Demonic intensity

From playing bass to running a space,
Griffin Rodriguez of Chicago’s Icy Demons
covers all the indie music bases

FROZEN CHOSEN: Icy Demons

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

“Can you give me a call back? I’m kind of busy trying to steer through traffic right now,” says Icy Demons bassist/producer Griffin Rodriguez at our appointed interview time. Although he’s not always driving tour vans, Rodriguez’s metaphor of sitting in the driver’s seat for his workaholic lifestyle and indie spirit is not lost.

Rodriguez has spent quite a bit of time white-knuckling the wheel as the man behind the glass at recording studio Shape Shoppe, for such indie heavyweights as Man Man, Beirut, Akron/Family and a host of local Chicago bands like Chandeliers, Killer Whales and Bird Names. If that wasn’t enough, he also oversees the use of Shape Shoppe as a performance and art space when it’s not booked for recording. Not to mention that just prior to the Icy Demons tour, Rodriguez was a member of (gulp) eight bands.

“Yeah, I’ve always been pretty busy,” he says, “but now it doesn’t seem like there is just not enough time in the day. It’s definitely very hard, but I’m used to hustling and working so it’s something I can handle.”

If running a space, being a band slut, producer and engineer, and maintaining and owning a recording studio wasn’t enough, Rodriguez has gotten downright batty and actually jumped into the record-label business, co-starting the label Obey Your Brain, home to Icy Demons, with upcoming releases by Man Man (Icy Demons co-founder Chris Powell is also the drummer in Man Man), Chandeliers, Zach Condon and Tennessee rapper Count Bass D planned for later in the year.

“There was just so much amazing energy and creative ideas coming out of the studio that having a label just felt like the next logical step. I mean, it’s a really crazy time to start a label, but I guess I’m just known for doing crazy things. We just figured that if we’re going to be doing these records with small labels, we might as well just be that small label ourselves, and we’ve been really lucky that we have people that have helped support us by helping us with orders and other things, so that has made it a little bit easier. After having played in bands for so long, I find it hard to rely on somebody after you’ve really worked hard for two years on something. Considering the landscape of the music industry right now, you just have to go for it.”

Although Rodriguez is a man of many hats, his focus remains razor-sharp. Icy Demons’ third record, Miami Ice, lets the backbone slide with samba and African rhythms laced with Krautrock prog and repetition, marrying it all to an infectious melody while production scales to imaginative new heights. “I think with the label, the studio and Icy Demons, it all comes down to the same thing, which is celebrating musical diversity. I’ve always been attracted to music that wants to create something new, and I’d like to think that Icy Demons is part of that. All of my favourite kinds of music usually come out of a collaboration or a bigger community that is more group oriented, and with this band, that’s paramount.”

With King Khan & the Shrines
and the Sunday Sinners at
la Sala Rossa on Friday,
July 25, 9 p.m., $12