Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.10.2011, Side 62

10 Grapevine Fancy Airwaves Special Go to www.airwaves.grapevine.is for extensive + up to date festival coverage
interview | by Rebecca Louder
Diaper-Crapping Dreams Come True
After the break up of the band he lead
for a long time, The Czars’, musician
John Grant has spent the past few years
gathering himself together by moving to
New York City, learning a fifth language
and composing a stunning album of
grand, classic, Harry Nilsson-esque
novellas. We caught up with him on the
eve of his Airwaves performance to find
out why he’s so excited to play here.
Hey John, how are you?
Not bad. We went to Dartmore National
Park today which is down here in the
south of England and it’s basically a
giant moor. It’s absolutely breathtaking.
But!—I bet it’s not as breathtaking as
Iceland!
You sound excited to come here!
I am so excited to go there. I have been
dying to come there since about 1988.
I just want to go take a walk out in the
middle of nowhere and feel the wind
and look at the countryside. I want to
go for some long walks and see some
moody, melancholy landscapes. I think
Iceland is probably going to be really
dramatic for me. I’ve wanted to get
there for nearly 25 years.
It’s interesting that you mention the
melancholy of the Icelandic countryside,
because there is a lot of melancholy in
your album too.
Absolutely. I grew up listening to a lot
of classical music, a lot of stuff from the
‘70s, a lot of ABBA and there’s definitely
a lot of beautiful minor melodies. At the
same time I was playing a lot of Chopin
and Rachmaninoff when I was growing
up, and some of the slower ragtimes
from Joseph Lamb and Scott Joplin.
I think Iceland is going to fit in really
nicely with who I am.
Where did your interest in Iceland
begin?
In ’88 I was in my late teens and I
was listening to the Sugarcubes. I
loved ‘Life’s Too Good.’ I went to live in
Germany and one of my fellow students
showed us a slideshow about Iceland
and then it was a done deal. I thought
it was the most amazing thing I’d ever
seen. Then I fell in love with GusGus
and I still love everything those guys do.
One thing I wanted to say, and this
is probably really strange, but I thought
that Iceland definitely doesn’t need me
because you have GusGus, Sigur Rós
and Björk. You’ve got it covered! Why
would you need anything else? I think
I’ve never really formulated that thought
or said it out loud but I think I’ve always
sort of felt that way. The standard there
is so high.
Nonetheless, the music scene here
is actually pretty massive. People are
constantly forming new bands and
starting new projects and they love
bringing foreign acts in.
People want lots of choices. Nobody
would be interested in listening to just
Björk for the rest of their lives, because
you would miss out on so many other
flavours. Although I will say that if
I were stranded on a desert island,
GusGus would be one of my top picks.
If I had all of their albums on a desert
island with me, I’d be in pretty good
spirits.
You could have a pretty great dance
party, anyway!
Absolutely! But all this to say, it’s ridicu-
lous to think that way. I was surprised
when I started getting messages on
Facebook from people in Iceland,
because I didn’t know that people were
listening to my music there and it was
really exciting for me. When I found
out I was playing this festival, I almost
crapped my diaper.
Interview with John Grant
Airwaves veterans share their best memories
sat 00:10
Harpa Norðurljós
Once a festival gets to its 13th year,
you better believe it’s made a lasting
impression on people. And a festival
like Airwaves in a city like Reykjavík?
Well, that really spells out a recipe for
one kind of memory: the parties. Oh
my goshes all the parties. Within the
big picture party of the festival are
all the sub-parties – pre-partying at
off-venues, full on crowd experience
partying, all-of-a-sudden parties that
happen when you are walking down
Laugavegur, eating breakfast at Prikið
when you haven’t gone to sleep from
the afterparty parties… you get the
idea! In that spirit, we decided to ask
some people in town who have been
Airwavesing for years – some of them
since year one, 1999! – to find out what
their favourite memory that they can
barely remember.
Þorsteinn stephensen, iceland air-
waves founder, CEo, titan
“I’m happy to say that there are many
great parties to be remembered
from the first eleven years of Iceland
Airwaves. The first three years, most of
them seemed to take place in the club
Thomsen, which for a long time was the
home of Reykjavík’s underground. For
some reason these parties seem to get
mixed one with another but believe me
they were all great.
In 2001, we did a great party on
board of one the whale-watching boats.
GusGus performed, the Aftur sisters
decorated the boat, the booze was
free... The guys who operated the boat
charged us nothing, which was very
convenient as we had nothing, The
Rapture were there, Sparta and many
other cool people. 2001 was in a way
the year the festival born in its current
form, and this was just a fantastic year
freezing cold, sunny and amazing in
every way. Happy days. Since then there
have been many great parties, but that
one was special.”
lóa hjalmtýsdóttir, Fm belfast
singer
“I remember that Airwaves 2005 was
great. My favourite show that year was
CottonPlúseinn at Nasa. Most party
moments I remember from 2005 were
the usual mayhem parties at Sirkús. I
also very much enjoyed the parties that
were held at the studio we shared with
lots of lovely bands at Smiðjustígur dur-
ing Airwaves 2008. Last year I have to
choose a party we had in the basement
of Havarí after a Prins Póló show and
the loud street party outside of Bakkus
on Sunday night after our show with
Dan Deacon.”
bart Cameron, former Grapevine
editor, musician (the Foghorns)
“In all my time writing about, perform-
ing at, and editing magazines dedicated
to Iceland Airwaves, I attended one
party during the actual festival. As an
editor, I gave my invites to journalists as
perks, or I was working. The one party I
attended was a Vice Magazine party. It
was singularly void of intellect, art, and
humanity, and I considered spontane-
ously dying in protest. For me, the
concerts and working with writers were
my big interests.”
Ólafur arnalds, musician
“The Whitest Boy Alive, 2006 I think.
It was on a Thursday, so venues only
had a license to 1am. By 1:20am the
cops were there but they kept playing.
By 1:40, they took the electricity off the
PA but they just turned their amps up
even louder instead and kept playing. In
the end it seemed the police and club
managers decided not to attempt to do
anything as it would probably just have
caused a riot. The band ended up play-
ing for almost 3 hours with a non-stop
dance-party the whole time.”
Eldar Ástþórsson, former iceland
airwaves manager, currently with
CCp
“Oh that’s a hard one. Impossible, really.
There have been so many memorable
moments, parties and shows at the
festival throughout the years. FM Bel-
fast playing the now-burnt down Astró
club in 2006 is something I won’t forget,
maybe not the best of shows but there
was a certain vibe in the air and it set
the tone for a fantastic festival that year.
The GusGus instrumental show in 2003
was epic, at the club Spotlight, where
the 101 Hotel swimming pool is now.
Looking back on some of the best in-
ternational shows, The Rapture in 2002,
The Kills in 2003, Ratatat in 2004 after
and !!! in 2008 all have legendary status
in my mind. True party atmosphere,
festival highlights for sure. The list can
go on and on...”
Although he’s been to Iceland every
year for the past five years, and
although he’s played concerts here
almost every time, this is the first year
that Sean Lennon is lining up his annual
Iceland excursion with Airwaves. To
make the most of it, he’s bringing along
all three of his projects, which makes
him the single international artist play-
ing in the most bands of the festival.
How do you manage playing in three
bands at the same festival?
That has yet to be seen. I have done a
show like that at SXSW, where I played
in four or five projects in an evening
and it does take a bit of multi-tasking.
Luckily they are all on the same stage
and we share equipment and a lot of
the music is improvised in Consortium
Musicum, so I don’t have to worry about
that before we start.
It must get a little hectic though…
It does. Sometimes I wish we lived on
a bigger planet, because then there
would be more hours in the day.
I think a lot of people feel that way
sometimes. Music projects are a lot
like children and you’re not supposed
to pick a favourite but do you have one
you’re most excited about right now?
I am excited about all of them equally,
and in different ways, I guess in the
same way a parent might say to their
children. To be able to work with my
mom is such an honour and I’m such a
big fan of hers. To be able to produce
for her is such a big privilege for me.
Then The Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger
is my main project with my girlfriend,
and the thing I am focusing on the
most these days. But Consortium is also
really a treat because I get to improvise
with one of my favourite musicians in
the world, Greg Saunier from Deerhoof,
and it’s sort of a cathartic release that I
wouldn’t otherwise get.
Since you’ve been here so often and
know it quite well here, do you have
anything you do regularly when you
visit?
I have a bunch of Icelandic friends that
I like to see and I tend to do a lot of
weird extreme hiking and nature explo-
ration. There are a lot of weird caves
and glaciers to be explored. They are all
in the middle of nowhere. You have to
hire these services that make sure you
don’t freeze to death.
I’m really looking forward to com-
ing. We’re really excited that we were
able to make Airwaves coincide with
the Imagine Peace trip because for
years I’ve been saying, “This is crazy!
We’re leaving two days before this big
festival!” I always just felt like if we
could merge the two, my whole birthday
experience of Iceland would be perfect.
So this year I’m thinking that it’s moving
towards a better system.
How familiar are you with the Icelandic
music scene? Are there any local bands
you’re looking forward to seeing?
There are so many bands in Iceland that
it’s hard to keep track. I definitely am
more aware of Icelandic music than I
am, say, of other countries. At the same
time, I’m not young enough to keep up
with everything that’s happening. When
I was younger I used to really persevere
to know what the newest, hippest,
coolest bands were all the time. Now I
don’t really have the time to dedicate to
it anymore. I mean, I used to go to five
shows a week if I wasn’t on tour. Now
my friends basically have to bribe me to
leave the house.
party| by Rebecca Louder
The Best Party You
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interview | by Rebecca Louder
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