The Icarus Line was formed out of the ashes of high school punk group Kanker Sores. Tragedy struck the band in 1997, when Tim Childs, drummer and close friend, was killed in a car crash shortly after recording their Pivot EP as Kanker Sores on Recess Records, and also songs for an aborted split 7" with Treadwell. The last show Kanker Sores played together was at the Che Cafe in San Diego, with Jenny Piccalo and The Locust.
In 1998 The Icarus Line formed with Joe Cardamone on vocals, Lance Arnao on bass, Aaron North on guitar, and Aaron Austin on drums. Almost straight away they toured the East Coast with Ink & Dagger. Their first show ever was in New Jersey at The Melody Bar. For this first tour, they sold their demo tape containing the four Kanker Sores songs initially recorded for the Treadwell split. Soon after this they released their first EP, Highlypuncturingnoisetestingyourabilitytohate on Hellcat records. All these songs were also Kanker Sores songs. 1998 also saw the release of the Red And Black Attack EP on the New American Dream label.
The band kicked off 2001 with an eight week tour of Europe, and the "Feed A Cat To Your Cobra" single was released in the UK. A further world tour from May to October followed including dates in Europe, Japan, Australia and the US. This was the summer in which the infamous Stevie Ray Vaughan incident took place. Jeff Watson quit the band soon after, while Troy Petrey from Toys That Kill replaced him. Two John Peel sessions were recorded, the first while The Icarus Line were in the UK on a two-month tour, and the second while playing the Reading Festival in the summer of 2002. At the end of the year a spilt 7" with Burning Brides was released featuring covers of two Misfits songs.
The second single from Mono, "Love Is Happiness", was released in the UK as a limited edition EP on May 5, 2003. The Icarus Line's sixth drummer, Troy Petrey, left the band and Jeff 'The Captain' Watson returned. Lance Arnao also left the band and Don Devore took his place on bass.
Penance Soiree, The Icarus Line's second full-length release and first on their new label, V2 Records, was recorded during the summer of 2003 in Hollywood, and mixed in London that Autumn. There was not as much touring this year as previous ones, just a few dates supporting the likes of Primal Scream and A Perfect Circle at the beginning and end of the year.
In 2004 Penance Soiree was finally released. Radically different from their debut, the album was clearly influenced by bands such as The Birthday Party and The Stooges. The album also featured a noisy, washed-out guitar sound reminiscent of The Jesus and Mary Chain. In 2005, Aaron North quit the band and later joined Trent Reznor in Nine Inch Nails.
In 2006, the band released an EP called Black Presents. The third full-length titled Black Lives At The Golden Coast came out in May 2007. Due to personal differences, Don Devore was released from the group before the release of the record. Guitarists Jason DeCorse and James Striff joined the band pushing the band toward a more blues based sound compared to the atonal style on Black Lives. After a world tour with The Lemonheads and Wolfmother they returned to Los Angeles to build a studio (Gang Bang Park)[http://gangbangparkstudio.blogspot.com/2009/03/welcome-to-gangbang-park.html] and start a new record with the newest touring line up including Joe Cardamone, Jeff Watson, Alvin DeGuzman, James Striff and Jason DeCorse.
The latest record by The Icarus Line, Wildlife was characterized by the greater prominence of frontman Joe Cardamone, who in addition to lead singer and primary songwriter duties further expanded his responsibilities to include producing and engineering. The first single "We Sick" was released on February 23, 2010. The album received generally poor reviews in the press.
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