iC3

In post-Nirvana era, local band ic3 does without the angst.

There were two kinds of people on April 8, 1994: those into the Seattle grunge sound who were rocked by the suicide of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, and those who didn't have a clue.
Vic Lipsey had more than a clue. He had recently graduated from the University of Washington and was 27, Cobain's age when he shot himself at his home near Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle.

"I remember watching the news and seeing the vigils. It was eerie to listen to Nirvana songs, largely motivated by pain," said Lipsey, who lives in Edmonds.

Like Cobain, Lipsey plays guitar and sings in a band. There, the similarities end. Lipsey is no millionaire rock star, but he and his fellow band members in the group ic3 (just pronounce the letters one at a time) are happy with their first CD, "Forever," recently out on the independent Interurban Records label.

Lipsey calls their music "post-industrial jump funk." It sounds like rock to me. When I played it at home, my 16-year-old guitarist son pronounced ic3's CD "not bad." He's a picky kid.

"It's not an attempt to re-create grunge," Lipsey said. "We wanted to go somewhere beyond pain, angst and shoe-gazing."

Nevertheless, grunge will be the focus when ic3 plays Saturday night at Club Broadway in Everett. Their set will be filmed by a British television company, Focal Point, which is making a documentary on how Nirvana influenced today's Seattle music scene.

Director Paul Nash, who has made documentaries on Green Day, Blink 182, the Dave Matthews Band and Korn, is in the area to interview ic3 and other bands.

Nash was traveling Thursday and unavailable for comment, but he included questions he'll ask ic3 in an e-mail sent to Lynnwood-based Interurban Records.

Ken Latimer, who runs the recording company with his brother, Ron, said the filmmaker wants ic3 members to discuss "the Seattle music scene around the time Nirvana broke; in what way your music has been influenced by Nirvana; how you think Nirvana should be remembered; and why Nirvana had such massive international success."

Nearly a decade after his suicide, Cobain's tortured life and Nirvana's passionate punk are still much in the public eye. "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Lithium" and "All Apologies" remain anthems of adolescent alienation. Bookstores are stocked with a new volume of Cobain's journals and "Heavier Than Heaven," Charles Cross' biography of the grunge god.

For Lipsey and the rest of ic3 -- guitarist Jay Anderson, drummer Carl Martin and bass player Tony Rivera -- the world of drugs and fame that destroyed Cobain is a foreign place.

"I'm the only one not married. The other guys are all married with families. We're all settled down," Lipsey said. "I don't make a living playing music alone; none of us really do."

His music adds up to about half of a living, not unlike the Dire Straits song "Sultans of Swing" with its lyric "He's got a daytime job, he's doing all right."

Lipsey, whose daytime job is in publishing, said "destructive lifestyles are exactly that."

In August, ic3 played at a tribute concert for Layne Staley, the lead singer for Alice in Chains who died in April of a drug overdose in his Seattle apartment.

Lipsey, a 1985 graduate of Meadowdale High School in Lynnwood, went to school with Staley. "He was one of the colorful individuals there. He hung out at the back fence at Meadowdale," Lipsey recalled. While Staley was making his name on the grunge scene, Lipsey was in the military.

. . . ic3 takes its progressive mix of rock and funk to festivals and other venues. They've played everywhere from the Omak Stampede to the Redhook Brewery in Woodinville.

"If the grunge scene was about music over marketing surveys, OK we're grunge," he said. "But unlike the punk ethos, we're happy if people dig it. Connecting with people is more rewarding than the music itself."

He has no illusions about fame finding him through a documentary on British television.

"In all fairness, we'll probably be two minutes out of an hourlong special," Lipsey said. "But we're excited."

- Julie Muhlstein

. . . It's probably more helpful to think of these guys as fusion jazz-rock and progressive funk-metal, a blend of bands such as King's X, Resurrection Band, and Van Halen. Lead vocalist and guitarist Vic Lipsey sounds like an intriguing cross between Sammy Haggar and Sting. He's joined by second guitarist Jay Anderson and the impressive drumming of Carl Martin; the band switches between two different bass players on the album, and tours with a third bass player by the name of Tony Rivera. This is an impressive band of musicians with a fairly unique rock sound, one you're not likely to hear on your local radio station. Equally impressive are the songs written by ic3. . . . There's a similar theme of life in heaven heard in "Superunified," and "Empty" is basically a psalm of praise: "Sing a new song, join the melody / Break another chain, set the music free / Listen now, there's a new sound we believe." If it's funk you really want, check out the groove on "Now." . . . . Forever sounds like it was recorded live for the most part, a testimony to their strong musicianship. . . . Forever still is an excellent album . . . it's different from the norm without being too "out there." It's just what you need if you're looking for a truly alternative hard rock album.

- Russ Breimeier

In Seattle, Washington, the word "grunge" quickly became a "no-no" following the death of Kurt Cobain. Since the demise of Soundgarden and the recent passing of Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley, wall-of-sound distorted groove rock with odd time signatures has all but disappeared on the now nice guy emo-rock Northwest scene. On the other hand, given the Northwest's fundamentally indie, DIY approach to making music, it is not surprising that a band like IC3 would still be able to thrive, keeping the banner high for the once popular sound. . . .

Forever finds singer Vic Lipsey's gravelly voice ripping into mixed tempo tracks like "Seven" with classic rock vengeance. Follow-up tracks like "Winning" and "Empty" truly pay homage to some of those bands that came out of Seattle's SubPop Records, complete with down deep wah-wah grooves and impressive distorted groove riffs. Other tracks like, "Revolution" and "someone" are high points capturing a 70's vibe reminiscent of bands like Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Mellowing it a step further, the trio mixes a little jazzy feel into the acoustic "Dreaming" for the disc's best track.


Ultimately, the great thing about IC3 is that this trio . . . is making music that those who came up enjoying both 70's classic rock and early 90's modern rock can still enjoy. In fact they probably don't find any dissonance because they understand how 70's classic and punk rock made up much of what was so popular coming out of Seattle. "Forever" is a great reminder that bands who don't want to serve up kiddie fluff rock don't have to in order to successfully make music.
- Anthony Barr-Jeffrey