SWEETER THAN ICE CREAM

This great Australian band first came to minor attention via their last album Memory Lane Traffic Jam, which attracted enough attention via a reasonable amount of airplay for the band to get themselves ahead to making a new album, Sweeter Than The Radio, the forerunner to which was the single Dodgy, which came out quite a while back now.

Fortunate enough to catch up with head Ice Cream hand man Charles 'Chuck' Jenkins by phone, we chatted about the state of Australian radio & of the band's new album. Chuck's responses were quite lengthy & in the end we ran out of time.

First up though was the rather obvious question as to why the single Dodgy was released so far ahead of the album.

"We really intended Dodgy to be sort of a 'test' run for us to get a feel for the studio & of working with Wayne Connolly. As it happens, I think the album has worked out better than any of us expected & I hope people like it as we put a lot of effort into it."

The band has been put into various pigeonholes by various media & I asked how the band liked to be categorised.

"The short answer would really have to be that we don't really like to be pigeonholed at all. We've been called a pop band & I suppose that's true, but I think the term pop seems a little vaccuous to us when you look at what's at the top of the pop charts at the moment. Really we're a rock band at heart but that doesn't fit altogether either so I don't really know. I suppose rock/pop is about the best we can hope for."

That begged the question of what passes for alternative music these days to which Chuck has similar views as I do.

"You said it - alternative to what. We're being bludgeoned with so much uninspired stuff these days, a lot of it label driven by the majors who get onto a good thing & want every new band or artist to be a clone. Boyz II Men are a good example. I'm not very familiar with their work, but everything seems to be similar to them lately."

Speaking of recording labels, the band's relationship with their own label sounds quite good as Chuck explained.

"We're very happy with our label Rubber. They give us pretty much total control over everything. Of course they make suggestions & we take them on board, but with this latest album, we tried out some ideas they suggested but they didn't work out like we'd hoped, so we just went with what we liked the best & they were happy with what we'd come up with."

Another point which often arrives when talking to a band or artist is which songs of their own they like the best. Chuck pointed out something which a lot of artists say.

"Really, I try to remove every copy of my own songs from around my house. It's not something I like doing but on this album, I put a couple of my favourite songs on, the first track, Can Anyone be Hypnotised? I thought was a good song to open with I it's like the last song Seawall. I guess the best term you could use is that they bookend the rest of the songs so well."

Lastly, I had to find out what sort of bands have influenced the sound of Ice Cream Hands.

"Well, you mentioned The Beatles. Its got to be at least 10 years since I listened to an album of theirs, but I did hear quite a bit of them growing up & I guess that whatever you hear growing up has to affect you in some way. It's the same with bands at the moment. I don't listen to a lot of radio, but I hear a lot of the bands live that we play with. One of those that blew me away is Oscarlima, they're incredible. I guess that's probably about the only thing you can say - good music is the influence."

Check out the band's new album Sweeter Than The Radio out now through BMG or look for them touring near you soon.