Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.04.2015, Side 22

Músiktilraunir started way back in 1982,
with previous winners including lo-
cal heroes like Mínus, XXX Rottweiler,
Botnleðja and Jakobínarína, and high-
flying newbies such as Samaris and Vök
and OMAM. The winners often develop
into firm Icelandic favourites, so we
made the trip through the five-kilome-
tre Vestirfirðir tunnel to Rythmatik’s tiny
hometown of Suðureyri, population 312.
With second guitarist Eggert Nielsen
tied up at an Easter family function, the
fort was held by brothers Hrafnkell Hugi
and Valgeir Skorri Vernharðsson (gui-
tar/vocals and drums), and Pétur Óli
Þorvaldsson (bass).
How has the week since Músik-
tilraunir been?
Hrafnkell: It’s been crazy! We’ve had
no rest.
Pétur: This has been the first time
people actually want us to play. Nor-
mally it’s just like, "Let’s let them play.”
But now they’re calling us up, and we’re
saying, “Yes” immediately... then realis-
ing we have a lot of gigs in a very short
time. So we’ve been running around like
crazy.
Valgeir: We played five gigs in three
days, and have one more to do. But it’s
also the logistics of moving all the stuff
around. We have to take our backline
with us every time.
P: We also got kicked out of our prac-
tice space right before we won. We got
that call while we were in Reykjavík
for the finals, saying, “You need to go,
now!” So we won and then we drove
home in horrible weather and started
being evicted. We’ve had no rest!
H: It was bad luck! But me and Valgeir’s
uncle has fixed us up with a new prac-
tice space. So shout-out to him.
I heard you’re the first West-
fjords band to win Músiktil-
raunir?
H: We think so! You know, me and Val-
geir's dad was actually going to com-
pete when he was 15, but his flight was
cancelled because of bad weather, so
he couldn’t go. He obviously would
have won, because, you know, he’s the
man! I was listening to a recording of
that band, which I’d never heard until
recently. My dad’s like a really tasteful
guitarist, not doing loads of complex
stuff, but just what the song needs. He
hadn’t learned that quality yet when he
was 15, and so he was just shredding all
over the guitar. And I was like, “Is that
you? It can’t be!”
V: He’s always giving us guidance
about not showing off on your instru-
ment. That’s something I have really
picked up from him.
How long has the band been
together?
V: Me and Hrafnkell started maybe in
2012. We played as an acoustic duo in
the Suðureyri community hall. It was
the festival for when the sun first shows
its face in spring. We always wanted to
do something more, but we had trouble
filling in the rest of the band members.
We didn’t want to be acoustic, we want-
ed to play rock ’n’ roll. We went through
a few members who were kind of doing
us a favour by joining in, but we were
after people who were committed and
really wanted to be in the band. We kind
of dragged Pétur from under a rock! He
had dropped out of school and was just
playing video games and we said, “No!
We need a bassist, you have to go back
to school and be a functioning member
of society, and play bass for us!”
P: Yes! So, I’m back, haha! Yeah. So
they fired the other bassist. He’s a good
friend of ours. I would say he’s a much
better bassist than me, but he wanted
to, you know, slap de bass. Which is
maybe not what this kind of music
needs.
V: Yeah, it’s not tasteful, you need some
reserve on the bass in this kind of mu-
sic. He didn’t have real passion for this
band, I think.
Do you guys have a lot in com-
mon, in terms of your taste in
music?
V: Not really! Pétur loves Iron Maiden.
P: I only listen to Iron Maiden once a
week. So I don’t get bored of them and
I can listen to them forever, haha. But
these guys showed me Biffy Clyro and
Arctic Monkeys, and we all like them.
The biggest influence that people have
pointed out to us is Big Country. But I’ve
also noticed some Smiths-y playing.
H: Basically it’s everything from our
dad’s record collection. [band laughs
uproariously]
H: I also like Ride, and someone showed
me Appleseed Cast recently, which was
a bit more experimental. I am glad we
don’t shy away from being pop, though.
We like listening to pop.
P: When we’re making a song, we
never aim to copy anyone—maybe one
person has been listening to a certain
band, but when we all join in on it, it
gets warped into something else. So it’s
never a direct copy.
V: Yeah, if people start copying other
bands, there’s just no
diversity. We’ve been
talking about this in
relation to the Ice-
landic scene. We love
the Icelandic scene
because money and
success isn’t the motivation.
H: Yeah. People here are making mu-
sic because they love it, rather than
chasing any style or sound to try and
get successful. So there’s this scene of
people making music for the love of it.
Yeah, this has come up a lot
recently in terms of what makes
Icelandic music how it is,
this idea that people are less
career-focused and therefore
more willing to play around and
take risks...
V: Exactly. We are making what we like.
We have pop songs, we have heavy
songs, we have punk songs and, you
know, it's cool if people like it. This mu-
sic makes us happy. We didn't set up
the band to try and win Músiktilraunir,
we just thought it would be fun to com-
pete, and maybe a good opportunity. If
you set up to make one particular thing,
it doesn't always deliver a song from the
heart, in my mind anyway.
H: Yeah, if you're dead set on making a
German death reggae song...
Wow, I think I'd really like to
hear a German death reggae
song.
P: Yeah, that sounds amazing!
H: Haha, yeah but then you're confined
to just that path. And if you were work-
ing on something and it wasn't German
death reggae enough, you'd have to
discard it, and that's horrible.
V: Yeah, I like diversity. Like in the semi
finals, we had to play two songs. We
picked this really low-key song, with
smooth vocals, and then the second
one, we played the heaviest song we've
got, with the biggest balls. I think we
got points for that,
even if it sounded
kind of muddy.
P: We played some-
thing more poppy on
the final night, and
I heard an interview
with one of the judges where said he
liked how much we'd improved in the
final. So maybe playing that heavy song
helped us in an unexpected way!
What did you think of the bands
you were competing against?
V: There was a band in the semi-final
that had this big dress-up show. Like
everyone had their character and cos-
tumes and stuff. But maybe that's not
what they were looking for.
H: That's a good question—how it’s
judged. If it's songwriting, performance,
the whole show... we don't really know.
V: Maybe it's that they have to see po-
tential in the band, that they can devel-
op into something more.
H: Yeah, maybe that was the thing with
the costumes. They would need like
explosions to top it—they're relying in
showmanship.
P: When we advanced, I thought,
there's a chance we can win here, that
we were in the competition. I always
thought we were in with a chance.
V: Haha and this from Pétur, he's the
most humble guy in the world!
Did you know any of the other
bands?
H: Yeah. We’re good friends with a band
called Vára, who play post-rock. They’re
cool but their music really needs space
to breathe. It needs a big hall.
V: We played with them at a small bar,
Dillon—and you just can’t bottle their
sound. They need the ambient sound of
a big space. In the right room they are
really amazing.
P: There were two punk bands that
were really fun to watch. One of them
had an accordion, which was great to
see in a punk song.
V: And one of them ate three bananas
onstage. Because why not.
P: There was this electro thing with a
really good singer. She was amazing.
V: She won the best singer. Of course.
H: Haha, these two would have been
so fucked up if I had won best singer,
they’re always complaining that I’m just
yelling some nonsense…
V: He does! At the top of his lungs, ev-
erywhere.
P: When we’re driving in the car we’re
stuck with him and he’s singing over
the radio, sometimes not even the same
song...
H: The worst thing that happened re-
garding this was when my singing tutor
told me I could actually sing. I had been
yelling for a year in band practices and
had no confidence in my voice. My in-
structor told me that I’m a good singer
and my confidence went through the
roof. So I’m always trying to show ev-
eryone just how good a singer I am.
V: He’s always trying to get the high
note in "Take On Me".
Does he hit it?
V&P: NO!
V: But he has good pipes.
So what do you think will hap-
pen for Rythmatik next?
H: We want to record, and play a lot, to
make the most of the opportunity.
P: We’re going to Reykjavík next week-
end to have a lot of meetings and find
out where we’re gonna go next. We
don’t really know!
V: It’s our first ever business trip! I think
it’s going to be great. I am in this band
with my brother and two of my best
friends, and I think that shines through.
We’re not just musicians putting a band
together, we’re just having fun, playing
music, and trying to get the most out
of it.
It’s not often that a music journalist is picked up for a ride
to an interview by the band’s mother. But the short story of
Rythmatik is already one made up of firsts. Perhaps most
significantly, they’re the first band from the Westfjords to
win first place in Músiktilraunir, a long-running national
battle of the bands contest. Now, this young and obscure
local quartet from one of Iceland’s remotest regions is being
played on national radio, awarded free studio time and of-
fered a stream of high-profile gigs.
Photo
Hörður Sveinsson
Words
John Rogers
22 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 4 — 2015MUSIC
Rythmatik Embrace
Musical Diversity And
Play For The Love Of It
The Músiktilraunir winners
on competing, German death
reggae and raiding their
dad’s record collection
“We are making what
we like. We don’t shy
away from being pop.
We have pop songs,
heavy songs, punk
songs... we are making
what we like and, you
know, if people like it,
then cool. This music
makes us happy.”
INTER
VIEW