Best afters in Manchester? Iceboy Violet would rather be in bed

In April, Iceboy Violet performed in Milan as part of Opposites United 2025 music programme, one of the highlights of the city’s design week. Also on the line-up? DJ and artist Juliana Huxtable, singer-songwriter Tirzah and experimental pop duo Haepaary.

The seven-day event also brought together artists such Philippe Parreno and AA Murakami alongside neuroscientists, musicians and designers. The person we most wanted to chat to, though, was Iceboy Violet, who very kindly chatted to us after their show.

Your live sets have a very raw energy. What’s going through your head right before you walk on stage?

Just nerves. Before a show, it feels like I’m on the edge of a precipice – throwing up, packing it all in – this violent nervous energy that disappears as soon as the set starts and gives way to a deep calm. I feel like the more nervous I am beforehand, the more energy I can pour into it.

Is there a version of you that only exists on stage?

I wish I was more like how I feel on stage. I’m more confident, I feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be. I act out, I’m way more direct and confrontational – but at the core, it’s still me: emotional, laughing, trying to reach out and connect.

Describe your sound using three words…

Refracted, bruised, ice-tipped.

What part of the UK underground scene excites you most right now?

I love the experimentalism happening within UK rap. After grime and drill, it would’ve been easy to default back to US sounds but people are pushing the boundaries of what it means to be a British rapper, vocally and in how different cultures filter into the beats. John Glacier, RenzNiro, LYAM, TR Gobrazy, Jim Legxacy, Wraith9 – they all get me excited.

What do you love most about Manchester​’s music scene?

I’m competing with these lot and at the same time I want to share their music with the world. There’s no sense that I have to pull anyone down to get myself up. A win for one of us is a win for all. I love that. And I love that just when I think I’ve got a grip on what’s going on, someone new pops up and drops something sick.

Who hosts the best afters in Manchetser?

I’m trying to spend more time in bed than in someone’s living room at 9am these days.

What kind of emotions and experiences influence your work?

It’s easier for me to turn darkness into music – loneliness, desire, lack, trying to undo the tightest knots of myself, hatred. I try to find the light in it. It needs to be shaded and highlighted; it can’t just be one tone. But what gets me in the studio is awe and competitiveness – hearing something crazy and wanting to match it, to beat it.

What’s your advice to a young artist trying to find their voice?

Don’t force it. Follow what you find fun, what pulls the light from inside you, what keeps you working when everything feels shit. You’ll make way more, better music if you’re having fun doing it. I’m in the process of re-discovering that for myself.

What’s your go-to comfort song or album?

Paul Simon’s Graceland. It reminds me of my childhood and it’s still such a good album. So many feel-good songs. As I’ve gotten older, the lyric writing has become more and more mind-blowing to me.

If you could summon any artist for a studio session, living or dead, who are you calling and why?

Music making is a private process for me, but doing a Wench-type thing with 2016 Arca? I’d learn so much from her. I think she could bring it out of me. The part I try to keep hidden. That would be genuinely fun.

When do you feel happiest?

On stage, when I’m in the zone. When I’m connecting with people. After the show, breaking it down and laughing with my best friend. Laughing with my friends. Laughing alone.

What should we always remember?

Being grateful is a shortcut to contentedness.