A mysterious figure has been seen in the backstage areas at Bonnaroo, Coachella and Lollapalooza this summer. He looks like he’s in a Saddle Creek Records band, but he’s called the Ice Cream Man. He has no stated purpose: He just pulls his ice cream truck up gives away free popsicles to roadies, hangers-on and people like Mike Skinner and Jack White.
But who is this Ice Cream Man? What’s his angle? Why is he only giving his treats only to rock stars, and not paying show-goers? And why is he insisting that we try that cardboard-like organic ice cream bar, and not that Kraft Drumstick that we really want? We decided to crack this thing wide open, so we got him on the phone.

The Ice Cream Man’s name is Matt Allen and he’s from Long Beach, California. Before he found his calling, he did things like walk from Mexico to Canada and worked in record stores. He owns his ice cream truck, and asks various dessert companies to donate treats, then travels around from event to event, passing out ice cream and, if he’s lucky, breaking even. Eventually he wants to take his project worldwide and give out ice cream in the streets of small towns the world over, but in the meantime he’ll stick with this whole rock thing. “The rock and roll side of what I do was never part of the plan,” he says. “It just kind of happened because of access — it was like, ‘Hey, All Tomorrow’s Parties is in my home town, and I can get as many backstage passes as I want, I can get all my friends in and if we work it right, we can get it all for free.’” You go, Ice Cream Man.