Iced Ink is/am/are:
Ethan Meyer Drums
Gregg Mitchell Base guitar
Mike Krenner Guitar guitar
You Incredibly supportive, awesome #1 Iced Ink fan
How this band happened
Micycle circa 1998
I. “I’m Alive and Well… Where am I?”
Iced Ink is/are/am an instrumental surf-jazz-metal guitar – drum – bass – percussion group that was concocted within the snowy bowels of St. Paul, MN in 1998 by a guitar playing dude named Mike Krenner. Suffering from severe M.A.D.D. (not the moms/drunk driving one but the Musical Attention Defecit Disorder one), he wanted to be in too many different styles of bands at once – metal, funk, surf, pop, rock, jazz, rockabilly… the list goes on and on. After a few years of playing out with a few different bands and never feeling truly content, it was decided that in the interest of time and not lugging guitars and amps all over the Twin Cities that it would be most efficient to just cram all of his desired genres into one sole cohesive glob of sound. Equipped with a Boss DR-550 drum machine, Foxtex X-18 4 track, and a bunch of guitars, it was time to figure out how to glue together a ton of musical statements and genres that didn’t traditionally go together and somehow make them flow and sound digestible. The first round of Iced Ink tunes were soon born and the demos were posted on mp3.com to go fishing for other interested minds and ears.
First lineup, first gig! Who's that longhaird dirtbag on guitar?
II. “OK.. Let’s See if Humans can play this!”
July of 2001: Freshly transplanted to the Twin Cities from that one famous music school in Boston full of gifted wankers, VomitGod (drums) and Sara T. (percussion) were lured in by shameless Iced Ink promotional bait printed on the back of Minneapolis’ premier weekly alternative news source, City Pages. He contacted Mike and 6 months later, Joe Berkman’s skillful (and very audible) bass manipulations won the Iced Ink Bassist Pageant to complete the lineup. They bought a colorful bus, were driven around by their mother and manager Reuben to perform to the delight of many screaming fans, and compelled families across the world to tune in every week for a half hour of pure watery comedy and bad lip-synching.
Circa 2005. 100 points to Barry for the awesome shirt
III. All good things must come to an end and then keep going
In the spring of 2005, VomitGod and Scara moved back out East. Berkman and Mike searched high and low for replacement drums/percussion. One of the first genuine Iced Ink believers and fans by the name of Doug Kasper was kind enough to refer an extremely lovely and gifted drummer to them by the name of Barry Knudson. Barry proved to be an eggsellent fit for the band and Iced Ink carried on as a trio of delightful chaos assaulting the ears and minds of Twin Cities bar patrons for a good four year stretch.
IV. Some good things that must come to an end and then keep going must come to and end again and then maybe keep going somewhere else. Or as Ozzy would say, “Don’t ask me, I don’t know.”
In July of 2007 as Mike and his lovely bride honeymooned in NYC their honeymoon tattoo artist Chuck suggested they hop the L train to a Brooklyn drinking establishment with live music called The Charleston. They did so and were shocked at how when bands started playing, loud and crazy bands mind you, people not only showed up but actually went downstairs to watch the bands instead of going outside to smoke. A massive seed was planted in Mike’s brain that night. Fast forward 2 years later: In late August 2009, Mike and his wife returned from their annual NYC vacation. While they were there they took a blind leap of signing a lease on a small place in Brooklyn. Back in MN the rather difficult news was broken to Mike’s beloved Ink brethren Joe and Barry that in less than two months he and Bryn were moving to Brooklyn. Mike, Barry and Joe played the Iced Ink farewell gig at a well attended show at Big V’s on August 28th – the night before the brutal 1,200 mile drive in a moving truck to Brooklyn. (Thanks again to the dudes in Orange Blank for slipping us onto the bill at the last minute!)
2010 in Montreal with Josh and Andrew
V. Iced Ink rides again but then takes a break
In 2009 Iced Ink experienced its short but sweet debut New York lineup with Brooklyn residents Andrew Bergmann on bass and Josh Arenberg on drums. The audience reception at their first gig spoke loud and clear that Iced Ink music was finally living in the right place. Life intervened in May of 2010 when Andrew moved to the Midwest. Mike realized at this time that it was necessary to pull the plug on Iced Ink and playing live music in general to focus on acclimation to New York living and finding a better job. He did just that but still spent a good chunk of the next year creating new Iced Ink musics and playing a few gigs with other musician’s projects. Eventually the itch to play Iced Ink music returned, and…
VI. Brooklyn Ink v2.0 is born!
In Spring of 2011 a drummer named Ethan Meyer responded to Mike’s ad in the Craigslist musicians listings looking for other goofballs to play with. Check this shit out: by total coincidence, Ethan had recently moved back to NY from Wisconsin. One piece of information led to another and it was discovered that during his time in Wisconsin Ethan played in a band with the aforementioned Andrew Bergmann who had just moved there in 2010. What what? You can’t make that stuff up. Ethan and Mike continued to play together as a drums/guitar duet. A few months later in September of 2011 Mr. Gregg Mitchell and his mighty bass guitar came along and proved to be the missing link. It quickly became obvious that the next chapter for Iced Ink had begun.
There you have it. That’s the Iced Ink story in a nutshell. In closing, if you happen to obtain a copy of “There’s A Bee In Here” or “ALIVE!” from the previous incarnations of Iced Ink and/or come out to see us live, you may find yourself wondering: “How come nobody told me weird music that people can’t dance or sing to could be this totally bitchin?!!”
The answer, my friends, is ketchup.
Mmm, ketchupy.
Previous alumni/family members:
MN
Barry Motherfuckin’ Awesome Knudson (drums)
His Unholiness Irreverend Joe Berkman on Bass – bass (as in guitar, not fish)
VomitGod (drums)
Scara (percussion, screaming)
NY
Josh Arenberg (drums)
Andrew Bergmann (bass)
