Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.11.2010, Page 29

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entertainment in iceland
Issue 17 - 2010 www.grapevine.is
So guess what! Some Nordic initiative or other is happen-
ing these days (where would the Reykjavík culture scene
be without the Nordic House and all those Nordic initia-
tives? A lot less interesting, that’s for sure) and one of the
sweet bits is that they’re bringing back the awesome Nor-
wegian outfit Datarock to destroy us with their amazing
live show once again. As if that Airwaves ’06 performance
wasn’t enough. Jeez. We’re excited already.
Datarock should need no introduction. If you have no idea
who they are, go hang out on the internet for a while and
get yourself acquainted (SPOILER: they are from Bergen,
Norway, they are a DIY-style outfit, they like to wear
red tracksuits whilst performing their infectious disco-
groove-rock-whatever songs (you come up with a better
description!) and their live show is stunning). We e-mailed
them some questions to prepare for the show and guess
what – they answered. So read on to get yrself all hyped
up for their show.
Although some of our readers have no idea who you
are, I know a lot of them have been waiting for y'all
to come back ever since you crushed the audience
at Iceland Airwaves 2006. Do you have recollections
of that visit? Was it good for you, too?
It was probably better for us. In fact, we got our first or-
gasm that night! Airwaves was great in '06, and the Blue
Lagoon was nice with the Ibiza slash Miami like party.
From the show, we remember an audience who truly
knew how to party.
How does appearing at a festival such as Iceland
Airwaves compare to your own shows? Do you have
to compromise at all, or does playing your own
shows just mean more stage time?
We don't have the intellect to compromise anything, so
we see no difference. Of course at festivals like that you
have industry people checking you out, but that’s no dif-
ferent to any other show.
What can we expect from your show? It's been three
years since I saw you destroy By:larm with what
looked like three hundred people on stage with you.
Do you bring those folks on tour? Will it just be the
core band on stage? Or will you maybe try recruiting
Icelanders for the purpose?
Who knows? Perhaps. But we'll be four guys in red track-
suits coming up from Bergen. Usually that's the four who
do the show. Occasionally we'll have additional people,
like the 100 we brought for the Norwegian Grammies, but
hey—only back home, man.
Let's talk about the tracksuits: will you retire them
at any point? Or are they an inseparable from your
music and general aesthetic?
It's like the black Spiderman suit, man. It's become part of
who we are.
Datarock will perform tonight at NASA, along with Retro
Stefson and Berndsen. Their appearance is part of the
Ting – Nordic Art Festival, which also features perfor-
mances from Wildbirds and Peacedrums, Hjaltalín, Schola
Cantorum and Skatebård. More info at
www.norraenahusid.is/ting
By Haukur S. Magnússon DATAROCK IS COMING BACK!
Tonight. Hurry up and get tickets!