Reykjavík Grapevine - 31.07.2009, Qupperneq 36

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 11 — 2009 Dr. Gunni just happens to be an extremely respected
pioneer of Icelandic punk rock. His new album,
Inniheldur, is all kinds of awesome. Get it at 12 Tónar.
MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPTS – EDDAS AND SAGAS
The Ancient Vellums on Display
ICELAND :: FILM – Berlin – Copenhagen – Reykjavík
Icelandic Filmmaking 1904-2008
A LOOK INTO NATURE
The Story of the Icelandic Museum of Natural History
EXHIBITIONS - GUIDED TOURS
CAFETERIA - CULTURE SHOP
The Culture House – Þjóðmenningarhúsið
National Centre for Cultural Heritage
Hverfi sgata 15 · 101 Reykjavík (City Centre)
Tel: 545 1400 · www.thjodmenning.is
Open daily between 11 am and 5 pm
Free guided tour of THE MEDIEVAL MANU-
SCRIPTS exhibition Mon and Fri at 3:30 pm.
The History of Icelandic Rock music: Part 7 Music | Review
Heavier, Deeper, Smokier… Lost In Translation
Kimi Records tour hits Reykjavík a tad late
Icelandic popular music has in every ma-
jor way developed similarly to pop music
internationally. By 1969, Icelandic pop
was – much like abroad – increasingly be-
ing divided into two major classes: light-
weight pop for the masses (AKA “bubble-
gum” or “commercial” music) and heavy
and deep pop (not called rock until later,
as in 1969 the term just reminded every-
body of Elvis) for the forward thinking
music lover (AKA “progressive” music).
Of course, every serious musician wanted
to turn their attention to the latter.
Hljómar had been the leaders of the six-
ties beat-boom. The same core players
were to be the leaders of the hippie-rock
movement: composer/guitarist Gun-
nar Þórðarson and singer/bassist Rúnar
Júlíusson. The super duper hippie-group
Trúbrot (Breach of Faith) was born af-
ter much preparation and discussion,
mainly between Gunnar Þórðarson and
Gunnar Jökull, the inventive drummer
from beat band Flowers. At 17, Gunnar
Jökull had left Iceland for London were
he joined local band The Syn and played
on two great psychedelic pop singles. As
The Syn evolved into Yes, Gunnar Jökull
chose to return to Iceland, were he joined
Flowers and just missing world fame
drumming with prog giants Yes.
The birth of Trúbrot was major news
on the Icelandic scene. Along with Gun-
nar and Rúnar came singer Shady Ow-
ens from Hljómar, and Gunnar Jökull
brought along keyboard virtuoso Karl
Sighvatsson from Flowers. Right off the
bat, the members of Trúbrot were full
of great expectations for the future. The
feeling was that the old bands had be-
come stagnant and not original enough;
the new band was to be fresher and more
inventive. Despite these sublime goals,
Trúbrot’s first LP in 1969 was not a giant
leap from Hljómar’s second LP from the
previous year. Yet again a studio in Lon-
don was used to get the music on tape. To
begin with, the band had wanted to make
an album with original songs only, but in
the end four foreign cover versions had to
be added. One of the songs was a 9-min-
ute jam/mini-opera aptly titled Afgangar
(Leftovers).
The album sold well though, in parts
thanks to news coverage of Trúbrot’s
hash-smoking escapades. By this time,
drug use in Iceland was on the rise so
laws had to be made to prevent further
moral decline. Trúbrot got their supply
mainly from soldiers they knew at the
Keflavík army base, but the band was
never charged for their smoking as they
just escaped the new laws. The cannabis
thing damaged many peoples’ goodwill
towards the band though, and the band
had some trouble booking gigs while the
affair was hot and one festival organizer
wanted the band to sign a statement that
the band didn’t use any drugs any more.
Trúbrot of course declined the offer, say-
ing their smoking was their personal
matter, and all real hippies smoked any-
way.
In 1970, Trúbrot were crippled with
line-up problems. Singer Shady left to
tend to her homesickness in America,
while keyboardist Karl, who many felt
had never blossomed with the band, left
for a music school and drummer Gun-
nar Jökull left because he felt Trúbrot
hadn’t fulfilled their original goal of play-
ing heavy progressive music. Rúnar and
Gunnar soldiered on, adding keyboardist
Magnús Kjartansson from Keflavík band
Júdas to the line-up, along with a new
drummer. The original line-up’s last gig
was at the famous Reykjavík club Glaum-
bær in June 1970 and the band rocked like
never before, perhaps thanks to the fact
that all members of Led Zeppelin were
present, fresh from playing a legendary
gig in Reykjavík.
With the sixties officially gone, other
bands seriously started to dent Trúbrot’s
throne of rock. There was Ævintýri (Ad-
venture), a band that started out playing
bubblegum pop but evolved into harder
territories; Tatarar (Gypsies), a hard rock-
ing college band that scored a hit with
“Dimmar rósir” in 1969; and Náttúra
(Nature), the heaviest and most progres-
sive of them all. Only Óðmenn (Madmen)
released an album at the time though,
and a double album at that.
Óðmenn had started out as a beat
group in the sixties and mainly worked as
a popular cover band. In 1970, the band
had been chiselled down to a trio lead by
bassist/singer Jóhann G Jóhannson. The
band modelled itself obviously after Eric
Clapton’s power trio Cream and got a
gig composing music for and playing in
Iceland’s first original rock musical, Óli.
This material ended up on the epony-
mous double album along with some new
songs. The music is groovy and cool and
has aged well, except the fourth album
side which consists solely of one boring
jam called Frelsi (Freedom).
All of Óðmenn’s songs were in Ice-
landic (except one), some about nagging
current matters like war and pollution.
Trúbrot, however, sang everything in
English (except one song) on the second
album (the band had Icelandic lyrics only
on their eponymous debut). The album
was titled in Icelandic though, Undir
áhrifum (“Under the Influence”), and
fared the least well of all four Trúbrot’s
albums. The music sounded much like
soft American rock bands (Crosby, Stills,
Nash & Young, et. al.), with only the clos-
er, longer lasting Stjörnuryk (7:28) hint-
ing at future progressive leanings. More
of that next time. - DR. GUNNI
By Dr. Gunni, based on his 2000 book Eru ekki
allir í stuði? (Rock in Iceland). A revisited up-
date of the book is forthcoming in 2010.
I couldn’t believe it; the goddamn front
door to Sódóma was closed! I had
thought I was an hour late, so I shat my-
self and ran there, dodged the tourists,
hopped over the cats – all trying my best
not to vomit whilst doing so.
A piece of paper displayed in the win-
dow scribbled the line-up for the evening.
A pop quiz was about to start at the same
time the music was originally proposed to
begin – one big middle finger in fat mark-
er pen. So I left to meet some people and
nag their ear with complaints.
On arrival (again) the pop quiz
seemed to be drawing to an end. Accord-
ing to my cheap-ass watch, the time was
around 10:30, and 10:30 means music
time. Half an hour later, the questions I
couldn’t understand had finished. I then
got into position on the step leading be-
tween the bar and the ‘dance floor,’ at this
point the room was bleak and empty – a
wonderful start to the evening.
Prince Polo’s freakishly garish laugh-
ter down the microphone was a tad
unsettling to begin with – one would
describe him as more of a fruit basket
than a chocolate bar. Donned in a fish-
ing hat and floral jumper, Mr Polo began
his comical folk-pop tales intoxicating the
ever-increasing audience into a state of
hysterical madness.
Naturally I had no idea what the fuss
was all about (and there was a fuss) un-
til I asked my good Icelandic companion
to translate. Suddenly there, I got what
his deal was - music and lyrical content
soaked in sarcasm and booze. Poking fun
at his generation and Icelandic genera-
tions of yore, or something like that.
After being blinded by visual obstruc-
tions and public displays of affection, it
was time to move in closer to where the
real action was happening. MIRI always
struck me as your average post-rock
band with magical melody lines and fran-
tic double picking. Not to say that they
weren’t – they do abide the standard
guidelines of epic-ness – but also add-
ed in party moves and trendy haircuts.
Mathy polyrhythms complemented the
band’s crisp guitar expressions, keeping
the night alive and fairly interesting.
Arguably the best young rock band in
Iceland at the moment, Swords of Chaos,
launched into their onslaught of panic-
stricken punk around 01:20. My only con-
cern was if Swords of Chaos could fully
handle playing in a larger venue than a
small café. The answer to that question
would be yes. Yes they can.
Beers flew across the room as singer
Úlfur leapt off stage and entwined a vast
amount of people with his mic chord like
he was herding cattle. Minus a few tech-
nical blunders, they once again played
a harsh set with zealousness and enjoy-
ment.
By this point it was on the verge of
02:00, my ears were still ringing from be-
ing perched next to the bloody monitor
at the front of Sódóma’s stage. A lullaby
was certainly in order – thankfully Skak-
kamanage provided this soothing accom-
paniment.
‘Super smiling, everything is brilliant’
bubblegum shoe gaze works wonders
fluttering in the background during a
spring tea party. However, it’s not an ideal
sound to listen to whilst you’re freaking
bored and slightly vexed in a rock venue.
Regrettably I must say the final two
bands, FM Belfast and Sudden Weather
Change, didn’t get my full attention dur-
ing these wee hours – due to the ridicu-
lous time mix-ups, cock-ups and balls-
ups. Which is such a shame as Sudden
Weather Change’s honest indie rock and
FM Belfast’s synth covered pop are of
such a high calibre they deserve full at-
tention.
Highlights of the night included MIRI
bassist Hjalti facial’s expressions of sex-
ual pleasure during their performance,
reminiscent to that of Bill Clinton’s dur-
ing his controversial years. As well as the
‘bros’ dressed in flannel shirts slam danc-
ing awkwardly on their own to Swords Of
Chaos. - jONATHAN BAkER ESQ
1. Trúbrot in 1969: Rúnar, Gunnar
jökull, karl, Gunnar and Shady –
Let’s get progressive!
2. óðmenn’s double album. The best
of 1970.
Prince Polo
MIRI
Swords of Chaos
Skakkamanage
FM Belfast
Sudden Weather Change
Sódóma Reykjavík
Saturday July 25th