Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.04.2013, Qupperneq 28

28The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 4 — 2013
Retro Stefson
Music videos, sexy shower shoots and word games
Fontana Spa is located in Laugarvatn, 77 kilometres from Reykjavík.
See www.fontana.is for more information. You can also book a day trip
to the spa through Reykjavík Excursions through www.re.is.
“Do you remember Dudley, Raleigh
St. Clair’s test subject in ‘The Royal Te-
nenbaums’? Well, I think he’s got the
same syndrome,” Retro Stefson front-
man Unnsteinn explains, pardoning his
band mate Hermigervill for asking our
photographer/plumber extraordinaire
whether he had any upcoming photo
shoots in the ‘pipes.’ “It’s related to his
acute sense of hearing—it’s the same
brain function that spots these word
application-options that usually cre-
ates music,” Unnsteinn continues. “I
guess genius always comes with a by
product like this.”
After Unnsteinn’s apology, the two
go on debating whether it’s more im-
portant to emphasise the visual or the
narrative in music videos. Hermiger-
vill prefers using the format as a plat-
form for visual art experiments while
Unnsteinn is more of a storyteller. That,
and a negotiator par excellence who
manages to solve this debate in a way
that leaves both parties content, mak-
ing apparent his strength as the leader.
MEET RETRO STEFSON
We’re in the company of three mem-
bers of Retro Stefson’s 8-piece out-
fit: the core Stefson Brothers, or Les
Frères Stefson, as they’ve tattooed
on their upper arms, and their most
recent addition, Hermigervill, a red-
bearded synthesizer-prodigy. The
band is an ever-evolving organism
that has been alive for an admirably
long time compared to the average
age of the band, which is a little over
20-years-old. They started it when
they were in elementary school as
some kind of a school project and
now almost one decade, two records
and countless successful shows lat-
er, they’re still going strong.
At this point they’re far out of
their comfort zone of 101 Reykjavík,
in the lobby of the recently opened
Fontana Spa in Laugarvatn with
three steam rooms, a Finnish-style
sauna, and outdoor mineral baths
and pools.
The bunch are equipped with
trunks and other essential spa ac-
cessories and they’re eager to get
into the hot tubs and boil out last-
night’s sins in the natural steam
baths. Tomorrow they’re shooting a
music video with wunderkind direc-
tor Reynir Lyngdal and the following
day they’re off to follow up the Eu-
ropean release of their new record,
lucidly named ‘Retro Stefson,’ with
a several-week-long tour. So yeah,
they’re busy.
After devouring some locally
earth-baked rye bread with smoked
salmon chaperoned by a few Boli
beers, it’s finally time to dip our toes
into the geothermal baths. There’s no
time for a chat in the locker-room, as
the aforementioned photographer/
plumber extraordinaire reminds me
that this slot was booked a long time
ago for a ‘sexy-showershoot’ as he
describes it. But after all disposable
memory cards had been filled up
with luscious photos of the hot-boy
trio, we continue talking about their
music video enthusiasm.
HUNTING THE
QWEEN FOX
“We probably wrote about seven or
eight drafts of the script and tomor-
row we’re shooting a final version
that we’re pretty happy with. It’s a
about a foxhunter and his adven-
tures,” Unnsteinn says, describing
his collaboration with Reynir, the
director of the music video that they
are shooting tomorrow for their song
“Qween.” The story about the fox-
hunter, played by Unnsteinn himself,
is more atmospheric than narrative
and combines the two elements Her-
migervill and Unnsteinn previously
debated. “Not A LOT happens as it’s
only a couple of days in his life, but
we see a few relatively big events.”
Retro Stefson have been pretty
busy video-wise. Earlier this month
they shot another video for their yet-
to-be-released song, “She Said.”
And on top of that they received the
Icelandic Music Award for a video
they shot last year for “Glow.”
Unnsteinn tells me one of the
main reasons for this productivity
in the video-part of the promotion is
his enthusiasm in the field. Whereas
a more orthodox workflow would
have the director involved in the ini-
tial creative work, Unnsteinn wrote
the concepts for the two last videos
they made and brought them to the
directors. This has resulted in an im-
pressive number of videos thus far
and he’s not ruling out the possibility
of taking his film-drive beyond Retro
Stefson.
While they ponder this possibility
in the hybrid between a pool and a
hot tub that we’re lying in, a gener-
ous spa employee arrives with a tray
filled with what is possibly the green-
est drink I’ve ever laid eyes on. And
luckily for the photo shoot that was
about to take place in the cold winds
of the north, it was ragingly alcoholic
and full of vitamin-rich seaweed.
YOUTUBE CHANNELS
AND LURING TITS
After moving out of the cold and
into the boiling natural steam bath,
the gang continues to dissect their
graphic tendencies. They talk about
how this promotional stuff not only
serves as an artistic platform these
days but it’s also becoming a vital
thing in the viral age we live in.
Hermigervill points out that it’s
all about YouTube these days: “If you
want to listen to a song, you go to
YouTube so you kind of have to have
a strong YouTube presence.” Logi
adds: “It’s considered both dull and
banal to have your album covers on
the monitor when people are jigging
to your tunes, so you have to pro-
duce music videos.”
“Nowadays there are also these
YouTube-channels,” Logi goes on.
“I started noticing them about a year
ago. They are like really nice clubs
with hot ladies and nice music that
you can always go to—except it’s on
YouTube.” Hermigervill complains
about the cheap marketing method
of using tits and ass to lure listeners
into your channels, but Logi con-
cludes: “that’s what you gotta do.”
KEEPING THE VISUAL
SHIT TOGETHER
After abandoning that toxin-cleans-
ing steam bath, we’re back in the lob-
by where the brothers sit and enjoy a
piece of carrot cake. Hermigervill is
however MIA and the brothers reck-
on he’s still drying his Viking beard;
it usually takes a while, they tell me.
Our conversation turns from vid-
eo to graphics as they were not only
awarded the aforementioned music
video award, but also the best album
cover of the year by the tabloid DV.
This time the credit goes elsewhere.
“I’m not really graphically inclined,”
Unnsteinn says humbly. "When we
release an album I’d prefer it to be
completely empty, without a cover.”
He goes on to explain that they’re
surrounded by a lot of talent and
ever since Sara María of Naked Ape
fame, Árni Rúnar from FM Belfast
and Halli Civelek showed up with
the first batch of unsolicited band t-
shirts made without their knowledge
just before the release of their first
album, all the graphic creative work
has been in the hands of others, but
mainly Halli Civelek. “He’s a no-com-
promises kind-of-guy,” Logi tells me,
“and it might seem like we’re preoc-
cupied with the visual aspects of our
albums, but it’s all him.” They stress
that they owe a lot of their image to
the good people around them.
At that moment our bus rolls up
and a bunch of tourists on the Golden
Circle tour surround the Retro gang.
When the driver announces that
we’re going to stop by Þingvellir na-
tional park before we hit the streets
of Reykjavík, the guys don’t mind.
It’s an excellent warm up for the next
couple of months when they’ll spend
most of their time on a bus, contem-
plating their next moves.
- Sigurður Kjartan Kristinsson
O
n
A
Date W
ith
:
“It’s
considered
both dull and
banal to have your
album covers on the
monitor when people
are jigging to your
tunes, so you have
to produce music
videos.”
Unique, unfiltered
brewery from the North
Happy Hour every day from 17–20
Laugavegur 20B, 101 Reykjavík
Photos: GAS