Reykjavík Grapevine - dec 2023, Qupperneq 12

The Reykjavík Grapevine 17/ 23 12Feature
WORDS Jóhannes Bjarkason
IMAGES Axel Sigurðarson
It’s time once again for Iceland
Airwaves – the country’s biggest
and most ambitious music festival.
Also known as “the busiest week to
be a musician” or “the musician’s
holiday,” the festival has been an
essential part of Icelandic music
ever since a bunch of bands came
together to party in an airplane
hangar 20 years ago. It’s a week to
discover promising acts, make new
friends and bathe in the beauty of
early Icelandic winter.
Every year, up-and-coming artists
surface for a showcase spot at the
festival. While more than 100 artists
will be performing over five days
across several Reykjavík venues,
we sought out the four most excit-
ing newcomers debuting at Iceland
Airwaves 2023.
CELEBS
By way of nothing less than the
Icelandic Eurovision National Finals,
this synth-pop trio rocked the nation
with their boppy dystopian anthem
“Doomsday Dancing.” Did we men-
tion they’re siblings?
Hailing from Suðureyri, trio Valgeir
Orri, Katla Vigdís and Hrafnkell Hugi
– all children of Vernharður – bring
considerable musical experience
to the band. Both brothers were
members of the indie-pop band
Rythmatik; Katla started in the folk-
pop duo Between Mountains. On
separate occasions, both outfits
demonstrated their talents in Músík-
tilraunir, charming the jury panel and
subsequently landing on top. Their
victories led both acts to considera-
ble success.
The idea behind Celebs came to Val-
geir Orri – a drummer and the eldest
of the three – during a Christmas
break before the onset of the pan-
demic. “I wanted to start a project
focusing on amusement and enter-
tainment,” Valgeir says, lamenting
the fact that “fun bands” were hard
to come by at the time.
“I had noticed there was a short-
age of what you’d call ‘party bands,’
focused on the live element. There
had been this wave of..,” he pauses,
choosing his words carefully. “Every-
body needed to be so extremely
cool all the time and keep up this
try-hard attitude,” he continues.
“You never could be a bit silly. There
hadn’t been anything considerable
come up – in my opinion – since Ret-
ro Stefson or FM Belfast.”
Raising the topic of FM Belfast, I
needed to address the apparent
similarities between that beloved
veteran band and newcomers Cel-
ebs. With both artists emphasising
dance music, glitter and confetti,
was it a conscious decision to em-
ulate the group? “Well, it was sort
of a blueprint I guess,” states Hrafn-
kell, with Valgeir agreeing. “They’re
definitely an influence, but we bring
more of a rock aspect into the mu-
sic,” he comments, joking: “I heard
the other day that we sound like
punk FM Belfast,” Valgeir jokes.
Katla chimes in: “What shapes us
is your live drumming,” she says to
Valgeir. “Starting out, that influenced
the music a lot, being live music
and not computer programmed.” In
addition to the drums, there are cer-
tain elements within Celebs’ ethos,
songwriting and overall style that
only further support the argument
of them being FM Belfast’s punk
cousin.
WINNING HEARTS AND
MINDS
And then there’s Eurovision. Al-
though they didn’t make it to the Eu-
ropean, Celebs were chosen as wild
card finalists following the national
qualifying rounds. The decision to
enter the national competition was a
straightforward one.
“So, Hrafnkell suggested this to
us, expecting a huge fight,” Valgeir
starts explaining. Hrafnkell inter-
jects: “It’s a funny contradiction,
since you’re talking about these
bands that take themselves too seri-
ously,” he says, referring to an earlier
point in our conversation, “But I was
definitely expecting both of you to
be too cool to participate in [Euro-
vision].”
“I thought it was a no-brainer. We
were playing at Innipúkinn when
somebody from RÚV (Icelandic Na-
tional Radio) spotted us.”
“Not just anyone,” Valgeir interrupts,
“It was RÚV’s Head of TV. Anyway,
he starts chatting and encouraged
us to participate in the Eurovision
qualifiers.”
Though Diljá brought her “Power” to
Liverpool, Celebs certainly won the
hearts and minds of the Icelandic
audience. Through the combination
of the infectiously catchy “Dooms-
day Dancing,” a mysterious onstage
dancer dubbed “The Party Mon-
ster” and Hrafnkell’s hilarious stage
antics, Celebs became a household
name.
“It was exactly what we intended to
do. To firmly place ourselves into
the national consciousness,” Valgeir
adds. Consider that mission accom-
plished.
As for their upcoming Airwaves gig,
Hrafnkell says the trio is “way more
excited than nervous. This is a har-
vest festival for Icelandic musicians.”
“But there’s one thing,” Valgeir adds.
“We never know what Hrafnkell is
going to say onstage.” Hrafnkell
replies assuringly, “I just catch the
spirit when it comes to me. I usually
try to say something strange that
people can’t read too much into.
There’s nothing to read into, really.”
Catch Celebs perform at the Iceland
Airwaves Center, Friday Nov 3, at
22:50.
KÁRI
Kári Egilsson burst onto the Ice-
landic music scene seemingly out
of nowhere in late October 2022.
His first single “Something Better /
Moonbeams” was released to the
acclaim of Icelandic media. The son
of illustrious TV show host and cul-
FESTIVAL FEATURE Making Waves
Meet The Four Most Exciting Airwaves Debuts
I have terrible stage fright and
I find it a particularly mad idea
to be singing these songs
since I’ve never looked at my-
self as a singer.
Everybody needed to be so ex-
tremely cool all the time and
keep up this try-hard attitude.