Tonight, Danish band Iceage are set to bring their incendiary live show to Hackney for a unique performance. An early doors event that carries on until 1am, the evening will see support coming from friends Helm, Astrid Sonne and Warmduscher, while Iceage will wrap up the night with a unique performance backdropped by a set put together by theatre scenographer Christian Friedländer.

Leading up to the performance, here we chat to Elias Bender Rønnenfelt about the band’s time on the road, alongside live imagery taken by photographer Jenna Putnam before, during and after Iceage’s recent performance at The Regent Theatre alongside The Black Lips and Surfbort.

Alex James Taylor: You recently toured the US with Black Lips, how was that?
Elias Bender Rønnenfelt: Like one big happy dysfunctional family. 

AJT: How’s it been touring your new record, have you changed your approach at all?
EBR: This year we’ve sometimes been touring with viola, saxophone and piano and on the last tour our Aussie comrade Daniel joined in on the tambourine and backing vocals. As a whole, the art of playing concerts is something that grows as a vessel for letting things out throughout the years. There is plenty more to grow into, but as for now I enjoy playing concerts more than I ever did.

AJT: Is there a specific country, or even venue you’ve played that really stands out for you?
EBR: We did Mexico City recently and I loved the crowd there. Plenty of places stands out, you never know where and when you’ll find magic in the air. I thrive and like to be on the move and I am probably quite addicted to it. 

AJT: When we interviewed you in HERO 19 you mentioned a series of LA gigs curated by the band, you had the Tom of Finland guys perform, right?
EBR: Yeah we had the lovely people at the Tom Of Finland send in some muscular boys to recreate some of Tom’s drawings as a tableau vivant kind of thing. We held it in an old strip club and had a bunch of people perform. Personally I was thrilled that we managed to get the legend Gary Wilson to play.

AJT: You play a special gig in London tonight, you have a set designer working on it with you?
EBR: Christian Friedländer who’s a theatre scenographer we’ve worked with a bunch before, he’s going to decorate the place. I have no clue as to what he has in mind so it’ll be interesting to see what’s in store tomorrow.

AJT: What do you have planned after you’re done with this tour? Will you head home?
EBR: I’ll have a bit of a break for the first time in ten months which is honestly a little bit terrifying, I don’t always do well with an open schedule. But I’m eager to get some headspace for writing, and there has been a lot of things brewing and ruminating in my head that I haven’t had the time to properly sit down and work on.

“…I enjoy playing concerts more than I ever did.”

Iceage play at EartH in Hackney tonight.