Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.07.2017, Page 38

Music
Icelandic indie label Record
Records celebrated its
tenth birthday this month.
Started in 2007 by record store clerk
Haraldur Leví Gunnarsson, the label
evolved over the years from a passion
project to a full time job, releasing mu-
sic by many of Iceland’s best-known
bands along the way. To celebrate the
big birthday, the label has released
an anniversary compilation featuring
some of their best tracks—including
homeland hits like “Reykjavík” by Sykur,
“Qween” by Retro Stefson and “Tender-
loin” by Tilbury—on double vinyl, CD
and digital formats.
Innipúkin has announced the dates
and lineup for its 2017 edition. The
festival’s name comes from the fact
that the event takes place on a holiday
weekend when Icelanders tradition-
ally go out to the countryside—
”innipúkinn” translates literally as
“indoor demon,” and is used to cajole
bookish kids outdoors to play. This
year, it’ll take place August 4-6 in the
downtown venues Gaukurinn and
Húrra, with performances from bands
including aYia, sóley, CYBER, FM Belfast,
Daði Freyr and Sturla Atlas. Day tickets
(3990 ISK) and weekend tickets (7990
ISK) are on sale now at tix.is.
Singer-songwriter Ásgeir recently went
live for an entire 24 hours via Icelan-
dic national television and a YouTube
livestream. He invited his fans to use
the hashtag #asgeirstraighttovinyl to
send in requests for covers and tracks
from his back catalogue, with the cho-
sen tracks being performed live, then
immediately pressed onto a hand-
customised vinyl record. The resulting
one-off records will be given away in
an “international scavenger hunt,” so
you’ll have to keep an eye on Ásgeir’s
social media if you want one.
MUSIC
NEWS
Kinder Sides Of
Violence
The slow but sure rise of Mammút
Words: Elías Þórsson Photo: Art Bicnick
Few bands make it past the decade
mark—even the Beatles just scraped
the milestone—but Mammút have
been around since 2004. On July 12,
they released their fourth studio al-
bum, ‘Kinder Versions’, which will be
their first to get a worldwide release.
Three of the quintet—lead singer
Katrína “Kata” Mogensen and gui-
tarists Alexandra Bal-
dursdóttir and Arnar
Pétursson—sat down
to talk about the new
album, achieving lon-
gevity, and the cre-
ative butting of heads.
“The album is
about the kind sides
of things that maybe
aren’t that kind,” ex-
plains Kata. “It deals
mainly with love. In
truth we are all love-
sick people.”
Talking to the
three you start to
understand how they
have managed to slog
through all this time
together. They share
banter, have a shared vision of what
the project is, and finish each other’s
thoughts. “I don’t know if it’s unusual,
but we always write everything to-
gether,” says Alexandra. “However, we
all have very different tastes in mu-
sic, so sometimes someone will hate
something another one loves, which
leads to a lot of experimentation, but
in the end we come together and that
moment is just amazing.”
Physical fights
In line with the obvious cohesion,
they are all in agreement that they
are a group of explosive individuals
who through every creative endeavour
submerge into the darkest depths be-
fore emerging together as a unit. “We
have called our labels a couple of times
and said, ‘We quit,’” says Kata. “When
we were making ‘Komdu Svarta Sys-
tir’ we told them, ‘This album sucks.’
But they just replied, ‘Oh, guys, not
again.’ They understand us now, and
don’t put any pressure on us.”
Creative control has always been a
Mammút mantra. They’ve fired pro-
ducers and agents, and they’ve had
their struggles during their thirteen
years together. “The mood can be
downright evil, especially when we
tour, and we have gotten into fights,”
says Kata and laughs. “Especially Al-
exandra, Arnar and I.”
“That’s true,” says Arnar. “Dur-
ing the Of Monsters and Men tour I
was covered in bruis-
es after you had been
beating me up.” Kata
interjects: “Just never
in the face. We have to
go on stage.”
They’re refresh-
ingly open about their
turmoils and trou-
bles. But such hon-
esty probably comes
from sticking around
for this long. “We just
know each other so
well, it’s no surprise
when somebody says,
‘This sucks,’” says Al-
exandra. “It can get
difficult. But in truth,
when we tour we’re
like siblings on an
endless Interrail trip—just with a lot
more stuff to carry around.”
Searching for utopia
Being around this long without ever
blowing up can be tough. Some bands
seem to play just a handful of gigs be-
fore reaching the stratosphere, but
Mammút’s rise has been a slow and
steady burn—driven in part by a light
touch of megalomania.
“It’s been very frustrating at times,
especially in regards to money,” says
Kata. “When we were young it was
fine, we all lived with our parents, but
when you become an adult you have
bills to pay, so I really don’t under-
stand how we’ve made it work. But we
all have complete belief in the project
and we are quite a utopian band. We
want to win a Grammy! And then each
of us can get a spread in People Maga-
zine.”
“And Der Spiegel,” finishes Arnar.
Mammút will play a free album release
show on July 14 at Lucky Records
gpv.is/music
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“The mood
can be
downright
evil, espe-
cially when
we tour—we
have gotten
into fights.”
Mammút, after beating each other up, possibly