Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.11.2010, Qupperneq 16

Films | Review
Árni Sveinsson's film 'Backyard' makes Iceland's
music scene feel like a big happy family. The story
goes like this: Árni Rúnar of FM Belfast decided he
wanted to capture Reykjavík's current music scene
on film. Reykjavík is a small town (compared to To-
kyo, Berlin and New York at least) and so all Icelan-
dic musicians seem to be friends or acquaintances.
On Culture Night 2009 Árni One (the musician)
and Árni Two (the filmmaker) gathered a bunch of
friends in the Árni One’s backyard to celebrate a re-
laxed and family-like music festival, Iceland-style.
Neighbours were invited, equipment was lugged
around cars and umbrellas remodelled into stage
decorations. Among the most important questions
at that point were: 'Should we use the plant from
the living room to make the backyard look nicer?'
The 10 square metre recording studio in Árni's
backyard was set, the cameramen found their spots
around the 'stage' and also on top of the studio and
the bands were prepared to perform—and so the
recording began. Seven bands: Borko, Sin Fang,
Hjaltalín, Reykjavík!, múm, Retro Stefson and FM
Belfast, performed short sets of music, the movie
'Backyard' features a song from each in full length.
During the performances, the film captures
not just the musicians but also the audience con-
sisting of other musicians, children, older people,
hipsters, tourists... well, let's call it a mixed bag of
people. In the beginning they sit there quietly sip-
ping on some coffee or cruising around on their
tricycle (depending on age). By the end of the night
the audience had turned into a crazy mob jumping
up and down to FM Belfast's ‘Underwear’.
When it started raining, everybody went to hang
out in the living room; when a little girl fell over
during their hard-rocking performance, the guys
from Reykjavík! turned around and looked if she
was OK. The whole setting radiated a relaxed am-
biance, something you experience when you are at
home. Watching it, you feel like a f ly on the wall,
observing and being part of something intimate,
knowing at the same time that those are some of
the hottest Icelandic bands at the moment, and you
are sharing some time with them.
The unpretentious way of filming helps the feel-
ing that you are attending a family reunion. Shot
digitally with mostly hand held cameras, the movie
feels like something in between home video and
documentary. But this is one of the film’s advantag-
es—it completely matches the successful, but not
extravagant and creative, but not trying too hard—
aura of the portrayed musicians.
And what do we learn about the Icelandic music
scene? Even though the musical style differs from
dreamy folk, to heavy rock and electro pop, these
musicians share (in addition to the place and time)
the same temperament, equipment and sometimes
band members: The Icelandic music scene seems
like a big happy family.
A Meeting Of Iceland's
Hottest Bands...
… is actually like a family
gathering in the backyard
16
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 17 — 2010
dr. Gunni's History Of Icelandic Rock | Part 25
By Dr. Gunni (Based on his book Eru ekki allir í stuði from 2001). We hear the
good doctor is working on an updated version of the book for 2011!
The Sugarcubes’ Humble Beginnings
International recognition has always been ev-
ery ambitious Icelandic pop musician’s goal.
And no wonder. Few settle for the limitations
of the tiny Icelandic market. Since rock was
born here, many have tried to "make it" to little
avail. In 1983, the clever jazz guys of Mezzo-
forte scored a hit with an instrumental fusion
ditty, ‘Garden party’, that got as far as number
17 on the British singles chart. This of course
resulted in some national pride. I remember
being on Leicester Square in London in the
summer of 1983 with a swollen chest as Mez-
zoforte's hit piped out of a disco. A few years
later, Iceland would finally get its international
pop stars: The Sugarcubes.
pOp GROUp FOR MONEy
The obscure bastards in Kukl were of course as far
removed from pop music as possible, even though
they had performed some melodic songs in their
earliest period. In the spring of 1986, the band lay
in ruins due to personal squabbles and inter-band
friction. Smaller units from the band tried their hand
at making music. Guitarist God Krist made some
music with Björk singing lyrics by Þór Eldon, Björk's
boyfriend since 1983. They called themselves The
Elgar Sisters, and three of the songs would much
later turn up as B-sides on Björk singles. Björk and
drummer Sigtryggur Baldursson also made some
music together under the name Algorythms.
Björk and Þór bore a son in June of 1986, so
life was taken easy during that summer. Einar Örn
finished his studies in London and moved to Ice-
land. During long night time meetings, him and Þór
came up with the idea of forming Smekkleysa (“Bad
Taste”). “Bad taste and extravagance” would be
Smekkleysa's motto. Various plans were attached
to Smekkleysa: It would be a record label and a
book publishing company. The restaurant Mudpit
would open in its name, as well as the radio station
Radio Devil (unfortunately neither happened). Also
the company would hand out "Bad Taste awards" to
people that excelled in extravagance and bad taste.
Various friends joined Smekkleysa and a pop group
was formed solely to make money. Björk, Einar
and Þór got bassist Bragi and guitarist Friðrik from
Purrkur Pillnikk to join along with drummer Sigtryg-
gur and keyboard player Einar Melax from Kukl.
A pOSTCARd pAyS FOR A SINGLE
"We started to play pop songs that we thought were
similar to what other people were playing. It was a
total surprise to us that nobody else thought this
was pop. Everybody just thought this was weird
music," remarked Einar, many years later. The new
band's first appearance was on the 18th of July,
1986. The band was advertised as Kukl in Morgun-
blaðið, but called themselves Þukl (“Frisk”) a week
later on their second gig.
Einar Örn had brought along a gigantic plastic
lobster when he came back from London. Pop band
Stuðmenn fancied the lobster and made Einar Örn
their manager so they could use the plastic crus-
tacean in concert. Þukl was called Sykurmolarnir
(The Sugarcubes) when the band supported Stuð-
menn in the sports arena Laugardalshöll. Very few
people showed up, so Stuðmenn paid their support
act in studio hours at their recording studio, Gret-
tisgat. Twelve weird pop songs were recorded dur-
ing this session, and two of them (‘Birthday’ / ‘Cat’
(in Icelandic)) got released on Björk's 21st birthday
on November 21. To finance the release, Smekkley-
sa had sold a postcard bearing the image of Reagan
and Gorbachev, drawn by guitarist Friðrik. Reagan
and the Russian leader met for peace talk in Iceland
in October of 1986, and the postcard sold very well,
as nobody else had jumped to the occasion and
made merchandise.
OH SHIT!
‘Einn mol'á mann’ (“One cube each”), the first
Sugarcube single, was pressed in Iceland and most
of the edition was defective upon arrival. Only about
300 copies were sold. Few people in Iceland "got"
the music, certainly not ‘Birthday’, that nobody
could have predicted would be an international
hit. Despite his earlier plans Einar Örn decided to
spend another winter in London, 1986/87. An old
pal from the Crass days, Derek Birkett, formerly a
bassist with Flux of Pink Indians, was working in
a studio, so him and Einar started to process the
songs from the Grettisgat session. Derek had just
formed a record label, One Little Indian, and it was
decided he would release The Sugarcubes songs in
English. The music was remixed, new snippets and
sounds added to the mix.
Meanwhile in Iceland, the band played several
times without Einar. Guitarist Friðrik decided to
leave, so Þór would thereafter be the band's sole
guitarist. Film director Friðrik Þór asked the band
to provide soundtrack to his film Skytturnar (White
Whales). The band made some instrumental music
but it was not used much in the film. Three tracks
turned up on a soundtrack 12" though. In the sum-
mer of 1987 Einar Örn came to Iceland and the band
played several times for 200 people or so, the same
group of people that had followed Kukl.
One Little Indian released Birthday as a 12" on
the 17th of August 1987. It was supposed to pro-
mote the forthcoming LP. A week later Birthday was
picked as a "single of the week" in Melody Maker.
"Oh shit" was Einar Örn's first reaction when he
heard the news.
(Next time: The Sugarcubes – World domination or
death!)
By dr. Gunni
“A week later Birthday was
picked as a "single of the week"
in Melody Maker. "Oh shit"
was Einar Örn's first reaction
when he heard the news.”
1 The Sugarcubes first line up in 1986 – Einar,
Sigtryggur, Björk, Einar Melax, Friðrik, Þór and Bragi.
2 Sykurmolarnir's 1986 single had two songs. It was
paid for by selling a postcard and an advertisement from
Dunsucker sugar on the back.
WIEBKE WOLTER