Reykjavík Grapevine - 02.11.2007, Blaðsíða 27

Averaging anywhere between three and eight
members depending on the day and circumstance,
FM Belfast is a rare breed of electronica that spo-
radically borrows talent from the scene’s most
prominent bands. Their club anthem and single
Lotus will be released in December by TFR along
with remixes by Kasper Bjørke and Télépopmusik.
The Grapevine sat down with Árni Rúnar Hlöðvers-
son and Árni Vilhjálmsson in the wake of Airwaves
madness to discuss the life of a band that plays by
its own rules. (NOTE: this is an interview with two
persons named Árni; it will require some extra at-
tention.)
How does it work from a practical viewpoint
having half the band living on a different
continent, now that two members (Árni R.H.
and Lóa) have recently moved to New York?
Árni R.H: Árni [V.] is coming out in November
and we’re going to finish recording and maybe
even work on some new material.
Árni V: Personally I think some of the best things
that happen with us are unexpected. Like how we
often have people on stage that haven’t necessar-
ily been rehearsing with us.
Árni R.H: Like during Airwaves this year.
Árni V: We played five gigs, four of which were
on Saturday, and in the last concert, at Gaukurinn,
there were at least four or five people with us who
maybe came in in a few songs but who weren’t
ever at rehearsals.
But you’d say that you are the core, you two
and Lóa?
Árni R.H: Yeah we don’t play without Árni, and we
don’t play without Lóa or without me. Everyone
else is... very important, but they can’t always be
there and we can’t always bring them along.
Árni V: Originally it was just Árni [R.H.] and Lóa
playing around... Someone said as a joke that they
should cover a song by Rage Against the Machine,
and they did it, and since then it’s just been build-
ing onto itself.
Árni R.H: With that song, Lotus, you can really
hear the difference between the recorded and the
live versions of our songs. On the recording, Lóa
just sings a small chorus, but when it’s taken live it
has a lot more power in it.
Then you have additional voices as well.
Árni R.H: Yeah then we have extra voices. But
there is a different mood in the live set, and we’re
trying to get elements of that into some recordings
that we’re doing now.
Árni V: It would be easy to criticize us as a plug-
and-play band, but it’s not completely like that.
Árni R.H: It’s a bit difficult to get people to under-
stand what exactly we do with our equipment. I
can control how loud all these elements are as
well as where we are in the song. I think people
are slowly starting to realize, once they’ve been to
a couple of shows, that it’s not always the same, it
changes each time.
In the past year I started to recognize FM Bel-
fast as a sort of a “party-band.” You play a
lot of concerts that are connected to private
events –is that some sort of strategy or is the
goal just to play as much as possible?
Árni R.H: I think just play as much as possible. It’s
so much fun to play.
Árni V: I think it’s just really a mature approach
to play anything and anywhere. To not be starting
a band and aiming for Laugardalshöll, you know,
“we’re going there!” But rather just being willing to
try anything out.
Árni R.H: And we have tried quite a lot. We’ve
tried Mál & Menning bookstore for example, and
people danced there.
Árni V: Instead of being like “All right, dance now!
Join us!” I think we’re getting the message across
by enjoying it ourselves.
Well it’s a unique approach, that you can
come together quite spontaneously and still
not be afraid to share your music with peo-
ple, whatever state it’s in.
Árni V: Yes I think that’s quite right. It’s really
important to be able to play wherever for whom-
ever.
Árni R.H: I also think just showing people joy, in-
stead of trying to be really cool on stage makes a
huge difference. People just want to dance. They
don’t want to dance to something that seems too
arrogant.
Árni V: And that wasn’t a conscious decision ei-
ther. We’re not up there like “here we are perform-
ing, for you the audience.” We do this so as to get
people along with us.
Árni R.H: Yeah, it’s our party, and everyone’s in-
vited.
Text by Valgerður Þóroddsdóttir
It’s Our Party, and We’ll Play if We Want to
FM Belfast’s Árni and Árni jam at the studio.
Photo by GAS
Interview | Reykjavík Grapevine | Issue 17 2007 | B15
I also think just showing
people joy, instead of try-
ing to be really cool on
stage makes a huge
difference.
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