Ian Read is an English neofolk and traditional folk musician, and occultist active within chaos magic and Germanic mysticism circles. Read was a member of Sol Invictus, and founded Fire + Ice in 1991.
Early life Read left school at 16, and at the age of 17, he became an adherent of Germanic neopaganism and began studying Germanic paganism.
Music career In 1987, Read joined Tony Wakeford's Sol Invictus along with Karl Blake. Read recorded three albums and an EP with Sol Invictus before leaving to form the band Fire + Ice in 1991.
Ian Read founded an all traditional folk band named Figg's Academy that played a couple of gigs, notably in 2008 at the Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig.
Fire + Ice Read founded Fire + Ice in 1991 after several years as a member of Sol Invictus. According to their sole website, "The heartlessness of the modern commercial consumer society ruins the lives of many. FIRE + ICE takes the purity and philosophy of early music and melds it into a message redolent with powerful seeds of honour, truth, loyalty and the bond of true friendship."
His work as Fire + Ice have had a large amount of influence on neofolk music.
The band played Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig in 1999 with a lineup that included Ysanne Spevack and Julia Kent.
The band followed up by releasing a split 7-inch single with the neofolk song The Unquiet Grave recorded in London in 2000, featuring vocals and viola by Ysanne Spevack as a duet with Ian Read. It was released in Germany by Tesco Distribution on blue vinyl with a letterpress foil gatefold cover.
Other pursuits In 1996, Read was named as a Rune-Master within the Rune-Gild. His master work was the Fire + Ice album Rûna that included a self-written and sung galdor (or galdr) of the Rune poem. Read presently holds the position of Drighten in the Rune Gild and co-published the periodical Rûna, which ceased after 24 issues.
Read became the leader of the English branch of the Illuminates of Thanateros (IOT), in the early 1990s after founder Peter Carroll stepped down as leading Magus. Read is currently the editor of the IOT's Chaos International.
Discography With Current 93 He participated to the sessions of Current 93's album Swastikas For Noddy, therefore he appears on this album and some subsequent albums containing remixes of this material: Swastikas For Noddy, 1987 Looney Runes, 1988 Earth Covers Earth, 1988 Crooked Crosses For The Nodding God, 1989 Swastikas For Goddy, 1993
With Death In June He participated to Death in June's album Brown Book and the tracks have appeared in subsequent Death In June's releases as well: Brown Book, 1987 The Cathedral Of Tears , 1991 Braun Buch Zwei, 2009
With Sol Invictus
Lex Talionis, 1990 Sol Veritas Lux, 1990, compilation of the tracks from the EPs Against the Modern World (1988) and In The Jaws Of The Serpent (1988) Trees In Winter, 1990
With Fire + Ice Albums YearTitleFormat, Special NotesLabel1992Gilded By The SunCDNew European Recordings1994Hollow WaysCDFremdheit1994California DazeLive CD with Charlie MacGowanDiscordia1995Midwinter FiresCDFremdheit1996RûnaCDFremdheit1998Seasons Of IceCD, compilation of rarities and unreleased tracksFremdheit2000BirdkingCDFremdheit2012Fractured ManCD and VinylFremdheit2018Wanderer10-inch VinylAutre Que
EPs YearTitleFormat, Special NotesLabel1993Blood On The SnowCD SingleFremdheit1996Reyn Again7-inchFremdheit2000We Said DestroySplit 7-inch with Death In JuneFremdheit
Videos + Year Title Label 1992 Live At Hammersmith Chaos International 1995 Live At The Hollywood Moguls Fremdheit
Compilations YearTracksTitleFormat, Special NotesLabel1996Seeker's Prayer, PurityThe Pact: Flying In The Face...CDFremdheit1998NoxialichtThe Nitha FieldsCDUltra!2000Harry the sunThe Pact: ...Of The GodsCDFremdheit2004 MichaelTyr IICD included with magazine.Ultra!2005 Dragons in the sunsetLooking For Europe4×CD set.Auerbach Tonträger
See also Neopagan music
References
External links Detailed Ian Read discography at discogs.com Ian Read authored Rûna magazine issues 14 to 21.