Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.01.2015, Page 27

sushisamba
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Tel 568 6600 • sushisamba.is
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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
27The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 1 — 2015 MUSIC
We made up the “Band To Remember”
category especially for all you tourist-
types (who might imagine that Icelan-
dic music got off to a start with Ásgeir
or Of Monsters And Men), so that you
might learn about some of the wonder-
ful, wonderful artists that preceded
today’s hip modern artists. Think of it
as a sort of public service, and a sign of
respect and gratitude.
This year, our panel unanimously
agreed: “Whoever hasn’t heard Þeyr al-
ready, needs to hear Þeyr already. They
are the quintessential Icelandic band;
creative, mysterious, iconoclastic and
fiercely individualistic.”
You need to listen to Þeyr. While you
wait for their catalogue to download,
read Dr. Gunni’s take on the band’s
story, below.
Band To Remember
Þeyr
In 1981, a flock of serious men came
out of the woodwork clad in long black
overcoats. They probably clutched a Joy
Division or a Þeyr record under their
arms. Þeyr didn’t start out as the deep
young thinker's go-to band, though. No
sir, in 1979 the band approached Svavar
Gests, a record mogul from another di-
mension, bearing two corny pop songs
that were representative of the music
they were making at that time. Svavar
liked the songs well enough to agree
to finance a Þeyr album to be released
on the SG label that he’d run since the
early 60s.
The band Þeyr were a group of
friends who had been dabbling in
music since the mid-70s. They started
to record their pop songs during the
winter of 1980, and had about half of
a LP ready when they decided to take
the summer off. During the summer
of 1980, the band got hip to all kinds
of new sounds through friends and
relatives—both progressive new wave
and modern art music, such as Schön-
berg’s. When the recording sessions
commenced in the fall, Þeyr’s sound
was totally transformed. Also there had
been a lineup change: those who didn’t
surrender to the new sound were cer-
emoniously dismissed.
Þeyr were on a roll. The band added
two guitarists to their ranks, Guðlau-
gur “Godkrist” Óttarsson and Þorste-
inn Magnússon, who had played in
Eik, a progressive band that the Þeyr
boys had loved during their formative
years. His transformation to the new
style was celebrated with a ceremony
during a Þeyr concert in February of
1981. He spoke of being “freed,” as his
long hippie hair was shorn on stage.
Iceland’s first new wave band
Þeyr were called the first “new wave”
band in Iceland and had a very “new
wave”-ish stage presence. The mem-
bers behaved like spastic robots and
sometimes the gigs would start with
the members carrying in a coffin con-
taining the band’s singer, Magnús
Guðmundsson. During the first song,
long and tall Magnús would rise from
his coffin, and proceed to loom over
the crowd like a cross between Fran-
kenstein and Dracula in his long black
leather coat, gravely singing and fro-
zenly staring into the distance.
Þeyr and their close circle of friends
got involved with all kinds of mysteri-
ous ideologies. Occultism and mysti-
cism coloured the music and the band’s
outlook. The regular Þeyr fan tried his
best to understand what Aleister Crow-
ley, Nicolai Tesla, Wilhelm Reich, the
Illuminati and all the other stuff Þeyr
harped on was all about.
The band’s first 7 inch was called
‘Útfrymi’ (“Ectoplasm”)—and includ-
ed “Life Transmission,” an ode to Joy
Division’s Ian Curtis, who had taken
his life the year before. The record
came with a propaganda sheet where
the band declared that they wanted to
have spiritual intercourse with the Ice-
landic nation. The record was released
on the band’s own label, Eskvímó, like
most of their other records.
Inducing tropical climates
Þeyr were pranksters. When ‘Iður til
fóta’ (“Innards at feet”)—a 10inch
featuring four accessible new wave
songs—was released in September of
1981, the band issued a press release
claiming the album was equipped with
a weather control device. At that time
there was only one radio station in Ice-
land. “It is remarkable that during the
days that the radio plays the record,
Iceland experiences an almost tropical
climate,” they stated.
The band’s second LP, ‘Mjötviður
Mær’, saw release in December of 1981.
The term “Mjötviður” comes from Old
Norse mythologies, which is inter-
esting since the band’s main ideolo-
gist, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, would
much later become the high priest of
Ásatrúarfélagið, the religious organisa-
tion for those who practice belief in the
Old Norse gods.
It is a diverse album, its songs rang-
ing from the soft instrumental song
“Mjötviður” to the driving “Rúdolf”—
soon to be every drummer’s favourite,
due to Sigtryggur Baldursson’s signa-
ture beat. Also to be found on the al-
bum are experimental tracks such as
“Iss” and “2999,” which features the
sounds of a bulldozer that happened
to pass the studio. The album got rave
reviews in the Icelandic media, the con-
sensus being that Þeyr were now in the
top league of Icelandic rock bands.
Read the full story at
www.grapevine.is
A s a t h a n k Þe y r f or b ei ng awe s ome , we
t ea me d up w it h Kola br aut i n t o i nv it e Þe y r
t o a lu x u r iou s d i n ner pa r t y.