Ice Howl from Bloomington, Indiana are a riff focussed traditional heavy metal band with a wealth of experience under their belts. These are busy times for the band with new members and new material to showcase, so we caught up with guitarist and band founder, Jason Roach to get the lowdown on the year ahead.

TheNWOTHM: Ice Howl, it’s a great pleasure to catch up with you. Thank you for taking the time to speak with TheNWOTHM.com. For the uninitiated out there, can you give us a rundown of who’s who in the band, and tell us a bit about where you’re from and what people can expect from your music?

JR: Hello there! It’s really nice to speak with you as well! We are a Melodic/Heavy metal band that spreads across all over Indiana. Our lineup consists of Zebah Latifi (Vocalist), Jason Roach (Guitar), Tucker Thomasson (Live Guitar), Mark Jackson (Bass), and Kyle Wilcher (Drums). Our music focuses on powerful riffs and melodic hooks. It’s kind of hard to describe our sound outside of that.

TheNWOTHM: So, you’ve got a brand-new lineup for 2024. How’s the band settling in together?

JR: The new lineup is totally comfortable and very optimistic about the future. I can’t state enough how well we get along, and how much we respect each other. I’m pretty thankful because that can be a pretty rare thing.

TheNWOTHM: How has the new lineup affected the buzz within the band?

JR: The buzz is buzzing! We have had some pretty amazing opportunities open up to us, and that has given us goals to work towards. For instance, we were offered a spot on this year’s Legions Of Metal Festival in Chicago, and that has us pretty hyped up!

TheNWOTHM: Traditionally, who writes your material, and how is that likely to be affected with the new personnel on board? 

JR: I’ve written everything up to our recent split release. When we did the split, I only had to write the music (instruments). I sent everyone demos of the songs and let everyone else do their thing! It felt really liberating to hand the demos off to everyone because I have never been able to do that before. The end result blew me away.

TheNWOTHM: You must be excited to get out there and show off your new look. What can fans expect when you hit the stage?

JR: It’s funny that you asked that. I’ll elaborate in the next question. HAHA! I can confidently say that you can expect a band that is humble and just happy to be there!

TheNWOTHM: You’ve got a few gigs in the diary already, when and where are you playing?

JR: We just played our first show on March 1st at the Black Circle Brewing Co in Indianapolis. So there’s that! We had a lot of fun, and the reaction from the crowd was very positive and it left us very empowered! I mentioned earlier that we are playing at Legions Of Metal Festival on May 4th. We are sharing the stage with some legendary bands with Unleash the Archers and Watchtower headlining the festival. That’s the only confirmed date we have lined up, but we have two other dates that are potentially happening and will be announced at a later date.

TheNWOTHM: What plans have you got for expanding your reach this year? Any chance of a European invasion?

JR: Unfortunately, no European invasion. But that is a bucket list item of mine. So, you never know. We have no other plans other than what I’ve mentioned at this time.

TheNWOTHM: As you mentioned earlier, you released 2 new tracks at the end of last year as part of the 4 way split with Mourn the Light, High Priest and Archdruid. What’s been the reaction to the new material?

JR: The reaction to the split has been very well received. I’ve not read or heard any negative feedback on the split. So that’s great! But the split is just a tease for what’s to come.

TheNWOTHM: Sounds intriguing. Is the main focus for the band live work at the moment or are you hoping to hit the studio?

JR: We have a plan to record a cover song (you might just hear it live at Legions…wink wink). Other plans include playing a couple more dates and then…drum roll…work on the next album.

TheNWOTHM: It’s been a couple of years since your last full album, 2022’s Darkness from Beyond, between you and me, while there’s nobody else around, what sneaky little exclusive can you tell me about plans for the next album?

JR: Alright, when you say it like that then I have to say a little something about it. I will tease that we plan to release a concept record, but I’m not going to divulge anything about it just yet. Maybe we can talk about something when it gets closer.

TheNWOTHM: Excellent, we’ll be waiting. In an ideal world, which bands would you most like to tour with?

JR: All of us in Ice Howl have plenty of bands we would like to tour with or share shows with. I personally would love to get on a bill with Visigoth or Eternal Champion. Here is a list of bands from everyone else in the band: Ascension, Fellowship, Seven Sisters, Bewitcher, The Sword, Wolftooth, Throne Of Iron, and Cap’n Geech & The Shrimp Shack Shooters (bonus points if you know the reference).

TheNWOTHM: Here are the keys to my own, personal time machine, (don’t scratch it), so you can nip off and create the band of your dreams from a fairly wide choice of every musician that’s ever lived. Who’s in it?

JR: I’d bring back Dio and reform Black Sabbath (aka Heaven and Hell). That’s it.

TheNWOTHM: It’s always tough for independent bands and musicians to get themselves out there, both in terms of booking gigs and promoting material. Who’s the main driving force in (or around) the band for approaching venues and promoters, and how do you keep up the momentum? 

JR: So far I’ve done a lot of the booking and presenting shows to the band, but I do have to mention that Mark Jackson (our bassist) knows a lot of people and he is a master at networking, and he will probably take credit for future shows. By the way, check out his podcast, The Metal Forge. It’s available on YouTube, Spotify, etc.

TheNWOTHM: What advice would you give to any new young bands just starting out about how to make their way in the industry?

JR: Be prepared. Be organized. Be professional (but not too professional). Now that I’ve said that I will say that making friends is a REALLY important one. Making genuine friends will get you more opportunities than anything else.

TheNWOTHM: When you look back at the end of this year, what will you most want to see having achieved as a band?

JR: Getting more opportunities is always a nice thing to achieve. But I’m going to be real honest here (and this might sound sappy), but I’m looking forward to growing my friendship with everyone in Ice Howl. I’m proud to call all of them my friends, and I owe them for bringing this band back to life. They are all great, and I enjoy being around them. They are like a second family to me, and that’s something I want to hold on to.

TheNWOTHM: Friendship is a vital gift in this crazy old world, so that’s an admirable sentiment right there. Well, it’s been a great pleasure getting to know a little of the innermost workings of the Ice Howl mind. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us. Everyone at TheNWOTHM.com wishes you the very best success for the coming year and we really hope to get the chance to be at one of your shows in the not too-distant future. Just one more thing (spoken in true Columbo tradition), how can people find your music and where can we follow you for all the latest news?

JR: Thank you for having me! You can find our music on Icehowl.bandcamp.com, and you can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. You can personally follow me on my YouTube channel called FullMetalGamer, and be sure to follow Mark’s show called The Metal Forge.