Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.10.2009, Blaðsíða 36

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DYNAMO FOG
Wednesday 22:30 Sódóma
“The only really remarkable thing about
us is that we’ve all been in more popular
bands than this at one stage or another,
and we use an electronic drum kit.”
7) That’s kind of a loaded question, so
I’m going to give the short version: ev-
ery year, the scene grows more self-con-
scious, more arrogant, more post, more
retro, more arty, more ironic and more
new-wave.
KIMONO
Wednesday 23:30 NASA
“At Airwaves we will focus on new mate-
rial off EM4DP and people can expect to
be blown to smithereens. That is all.”
4) I think it was at Airwaves 3 years ago,
when we had bands like Brazilian Girls
over. There was something in the air,
some type of uncertain lunacy... Drag-
ging the bassist from Brazilian Girls out
of a dumpster behind Bæjarins Bestu in
the middle of the day, and later that night
seeing him perform at NASA, buck-na-
ked... Priceless.

BÁRUJÁRN
Friday 20:00 Sódóma
“In general, you can expect f lag burn-
ings, haddock fucking and hopefully a
record soon from us.”
5) Go and watch the masses skin bank-
ers and politicians alive every Saturday at
Austurvöllur, three o’ clock.
If there’s a huge line at the big venues
and you are planning on staying there
for an hour or two, at least try to carry as
much alcohol on you as possible. Then
you won t́ have to buy beer from the
venues at ridiculous prices. Instead, use
your money to buy records directly from
the local bands. Better yet, not going in
if there’s a long line, instead exploring
smaller venues and experience smaller
local bands.
Then if you’re hungry, go late with a
group of people and fill the super robery-
market 10-11. Try to steal as much as you
can, and don t́ feel sorry.
DIKTA
Friday 22:30 Sódóma
“People can expect a powerful and lively
performance from us at Airwaves, as
usual.”
5) As all the concerts at Airwaves are
held in small-to-medium sized venues,
they can sometimes get packed. Some-
times queues build up. It’s a good rule of
thumb to show up early if there’s some-
thing you really want to see, and not leave
the venue until that act is over. Another
good one is to wear warm clothes that
can be easily removed and stuffed in a
bag once inside. It can sometimes be
extremely chilly in October in Iceland,
but the venues are, understandably, often
quite hot.
I recommend Sushibarinn, next to
Kofi Tómasar Frænda on Laugavegur.
It’s a tiny place, but they make good su-
shi, and you can have it brought over to
Uncle Tom’s Cabin and dine there. Very
cosy.
EBERG
Thursday 22:30 Batteríið
“In general, you can expect a soft, tipsy
guy who barks occasionally.”
3) Iceland Airwaves has always been
about the grassroots in my eyes. I´m not
there to see massive international bands.
I´m there to see some local bands, and a
few interesting international ones.
FM BELFAST
Saturday 01:10 Nasa
“General nonsense, civil disobedience
and dancing friends with blinking lights
and loud music in 4/4.”
2) Retro Stefson, since they are awesome,
Micachu and the Shapes, because I hope
they are awesome, and Reykjavík! since
they make awesome an understatement.
5) Plan to see bands you don’t know, that
is the best way to experience this festival.
Try to see some off venue gigs. Overplan-
ning is forbidden: leave room for the un-
expected. Go to Havarí to buy Icelandic
Records and Kolaportið for all your vinyl
dreams (if you’re lucky).
6) Grótta is nice and Rauðhólar are close
by.
AGENT FRESCO
Thursday 23:20 Grand Rokk and Satur-
day 23:20 Sódóma
“We promise you the most energetic and
musically tight concert at this Airwaves.”
3) I of course try not to think that way,
focusing on what’s missing that is. We
could go on and on about artists we all
wanted to see, but that’s just being silly
and won’t get you anywhere. I’m first and
foremost grateful for being a part of this
festival. I think we’re playing about five
times during the festivities, so I know
that it’s going to be an impulsive, hectic
dance, trying to get to listen to as many
acts as possible.
5) Just walk down Laugavegur and scout
continuously down to where the venues
are. It’s Reykjavík, it’s not that big, and
it’s intensified with good unique stuff
and decent record stores.
GHOSTIGITAL
Saturday 21:40 Batteríið
“Fit and really working again. Out of
breath! A bit harder, wiser and out of
pocket! Dirty dancing.”
2) Micachu and the Shapes – There is
hope
Jungle Fiction – Young dudes
Captain Fufanu – The future absolutely
and eh, Ghostigital – Unavoidable.
4) There is no looking back, but every
festival has had its f lavour!
5) Basically step out, turn left, if you
don’t find anything, go back and take the
right. You will always find something.
6) Take the Krýsuvík circle via Grinda-
vik. That will make your day.
ÓLAFUR ARNALDS
Saturday 22:00 Iðnó
“You can expect a lot of new material, as I
am just finishing recording my next full
length album.”
3) I think Airwaves has always been about
discovering new exciting acts rather than
seeing bands that are already on the top. At
least for me, the most fun is to go see bands
I haven’t heard much about before. The Ice-
land Airwaves crew has always had a good
eye for bands that will make it big just in the
year after Airwaves.
5) Don’t forget about the off-venue shows!
Try to find out who is playing where and go
see them. Some of these shows are much
more intimate and fun than the bands’
main shows.
WEAPONS
Saturday 20:20 Grand Rokk
“What you can expect from our appearance
is that we will give it our best. And I will give
it my best in general. “
4) The 2004 festival was amazing! With
two of my favourite bands The Shins and
the Stills playing back to back.
5) Go to Devitos Pizza at Hlemmur. It’s the
best pizza place in the city.
MIRI
“Most of the time when you go to con-
certs your mind starts to wander off some-
where else midway through the first song.
This will not happen at our show.”
5) Don’t get to drunk too early! It might
seem like a good idea at the moment but we
have missed a lot of good shows or can’t re-
member them because of that! Dress prop-
erly, the nights are gonna be cold! Don’t
think you can run between shows every five
minutes! There are always gonna be some
lines. Walk around town during the days
and drop into random off-venue concerts.
There are literally millions of lo-
cal bands playing Iceland Airwaves
this year. You visitors will need to
check them out. Of course we will be
checking them out too, but then, we
check them out all the time, as we
live here and they are always play-
ing (this is why many of them are so
good, too, playing a lot).
We thought you Airwaves new-
comers might benefit from getting
to know some of them, and getting
their advice, so we e-mailed a bunch
of them the following questions.
1) Who are you? What can we expect
from your Airwaves appearance, and
what can we expect of you in gen-
eral?
2) What are some of the acts you’ll
want to see at this festival, and why?
3) This year sees fewer ‘large’ inter-
national acts on the schedule. Do
you believe this changes anything for
the festival in general, and its spirit?
4) Looking back, do you have a fa-
vourite edition of Iceland Airwaves?
And if so, why?
5) A lot of our readers are first time
Airwaves-visitors. Do you have any
tips for them? What to see, what to
do, what to avoid, etc.? Where to buy
records? Or a good place to grab
a bite or get away from it all for a
while?
6) Given that most Airwaves visi-
tors won’t have a lot of time in their
schedule to see the Icelandic coun-
tryside, are there any nature-havens
close by that you’d recommend?
7) Has a lot changed in the Icelandic
music scene since Airwaves 2008?
How about Airwaves 2004?
A lot of them answered. Well, 11
of them answered. And they’re all
such wordy folks that we couldn’t
really fit their answers in the paper.
So here’s what we’ll do: we’re pub-
lishing selected answers from each
outfit (usually the best ones) and
you can log on to www.grapevine.is/
airwaves to read their full interviews.
We will also have other stuff there:
goodies, blogs, interviews + up to
date Airwaves news. Anyway, here
are some answers:
Interviews | by Haukur S Magnússon
YOU WANT ANSWERS? WE’VE GOT YOUR ANSWERS
A bunch of local Airwaves bands answer a bunch of our questions
Grapevine Airwaves Mini 2009 Go to www.grapevine.is/airwaves for full versions of these interviews + extras!