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 Jakobinarina are a six piece from Iceland.
You probably have not heard of them yet but 2007 should remedy to that.
They’ve enjoyed a fast rise to success in their own country and with their signing to Uk label Rough Trade, England promises more recognition for these Icelandic boys.
They’ve also benefited from the backing and moral support of a certain Mr Anton Alfred Newcombe who has invited them to open for the Brian Jonestown Massacre.
They are young [16- 17 years old!!], they are cute and as full of life as a teenager should be. They also make the kind of music/ noise/ racket [delete as appropriate after you’ve listened to it ] expected from a bunch of youths let loose with a guitar, drum kit, bass...
By their own admission, what they do is energetic and youthful.
It’s not too late to catch up with their Ep/Single, ‘His Lyrics Are Disastrous’, but there is also an album in the pipeline.
Jakobinarina are frontman Gunnar , Hallberg and Heimir on guitars, keyboard player Agust, Bjorgvin on bass and drummer Siguraur.
I spent some time on the phone with Gunnar and was left very impressed by his attitude and some of his answers, always keeping in mind that he’s only 17!
 Florence: On the 29th of November Jakobinarina opened for The Brian Jonestown Massacre in Reykjavik.
How did that go?
Gunnar: It was the second time we played with them.
The first time was last June in London. Last week went very well.
Their set was great and we got some good feedback.
Florence: How did you become friends with them?
Gunnar: We got to know Anton and he is very supportive of us.
First he gave us that gig in London and now again here in Iceland.
He’s been telling people about us and he’s also a big fan.
We really appreciate his help.
Florence: Starting with the obvious, does the name ‘Jacobinarina’ mean something?
Gunnar: It’s a wordplay.
‘Jacobina’ is a girl’s name and ‘rina’ just rhymes with it.
We just thought it was funny!
Florence: Thanks for that, it all makes sense now...
It all started for you when you won a music contest.
In the UK in particular, musicians don’t get a lot of credibility for winning contests. It’s very hard for them to be taken seriously.
Have you encountered that kind of difficulties?
Gunnar: The contest we won, Musiktilraunir, is very much respected here.
It’s for very young kids and it helps you get your name out there.
There was nothing to win, just exposure and then you can do what you want.
After that we played the next Iceland Airwaves Festival [2005], we wrote a lot of new material and then got rave reviews in magazines like Rolling Stone.
Florence: Even though the band is fairly young, [a couple of years], you’ve progressed in leaps and bounds.
This year you’ve signed to English label Rough Trade Records and back in the summer released an Ep, so what’s next for Jacobinarina?
Gunnar: There are some great people at Rough Trade and we should be releasing an album in the spring 07.
Florence: You’re also playing in the UK on the 14th, 15th and 19th of December...
Gunnar: This will be our third time there as we need to spend some time working on our album with a couple of producers but next year we will be playing there a lot more, promoting it.
Florence: What is big on the Icelandic music scene right now?
Is there a prevailing genre or sound?
Gunnar: Not many people hang together and make the same kind of music so it’s a bit of everything!
Florence: For most people when thinking of Iceland, bands like Sugarcubes, Bjork or Sigur Ros spring to mind.
Music that is quite idiosyncratic and eccentric...
Is that a true picture of your music scene?
Gunnar: No that’s a big misunderstanding!
Bjork and Sigur Ros are the only people who became famous outside of Iceland but they’re also considered eccentric here.
Most bands are rock bands. Popular music in Iceland is a lot more normal than foreign people would think.
Florence: Do you get a lot of American bands or mainly English ones filtering through your radios?
Gunnar: It’s a bit of both and when I was growing up it was a lot of Brit Pop and American Nu Metal. Limp Bizkit, Blur and Oasis.
But not anymore as now everyone thinks that Nu Metal is corny.
Florence: Personally, what do you listen to?
Gunnar: Recently, classic records like ‘Bringing It All Back Home’ by Bob Dylan, American rapper Sage Francis and of course The Brian Jonestown Massacre. So it’s all very diverse.
I write all the lyrics so it’s great listening to Dylan, and someone else who has been around for decades, Morrisey. I don’t really like his solo work but I love The Smiths. Also lyrics wise, Rap music influences me a lot. I am not talking about ‘commercial’ rap that’s going on at the moment because that’s really shit!
I’m talking about Public Enemy, N.W.A...more intellectual rappers.
I really like the aggression in their music.
Our music is aggressive too. Very youthful, energetic and edgy.
Florence: What you do has a very strong Punk connotation.
Clearly you are too young to have witnessed Punk the first time round...
Gunnar: With Siguraur we first listened to The Clash and then we got into post punk bands like Joy Division.
Florence: What about your bandmates?
Do you all have the same kind of influences?
Gunnar: Maybe when we started but now everybody is into his own thing. Off our two guitarists, one is into ‘Shoegaze’ and BJM and the other into corny Pop and he listens to ELO a lot.
We had a lot in common when we started the band but as you get older your music taste progresses and gets more specific.
Florence: English bands always aim at making it in The States as it’s such a huge market, do you have similar dreams?
Gunnar: The States or Europe...we don’t really care. If I can live off my music that’s really enough, if the people like it, that’s great. That’s the dream.
Florence: What has been the highlight of 2006 for Jacobinarina?
Gunnar: Our trips to the UK were great fun but probably our recent gig at the Iceland Airwaves Festival, when we played a much bigger venue than last year. We hadn’t played in Iceland for our fans for a while and people were very excited to see us again. People were dancing like crazy and it was a great atmosphere. We played the longest set we ever played, 12 or 13 songs. That was a great night.
I think that this year we prepared for next year.
2007 will be THE YEAR!
We’re gonna give it 100%. We’ll tour the Uk and hopefully Europe and we’ll be releasing our album, finally, because we’ve been writing stuff and waiting for people to hear our music for so long.
We’re so excited about it and it’s gonna be very interesting to see how people react to it.
Florence: What can we expect from your debut album?
Gunnar: In Iceland, some people write us off as Pop music, thinking that all our songs are very simple and catchy, two and a half minutes long but I’ve grown up a lot and I’ve been writing songs that are more complicated.
The album will go in different directions. We have a nine minutes track that starts off as Hip Hop and then breaks off into a Jazz number, with old Jazz musicians jamming and then it turns into a Folk song, telling a story ‘Bob Dylan style’.
Florence: I can see how that’s gonna put to rest any misunderstanding regarding Icelandic music....
Gunnar: We intend to shock people!
Some of our new material is a departure from our Ep.
A lot of straightforward Punk/ Pop songs and some tracks that will amaze people because they are so different.
Florence: I think that you’ve really whet our appetite and I am, personally, looking forward to your Lp but in the meantime do you have a special message for people out there?
Gunnar: Stop fighting!
But I don’t think that anyone would listen to me!
Words: Florence ACHERY
www.myspace.com/jacobinarina |
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