Icicle Works

　The Icicle Works were an independent English band of the 1980s. Named after the 1960 short story "The Day The Icicle Works Closed" by science fiction author Frederik Pohl, The Icicle Works joined Liverpool's early 1980s 'neo-psychedelia' wave, which also propelled Echo & the Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes to stardom.

　　The band was founded in Liverpool by 18-year-old singer, songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist and frontman Ian McNabb. In 1980, McNabb joined up with drummer Chris Sharrock (who had been playing with McNabb on and off since he was nine) and bassist Chris Layhe (who had been recruited though a classified ad), and they began playing as The Icicle Works. By the end of 1981, the trio had recorded a six-song independently released cassette, and in 1982 they released the independent single "Nirvana". The following year, The Icicle Works were signed to the Beggars Banquet label, who issued the single Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream) on their subsidiary label Situation Two.