With a whimsical moniker and a sonic range stretching across noise, metal, dance-punk, and pop, Test Icicles came together in London during 2004 from a circle of friends who invented bands on the fly and staged unplanned shows. Sam Mehran, originally from Florida, had relocated to Australia at seven and performed in metal and punk groups there; Devonte Hynes, born in Texas and a devotee of Smashing Pumpkins and Slipknot, had moved as a child to Edinburgh, Scotland; while native Londoner Rory Aggwelt arrived in the city to study at art school. Aggwelt and Mehran first sought a singer for their project Balls and brought Hynes aboard; the three soon adopted the name Test Icicles and launched into disorderly performances that included support slots for the Unicorns, Year Future, and Death from Above 1979.
Interest in the group ignited a bidding war among Interscope, Sony, and Epitaph, yet Domino secured the signing in 2005. Ahead of the full-length debut For Screening Purposes Only, the band issued the singles Boa vs. Python and Circle, Square, Triangle; the album itself appeared in the U.K. during fall 2005 and reached the U.S. early the following year. After wrapping a European tour in February 2006, the trio effectively disbanded, scrapping plans for an American trek and confining remaining activity to a U.K. run that spring plus one last single drawn from For Screening Purposes Only. In July 2018 Sam Mehran took his own life at his Hollywood residence at the age of 31.
