Theatre of Ice - The Nevada Years (1978-1985)

The Nevada Years (1978-1985)

Originally calling themselves The Bleeding Hearts the band recorded several demos during 1978 and 1979. The name was changed to Theatre of Ice at the end of 1979 and reflected the bands notion of a person sitting alone bathed in the silvery cold light of their television, slowing losing touch with reality. They burst onto the cassette culture scene in 1980 with the release of Mouse Blood (a title they would later re-use). Sixty minutes of bizarre noise and songs about death and the end of the world, more than 1000 copies were disseminated throughout the world and garnered the band a recording contract with fledgling Demented Mind Mill Records. Their first album The Haunting was recorded in 1981 in an actual haunted house in the Nevada desert. While thought by many to be just a gimmick the band claimed that it inspired them to create what is one of the more deranged albums to ever be recorded. Rather than opting for one musical style the album alternates between hard razor-sharp, creepy-crawly punk rock with echo like wolf howls to textural synthesizer soundtracks filled with strange noises. But while the musical style varied the themes remained rooted in modern horror.

The original line up included Brent Johnson (vocals, guitar) and his brothers John Johnson (guitar, keyboards, and vocals), Eric Johnson (bass guitar), Mark Johnson (drums) and Lyle Johnson (electronics). In describing the songmaking process Brent Johnson was quoted as saying: "We approach every song like painting a picture. The subject comes first, then the tones, color and shades necessary to set the mood. The actual structure of the song (i.e. the tune) is the least important. We never set out to do something "different" or "original", nor do we attempt to be "mainstream" -- things just end up how they end up."

Their second album Beyond the Graves of Passion received much of the same critical acclaim that their first album received. Simultaneously scarier and more accessible, the album had the effect of polarizing their audience into two camps; those that considered the band to be basically a kitschy novelty act and those that thought Theatre of Ice to be unholy prophets from the underworld. Ultimately the album failed to garner the group a wider audience beyond their small, but rabid, cult following and was considered a major disappointment by their record company. It was also during this time that groups of devotees began following the band from show to show often performing bizarre rituals before, during and after shows. Several altercations between the band and their devotees, combined with poor album sales, lead the band to consider disbanding. The most infamous of these altercations occurred when a group of crazed fans abducted the band for nearly 48 hours before a performance in August 1983. No arrests were ever made but the band refused to play live for many years and to this date most of their performances go unpublicized.

The final live performance of Theatre of Ice (at least that is what it was believed to be at the time) took place during the autumnal equinox in 1983 in a vast alkaline desert flat, littered with hundreds of dead animal skeletons, and located about 25 miles from the family's farm in remote Fallon, Nevada. A huge wooden TOI symbol was burned while the band played nearly every song from their first 2 albums along with several earlier works. Although the location was remote and was not well publicized, several hundred "devotees" attended the performance. The similarities in location and date between this event and what some few years later would become known as the Burning Man Festival are quite startling. Ironically the band closed the event playing “The Burning Man" from The Haunting.

A Cool Dark Place to Die was initially conceived as a solo project for lead vocalist Brent Johnson but instead became the band's third and one of their most critically acclaimed work. Since the only condition under which the band would reform was if they were never asked to perform live again, a commitment they were never able to keep, the songs took on a far more experimental and unearthly quality. Featuring incredibly effective spooky ambiance, they all but totally abandoned their punk rock roots for a far more electronic sound. This time the band choose to record in various ghost town cemeteries located throughout the Nevada desert. Perhaps more mood than music it was still reviewed by almost every music magazine as Death Rock and acclaimed as unlike anything heard before. "Densely rich cemetery songs. Synthesizers projecting ethereal dischords to the back of the head; quiet but crashing guitars; unconventional percussion, and vocals that sound as if they are about to commit suicide. Oh baby, groove to the sound of the gentle annihilation beat. I've had to rescue this album from coveters more than once. Morbid minds think alike and perversity is a shared trait. Mortals stick with this – prophets should be heard if not endured".

Mouse Blood was intended to be the band's final offering as brothers Brent and John moved to Utah, Eric moved to Georgia, and Mark moved to Connecticut to attend different universities. Labeled as "A limited edition sampling of the works of Theatre of Ice as chosen by friends who hate the band" it included songs from their first three albums as well as a few newly recorded tracks. The new songs were recorded in an old abandoned barn located on the family farm. At the conclusion of the recording process the band chose to set fire to the barn and with it destroy all lyric sheets, correspondences, tapes, photos and videos that were in their possession. They basically were attempting to destroy any and all evidence that the band had ever existed (with the obvious exception of the 4 albums they had recorded). Lead singer Brent Johnson was quoted as saying, "Only fire can destroy the monsters we have created". It was also rumored that the band had committed suicide in the firery blaze, a rumor it is believed the band encouraged.

The album, however, was heralded by the music press as one of the most innovative albums of the decade. Alternative Press wrote: "Think of Poe's Black Cat as a reference point for Mouse Blood. As in Poe the suggestion of insanity always lays close to a formal artistic surface. Imagine Poe living in the contemporary family, and then you'll sense how Mouse Blood flows through the dark night of domestic horror. Theatre of Ice sounds far more uncompromising than Bauhaus or The Cure in their search for the sublime within the dark hidden regions of themselves. What stands revealed is the core connection between gothic rock and American Romanticism. Theatre of Ice is concerned not only with the geography of the soul but that of the American West. In this sense, their songs of premature burial take on a deep suggestiveness. The formal horror of Theatre of Ice is nothing less than bizarre horror of the American West; a land of nuclear test sites, animal carcass dumps, and Mormon catacombs."