordan West and asked him about some of his signature moves.

Behind the Head
Remember the first time you did that move?
It was probably five years ago when I was 19, in my old band.

The first time you did it was it spontaneous, or was it planned?
I totally remember the first time because I had to practice it in my bedroom, and the first time I did it [live] I was in a high school talent show with a one-off band that we had just for that show. Actually, there was a photo of it in my high school yearbook.

How much harder is it to play without being able to see the frets?
Surprisingly it wasn’t that much harder. I couldn’t believe it. I thought that would be the hardest thing in the world. Taking the guitar back down from behind the head is the hard part of that move.

Crowd Surfing
I imagine this kind of thing happens more at hometown shows. Have you ever successfully done a stage dive outside of Seattle?
I think I did it at this show at Denton, TX, where we played in this guy’s kitchen. There were like 25 people crammed into this kitchen, and I couldn’t believe we were playing in a guy’s kitchen in the first place. A lot of people have house shows but I thought that was such a weird room to do it in. So there’s basically enough room for the band on the floor and maybe 10 other people, so the rest of the crowd was standing on kitchen counters, the stove, the fridge, our speaker cabinets…it was really cool, it was two tiers of audience in this kitchen. That might be my favorite show ever. They hoisted me up and surfed me at that show.

Have you ever been dropped?
No. That would hurt. People like me so that’s never happened.

Neck Bridge
I’ve seen plenty of guitarists play on their back, but you’re actually lifting yourself up off the ground using only your neck muscles.
Yeah. I remember, the drummer Metch [Brasch] and I were in wrestling at the same middle school. That’s a neck bridge, we had to practice that — it’s wrestling, you’re trying to keep your shoulders up the whole time, so if somebody has you on your back you can bridge with your neck that way. It’s a defensive maneuver in wrestling, so that’s what inspired
that move.

But that’s an offensive maneuver in rock ‘n’ roll. Very proactive. So high school wrestling actually came in handy for you.
Jr. high, yeah, that was long ago. The drummer and I have known each other since middle school.

The Mouthful
The alternate version of the neck bridge is pretty awesome. The microphone is actually in your mouth while you’re doing that.
There are so many great moves that I see other people doing, but what was so cool was they were all just lead singers doing them, not dudes who are playing instruments. Like I saw video footage of Spencer Moody from the Murder City Devils doing that and I was like, “oh, that’s cool.” I did that while guitar-in-hand, so I had to just grab the mic and yank it off the mic stand with my mouth and then roll around on the ground.

That’s some serious teeth-chipping hazard there.
Yeah, I’m surprised, there’s been a lot of danger but nothing has happened so far. I think the biggest danger is when the stage is not well lit, or too bight, and you can’t really see the microphone, or you’re rocking out and disoriented and then you go up to sing your part and you open up your mouth and you’re too close and you smack your mouth on the mic.

High Kick

That’s probably the highest high kick I’ve ever seen. That’s well above your head.
[Pauses] Thank you! [laughs] I took karate lessons as a kid and the flexibility just sort of stuck with me, I don’t know why.

When does the high kick happen?
Well, it’s usually in this one part of one of our songs called “Death Mobile.” It’s like on the beat, there’s a succession of high kicks, I think I do eight or 16; I can’t remember how many times we do that. There’s another song where we never really planned out how many times we’re going to do a part, it’s sort of a free-time section of the song. Whenever I do the high kick is when we’re gonna change to the next part. Stuff like that. It is sometimes like a signal in the songs to the rest of the band members…

Kinda like James Brown.
Exactly. Exactly like James Brown.

Aftermath
What does it take to get arrested as a rock ‘n’ roller?
That shot was, unfortunately, staged. That was in Ferndale, right outside of Eureka and Arcata in Humboldt County [California]. We were at the radio station and the police officer was friends with the DJ. He was just, like, hanging out and the rest of the band was like, “Hey, you should arrest Jordan, that’d be hilarious. Put the cuffs on him!” He was a good sport and he let us take that picture.

So you’re saying cops are pretty much down with Iceage Cobra?
Sure, yeah, why not? With any luck we’ll piss off The Man and have a great story to tell about it.

Related posts

• No related posts quite yet.