Reykjavík Grapevine - 18.10.2008, Page 20

You have been playing in various Icelandic metal and hardcore bands. How did
you get from heavy music to arrangements with piano and strings?
I am interested in both. I like hardcore music and I like classical music. It is just
two different types of expression.
Do you think there are parallels between these two kinds of music?
It is all music. In the end it is all just collections of different frequencies of
sound waves, that go into your ear and your mind understands them in some way,
that we cannot really explain. Furthermore lots of classical music has the same
emotion as metal music: it is supposed to be loud and noisy, really intense and
heavy. But of course the approach is always different.
In an interview you are quoted: “The classical scene is closed to people, who
haven’t been studying music all their life”. Do you remember, when that first
frustrated you?
Yes, it was at university. I came to my teacher one day with two of my pieces.
One was serialistic. Serialism is all about numbers and math, you put up formulas
and then you change the numbers into notes. I had spent ten minutes on this
piece. My teacher loved it. I also had written a simple piano piece, something really
accessible, and I had spent six hours on writing it. The teacher said ‘No, this is not
good.’ He was only judging it like that, because it was not serialistic. The classi-
cal scene is very much elitist. What people like about modern classical music, is
understanding the math behind it. They do not get some feeling from listening to
it. This way it is not very accessible to most people. I want to make classical music
that everyone can listen to.
Were you actually surprised, that people like your music so much, especially that
young people like it?
Yes, at first I thought: ‘Who would by your classical music? Old people and
my mom perhaps.’ And then I got all these insane reviews. 10 of 10 points in big
magazines and people were saying, this would be the best thing coming from Ice-
land. I mean, I was happy with the album, but I did not think, that indie and rock
magazines would write about it like that.
Now I know that this is what I want to do: I want to bring the classical music to the
young people. In the beginning I was just writing music.
You have played in big halls, but you have also played in smaller clubs. Which do
you prefer?
Both. I have played small shows for 50 people and it was amazing because I
easily could communicate with them. It was not like I was playing for them, it was
more like I was playing with them. In big venues it is harder to get that connec-
tion to the audience, but when you manage to play for 3000 people, and they are
completely silent, it is amazing. It is so much fun, when you can start talking to
them and they will answer you. It is like being friends with them. So both kinds
of venues are good.
What do you think of playing Airwaves?
The Airwaves week is so much fun for me. I like playing the off-venue shows
even more than my actual show, because they are more special. They are always
packed with people and you always meet nice people, do so many funny inter-
views.
What do you like about the Airwaves audience?
They are all in this special mood: ‘Okay, I am going to Iceland and I am going to
see 200 bands’. That is why the gigs are different for me from those where the
people only come to see me.
THE GRAPEvINE DID AN INTERvIEW WITH A vERY GOOD-
HuMOuRED AND TALKATIvE OLAFuR ARNALDS ABOuT THE
CONNECTION BETWEEN METAL AND CLASSICAL MuSIC, THE
CLASSICAL SCENE AND THE SPECIAL MOOD, EvERYONE IS IN
FOR AIRWAvES.
“IN THE END IT'S ALL
juST SOuNDWAvES”
WordS BY florian zühlke photographY Baldur kriStJÁnS