BODY COUNT
***ICE-T FRONTED METAL BAND’S BRAND NEW ‘MURDER 4 HIRE’ ALBUM RELEASED JULY 28th + LIVE AT READING & LEEDS FESTIVALS AUGUST***

“The best rap metal band ever? Never bet against Ice T’s metal project, Body Count. No others had so much bad ass attitude and in-yer-face rage. Shot – an emotive word with this lot! – during November 2004 at a special gig in LA, this is a commemoration of the past, and an affirmation for the future. Held in memory of the three original members of the band who died between 1996 and 2004, the show gives Ice T and longtime guitarist Ernie C the chance to bed in the new line-up, as Body Count tear through classics like ‘Cop Killer’ and ‘KKK Bitch’, plus the new, spiteful ‘Murder 4 Hire’. It’s a rabid performance. Full of bile, yet loaded with gutterwise charisma. A welcome chance to hear and witness the rebirth of the only rap metal band who truly took on politics and authority with two-fisted riffs and sawn-off lyrics. For Real. 8/10. Malcolm Dome, Metal Hammer, June 2006 issue, reviewing Body Count’s ‘Live In LA’ DVD, released by Escapi Music on March 27th 2006.

Body Count, the multi-million selling metal band formed by Ice-T, one of hip hop’s most articulate and intelligent stars, release a brand new studio album, ‘Murder 4 Hire’, on Escapi Music, distributed by RSK, on July 28th. On August 25th Body Count play the Radio One Lock-Up Stage at the Reading Festival, then the Radio One Lock-Up Stage at Leeds on August 26th.

‘Murder 4 Hire’ is Body Count’s 4th studio album - the follow-up to 1997’s ‘Violent Demise: Last Days’. Several years in the making, recording began with original rhythm guitarist D-Roc early in 2004, but in summer 2004 D-Roc passed away from lymphoma.
“For me, honestly,” says Ice, “after something like that, you can either come to a dead stop or you can go on. I had to get over [him]. It was so emotional. We were in the middle of making the new record together and he goes and dies? It was like, ‘Damn!’ Soon enough, though, everybody was like, ‘c’mon c’mon you gotta do it.’ It was make-or-break” says Ice.

So he and lead guitarist Ernie C - flanked by now by young guns OT on drums, new member Bendrix on rhythm guitar and Vincent Price on bass, organized a one-off Memorial Concert for all three lost Body Count band members at the legendary Troubadour in Los Angeles on November 26th 2004. [Original bass player Mooseman was killed in a drive-by shooting in 2000 in South Central LA, and original drummer Beatmaster V had succumbed to leukaemia in 1996.] The resultant ‘Live In LA’ DVD perfectly captures Body Count’s visceral, awesome live performance.

The reinvigorated band then went back into the studio in 2005 to continue working on ‘Murder 4 Hire’, a truly stunning hard rap-rock album bristling with attitude, energy, controversy, and most importantly, infectious melodies which just won’t get out of your head. A triumphant return from one of rock’s most magnificent, maverick bands!

Murderous– Roland Hyams on 020 8677 8466 / 8769 6713.
roland@workhardpr.com
www.escapimusic.com/press
19th June 2006

 

Ice-T Biography

Born Tracy Morrow in Newark, New Jersey in 1959, rapper / musician / actor / activist Ice-T was raised in the gang-infested, pimp-heavy streets of South Central, Los Angeles. He became immersed in both cultures, and began rapping about his daily activities while still a teenager in high school. In fact, his current nickname was borrowed from the infamous pimp-turned-writer, Iceberg Slim. Friends urged him to take his talents into a recording studio, where he recorded several rap singles.

Ice-T single-handedly kick-started Gangsta Rap with 1987’s ‘Rhyme Pays’, which quickly went gold, as did the 1988 follow-up, ‘Power’, amidst critical acclaim. Ice-T was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1990 for his hit single "New Jack Hustler."

Ice-T then went metal in 1992 with Body Count, whose self-titled debut ended with “Cop Killer.” Despite literary, cinematic and musical precedent for a song written from the point of view of the perpetrator, the track was protested about so vehemently by conservatives, the religious right, the NRA, police activist groups and the FBI,
that Sire Records’ parent company Time-Warner had the song deleted in subsequent pressings of the album. (It was an election year and L.A., fresh from the Rodney King incident, was a boiling cauldron.)

“I thought I was safe,” says Ice-T. “I thought within the world of rock’n’roll, you could be free to write what you want. Hell, I was listening to Talking Heads singin’ ‘Psycho Killer.’ And I thought Fuck it, I’ll make ‘Cop Killer’! But, that was the cross of metal with something that was real. Now we’re not just killing your family, we’re killing somebody so real that everybody just went, ‘Oh shit.’”

When Sire then refused to release his ‘Home Invasion’ rap album due to its cover art, Ice cut himself loose from the label. Priority Records put out Body Count’s second album, ‘Born Dead’, in ‘94. ‘Violent Demise: Last Days’ (Virgin) hit in ’97.

Body Count influenced a whole generation of rock/rap artists including Korn, Limp Bizkit, Rage Against The Machine and dozens of others. “We knew it was gonna happen,” says Ice. “If you go back to the early days when it started, the only person in rock that even slightly had a hip-hop vibe to him was Scott [Ian] from Anthrax. Everything was hair at that time. When we initially came out, my agenda was not to be a rap/rock band. My agenda was to redefine hardcore metal. If you listen to the first record, I don’t rap! I didn’t want to go out there and perform with Korn. I wanted to go out with Slayer!”

Body Count wound up taking Rage Against The Machine out on their first major tour. “And I knew my man Fred Durst [of Limp Bizkit] when he was still doin’ tattoos,” Ice says with a laugh.

In 1989, Ice-T wrote the book, ‘The Iceberg / Freedom of Speech...Just Watch What You Say’, a literary protest against music censorship. In 1993 he toured several universities, including Harvard, Stanford and NYU, lecturing on the state of first amendment rights and civil liberties in America.

As his politics were grabbing headlines, Ice-T’s film and television career were taking off. This controversial personality secured roles in ‘New Jack City’, ‘Ricochet’, ‘Trespass’ and ‘Johnny Mnemonic’, all while building a flourishing television career.

Ice-T recently starred in NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” his fourth project with executive producer Dick Wolf after the 1997-98 series “Players”, NBC’s “Exiled: A Law & Order Movie,” and several memorable guest starring appearances on Wolf’s gritty cop series “New York Undercover.”

In another current television project, “Beyond Tough,” Ice-T serves as both co-executive producer and host of the series that looks at the men and women behind America’s wildest jobs. From hazmat technicians, to oil-rig firefighters to rodeo clowns, Ice-T takes the viewer into the trenches with America’s everyday heroes.