Body Count is an Los Angeles based metal band formed in 1990. The group is fronted by Ice-T, who co-founded the group with lead guitarist Ernie C . Ice-T first made his stamp on the music industry as a rapper and moved on to metal when he formed Body Count. The band released its self-titled debut album in 1992. The band encountered controversy over their track “Cop Killer”, which was thought to glamorize killing police officers. Because of this song Body Count was banned from playing anywhere in L.A. The band was already star studded but this news made them even more popular. Ernie C the man responsible for writing the bands music had an integral part of kick starting the careers of both Stone Temple Pilots and Rage Against The Machine as he helped produce their demos. Three out of the band’s original six members are deceased: D-Roc died from lymphoma, Beatmaster V from leukemia and Mooseman in a drive-by shooting. The band released 3 more albums before going on hiatus. ‘Born Dead’ (1994), ‘Violent Demise: The Last Days’ (1997), and then 9 years later released ‘Murder 4 Hire’ in 2006. In 2012 the band advised they were working on a new album and were quickly signed to Sumerian Records. The band released the album ‘Manslaughter’ in 2014 and also unveiled the single and video for ‘Institutionalized’. The single cemented Body Count’s rightful place in the metal world. In March of this year Body Count released their sixth studio album ‘Bloodlust’ via Century Media. The album has star studded guest appearances by appear on the album are Max Cavalera, Randy Blythe and Dave Mustaine. The band has played very few dates since the release of the album, but we were fortunate enough to see one of their only U.S. performances at this years Chicago Open Air.
We were lucky enough to catch up with bassist Vincent Price prior to the bands dominating performance at Chicago Open Air. We talked about the bands lyrical content, releasing a video for each track, and not over saturating the market by constantly touring.
