Ever hear of the funky, heavy rock band ‘Love on Ice’? Didn’t think so. The Portland outfit was a part of a saturated market. A cocktail of hair metal from Los Angeles and alternative metal from Seattle. Love on Ice fit right in between, not only geographically, but sonically as well. Tinted with thick psychedelic vocal harmonies, heavy grooves and high energy live shows, Love on Ice was one of a kind. Led by guitarist Dirk Sullivan and vocalist Dan Krueger, the outfit quickly hit the Portland scene and gained a lot of popularity very quickly. At first it seemed the band was only to be a part of the local scene. They recorded an Ep and sent it to Atlantic records only to receive and brutal rejection letter. A few years later Interscope discovered the group and saw something the other record industries didn’t. The band was signed and shipped north to Seattle in order to record their debut album. Finally, ‘Nude’ was released in 1992. It’s a near perfect rock spectacle from beginning to end. A diverse set of songs ranging from the very heavy ‘Self In Blue’ to the beautiful ballad ‘Can O’ Worms’. Unfortunately the album wasn’t promoted and it died a silent commercial death. The band broke up soon after Interscope lost the money to produce their second album. However, ‘Nude’ has quite a cult following. It’s easy to understand why. It’s combination of metal, funk, psychedelic melodies and punk attitude still hold up to this day.
Best Bands You’ve Never Heard – Love On Ice
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Awesome band. Wish they could have went further.
I remember this band from a TV show…something like Nightline or 20/20. They were talking about the music industry and LOI were the “subject”. This was the early 90’s.
I bought their album after seeing that segment. Too bad they didn’t go any farther than what they did.
They also had a track in the movie, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey. “Showdown” – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_%26_Ted%27s_Bogus_Journey:_Music_from_the_Motion_Picture.
I still have the cassette and CD of this album and a few flyers promoting their gigs in Portland.
Saw these guys in ’92 at Rock Candy. Fell in love immediately and still love the sound.
It’s a such a great hybrid of 80’s hard rock and grunge.
Don’t listen to old rock albums much anymore, moved on. But I rediscovered this one last night, my God, what a gem!!
it’s fantastic. The funk, the groove. All mixed in seamlessly with an alternative hard rock band.
Great band, Nude is still one of my all time favorites, love the vocal harmonies. Shame, this band should’ve been a lot bigger.