Icon of Coil is a Norwegian futurepop and EBM group. The band emerged as a solo project by Andy LaPlegua of the Combichrist fame, who teamed up with Sector 9 founder (currently oo Moonitor and Zombie Girl) Sebastian Komor to perform live. With the release of Shallow Nation, the band’s first single, Komor joined the band full time. In 2000 Christian Lund joined the live line-up. In that same year the band’s debut album, Serenity Is the Devil, was released, which climbed to number one on DAC (Deutsche Alternative Charts). Soon after, Lund became a stable member of the band.
Shallow Nation, released in early 2000, sold out the first thousand copies after just 2 weeks, resulting in a deal with the Norwegian label Tatra Records. At the same time Tatra Records released the compilation Sex, Goth and Electronics, in which Icon of Coil contributed an exclusive version of their song “Repeat It“.
The audience seemed to enjoy the melodic and energetic sound of IOC, fused with Andy’s hypnotic voice and the band grew and became successful. One Nation Under Beat debuted in the Top 20 of the DAC-Chart (Deutsch Alternative Chart), spent 8 weeks reaching number 3.
After the release of the first full album Serenity Is the Devil in November 2000, which reached number 3 on the DAC-chart, the band went to Germany together with Beborn Beto. The audience responded well to IOC, earning the band a spot on the Synth / Industrial scene.
Before long, the album crossed the Atlantic and was released in North America by Metropolis Records. On March 29, 2001, the band flew to Chicago and then from one city to another, sleeping in hotels, sometimes at the homes of their promoters.
The song “Situations Like These” which would later appear on the Seren EP was performed live for the first time to an incredibly enthusiastic audience, making the tour a huge success. Then after playing Slimeligth and Astoria II (Electrofest) in London, the members had a short break before tackling the Filled Summer festival in Europe.
During the tours, the band found time to write material for their second album, The Soul is in The Software, which was released in April 2002 and remained number 1 on the DAC-Chart for several weeks. That year, IOC played at 2 festivals: The Dark Jubilee Festival in London, and later as the Sunday headliner at Synthpop Goes the World in Toronto, Canada.
The summer ended with a successful show in Leipzig, Germany, at the Wave-Gothic Treffen. Other festivals IOC performed in were CSD, Zillo Festival, Xtreaktor Festival, Eurorock, Infest and M’era Luna.
Situations Like These became a huge hit and the band was set for a second tour (this time on a Night Tour Bus) in North America with VNV Nation. The tour began in Chicago on November 16. IOC, VNV Nation and the rest of the bands continued to Canada passing through Hollywood, where they did their 15th show in front of about 900 people at the Palace. The 4 week tour ended in Edmonton, Canada, with a great show and a huge party.
In 2004, their third album, Machines Are Us, continued with repetitive, hard hits, empathetic lyrics, hymn-like melodies and clean synth sounds. Not to be displaced or forgotten, Icon of Coil released their remix album Uploaded And Remixed at the end of 2004, which included new remixes of songs from their first 2 works and 2 exclusive tracks.
I took pictures of Icon of Coil at New City Liqwid Lounge in downtown Edmonton, Alberta. Canada in 2007:
