Reykjavík Grapevine - 18.10.2008, Side 6

SHOGUN IS the first and only Icelandic band that tries to integrate a maxi-mum of melody into their bone crushing metal sound. To prove this repu-tation, the five-piece from Reykjavík has just released their debut-album
“Charm City” which could become an Icelandic blueprint for modern metalcore.
Sharp metal riffs, hard-hitting breakdowns and emotional melodies make these
five guys pioneers for a sound that is well established abroad but never really caught
on in Iceland.
How long has Shogun been playing together?
Y: We started one and a half year ago.
What were the first steps, when you founded the band?
Jói: At first we took part in the Músíktilraunir, the popular Icelandic Battle of the
Bands, which was a good start for our band. It was the first gig we played in front
of an audience and we won the contest. We were actually quite surprised by that.
Shortly afterwards we made a demo and toured Iceland together with We made God
and Gordon Riots. But then we made a mistake. When we started writing the new
CD we stopped playing live. People really seemed to forget about us. So, at the mo-
ment, we are really putting our heart into playing live, every occasion we can get, to
build an audience again.
The CD you are talking about is called “Charm City” and it has just been released
in Iceland. How would you describe the record in a few words?
Gummi: It is very diverse and melts lots of styles. There is everything from emo
to deathcore, even pop-punk. We tried to bring all that together.
You’re the only band, that I know, who are playing metalcore in this melodic variant
here in Iceland. How would you assess this kind of music here?
Jói: In Iceland there is just a little crowd who likes heavy music.
Gummi: Yeah, and this style, like we play it, with clean singing and everything
is not very popular. Most people over here like either Death Metal or Hardcore.
And we are kind of stuck in between. I have the impression that most Icelandic
bands always try to get heavier. Opposite to that, we want to keep the melodies in
our sound.
Jói: There are few bands over here that drag new people into our small scene. I
think we accomplish that, because many can relate to our melodic edge.
How is it then difficult for you to find a label?
Gummi: You have to be able to show up everywhere to get signed by a label.
And that is indeed quite hard when you live on an island. But we really want to go
abroad.
Jói: We have made sacrifices in the past – jobs, money. We are putting everything
into the band.
Do you plan to release “Charm City” outside Iceland as well?
Gummi: If we could do that that would be great! It is our goal to release it in as
many places as possible. But at the moment we think about Iceland and getting an
audience here.
You played Airwaves last year. How did you get to do that?
G: That was one of the prizes we won in the Battle of the Bands.
How is Airwaves different from other shows in Reykjavik?
G: For us, there is no difference at all. There are not many people that come to
Airwaves to see a metal band. It is just an honour or like an award for us to play there
with the other metal bands.
sHoGun
Young gunS ShoW that iceland’S hardcore-Scene remainS alive and
kicking
sun
DaY
WordS BY florian zühlke
photographY gaS
IKNOW YOU play a lot of gigs here in Reykjavik. Have you had any favourite shows?
BA: We had one in Bar 11.
DS: It was insane.
BS: The audience was so close and everyone was going ber-
serk. Microphones were f lying into our faces and we’d have
bloody lips. Things were falling on my guitar and pedals were
all over the place. All the cables of my pedal got pulled out, so
I had to put it straight into the amplifier just to keep playing.
Then my guitar got wrecked so I just tossed it and started
screaming and crowd surfing.
BA: What I get out of the shows is that I really like the fact
that teenagers have a really good reason to go out piss drunk.
BS: We have a really strong fan base that religiously come
to all of our shows. It’s almost like a collaboration we provide
the music and they provide the party they get everybody else
going.
What do you think accounts for such a strong following?
Ben: My theory is that we enjoy what we do so much and I
think we do so to the point that it really shows so people can
connect to that
So would you say there’s a difference in playing Kaffibarrin
on a random weekend and playing Airwaves?
Ben: I guess the run up to it. There’s more scrutiny it’s a
bit more stressful because of that.
BA: It’s a lot more formal. When we play regular gigs it’s
usually just like a friend’s concert and it’s free and it’s a lot
more easy going. Airwaves is like a really formal party.
Is it something you get pumped up for?
BS: Yeah we love Airwaves. We’ve been going to Airwaves as
patrons for years as well and have heard some really great mu-
sic. It’s nice to get the chance to actually play Airwaves as well,
especially on the big stage.
OG: We are releasing an album in a little over a week so it’s
nice to get attention for that.
Can you tell me a little bit about the new album is there any
concept or idea behind it?
BS: Not really. It’s more a lack of an idea. We rented a big
house in the country and recorded there for 11 days. It was
this really strange place and it was full of f lies and everything
creaked when you walked in. The atmosphere was nice and
we thought that was important. Instead of going in to this big
spaceship-like fancy studio—we’d rather have a good atmos-
phere. A big part of our music is how much we love it.
Were you writing during that time or just recording?
BS: We’d written most everything we were going to have
on the album before that. The weeks leading up to when we
were going to record, we just practiced, practiced, practiced.
We were really focused on being prepared for it.
Do have a specific label that you put on your music?
BA: We have switched genres but we’ve narrowed it down
to just being a rock band.
BS: It’s how we think of our music. We play just exactly the
kind of music we liked so it could go from heavy bits to mel-
low bits in the same song, it’s not bound to one specific genre,
it’s just rock in general.
You said your album isn’t going to be released for another
week or so. I think a lot of bands might just hurry and try
and get the album out before Airwaves no matter what. What
made you decide not to?
Ben: We were going to do that but at this stage if we rush it
out in the form that it is now, it wouldn’t really justify the ef-
fort that we put into it because if we’re going to do it we’d like
to do it well. If we were to release it, there would be bits in it
that we would say, “we could have done this better”. We’d just
rather put out a promo album.
What’s it called?
Everyone together: Stop Handgranade in the name of crib
death ‘nderstand
With the economic situation, how will you deal with the esca-
lating price of beer this Airwaves?
LH: We have a great party at our car last night.
BS: We were keeping all our beer in our car. It was like our
beer stockpile. So between concerts we just ran to the car and
put a Ramones CD on. There were all these people walking
with us and asking us were we were going. We kept saying
“we’re going to the car” and every one was shouting “yeah
were going to the car” and it ended up just being this kind of
really weird rainy 50s type on-the-street party with the worst
sound system ever blasting the Ramones drinking cheap beer
out of the trunk.
DS: We’ll have to have another one.
Anything else you want the world to know about you?
BA: For the record: we don’t sound like Wolf Parade.
suDDen
Weather
change
JuSt a rock Band
WordS BY DEsiREE AnDREws
photographY VALDÍs THoR
SuDDEN WEATH-
ER CHANGE HAS
A STRONG WORK
ETHIC, A LOYAL FAN BASE AND A FIRM STAND-
ING IN THE REYKjAvIK MuSIC SCENE. WE CAuGHT
uP WITH BAND MEMBERS BERGuR ANDERSON,
DAGuR SCRAvARSSON, LOGI HöSKuLDSSON,
ODDuR GuðMuNDSSON AND BENjAMIN STACEY
TO TALK ABOuT AIRWAvES, THEIR NEW ALBuM
AND HOW TO COMBAT THE EvER-ESCALATING
PRICE OF BEER.
inter
vieWs