Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.04.2007, Side 14

Talking Shops With Æla in London
B10_RVK_GV_INFO_ISSUE 04_007_ REVIEW/MUSIC/LIVE
Æla’s first gig in London was at the Buffalo
Bar, situated in the well-to-do North London
suburb of Islington. It is a dark pit of a place,
typical of the capital’s atmospheric live music
venues, with a tiny stage and an interesting
collection of London’s music glitterati in
attendance on this particular evening. The
first band playing were duller than an old
Victoria Line tube train disappearing down a
tunnel, something that posed an interesting
juxtaposition when Æla came on stage to
awaken the bored audience.
Opening with a piratical shouting session
worthy of any invading Viking, Æla launched
into a set of prog thrash punk which,
although mostly sung in wailed Icelandic,
was widely understood by the audience to
be a mix of energetic humour and surreal
prose. “This song is about a banana that
saved his life” was the explanation behind
one song - apparently the product of a
nourishment crisis on a golf course being
solved by fruit - and some insight into the
band’s song-writing technique was gained
when they later admitted that they construct
songs by each writing a line and passing the
sheet round until they have enough for a
whole song. Chairs were danced on, more
lyrics shouted, Hafþór the drummer sweated
a lot, lots of people were smiling and then,
after Æla had overrun their allocated time
by some margin, they walked off grinning.
Some Australian band came on a bit later.
We retired to the seats near the back of the
bar - the rest of the bands were boring in
comparison.
We were just leaving when Halli Valli,
Æla’s lead singer, confided: “I really need
a new outfit.” Thankfully he’d abandoned
the renaissance pirate gear he was sporting
on stage earlier in favour of some attire
more suited to braving London’s rather
unforgiving streets. A new outfit was not a
problem as I happened to know of a shop
in South London, a short train ride from
Victoria, that you could describe as a fancy
dress supermarket without misrepresenting
its size in any way. Halli, who was clearly a
man desperate for some fancy new threads,
agreed that this sounded like a good place
to visit before their next London-based gig
on Friday evening - I already felt sorry for
the staff of the Party Superstore in Clapham
Junction, South London.
Two days later and after a much-needed
intake of Guinness and cider at a drinking hole
near the station called The Falcon – a typical
South London pub with brass fittings and a
massive bar – we straggled through the rain
and up the small hill where the emporium
of tat, also known as the Party Superstore,
awaited. “Like a kid in a candy shop” is how
one band member described the moment of
entry and, it has to be admitted, the endless
possibilities housed within this four walls do
fascinate: giant Donnie Darko psycho bunny
or a huge yellow chicken? Egyptian stripper
or sexy air hostess? Actually, any thoughts
of the last option were rather ruined when
Halli, having been searching for his fancy
dress nirvana for about 20 minutes among
the many racks and shelves, located an
airhostess outfit that fitted him. He knew
this because he tried the outfit on and asked
how he looked. Someone commented on
the dodgy EU badge on the sleeve but the
general opinion was that he looked OK.
“It’s always the quiet ones, isn’t it” said
the photographer as Ævar, the slightly retiring
but thoroughly pleasant guitar player, showed
genuine interest in an outfit described as
Virgin Bunny Girl on the packaging. Hafþór,
meanwhile, was pursuing the military look
but a Crimean War-era British soldier outfit
sadly proved to be a bit expensive. Post-
weight gain Elvis gear, on the other hand,
was more reasonably priced but came with
a catch: “You’ve got to have the cape, it
just looks like a white tracksuit without the
cape” explained the knowledgeable shop
assistant. I wonder how many little nuggets
of valuable knowledge such as this you come
across whilst working at the Party Superstore
- lots, I reckon.
Outfits purchased and with the shop’s
tills better off to the tune of about £200, we
celebrated with a swig of liquorice vodka in
the drizzle outside before heading for the
train station to return home before the gig.
On the train home Halli shows us his tattoo,
an intricate rendering of a grouse-like bird
standing on a chair on his forearm, and
explained the design: “I like Famous Grouse
whisky and dancing on chairs…” Sure
enough, a bottle of Famous Grouse was at
that moment warming Sveinn’s cockles, soon
to be finding its way into Halli’s possession.
When they bounded onto the stage that
evening at The George, a popular pub in an
achingly fashionable district of East London,
the outfits they were wearing were very
familiar - reminiscent of a rainy afternoon in
South London spent discussing music and
dressing up, but thankfully the music was
of a far greater quality than the tailoring on
display that day. A controversial decision,
and one in direct contradiction to the expert
opinion of Party Superstore’s fancy dress
guru, was the Elvis suit being worn for some
of that night without the cape, yet Hafþór
looked as much like Elvis as a blonde 20-
something Icelandic drummer in a rock band
can do. The Virgin Bunny Girl also made an
appearance that evening as well as a six-foot,
five-inches airhostess, one that would never
fit down the aisle on an Iceland Express flight.
Maybe that’s a good thing; the minibar
would be out of Famous Grouse before they
even left the terminal.
www.myspace.com/aelaspace
Text by Ben H. Murray Photo by JosephH
POURQUOI PAS?_A_FRENCH_SPRING_IN_ICELAND_007
Street Art
May 10 – May 12
Royal De Luxe – Street Theatre Company, Streets and squares of Reykjavík
Visual Art
Feb 23 – Apr 22
Celebration Park - Pierre Huyghe design exhibition, Reykjavík Art Museum, Tryggvagata 17
Feb 25 – May 12
M/M & Gabriela sculpture exhibition. Museum of Design and Applied Art, Lyngás 7-9, Garðabær
Feb 25 – Feb 7 2008
Pourquoi Pas? – Charcot exhibition, Sandgerði Museum, Garðavegur 1, Sandgerði
Mar 10 – Apr 29
Face á Faces – Photo exhibition, Akureyri Art Museum, Kaupvangsstræti 12, Akureyri
Mar 17 – Apr 21
African Art – Photo exhibition, National Museum of Iceland, Suðurgata 41
Mar 17 – May 15
Emotional Landscapes – Exhibition on the nature of exhibitions, Safn, Laugavegur 37
Mar 17 – May 21
Hugues Reip and Sigurður Árni Sigurðsson - Photo exhibit , Safn, Laugavegur 37
Mar 24 – Apr 29
Design Reference, Kópavogur Art Museum / Gerðasafn, Hamraborg, Kópavogur
Mar 24 – Apr 29
Traits Trés Mode – Design exhibition, Sævar Karl Gallery, Bankastræti 7, Reykjavík
Mar 31 – Apr 29
WA – Wall paintings by 15 artists, Reykjavík Energy, Bæjarháls 1
Apr 12 – May 6
No Particular Order – Gilles Bensimon Photography, Hafnarborg, Strandgata 34, Hafnarfjörður
Audiovisual
Apr 4 – Apr 30
Performing art by Ketill Larsen, Tjarnarbíó Theatre, Tjarnargata 12
Theatre
Apr 16 – Apr 24
Le Musée De La Mer – A Play by Marie Darrieussecq and Nauzyciel
The National Theatre of Iceland, Hverfisgata 19
Apr 16 – Apr 29
Turak - Michel Laubu Theatre, Touring Iceland
Apr 18 – May 31
Partners In Crime – A play by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt , The National Theatre of Iceland, Hverfisgata 19
Dance
May 8 – May 9
Pokemon Drew – Hip Hop Dance, Reykjavík City Theatre, Listabraut 3
Literature
Mar 29 – May 19
Bernard Alligand book exhibition, National Library, Arngrímsgata 3, Reykjavík
Apr 16 – Apr 22
Week of the Book – French literature, Café Paris / Mál & Menning / Alliance Francaise
Apr 24
Conference: Writer and director Alain Robbe-Grillet, The University of Iceland
May 5
Literary Conference: Edouard Glissant and Thor Vilhjálmsson, The University of Iceland
Music
Apr 27
Nouvelle Vague in concert, Reykjavík Art Museum, Tryggvagata 17
May 10
Kitchen Motors Night: Francouz Breut and Benni Hemm Hemm
The National Theatre Basement, Hverfisgata 19
May 11
Hélene Grimaud and the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, Háskólabíó, at Hagatorg
Science
Apr 24
Scientific Conference – Paleoanthropologist Yves Coppes, University of Iceland
Business and Tourism
Apr 19 – Apr 24
Michelin Star Chef Francis Chauveau, Siggi Hall Restaurant, Þórsgata 1
Apr 22
Competition to Find Iceland’s Top Wine Expert, Hótel Borg, Pósthússtræti 11
May 5 – May 10
Wine Seminar, Hotel Reykjavík Centrum, Aðalstræti 16
May 10 – May 13
Michelin Star Chef Guy Lassausaie, Hótel Holt, Bergstaðastræti 37
Visual Art: Hafnarborg, Apr 12 – May 6
No Particular Order
World-known fashion photogra-
pher Gilles Bensimon will open a
photo exhibition in Hafnarborg on
April 12. Bensimon, who has been
an editorial director of Elle maga-
zine since 1999, has shot mind-
blowing photos of supermodels
such as Naomi Campbell, Linda
Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer, Chris-
ty Turlington, Elle MacPherson and
Hollywood stars such as Madonna,
Gwyneth Paltrow, Drew Barrymore,
Beyonce Knowles, Sharon Stone
and Uma Thurman. He chooses ex-
otic locations for his photo-shoots
and has travelled several times to
Iceland with his crew. This retro-
spective will display a selection of
his works, covering over twenty
years of his career and featuring
some of the more famous fashion
photographs of the past decades.
The exhibition is held in coopera-
tion with Ari Alexander.
Visual Art: Kópavogur Museum, Mar 24 – Apr 29
Design Reference
An exhibition dedicated to the art
of reference in French contempo-
rary design is now on display at
the Kópavogur Museum. The ex-
hibition presents more than forty
pieces designed by Parisian artists
who share a background in furnish-
ing design. With the aim of break-
ing down different facets of French
design, the exhibition offers a wide
overview of the use of citations and
references in the past five years.
Dance: Reykjavík City Theatre, Listabraut 2, May 8 – May 9
World Famous Breakdancing Crew
The French breakdancing group
The Pockemon Crew will perform
twice at Reykjavík City Theatre next
month. Established in 1996, the
group, counting more than twenty
dancers today, is highly respected
in the Hip Hop universe and their
shows usually attract a large crowd
eager to see what cool new tricks
they’ll pull. The Pockemon Crew
claim that their Hip Hop is still pure
and authentic, and that they will
never leave the street, because
that’s where it all began.
M/M & Gabriela
The Parisian designer duo M/M, a partnership be-
tween Mathias Augustyniak and Michael Amza-
lag, in collaboration with Icelandic artist Gabriela
Friðriksdóttir presents an intriguing sculpture ex-
hibition at the Museum of Design and Applied Art
in Garðabær.
M/M mixes together different art-forms in-
cluding posters, speakers, free-standing picture
frames, Plexiglas lamps and carpet tiles. The duo
shares many conceptual concerns with the Design
Art movement which, in the past fifteen years, has
become an increasingly important practice within
the contemporary art scene. Their collaborative
exhibition with Gabriela features a tree-sculpture
that will be planted in Icelandic soil during the
Pourqoui Pas? festival. For a full programme, visit www.pourquoipas.is.
Visual Art: Museum of Design and Applied Art, Feb 25 – May 12Þetta er
skartgripur
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