Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.11.2011, Qupperneq 24

24
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 17 — 2011
‘The Birdcage’ concert series has
Snorri Helgason and his father Hel-
gi playing together.
Now you know Snorri Helgason, don’t
you? Of course you do. The former
frontman of Sprengjuhöllin, he’s been
making a bit of a name for himself the
last couple of years, first with his debut
solo album ‘I'm Gonna Put My Name
On Your Door,’ and now with his lat-
est album ‘Winter Sun,’ which has been
gathering rave reviews.
But what you may not know is that
Snorri’s father, Helgi Pétursson, is also
well known as a member of the famous
‘60s/’70s folk and country group, Ríó
Tríó (“Rio Trio”), as well as being a well
known journalist and TV presenter.
As part of the ‘Birdcage’ concert se-
ries at Café Rosenberg, which Grape-
vine is co-sponsoring, the father and
son duo performed together for the first
time last Tuesday. We caught up with
both of them to find out what they’ve
been up to.
REYKJAVíK CAllED
So Snorri, you’ve just come back
from the ‘Reykjavik Calling’ festival
in Seattle. How did it all go?
Snorri: It was great, really good! I was
playing with David Bazan, who was in
a band called Pedro The Lion. The gig
itself was just perfect. It was packed
and the audience was great. It was all
really good.
Along with this and Airwaves,
you’ve been doing a lot of promo-
tion work for your second album
‘Winter Sun.’ How has the reception
been?
S: Actually it’s been great! Which is a
bit surprising considering my first al-
bum didn’t get a huge amount of atten-
tion.
Well the album sounds a lot bigger,
more rounded than your debut. How
much of that is down to the produc-
er, Sindri ‘Sin Fang’ Sigfússon?
S: Oh a lot. We ended up doing most of
it together, laying down the base tracks.
Then there was a lot of his studio trick-
ery and sounds that he makes, as well
as bringing in the likes of Mr. Silla and
Sóley for some of the tracks.
ENTER DAD!
Helgi, what were your initial
thoughts about the album?
Helgi: Well Snorri sent the album to me
in February, and when we listened to it
we were amazed, but I was a little afraid
that it was a bit too slow and moody.
But Snorri said “Dad don’t worry, it’s
OK.” I was comparing it a lot to his first
record and the other stuff that he’d
done with the likes of Sprengjuhöllin,
knowing that he can make good rock-
ing music. I thought that this was far too
slow. But then I realised when I listened
to what other bands were doing, that
this was the mood of the music that is
in the scene right now.
Helgi, you were a member of the
band Ríó Tríó. How did that all start?
H: Well Ólafur Þórðarson, Ágúst Atla-
son and I, we were just playing tradi-
tional Iceland folk tunes and melodies
that were taken from the male choirs.
We arranged these tunes to be played
with guitars and a double bass and that
in itself was a revolution.
Before rock and pop music arrived
in Iceland, there really wasn’t a
pre-pop music tradition in Iceland
was there?
H: That’s correct. We would take songs
like ‘Á Spengisandi’ which had a choir
arrangement and give them a more
modern feel, taking them to where
people would be clapping and enjoying
the songs. I remember a very popular
song that had been sung by opera sing-
ers through the years but when we took
the song and changed it, there was a
lot of emotion around it. We were not
supposed to sing it that way! It was like
heresy!
lOST TEENAGE YEARS
listening to your music, there is a
folk sound, but you can also hear a
lot of country and bluegrass. What
was influencing you at the time mu-
sically?
H: Well after a while we started to move
from the traditional Icelandic folk scene
over to having a lot of satire in the
songs. People would just sit back and
not clap their hands or even participate
in the music. Certainly not laugh or
have fun or anything like that. So we got
bored with that situation, so we started
to tell a lot of jokes in our music.
While you were growing up around
this Snorri, when you first started
playing, was your father’s music a
factor at all?
S: Not at first. I really didn’t start play-
ing music ‘til was eighteen.
H: Yeah, he didn’t show any signs of in-
terest in playing music for a long time.
His siblings were all studying music and
singing instead.
FIVE DECADES OF ICElANDIC POP
You’ve been in the music scene
in Iceland for nearly five decades
Helgi. It must have come a long way
since you first started.
H: Oh definitely. And people have been
describing the acoustic music that’s
being produced today as the new folk
wave of Iceland. But when we started
forty years ago, it was a totally different
scene. People were fighting amongst
themselves over what type of music you
followed.
Seriously? There was that level of
tribalism in music in Iceland?
H: Oh yes, definitely!
What do you think of the music
scene overall in Iceland right now?
H: Well, for me, what the biggest
change is in the music scene in Ice-
land is the education in music and the
skills of the musicians and artists com-
ing through the music schools. There
seems to be an endless stream of re-
ally good musicians. Also back when I
first started, there was so much rivalry.
We knew other bands, but there was a
much bigger rivalry between the pop
groups and people wouldn’t play to-
gether as you get now.
S: There’s more of a “we’re all in this
together” consensus today. I’d be more
willing to play with a wider range of
music styles and musicians. A lot more
cross pollination.
Music | The Birdcage
like Father, like Son!
Snorri and Helgi’s appearance at BIRDCAGE last Tuesday was apparently a
great success. The next scheduled concert in the series unites fresh new pop
star Jón Jónsson with Icelandic music legend Valgeir Guðjónsson.
In this new and fascinating book photographer
Vilhelm Gunnarsson takes us on a unique journey.
From the vast highlands to the lush lowlands, these
are truly the Top Ten Places in Iceland.
Top 10
in Iceland
www.salka.is
Eyrarbraut 3, 825 Stokkseyri, Iceland · Tel. +354 483 1550
Fax. +354 483 1545 · info@fjorubordid.is · www.fjorubordid.is
At the Restaurant Fjöruborðið in Stokkseyri
> Only 45 minutes drive from Reykjavík
By the
sea and
lobster
a delicios
BOB ClUNESS
Music | Review
A juggernaut doesn't have to be go-
ing at 100mph to squish you flat: the
inexorable push forward of a 25mph
roar is going to do the job slower, and
furthermore you're going to know... all...
about... IT untilyouslideunderandpop...
intothewhite... BUT then somehow you
come out the other end miraculously just
about alive and as you stand up another
song starts and though you know it's
going to get you time has turned into
pukeysoup so it gets ever closer and
mesmerised you just gotta stand still
and let it riff riff RIFF over and through
you except this time you're ready and
you welcome this spidery deathmarch
insidiously pushing out the back of your
eyes from the inside and the gears get
ever lower and more ferocious in their
offhand devilsong then you wonder what
it would sound like speeded up to 45rpm
and—hey presto—it's a new Metallica
album, except better than those cunts
could ever dream of, the tennis-playing
wazzocks. Golems were listening to this
six thousand years back and planets will
be in another million.
- JOE SHOOMAN
HAM
Svik, harmur og dauði
www.gogoyoko.com/artist/HAM
Epic, controlled, timeless HAMgasm