Reykjavík Grapevine - 21.04.2017, Page 34

Music
Punk Is Dead
Long Live Yoga Punk

Words: Elías Þórsson Photo: Helga Laufey Ásgeirsdóttir
There doesn’t seem to be any place
better to interview the lead guitar-
ist of a punk band than midnight
at a bar in downtown Reykjavík.
Árni Þór Árnason is a burly man
with a demeanour that seems to
fit perfectly with a punk band that
also makes yoga music—warm
and cuddly, but with a clear edge.
He claims that previously, he had
been in bands that made music to
“make it,” but now his only goal
is to satisfy his own creative im-
pulses.
“For over ten years all of us had
been in bands,” he says of his new
project, “and we had been close
friends for all those years—but
at the time when we started play-
ing together all our bands were
on hiatus. So we just started jam-
ming, drinking beers and having
fun. The thing with punk is that it’s
anything you fucking want it to be.”
The last piece in the puzzle,
however, came about when their
friend married a girl
from Colorado. Recalls
Árni: “We saw her at a
party and thought she
looked cool. We had no
idea if she could sing
or not, and invited her
to be the singer of the
band.”
It turned out that
she could, and that the chemis-
try worked. The quartet got to-
gether and started making music.
It might be years since punk had
any influence, but from the get-go
something special was brewing,
and that something was Tófa.
Contagious fun
The ethos of “fuck it, this is fun”—
which has always exemplified
great punk—runs right through
the spine of the band. The re-
sponse has been overwhelmingly
positive; they’ve even caught the
ear of Pitchfork, who gave props
to front-woman Allie Doersch’s
“blaring and flinty” voice.
“I’m amazed by the reception
we’ve gotten” from both the public
and critics, Árni says. “I am still
amazed that people like this stuff.
In our other bands we have always
had an end goal, but this time
we just wanted to have fun, and I
think that’s contagious. People see
that we’re genuinely having fun,
and pick up on it.”
It’s this power that exemplifies
their live performances. And yet
despite all this, the band doesn’t
believe in categories and recently
decided to flip every-
thing on its head and
make... a yoga album.
“I’m not really sure why
we decided to make a
yoga album,” explains
Árni. “We were asked
to play a yoga gig last
Airwaves, and most
of us do yoga. People
showed up and seemed to like it so
we thought, ‘Why not?’”
It’s an unorthodox approach for
a punk band to make a yoga album,
but then again, when punk stops
being style and fashion it boils
down to an ethos—something
Tófa has in abundance. Next up for
Tófa is conquering the world be-
yond Iceland’s shores with a con-
cert at Ja Ja Ja in London on April
27. But before that, you can catch
them at Húrra on April 26: a good
opportunity to witness the punk-
est yoga band in town.
LISTEN & SHARE: gpv.is/tofa06
34The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 06 — 2017
“The thing
with punk
is that it is
anything you
fucking want
it to be.”
Even though shot in black and
white, this photo is in fact recent.
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