Icing Generalities


Icing 96 was located in Lerum, a tiny town situated 25 kms away from Gothenburg, Sweden. The big crowd that turned up on the official opening day formed long queues, making it quite tiresome to get into the party place. The delay with the delivery of black & green identification bands didn't help at all and caused a further slow-down. In total, 350 visitors did show up. The ratio between Amiga and PC users was about 60:40 respectively; mostly sceners came from the western parts of Sweden, except for a few Norwegians.

Just as the name suggests, the main party arena consisted of an ice hockey building. The lights were dimmed at times, making an overall good atmosphere. C-Lous, Sardonyx, Yodel and Goto 10, together with a few independent helping hands were the official organisers, even though ROM knows that the one who worked the most must have surely been Duffe of Sardonyx. 
"At times, it felt like I was the only one doing something"
, told us Duffe. However Duffe continues by mentioning the vital helping hands of Syntax of Sardonyx (economics), Tobias Jansson of Citron (sponsors and Jeopardy), Liket (network, party radio and voting) and Zalo of Sardonyx (big screen presentations).

Live bands were the main attraction on Saturday, and the whole audience was told to lean back and concentrate on the music! But unfortunately, after only 3 minutes of "playing", some sceners started to move towards the exit; Even sitting away from the main speakers was a painful experience! This musical event lasted for some 6 hours, and featured various pop and synth bands from the local town. 
"Having a 6 kwatt sound system and a big audience wanting to be entertained, we thought of getting a band; and so we did. But as soon as the word started to spread, other bands wanted to play too. My own band Nikodemus wished to give a performance, so in the end, it turned out to be just too much and too loud for the present ones. The kind of music being played wasn't of the techno style, sceners seem to like. Next year we will avoid live bands but we're thinking of hiring good DJs to play goa, dub and ambient in the cafeteria"
, says Duffe. Other organiser Tobias Jansson comments; 
"We have learned that one cannot play guitar-based music to sceners, because it just won't do. Sceners prefer that rather monotonous techno of some sort, and as a matter of fact, the two last performances that happened to be in synth/techno style, provided a very different atmosphere in the hall"


The provided sleeping spaces were quiet but very cold; in fact a good percentage of visitors got a cold right after the end of the party. 
"We ran out of time and money before a heating system was taken care of"
, says Duffe. Some initial problems with the movement detectors that were installed in the sleeping hall, were encountered on the first night; as soon as someone moved, the lights went on! Fortunately they were taken care of, on the second day.

All the four basic food groups (candy, Coca Cola, pizza and chips) were available from the cafeteria at very good prizes, with an additional pizza delivery service around the clock. No one moaned, and everyone ate and drank!

Power was lost more than a dozen times at many tables. 
"Everything was on and then, all of a sudden there was total darkness! When I asked the electricians, they simply couldn't understand the trouble or wanted to be left in peace for some minutes, just to fix the problems", says Duffe. Fortunately enough, there were no more electricity problems on the second day, since the brave organisers called for arms and got more power cables for times of emergency.

As every other scene party, drunk attenders were not few. 
"Drunk people are always irritating", says Duffe. 
"The ones we had problems with had nothing to do with the scene or computers; they just heard the sound and picked up a fight. The party place was not damaged but since almost all the organizers had to deal with such problems, nothing was done for 4 whole hours", he continues. One of the other party responsibles told ROM that these local bullies wanted to have a look at the event to appear as the "cool" fellows who wanted to make fun out of all the computer nerds with glasses. 
"However, they calmed down when the police arrived", says Tobias Jansson. Phase of Spaceballs, who went down town and came back to the party full of alcohol, told ROM that, 
"the organisers cared more about throwing people out, than to entertain the ones inside" But Duffe assured us that the drunk sceners were never seen as a real problem; in fact most of them even apologized to the organisers after the event was over! 
"But after all, Swedes are always Swedes", smiles Tobias Jansson.


"The only thing that made Icing worth attending was the Amiga demo competition, where all the releases were of a high standard. No big money to be won, but the overall quality beats Gathering 96", says Phase. In fact, good productions from 2 Little Elks, TBL and Balance proved to the scene, that Sweden did not sink with the passing away of Razor 1911! Some surprise competitions, like the Coke drinking contest, were skipped right away without further advises, and the audience didn't appreciate this treatment very much.

Demo Competition Results


1. Tribe by Three Little Elks with 201 votes
2. Glow by The Black Lotus with 181 votes
3. Freak by Balance with 67 votes
4. Funkybility by Subspace with 48 votes
5. Kolor by C-Lous with 42 votes
6. Free Entrance by Giants with 19 votes

64k Intro Competition Results


1. Mind The Carrot 2 by TBL with 286 votes
2. Decay by Session with 179 votes
3. Memories by Factor with 93 votes
4. Rosa Bananer 2 by Factor, Omen & Spiritual with 92 votes
5. Everyone is Jesus by New Age with 91 votes
6. I Dina Drammar by Smart with 45 votes

Liket was the one responsible for the main voting system. Some of the organisers wanted to hint us that the used system was not entirely to their approval, but since it looks unadvisable to start discussions with Liket, no one dared to open his mouth! Sceners could vote on a provided computer, similar to the one at The Gathering. 
"The reason why we didn't use a disk based voting system is that it would have cost us far too much"
, says Duffe.

Icing Highlights


- TRSI tough it fit to bring a big, inflatable whale, that ended up being interviewed by THIESSEN of KESO on the big screen, to the delight of the whole audience!


- TBL tied NEWT of Subspace to his chair with strong cello-tape and placed him in the middle of the hall, where he could be visible by everyone!


ICING 95 vs 96


It is quite common for party visitors to compare events, with the previous ones of the same series. After all, many attend a scene party just because of it's reputation, built up from the years before. Icing was no exception.

1995 was a good Icing year. There was surely no big money to earn on it's organisation but the ones who were there, simply liked it. Everything worked out in the right way, and the only thing that was missing were the good contributions for the demo competitions - in the end it didn't matter that much, and all attenders had fun. Moreover there were various events going on all the time, and most importantly the organizers cared about the visitors. Tobias Jannson comments; 
"Last year it was something unique. The atmosphere at Icing 95 was something seldom seen... everyone was dancing on the stage, funny things happened all the time, and everybody seemed to be part of a big family"


However Duffe partly does not agree. 
"When it comes to the organising itself, I can say that last year was nothing but a disaster. I'm still surprised that Icing 95 was such a success"



"This year there was practically nothing going on until the last day"
, says Phase of Spaceballs. Unfortunately many told ROM that the special Icing atmosphere was no longer there. 
"Maybe this must happen, when a small party grows bigger"
, suggests Phase. Icing 96 lacked of activities, and most organizers just waited for the moment that the party would be over, so they could all go home; at least this has been the impression of the attenders. Some sceners were reported to have slept for more than 8 hours and when checking with their friends, they found out to have actually missed nothing! This proves that the pace of the party was quite slow. 
"As the first Icing was a success we thought that we could just organise more of the same once again, and everything will be perfect just like last time. But it was just luck that made Icing 1995 a good party and this year things worked out in a logical way - That is, not good for us. Somehow the feeling had disappeared. This year we had to face too many troubles. We went out of water, the schedule didn't work as supposed, and all competitions were delayed for 4 whole hours due to a fault from the PC organizers... I could go on and on, finding faults forever and I'm getting depressed"
, says a sad Duffe. According to Tobias Jansson, all this made Icing 96 end up, not miles, but a few hundred metres behind the 1995 edition.

Organiser Duffe agrees that the overall expectations were too high. 
"Both from us and from the visitors. There were more attenders this year but it takes 2 drunken men to keep the whole organizer staff busy for hours"
, he adds.

ICING vs REMEDY: THE GRAPHICS COMPO


The picture contest at Icing was mainly a long-drawn out match between the first contender, Newt of Subspace (one of the organizers) and the second, Tudor of TBL (the objects-man of the team). For only two points, organizer Newt kept home the prize, he had probably prepared by himself! "Deep Forest" is quite a good picture, showing a suggestive framing of a beautiful sunset in a Swedish forest. The way how Newt handled that intriguing game of lights in the picture, has surely been the decisive factor of his unexpected success. "Real", a ray-traced picture by Tudor only came second for a few less points. It features a very classic motif but carried out with a good deal of competence: an A1200 keyboard with a monitor from which extends a sort of virtual hand. Despite the very good attention to details, the author seems to have curiously forgotten a little particular: in fact, while the Hard Disk LED is on, the Power led is inexplicably off! "Bu bo bu bo" is the very original name of the third placer by MRK of Jewels and Subspace. A multi-coloured screech-owl is the subject of this very nice picture, by the winner of the past Icing graphics contest.

Compared to the Icing, Remedy's picture competition has not much to offer; Except maybe for the first three or four pictures in the rankings. Here, once again, the "organiser wins competition" syndrome was quite apparent too! Our attention fell on Les Love, a picture by Deone, that illustrates 2 females in a very close pose; maybe not the perfect motif for a graphics competition, yet the technique used is worth a zoom or two. The rest are just a good encouragement for who believes "not to be a good graphician". We really wonder where many sceners find the courage to enter a competition with pictures that, frankly enough, our grandfather could be able to draw better with the latest version of his Protracker! Sceners should start to think twice before using the save option in Deluxe Paint!
Icing Graphics Results


1. Deep Forest by Newt of Subspace (115 points)
2. Real by Tudor of TBL (113 points)
3. Bu bo bu bo by MRK of Subspace & Jewels (100 points)
4. En Skit Ur En Molarbok by Blomsterleif of Keso (38 points)
5. Girl by Firelord (38 points)
6. Grandfathers Fish by T. Jansson of Citron (35 points)
7. Infiltration by Frame of C-Lous (32 points)
8. Last Expedition by Browallia (28 points)
9. Time by Deuterium (24 points)
10. Alien Moonlight by Cheeus (20 points)

ICING vs REMEDY: THE MUSIC COMPOS


Focusing our eye towards both 4 channel events, we have to admit how the Icing competition was not bad at all. Someone could say that most of the modules were a photocopy of each other, and actually it would not be a nonsense affirmation. "Hexagon" by Wasp of Powerline accidentally won the first prize of a competition, where we are convinced that most of the tunes were exactly on the very same level. Almost all entries were pseudo-techno influenced except two or three tunes breaking the trend: "Saltfattig Kost" by Coma of Three Little Elks and "Funk Bee" by Fender & Jazz of Smok, are both typical examples of this against-tendency. The first is a classic demo tune a la Jester (in fact it was included in the winner demo by 3le) with an intensive use of chords and a very catchy melody, while the second is another funk-the-party-people tune; in few words, one of those modules you remember to have heard more than ten times before. Regarding the Remedy contest, Some1 & Morrow of C-Lous got a well-deserved success in a competition dominated by the "we make modules for fun" syndrome. It is sad to say, but dear Robert Ling (Tip) and Martin Wall (Mantronix), where are you?
Icing Music Results


1. Wasp of Powerline with "Hexagon"
2. Coma of 3LE with "Saltfattig kost"
3. Slice of Royal with "Shock Moves!"
4. Fender & Jazz of Smok with "Funk Bee"
5. Blade of Subspace with "Fields of Noice"
6. Deelite of Subspace with "Ride the Party Sky"
7. Mittag-Leffler of Nosebleed with "Soft Amber"
8. Psycho of Session with "Plastic Impression"
9. Mr. Real of Craze with "Illusion"