Local band ICU hosts 20-year reunion shows

If you were to ask around the local music scene here in Halifax today, looking for the top local acts around, the Joel Plaskett Emergency or Sons of Maxwell would be among the most cited band names you’d hear.

Ask that same question of back in the early ’90s, though, and local band ICU would probably have been high on a lot of people’s lists. Had you been one of those people, you might want to clear your calendar this weekend — the band’s getting back together for the first time in 20 years.

The band started out as something of a high school hobby for its founding members, according to Blane Touesnard, ICU’s lead vocalist.

“I’m trying to remember. It’s so long ago now, there’s probably, like, eight different stories as to how it happened,” says Touesnard, who started the band in 1986 with Aaron Sampson, Dave Waugh, and Mike Fougere. “The four of us kind of got together in a basement, and we just kind of learned how to play. We all started from scratch, really. At that point, we all just kind of got together and started practicing. ”

But it wasn’t long after adding Darryl Gaines and Jeff Nearing to the mix that the six-piece rock-and-roll band got together that things started moving forward for them. Their first big break came when they entered the Q104 Home Grown contest for the first time.

“We threw together some original songs and entered the contest, and the second year we were in it, we came in second,” says Touesnard, who says the band became known for their organic use of synthesizers at the time, along with their covers of Canadian mainstays like Tragically Hip and Barenaked Ladies. “From that point, we just started playing the club scene and we toured around — mostly Nova Scotia, a lot in Newfoundland, some in New Brunswick.”

ICU’s career spanned a full decade, which included a record deal with A&M Canada, the release of their album “Stand on Your Own,” and a music video for their song “Yeah Yeah No No,” all while scoring a Juno nomination and some East Coast Music Awards in between.

All good things must come to an end, however, and ICU’s end came in 1995. Touesnard, along with Sampson and Fougere, would go on to form the local band Clam Chowder, which lasted another 17 years, but it’s been two decades this year since all six members played together on stage.

As luck would have it, all six members of ICU are going to be in Halifax together this summer, and Touesnard thought that, with that auspicious anniversary upon them, it was time for a reunion.

“It’s been 20 years since we ended the band,” says Touesnard. “It’d be fun to see if anyone remembers us.”

When the band started spreading word of their reunion on social media, Touesnard found that indeed, a lot of people do remember them, and are excited see them perform once again.

“When you think about how many contacts six people have, it’s funny to see how many people come out of the woodwork,” says Touesnard. “It’s just interesting to see all the posts of people writing in saying, ‘you guys did my graduation,’ ‘you guys played my wedding.’ So we’re going to see a lot of faces that we haven’t seen in a long time … it’s almost going to be like a high school reunion.”

If you remember ICU from your high school prom or from the local club scene, you’ll definitely want to hop by the Chronicle Herald’s online Herald Shop and score your tickets, because according to Touesnard, it’s unlikely that the stars will align for another reunion tour in the future.

“This is sort of a one-off thing — we’re not planning to do any more than just the two nights together, because it’s so logistically difficult to get together,” says Touesnard, who is still a powerhouse in the local music scene, playing in the band Halifax Pier. “It’s going to be a treat for us, and hopefully it’s going to be a treat for them, to relive a little of the past.”

ICU will be playing all their old hits, as well as their most popular covers, at Montes Showbar Grill in Dartmouth the nights of July 10 and 11. To come out and relive the music of the ’90s in Halifax, visit heraldshop.ca and search under “ICU.” To keep up with Touesnard and Halifax Pier’s concert dates, visit www.halifaxpier.ca.