Watch! The Defiled are first band to play gig on an iceberg

Fresh from a couple of late summer gigs, and ahead of a headline tour kicking off in November, UK metal band The Defiled have become the first ever to play a gig on an iceberg.

“I’ve never been surrounded by the prospect of death so much!” says The AvD, Defiled synth stroker. “You can fall in the sea, get hit by some ice, pass out, get eaten by a polar bear, an iceberg cuts your boat in half… Every step of the way our guide had something to say about how we might die at any minute! But they’re such hardy people, everyone has a story about nearly losing their lives, or know someone who lost their life over there.”

Jägermeister approached Tom McShane, a former Marine who works for expedition team Secret Compass, to ask if they could put The Defiled on an iceberg. The answer was, with more than a little trepidation, yes.

“It is an inherently risky concept, it can’t be taken lightly,” says Tom. “There’s a huge amount of planning and resources that go into making this happen. The band were brilliant, they were really up for it. There was a bit of apprehension, it is a dangerous thing we were undertaking, if anything went wrong there could be very severe consequences, but we mitigated the risks as much as possible.”

Continues The AvD: “We’re the first band to play a gig on an iceberg, no-one can take that away from us! Playing the gig was mental. Who does that?! We kept looking at each other going ‘What the hell?!’ I’ve never played a gig in a life preserver and wetsuit before! It’s such a beautiful place but such a mental experience, we got to do things that not many people get to do. I feel blessed, I can’t use any other word really.”

“It’s harder playing a sweaty pub on a tiny stage!” he concludes. “That’s how we started, so a nice big iceberg is a step up from that!”

You can watch a mini-documentary about The Defiled’s glacial experience below:

The Defiled will play:

November
24th Nottingham Rescue Rooms
25th Glasgow Cathouse
26th Stoke Sugarmill
27th London O2 Academy Islington
28th Brighton Audio
29th Leeds Cockpit

December
1st Manchester Academy 3
2nd Wolverhampton Slade Rooms
3rd Bristol Thekla
4th Southampton Talking Heads