Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.03.2007, Blaðsíða 21

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been working in, with his band that is.
Krummi: I was never able to develop songs
from these snippets I had, because I had
never found the right melody or lyrics I was
looking for, so I would just file it for stor-
age. When I dragged it from the storage and
played it for Daníel…
Daníel: …I started getting ideas from that
directly
Krummi: Exactly. He would get ideas, and it
became something. It was like we had both
been waiting for someone to come along
who would allow us to convey something
that we had always wanted to express.
Daníel: Was it a coincidence or fate?
Krummi: I would say fate, for sure.
Had you been listening to each other’s
music before?
Daníel: Yes.
Krummi: Yes, I had been following Daníel
for a long time. I have always admired him as
a singer and a performer.
Daníel: The same here.
Krummi: Some of the stuff he did in the old
days is stuff that I like to listen to by myself
at home and we have been coming to each
other’s shows for years, where he is playing
both as a solo performer and while he was
playing with Gus Gus, I was there, and Daníel
is always at Mínus’ shows.
Daníel: Yes, it is refreshing. Expanding the
horizon, to try new things, see different
landscapes, that’s something every good
road trip should include.
Is it a humbling experience for you to
hear how kindly you describe each oth-
er?
Krummi: Well, I am not exactly saying that
we are running around naked with the hair
dryer all night…
Daníel: No… but this is of course a confes-
sion of love through friendship and music.
You are both busy with other projects,
Daníel as a solo artist, and Krummi with
Mínus, who are just about to release a
new album, is it difficult to find time for
this?
Krummi: Yes, sometimes. We had decided
to go on a road trip that we had intended to
be on now, but you can’t just abandon your
other projects.
Daníel: No, you have to follow through on
the commitments you have made. But when
that is over, we will focus on this project.
Krummi: We just try to find the time in be-
tween. That has been working for us so far.
We don’t look at this as something we have
to do; this is something that we want to do.
So when is the road trip planned?
Krummi: We can’t really say for sure. But it
will take place. We just want to rent a car,
drive on desolate roads and stay in obscure
motels and meet people that we would oth-
erwise never meet, under any other circum-
stances. Go to Memphis and pay our respect
to the King. Just to be on the road, soak it
up and get inspired. The idea is that we can
reflect those encounters in the final product,
which will be the album.
Krummi, you are somewhat showing a
new side of yourself as a guitar player
in this project. This was something of a
surprise to some people.
Daníel: Obviously, he has been in a band
with two guitarists, so it would have been
ridiculous if he would have been playing gui-
tar as well.
Krummi: Exactly, I never had an opportu-
nity to express my inner guitar player. I have
played many different instruments since I was
a kid, just being around my father (Icelandic
musician Björgvin Halldórsson). I have always
loved playing the guitar, and always wanted
to be a guitarist, I am not really a great gui-
tarist, but I can play enough. I can deliver
the effects I am looking to deliver, and I am
always learning, especially after we started
playing together, and it is just such a unique
opportunity to be able to play in a band with
such a great singer, and let my dream to be a
guitar player come through.
Daníel: Yes, and I just get to sing. I have
learned to focus on just the singing when I
am performing, I can play a little guitar, and
a little piano, but if I am doing that while I
am performing, it just sucks the energy out
of my performance, and I just want to focus
on really delivering the words.
Last words?
Krummi: Just follow your own passion; that
is where you will find true happiness.
Wow, are you able to top that Daníel?
Daníel: I don’t think I can.
www.myspace.com/esja
In many ways, this is an unlikely union. The
coalition of former GusGus frontman and
now a successful solo artist, Daníel Ágúst,
known for his enchanting and delicate melo-
dies and experimental pop-electronica; and
the prince of Icelandic metal, the rough and
rugged Mínus frontman, Krummi.
Who brought them together? Merle
Haggard, that’s who. They both share the
love for country and western music and for
a few months the pair of them has been col-
laborating under the monicker Esja making
music that could best be described as alter-
native-country. Their live shows – where they
are joined by drummer Frosti Runólfsson for-
merly of the deathmetal group Klink, and
piano player Halldór Ágúst Björnsson – have
been well attended. And, after releasing a
few demos on their myspace.com site, the
duo has slowly been building quite a follow-
ing.
A Grapevine reporter sat down with Esja
for their first ever interview and learned a lit-
tle about their friendship, passion for music
and their longing for the road.

You guys are in some ways an odd cou-
ple, how did this collaboration begin?
Krummi: Well, I don’t think we are such an
odd couple.
Daníel: We are both the same Zodiac
sign…
Krummi: Yes, we are both the same Zodiac
sign, there is exactly ten years between us,
he is born in 1969, and I am born in 1979. He
was considered to be, and is still considered
to be, one of the most prominent singers in
Iceland, so I don’t see much of a difference
between us, except for those ten years. But I
can tell you why we started working togeth-
er. Unless you want to do it Daníel?
Daníel: No, you go ahead.
Krummi: We had been running into each
other through the years, and there was
this strange attraction between us. We re-
ally enjoyed talking to each other; we have
similar humour and got to know each other
quickly. We had a similar taste in music and
shared many interests, so we became good
friends. Then we started to talk about how
we wanted to make music together. Some
roots music, country music, so we ended up
in Daníel’s Studio one night. It was raining
outside and we had been drinking a little and
the mood was right, so I just nailed down
some basic guitar tracks in the studio. Then
we went home to get some sleep, but when
I returned the following day, Daníel had laid
some vocals over the guitars I had recorded.
After that, there was no turning back. We
immediately saw we had something special
on our hands, so we decided to try it.
Daníel: Yes, we felt there was a special
chemistry at work.
Krummi: We fit together like peanut butter
and jelly, like sugar and Cool Aid.
You both come from very different mu-
sical directions, and together you head
off in a third direction, so to speak.
Krummi: That’s right. This is common among
musicians; we don’t necessarily always listen
to the kind of music we are usually playing.
At least that has been my experience. Behind
closed doors, I might be playing Merle Hag-
gard or the Eagles. Some people think I sit
at home and listen to death metal all day, or
that Daníel is at home, dressed in his tight
neon-green pants, listening to dance music.
That is not the case. So, we just decided to
follow our passion for this kind of music,
master it, and make each other happy.
Where does this interest in country and
blues music come from?
Krummi: This is the original music. Pop and
rock music comes from this music.
Daníel: I don’t look at our music as follow-
ing any genre. Of course, we draw inspira-
tion from what we are listening to, but this is
not really a country band.
Krummi: Precisely, the music has actually
been developing more in the direction of
blues if anything.
Daníel: It was more of “joke,” so to speak,
to start making country music.
Krummi: Exactly, it was more about just
writing music, you know, just do what we
like. We just want to make good music, re-
gardless of any genres.
So, there was no intention to follow any
particular musical direction?
Krummi: No we just wanted to make good
music.
Daníel: Our lyrics are mostly about being
on a journey, taking a road trip, being in
motion. That is what happened when we
started working together. Things were set in
motion. That was my inspiration, that is what
I wanted to sing about, setting things in mo-
tion and starting over.
Krummi: Yes, and that was one of the first
ideas we had, to go on a road trip. We want-
ed to go to the Southern States in the US and
make music there, in the right environment.
But first, we had to find out if we could make
music together, so we started to write, and
that went so well, that we managed to write
eight or nine songs in a few months. We
managed to create our very own distinctive
sound from the beginning and that is not
something that happens every day. Some
people spend years trying to find their own
sound. It has been a very successful collabo-
ration.
So, it was love at first sight, so to
speak?
Krummi: Well, yeah, in a musical way, but
we are best friends today also.
Daníel: There was something magical in the
air.
I wanted to ask you about the names
you have been using for yourselves in
relation to this project, Spike Raven and
Dapper Dan?
Daníel: Sometimes, you have to be able to
make jokes at your own expense. This was
just another way to spice it up a bit with
some humour.
Krummi: Like, Spike Raven, my name is
Oddur (lit: spike) Hrafn (lit: raven), and you
know, Daníel is just always so dapper, the
artful dodger, so Dapper Dan came easy.
This was mostly just an inside joke for us.
And it’s cool. But we will not be called that
in the future.
You mentioned that there are ten years
between the two of you, and you have
been working on almost opposite ends
of the musical spectrum, have you
learned a lot from each other?
Krummi: Yes, a whole lot.
Daníel: Working with this guy inspires me in
so many different ways.
Krummi: The feeling is mutual; to be work-
ing with Daníel is magical, good things just
happen. To be working with someone who
just comes up with a melody from thin air,
from nothing, writes lyrics, and just ap-
proaches this like a professional, not because
he has to, but because he enjoys it. That is in
his nature, and it is very inspiring. And just
the person he is. How he thinks, talks, and is
in general. It has changed my life in certain
ways to know that there is such a beautiful
human being in this world.
Daníel: Of course I had a little more experi-
ence, I mean, ten years is always ten years, but
the interest and the passion for music; that is
the fundamental issue. He has his way of ap-
proaching music, I have my way of approach-
ing music, and together, it is perfect.
How different is that approach?
Krummi: It is a bit different, but still, we
haven’t been playing together long enough
to really be able to define it properly. This is
for instance our first interview, and we don’t
really know how to behave. But that is all go-
ing to change. We don’t really want to define
how we work all too much. We just do it.
Daníel: Krummi mentioned the improvisa-
tional element. I am used to working with
a lot of improvisation, using something that
comes to mind on the spot and just throw it
in there, and then keep working on it. Krum-
mi had a large collection of guitar lines and
phrases that he had been collecting for years,
without having the opportunity to really do
anything with it in the environment he has
Esja, a New Peak in the Musical Landscape
Text by Sveinn Birkir Björnsson Photos by Skari
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