BODY COUNT, the steel band fronted by hip-hop legend, actor and director Ice-T, will carry out on subsequent Wednesday’s (December 4) episode of “The Tonight Present Starring Jimmy Fallon”.
BODY COUNT is continuous to tour in assist of its newest album, “Cruel”, which got here out on November 22 by way of Century Media.
Relating to why it took 4 years to finish “Cruel”, Ice-T advised Kerrang! journal: “We dropped ‘Carnivore’ in March 2020 and the pandemic dropped proper on high of us. We by no means obtained to tour that album, regardless that we had like 40 completely different dates arrange in Europe. As a result of I am on tv [as Sergeant Fin Tutuola in NBC‘s ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’] we solely have this little two-month block the place we will get out on the highway. Then the label had been, like, ‘Give us one other document!’ I used to be, like, ‘What?! You need me to only go shit out one other document actual fast?!’ We would simply gained the Grammy [2021’s ‘Best Metal Performance’ for ‘Bum-Rush’] so we had been on an actual excessive, nevertheless it was nonetheless fairly troublesome to grind one other album out. I wanted time. While you’ve launched an album — having written possibly 20 songs, of which 12 make it — you are all out of concepts. And you do not need to rehash these concepts once more. However as soon as we obtained going, we obtained it completed.”
Final month, BODY COUNT launched a music video for its highly effective rendition of “Comfortably Numb” that includes David Gilmour — a contemporary tackle the traditional PINK FLOYD monitor that explores themes of detachment and introspection. Gilmour‘s seminal guitar work provides a haunting, genuine contact, seamlessly mixing with BODY COUNT‘s signature depth and Ice‘s profound new lyrics, making the monitor a fusion of rock historical past and uncooked, trendy power.
Ice-T commented: “For me, ‘Comfortably Numb’ is an introspective track — it is me acknowledging that I am older now. I am telling the youthful technology, you’ve got obtained two decisions: you may preserve the fireplace burning otherwise you can provide up. It is me attempting to make sense of what is occurring, but in addition stating that we’re all in a spot the place we do not have to face actuality. We have flat-screen TVs and popcorn, and we will simply sit again and watch the chaos of the world prefer it’s a TV present. It does not really feel actual till it exhibits up at your door. I am slightly numb, too — all of us are.”
Gilmour acknowledged: “BODY COUNT‘s model of ‘Comfortably Numb’ is sort of radical, however the phrases actually struck me. It astonishes me {that a} tune I wrote nearly 50 years in the past is again with this nice new method. They’ve made it related once more.
“The preliminary contact from Ice-T was for permission to make use of the track, however I believed I’d provide to play on it as effectively. I like the brand new lyrics. They’re speaking concerning the world we’re dwelling in now, which is sort of scary.
“Ice-T and BODY COUNT performed in London just lately. Sadly, I could not make it, but when one other alternative got here as much as play with them, I would leap at it.”
Earlier within the yr, BODY COUNT launched the official music video for “Psychopath”, its first new single since 2020’s “Bum-Rush”, which gained a Grammy Award for “Greatest Metallic Efficiency”. The brand new monitor, which options FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY vocalist Joe Badolato, exhibits Ice-T and crew on most killing overdrive and primed for the subsequent chapter of the legendary Los Angeles-based band’s 35-plus-year profession. Longtime collaborator Will Putney (KNOCKED LOOSE, THE GHOST INSIDE) produced the track, which was launched by way of Century Media Data.
Directed by Jay Scorsese, the “Psychopath” video pulls inspiration from fictional and real-life horrors, with references spanning from Jason Voorhees to Ted Bundy.
“Cruel” is the follow-up to “Carnivore”, which was launched to vital acclaim in March 2020, only a week earlier than COVID shut the whole world down.
BODY COUNT‘s European “Cruel” tour kicked off on June 5 at Mystic pageant in Poland and introduced the band to a number of the world’s largest festivals and venues, throughout greater than a dozen nations. After returning to the States, they carried out at Louder Than Life pageant in Louisville, Kentucky and Aftershock pageant in Sacramento, California.
For BODY COUNT, it has been a historical past of being each revered and feared — a barbed-wire thread that stretches again to the band’s origins as a venture between Ice-T and Crenshaw Excessive good friend Ernie C. Their first shot fired, the track “Physique Rely”, was a mission assertion on Ice-T‘s 1991 “O.G. – Authentic Gangster”. That is the blueprint they have been operating on for greater than 35 years.
They touched a nerve with their first, self-titled 1991 album and its divisive monitor “Cop Killer”, which impressed hatred, concern, and paranoia, but in addition impressed generations of bands to comply with. What they took from rising up with BLACK SABBATH and being impressed by fellow L.A. legends like SLAYER and SUICIDAL TENDENCIES has solely upped the ante for generations of homies and hardcore followers.
BODY COUNT‘s present line-up consists of surviving O.G.s Ice-T, Ernie C. and Sean E. Sean joined by bassist Vincent Value, drummer Will “Sick Will” Dorsey, Juan “Juan Of The Useless” Garcia and backing vocalist Little Ice.
“Carnivore” continued the trail of its uncompromising and critically acclaimed predecessors, “Bloodlust” and “Manslaugther”, in pairing Ice-T‘s impassioned and socio-critical lyrics with thick guitar riffs and nods to steel and hardcore greats like SLAYER, METALLICA, PANTERA, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. Visitor musicians on the LP included Amy Lee (EVANESCENCE),Dave Lombardo (ex-SLAYER),Jamey Jasta (HATEBREED) and Riley Gale (POWER TRIP).
BODY COUNT was honored with a Grammy within the “Greatest Metallic Efficiency” class within the pre-telecast ceremony on the 63rd annual Grammy Awards, which was held in March 2021 in Los Angeles. BODY COUNT was nominated for “Bum-Rush”, a monitor from “Carnivore”.