I.G.B. Keeps It Heavy

Raleigh band I.G.B. cranks out their unique metallic blend this Friday at The Dive Bar (3 Glenwood Ave., 10PM). Drummer Tom Bell answered a few questions about the band.

Tell us about the band lineup. How did you get together?

The band started in 2004 as a 3 piece with Rob, Jason, and myself (Tom). Rob and I had played in the band Nine Lbs. together in the 90's. Jason was a friend who had a lot of experience playing in southern rock bands. During this time we had a lot of instrumental only songs and long instrumental breakdowns in most of the songs, which we still keep as a vital part of our music. Rob and Jason did sing, but we mainly just wrote music and practiced for a few years. At the end of 2006 Paul Seeber joined the band as a vocalist and we started playing shows in town pretty regularly. He stayed with the band a year and a half. In March of 2008 Corn joined the band. This was a very natural choice because Corn sang in Nine Lbs. with Rob and me. The fit has been great and the new sound and feel to the band has been amazing.

How would you describe your sound? It sounds like a more hardcore version of Black Sabbath, which is pretty awesome.

Well, we definitely appreciate that and take it as huge compliment. As far as all of the band members go, we have a very diverse range of musical backgrounds and what we actually listen to. These all influence our sound. I don't want to describe the sound though--we would rather have people listen to the music and come up with their own description of the sound.

What's up with band name? What does I.G.B. stand for?

As I said earlier, we started out as a 3 piece band. We had the whole discussion of what we wanted to name the band. One thing we did not want to do was give it a name that would classify us as a certain style of music just by the name itself. For example, there are many band names that when you hear the name you automatically know that they are a heavy metal, or southern rock, or jam band. We play many different styles and have such a wide range of influences that we didn't want to be categorized just by our name. I.G.B. was just the band members initials of their last names. After a while we felt that this had a certain sound to it and we identified with it. We never changed this name when new members were added.

I understand you are working on your second album. How is that going?

It has taken a while but it is almost finished. There will be somewhere between 7 and 9 songs on it. We have done the entire album ourselves. The songs that are finished sound great and we put them up on our website as soon as a new one gets completed available to download for free, available on MySpace. We also have CDs available at our shows.

How does the band write new material?

We usually just come up with a riff and just jam on it for a long time trying out new things here or there. We eventually come up with something we like. Then Corn adds his lyrics. We all add our input to the songwriting process. Some songs have been written just by a single person, but these are the exception. Also, a large portion of our songs at the shows are improvised instrumental segments. I don't think we've ever played a song the same way twice.

Do you have plans for touring?

At the present time we are concentrating on our current album and playing local shows.

Tell us about your gig this week.

Friday, December 5 at The Dive Bar in Raleigh. It is a really cool place with a laid back, rock n' roll atmosphere. It is a free show. You should come check it out.

Thanks to Tom and the band for introducing us to the sounds of I.G.B.