Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.07.2019, Side 20

ramshackle gear, but the impact of the
show had a lasting effect on the people
involved.
“That was the first Post-dreifing
show,” says Jóhannes Bjarki Bjarkason,
of the band Skoffín. “Well, it wasn’t
really a Post-dreifing show, but it
formed out of that.” Shortly thereafter,
things started to bubble.
Born at a time when the local musi-
cal landscape was mainly dominated
by hip hop, Post-dreifing was formed
by a loose group of friends performing
in guitar-based indie bands, minimal
electronic artists, and teenage riot grrl
punks. However, the collective never
aimed to define itself in terms of any
specific style, but rather on values of
self-sufficiency, anti-capitalism and
collaboration.
“I don’t think Post-dreifing has an
aesthetic,” says Hjálmar Karlsson, a
member of the band Sideproject. “At
least not, ‘here’s hip hop and this is
what’s popular, let’s focus on this.’ It
just started as a group of friends want-
ing to release music together.”
The common thread that ties them
together is a focus on creating and
playing music and supporting other
people doing the same as opposed to
selling or generating profit.
You snooze
you lose
democracy
“It has roots in anarchism
a n d
d o - i t -
yourself, do-it-
together sort of
thinking,” says Snæbjörn H e l g i
Arnason Jack, artist name Faxacon.
This is best reflected by their process
of evaluating and approving new proj-
ects, which is done in general meetings
where anyone involved in Post-dreif-
ing in any way shape or form has the
opportunity to take part.
“It’s not really a decision-making
process,” says Auðunn Orri Sigurvins-
son, bassist in Milkhouse and Skoffín.
“Someone has an idea and we comment
on that, and if we’re strongly opposed
to it, if it clashes with our core values,
of course there’s gonna be a discussion.
Maybe we just don’t do it. But that’s
never happened before.”
“We meet up and then the people
who have shown up are part of the
decision making,” says Ida Schuften
Juhl, known as IDK IDA. “Everyone
always has the opportunity to be part
of it, but if you choose not to come then
we don’t have to wait for that person to
respond.” However they do try to stay
organized and professional, keeping
minutes of their meetings and posting
them for all members to read and, if
necessary, voice opposition to.
Haters
back off
As for the aforementioned core values,
everyone in the collective has their own
opinions and views, but they
agree on Post-dreifing’s
general stance: Don’t Be An
Asshole.
“I think the
core basic values are anarchist,
anti-capitalist, pro-feminist,
all of this,” says Auðunn. “As
long as you don’t hate a certain
group of people for no reason.
I’d say it’s human decency and
just basic kindness of being
a person. I think that trans-
lates really well into the whole
group. I think everyone really
shares those ideals. We haven’t ever
had to say no to someone wanting to
take part in Post-dreifing because they
don’t have those ideals; we don’t appeal
to such people.”
In fact, many members of the Post-
dreifing family have been involved in
recent movement of peaceful protests
against the deportation of refugees
from Iceland. A few have been tear-
gassed and detained by police in these
demonstrations. “Not every individual
participates in all of these movements,
but I think that at its most basic, Post-
dreifing is anti-oppression,” says
Jóhannes. “Whether that be oppres-
sion from the state, oppression from
markets, or cultural oppression.”
The group is currently working on
updating their manifesto to incorpo-
rate their ethics and values. “What we
have talked a lot about was that we
agree that art is inherently political,”
says Ida, in regards to the re-drafting
of said manifesto. Snæbjörn contin-
ues: “I heard a guy in an interview once
say, ‘All music is political because it
comes from the environment and the
environment is political.’”
Build the stage
The collective’s goal, though, is primar-
ily artistic. Their purpose is building
and sustaining this platform they have
created. For many of the emerging
artists, this means being given a space
to play live where they were unable to
before. For others it means reaching
out to new audiences and connecting
with other communities.
“I played my first gigs through a
friend group that are the same people
who are in Post-dreifing, but it was
just a smaller friend group back then,”
says Atli Finnsson, of Sideproject. “I
personally never had a gig before Post-
dreifing.”
“The band I was in before was pretty
big at the time and we would usually
get an audience, but it was always
the same audience,” says Auðunn.
“We would never grow into any sort
of mainstream. We had a song on the
radio for two days but we always stayed
really underground. When Post-dreif-
ing started up we hadn’t played a show
in a really long time. But because every
one of us is in the collective, when we
came back on the scene we filled the
entirety of Húrra just because of this
huge backing.”
The collec-
tive are as active
as possible in
creating live
events, despite
the shrinking
number of
venues to
play in the city.
Over 2018, they held a
brief concert series at
Bravó called Smá í tanna, where they
built the stage by hand out of wood
pallets. They credit the DIY basement
venue R6013 and its founder, Ægir
Sindri Bjarnason, as being instrumen-
tal to Post-dreifing, as the two started
to take off around the same time. Still,
one single venue is insufficient.
Soundtrack
for beer sales
“The main problem is, except for R6013
there are no places to play,” says Hjál-
mar. “There’s Mengi, which is really
good, but because of how it operates
concerts are expensive there. Also,
just this connection of alcohol and
music. Music just being this thing
when people go out to party. You can’t
play a concert unless the bar thinks it’s
going to get a profit, so you’re just a
soundtrack for beer sales.”
Their other concern is the fact that
many of their members and their
fanbase are under the age of 20 (the
legal drinking age in Iceland), which
has previously resulted in bands being
thrown out of their own gigs by door-
men. Sometimes even being thrown
off stage. “Even Húrra now has closed
down,” says Auðunn. “That leaves
Gaukurinn, which has a great sound-
system and a fantastic stage but it’s
20 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 11— 2019
“We’re all young, we’re
all idealistic. Whatev-
er we do, or whatever
the impact, we’re just
making friends along
the way.”