Ice Vinland (Featuring Marc Desgagnés on keyboards!)

[marcdesgagnes]

Hi guys!

Yes I know, it's been a while since my last visit here and believe me, it wasn't without reasons! lol Aside from actual covers projects (80's Again w/Stéphan Parrot and my old band that is rising from the dead...), there has been quite a few changes in my personnal life and on the musical side as well. As far as music is concerned, I've been approached by an established metal band from Québec, to get on board as their new keyboard player. The band's name is Ice Vinland and is a metal band with a strong "Viking" concept to it. The songs mainly talks about the  Vikings, their ways, their story, their Gods and such! I find it quite hard trying to explain what kind of heavy metal the band is doing, but one thing's for sure: Ice Vinland sports 5 fantastic and impressive musicians, with me as the 6th member now. To catch a glimpse of what the band is all about, visit their MySpace at www.myspace.com/icevinland to hear songs from their 2 albums as well as live and tv prestations.

We're now part of the "2nd Skin Rock Contest #6" ( www.rockcontest.ca ) in which we will battle with 48 other bands for the 1st place! 2 years ago, the band came 3rd in the 4th edition of the contest! Hope that we will get to the top this time around!

And for another great news, we will also be opening for Europeen Metal band Primal Fear ( www.primalfear.de ) on May 23 2010! Need I say more? I'm quite happy and excited!

For future plan with Ice Vinland, I will be writing/composing with them for the 3rd album and I've been asked to coach the singer in order to take his vocal harmonies to new grounds with me serving as backing vocalist...... Ain't that cool? Yes it is indeed, but I have ALOT of work to do! I'm not yet sure of how the next album will sound like, but I'm convinced that my implication in the writing and composing may give a much more "mainstream" metal breath. I like underground stuff, but I like to be able to reach as many people as I can when writing. Some will way I want to "commercialize" the band, some will say that I helped getting the band to a wider audience.......In any case, if the fan base grows higher, I will smile and feel like I did a great job!

Stay tuned for more my friends, I will share our evolution with you all!

Keep the rock alive and kickin'!

Marc

[Brian Dobbs]

Marc, very cool indeed!  Thanks for the awesome update.  I'm going to listen to some of the tunes now.

:-)

[D3im0s]

Nice hit! Seems this is gonna be a really strong experience! Good Luck.

Listening to the tracks on myspace the band sound like a Iron Maiden meets Manowar meets Angra, like it! 

[marcdesgagnes]

Yes D3im0s, I think you found the right and appropriate references for the kind of metal the band is doing. But expect that to change a bit since I will most likely work towards a more "mainstream" Europeen melodic metal with them. My writing isn't ressembling theirs but the clash of us together will probably be really cool. I already heard a couple demo songs that the guys have already recorded (only for reference material) for the 3rd album and I can already see a change of general mood in the music style, even if I wasn't there for any imput. So, my contribution will most likely give a whole new approach and I just can't wait to be able to share some of the new songs when we will have some ready for you all to listen to.....

Stay tuned for more soon!

Marc (and since the band has a Viking concept to it, my new name for the project is "Markus Keysteinn"....lolllllllll)

[Brian Dobbs]

the band seems really talented, and definitely have the viking thing down!

[marcdesgagnes]

Here is a copy of our first flyer for this weekend's gig....

ah shit...how do I import pictures in this reply??? lollllllll Sorry, I'm not that good at it...lol

[Brian Dobbs]

marc, you can reference an image already online using the IMG tags (through the reply button), or you can attach a picture.

[marcdesgagnes]

Hello everybody!

Oh yeahhhhhhhh! We had one of the coolest gig ever last saturday while playing for the 2nd Skin Rock Contest preliminary round of elimination!!!! 6 absolutely talented and wonderful bands were battling each other for the 2 top spots in order to move to the quarter of finals. A move we did with an absolute highlighted performance!!!! You can access some pictures from the event's website at www.rockcontest.ca, in the PHOTO section, then select the "2nd Skin Rock Contest 6" Icon and finally select "13 mars 2010 - Ice Vinland". Enjoy the pics! We should have some footage later but isn't ready yet (there's a montage to be done from 8 different cams!)

here's some of them!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4105527&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=42094278969&aid=-1&id=625492442#!/photo.php?pid=4105539&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=42094278969&aid=-1&id=625492442&fbid=363635452442

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4105527&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=42094278969&aid=-1&id=625492442#!/photo.php?pid=4105533&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=42094278969&aid=-1&id=625492442&fbid=363635362442

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4105527&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=42094278969&aid=-1&id=625492442#!/photo.php?pid=4105543&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=42094278969&aid=-1&id=625492442&fbid=363635502442

[Brian Dobbs]

very cool pictures man!  looks like it was a blast!

[marcdesgagnes]

Hi guys! Here's a couple more things for you to take a look at:

another batch of pictures from March 13th show:

http://picasaweb.google.com/francois.gobeil/201003IceVinland?authkey=Gv1sRgCM2t_unOhtaBtgE&feat=directlink#

... and a little vid of the song "The Greek Present" performed the same night. This version is one filmed by one of our friend with his camcorder. We're still waiting to get the "official" video montage of the same song that was shot using 8 different professionnal cams! It will look awsome from what I've already seen.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je8rAwM_BHc

In the meanwhile, enjoy!

[Brian Dobbs]

jeez man, you guys are intense!

[marcdesgagnes]

Hello Peeps!

Just passing through to let you know that the professional vid of the song "The Greek Present" recorded during the 2nd Skin Rock Contest is finally online on YouTube for your eyes and ears to enjoy!!!

As for some news, we are currently working the final touches on some songs in order to be able to start recording the 3rd album that could be out before the end of the year if everything goes according to plan.

So, until next time, keep the rock alive and kickin!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYG3yA2heKs

Marc

[Brian Dobbs]

Marc, so nice of you to stop by!  I will have look at this tomorrow.  Once I have the chance to watch, I will post again.  :-)

[Brian Dobbs]

Dude, you guys look like you are about to get off the boat and start conquering everything in sight!  Too bad the video didn't show you that much, but the quality of this recording (both audio and video) is just outstanding!  I've never seen anything done so well, for an independent band.  You guys must be happy to have such a great documentation of that performance.

[marcdesgagnes]

Hi Brian!

Once again, thanks for your comments concerning the video. Yes, we are kind of really happy to have this great tool to promote the band and what we're doing live. There should be another song available sometime soon... It will be the 2nd album title track "The Vinland Sage". Can't wait to get it, I like this one very much as it's much more in my own personal way of writing music. As of now, I should be able to pop in maybe 3-4 new songs on the 3rd album, songs that I've composed with a very "Epic" feel to them. Right now, I'm working on the new intro for the shows which leads to one of the new songs called "The Patriot Song"....Can't wait to be able to drop something in here for you to listen to! I will try to send you a little glimpse of it to give you an idea once I'm done with some tweaking...

In the mean time, I'll get back to work if I want something done before Christmas...lolllll

Keep the rock alive and kickin' bro!

Marc