Check Out Ethan Ice’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ethan Ice.

Hi Ethan, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My name is Ethan Ice, I am a local Colorado musician based in the Denver area. I play a few instruments but mainly keyboards- piano, organ, clavinet/electric piano, and a little bit of accordion. Currently, I help lead my original band Ignatius Reilly, play regularly in rock outfit the Eric Martinez Band, as well as play occasional shows with old timey band Rented Tuxedo, tribute band Reptiles and Samurai, soul band Leon and the Revival, and solo. I’ve been doing this since around 2000 and have been fortunate enough to be part of some amazing bands and experiences over the years, and have gotten to play with some great musicians along the way. Right now I’m gearing up for a few Ignatius Reilly shows this summer in the Denver area, and am finishing recording an album with Eric Martinez as well.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Ha, where should I begin? I love playing music and feel fortunate to be able to do it on a regular basis, but it’s not easy. Challenges include the usual stuff you probably hear about– musicians are often underpaid, and the rate of pay that musicians are given has seemed to stay the same over the last couple decades while it seems like everything else has increased in price; with online streaming and other advances in technology, music itself comes pretty cheap these days and it seems live music has been devalued a bit by society; from a band perspective, it’s hard keeping 4 or 5 individuals pointed in the same direction over the years with the obstacles that come with the territory. My friend/bandmate Mark Brut from Rocky Mountain Artists booking company tells me the world of nationwide touring bands is absolutely brutal out there right now, with cost margins on shows being high and underperforming ticketing sales being the big problems.
From a more personal standpoint, Denver has a great music audience, but with that comes a lot of competition. There are great local bands and artists that play regularly over the front range on any given night of the week. Colorado is a huge market for touring bands of every scale, so you could be competing with any given stadium band on a Tuesday. With people seeming to go out less often since the pandemic, especially during the week, it’s difficult to try and get yourself out there and heard. And that’s just the live show aspect of it– recording and distributing music has it’s own issues. For most artists, making an album isn’t a money making venture but rather a promotional tool at this point. Most listeners don’t buy physical copies of music anymore, and while bands get a little money from streaming, it’s microscopically small. And even with streaming, it takes a lot of effort to get people to listen to your stuff when they have the majority of amazing music history at their fingertips to choose from. But I’m probably bitching too much- while there are problems, I love making music and have no plans to stop, challenges or not- the way I see it, you gotta work hard, put the time in, have the right intentions, and hope for the best.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’ve recorded on a bunch of albums in the last twenty years, some released, some not, but the ones that come to mind are listed below. I have a friend Stuart Raper who coined the term (to me at least) the “rock n’ roll soldier” and that’s at least what I’d like to be known for, someone who played to serve the song and put in his time to get the job done- kind of a blue collar approach I guess, work 9-5 and call it a day. I think playing music is a very much a team effort and the best magic happens when the whole of musicians is greater than the sum of their parts. I look up to guys in history like Duck Dunn, the Swampers, Mike Campbell, and some of the E Street Band- they don’t need the limelight, but they do their job holding it down and keeping the ship on course and the goal in mind without a need for accolades. And so keeping this in mind, I think I specialize in being a bit of a musical chamaleon, which is also something I am proud of. I try to keep myself motivated and intellectually curious enough to accept all kinds of gigs and projects involving different music genres- I’ve played blues, rock, funk and all that, but also in electronic projects, backed hip hop groups, done soundtracks, played traditional jazz, and really anything else that I’ve found compelling enough to try. And maybe that makes me a jack of all trades, master of none, but I’ll take it, I like being able to slip into a lot of musical worlds and be able to hang.

Ethan Ice – Live at… the Blue Oyster (2023)
Ethan Ice – Instrumentally Foggy (2024)
Ethan Ice – Ghost Town (2024)
Ignatius Reilly- Superstitions Fade (2024)
Ignatius Reilly – Tearing the Skies Apart (2016)
Ignatius Reilly – Seersucker Vest (2014)
Eric Martinez – Caldera (2022)
Dyrty Byrds – More is More (2020)

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Hard to narrow it down, but I’d say optimism and good work ethic are key here. Being an artist in general involves a lot of disappointment, truth be told, and you have to be prepared for that. You try 9 times out of 10 and maybe you succeed the way you want that 10th time- so you have to maintain a good outlook in order to survive. There’s a running joke among us musicians called the 5 show rule– one show, you’re like, folks, that’s exactly why I play music; the next 3, ehhh, there were some good points and bad points; and for that 5th show, you’re like, I’ll never play music ever again, EVER. So it’s always good to be reminded of that 1st show and why you do this in the end.
Another is really just work ethic- trying, and working hard on a regular basis. You never know who’s listening or watching at the time. As a small time musician, you play a lot of gigs that at least start with nobody there, and it’s real easy to blow it off, be disappointed, not put your all into it and just mess around. But there have been several instances in my time where we played our a*ses off to a mostly empty room, and even though it seemed nobody was there, 1) we felt good about ourselves when it was all over, and 2) as it turns out, there was a bartender or someone in the back that was digging what we were doing and ended up giving us a great opportunity down the line. There’s a great story- you can look it up for better details– where Rusted Root were paid a small amount of money to play in some festival parking lot in the early 90’s, and there were exactly zero people there when they started; undaunted, they decided to play their balls off anyways like they were in front of 20,000 people just for fun, and a lady just happened to be walking her dog by there and stopped to listen all by herself. The lady turned out to be Sheryl Crow, who I think was headlining, and she signed them on to do a bunch of opening slots for her tour, and the rest snowballed from there. The same goes with working hard and giving attention to detail on your recordings- you never know who’s listening, and sometimes small beneficial changes to your recording is the difference between someone keeping your song on until the end versus switching it, between adding your song to their playlist or skipping. In the end, you put in your time and let the universe decide.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ignatiusreilly.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ignatiusreillyband/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IgnatiusReillyBand/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC25u39HsRZPIzT5DY938DcA
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ignatius-reilly-13