Reykjavík Grapevine - 20.06.2014, Blaðsíða 37

sushisamba
Þingholtsstræti 5 • 101 Reykjavík
Tel 568 6600 • sushisamba.is
Laugavegur
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ól
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Skólavörðust.
Amtmannsstígur
In
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Lækjar-
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Our kitchen is open
17.00–23.00 sun.–thu.
17.00–24.00 fri.–sat.
Amazing
6 course menu
Starts with a shot of the Icelandic
national spirit “Brennivín“
Arctic char
with cucumber andcoriander
Smoked puffin
with yuzu mayo
Minke whale
with celeriac purée
Reindeer burger
with portobello mushroom
Icelandic free range lamb fillet
with cinnamon potato
And to end on a high note ....
“Skyr“ panna cotta with white chocolate
and raspberry sorbet
6.990 kr.

A unique Icelandic Feast
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With his legendary concentration and 45 years of experience our Master
Watchmaker ensures that we take our waterproofing rather seriously.
Gilbert O. Gudjonsson, our Master Watchmaker and renowned craftsman,
inspects every single timepiece before it leaves our workshop.
37The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 08 — 2014 MUSIC
Gunnar: We like to cover serious topics
but still have a punchline. I was mopping
the floors at the hotel where I work while
listening to a late Leonard Cohen album
and I just love these funny and weird
bad-ass lines that crop up every now and
again. They ease your hangover and I love
it.
Baldur: Those hangover lines. Straight
out of ‘Running on Empty’ by Jackson
Browne. That’s my favourite record. Could
you please include that in the interview?
It’s the best album of all time.
Compared to your previous record,
there doesn’t seem to be as much of
an overarching narrative or concept
on the new album.
Gunnar: The recurrence of ‘Lísa’ on the
first record started out as a joke. We
thought it was pretty funny so we added
her here and there and then sold the
record as a concept piece. But there is
definitely a loose narrative to it. The lyrics
on this record are basically leftovers from
the last one that we didn’t manage to
write songs to.
Baldur: That’s what the album title
refers to: Rökrétt framhald [Logical
progression]. The next step. See, we’ve
run out of ideas. It was funny, on the last
day of recording we had recorded eight
songs but had some leftover lyrics so
we wrote three more songs on that day
and totally dried ourselves out. That was
a nice feeling. Now we just have to keep
writing keep writing songs and see what
happens. I fucking love it. It’s so much fun
and seems to happen quite naturally.
So the title is not a reference to the
critics’ cliché of a sophomore album
being a ‘logical progression’ from the
debut?
Gunnar: We’re quoting Megas. I don’t
know, maybe he was making fun of the
critics. He described ‘Millilending’ [his
second record] as a logical progression
from his self-titled album, which is
hilarious, because I’d imagine it definitely
didn’t sound like that to most listeners.
Over the last twelve months it seems
like you guys have really prioritized
the performative aspect of the group.
Your live shows have become very
energetic and quite theatrical.
Baldur: During our first shows we didn’t
even know the songs. Now we know them
inside out and can just keep adding to
the performance. Maybe a synchronized
dance or something. Work harder to keep
us on our toes.
Gunnar: We’re all artists so it’s nice to
pay attention to all of the different facets
of what a rock group is. Like, I really dig
Tom Waits—I think a concert should be
an immersive experience. And Michael
Jackson, I love that sort of spectacle. And
I think as we’ve grown we’ve become
more confident and conscious of that
aspect. We want to keep developing this,
build a catalogue
and introduce cover
songs that we relate
to.
Baldur: The other
guys—the band—
are so tight. They’re
great musicians so
we can just rock
out and interact
with the crowd. Let
loose. Have fun. If
we’re having fun, things are going well.
We have the lyrics, our songs, our videos:
we’re trying to create a certain universe.
And it’s nice to involve your friends. We’re
lucky to have very talented and creative
friends and band members. That way it’s
more about cultivating a particular vibe.
We’re not only a band.
Gunnar: We’re a gang. But it’s not a closed
society. Everyone’s invited to join us.
I heard you played some killer shows
in Denmark. Are you planning world
domination?
Gunnar: Grísalappalísa is only planning
to make music. To be a disciplined band:
productive and awesome. It’s dumb to
approach international success as a
goal. You just have to make good music
and then maybe something will happen.
Working hard is what matters the most. I
don’t appreciate this culture of releasing
an album every five years. Our strategy is
to keep ‘em coming and press ourselves
hard to produce something.
Baldur: When you have a seven-piece
band singing in Icelandic you just know
you won’t get paid every month. Making
money was never the idea.
Finally, are there any rock’n’roll mo-
ments you’d like to share with the
Grapevine?
Baldur: Should we tell him the main
story?
Gunnar: Sure. During Aldrei fór ég suður
[annual music festival held during Easter
in Ísafjörður in the West Fjords] we were
rocking out pretty hard. Baldur was
having a rough time in his relationship
and got very drunk on the Saturday night.
He was trash talking everyone, showing
off, insulting Högni [from Gusgus and
Hjaltalín] and [legendary rock singer]
Helgi Björns. Then he just rushes off and
we don’t see him till later that night when
he barges into the dorm and crashes on
the couch. When we try to move him
he wakes up and realises he’s lost his
glasses. So on Sunday night, during the
main party, he was practically blind.
Baldur: I can’t really see anything without
my glasses.
Gunnar: And he had blacked out, he had
no idea where his glasses were. Maybe
he had thrown them into the ocean in his
desperate, drunk and love-sick mood.
Baldur: I had been shouting at the sea.
Gunnar: So, on Monday morning I’m up
before everyone else, walking around the
dorm when I see two police officers come
up the stairs. They’re looking for someone
and show me this photograph of Baldur.
They tell me that on Saturday evening he
had broken into the post office and begun
writing a love letter to his girlfriend that he
meant to mail.
Baldur: I’d been writing love letters over
the last few days but I hadn’t posted them
and that night I decided to finish them
and send them all off.
Gunnar: They said that then he’d
wandered into the house next door and
fallen asleep on someone’s couch and
forgotten his glasses. So I go and wake
him up and say ‘Baldur, the police are
here, you broke into the post office, here
are your glasses.’
Baldur: The brought
me in and gave me
coffee and asked me
what had happened.
I couldn’t remember
much but we wrote
a testimony together.
I was hungover and
laughing my ass off.
He showed me this
video where I’m in
the middle of the post office, writing the
letter until the alarm goes off and I run
away. They didn’t press charges but I’ll
have to pay for the door that I kicked in.
Gunnar: But Baldur and his girlfriend
are back together now so I guess it was
worth it.
Baldur: Yeah. That was fucked.
"The recurrence of
‘Lísa’ on the first record
started out as a joke."