April Local Music | Arts & Culture

Written by Kevin Van Antwerpen

Artist in the Spotlight - The Icicles

For The Icicles, Renegade Parade has been more than a year and a half in the making. The first release from the Grand Rapids-based indie-pop band since 2007, the album was interrupted by life - literally. During the course of recording, a total of four children were born among the band members.

"It definitely slowed down the progress," said Gretchen DeVault (vocals). "But it hasn't changed the way we approach music. We're not going to turn into The Wiggles just because we've had kids."

For fans of the band, the release couldn't come soon enough -- The Icicles' previous two albums saw the band exploding to new heights. A single from 2005's A Hundred Patterns found its way onto an international commercial for the telephone provider Motorola - a powerful tool in recruiting fans worldwide, DeVault said. Not to be outdone, 2007's Arrivals & Departures...

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