We had been tossing around the idea of finding some of the unsigned bands and either interviewing them or finding out what they had been up to since they had been played on Crazy Ivan's show, which is still the plan. However, I had already done an Interview with DarkNote who had recently been played on Unsigned. Doing interviews had always been my passion and goal to begin with, and we plan on tracking down other unsigned bands and finding out what they have been up to. Here is my interview with the band that hails from Iceland. Enjoy! CB
1. I have watched several documentaries about the Icelandic culture and food. So this is a bit of a long two part question. In Iceland I know you have some what Americans would consider stranger foods, with high fat content, and things many Americans never heard of. I got some of these foods of an Icelandic food website. Let me know if any of you like these: Iceland has a range of traditional foods, called "thorramatur", which are enjoyed especially in the period from January to March. These preserved foods include smoked and salted lamb, salted lamb, singed sheep heads, dried fish, smoked and pickled salmon, cured shark and various other delicacies. Breads include laufabrauð (deep-fried paper-thin bread), kleinur (similar to doughnuts) and rye pancakes.
Jon: Impressive, you've definitely done your research. I personally don't care much for the whole traditional stuff, although the dried fish is actually not too bad. Plus, it's loaded with protein and makes for a healthy snack! Kleinur are wonderful things too, albeit not as healthy. I also should mention skyr, which is a high protein yoghurt-like thing. All very healthy and tasty. ;)
David: Sure at least I do, The "Þorri" is probably my favorite time of the year, cured shark, sheep faces, dried fish, rye bread and brennivÃn. I know it sounds terrible, but to me it sounds delicious..I love it :)
2. Are any of you married? Do any of you have children? Or are you too young and enjoying your freedom and this great ride your on right now?
David: At the age of 25-29 and none of us are married yet, but we're all in relationships, and all except Vilhjálmur have kids.
Jon: In fact, Freyr just had a little baby girl in November!
3. What part of Iceland do you all live in? How cold does it get in the winter? How hot does it get in the summer? Also, is it anything like Alaska where you have several months of darkness, or do you has daylight everyday during the day? Also, what do you guys do to pass the cold winter nights? I know I would spend a lot of time either in bars, or in bed, lol.
David: Jón and Freyr live in the ReykjavÃk area (which is the capital), Karl and I live in a really small town called Sandgerði (population 1700), and Vilhjálmur is currently living somewhere in the northern parts of Norway.
Jon: The winters have been sort of mild in recent years, compared to what they used to be like. I guess a typical winter day would be something like 15-20 degrees Fahrenheit. The summers have also been getting warmer. It's the whole global warming thing. Iceland is probably the only place in the world benefiting from it! The winters are really dark, yes. Not much sunlight at all. That's why we have metal. It keeps us warm. ;)
4. Are any of you related? HS Buddies or College buddies? And how did you all meet? And like is the norm for a band there is usually 1 or 2 founding members, and they find their band mates through auditions, word of mouth, snatching hem from other shitty bands, or by accident. Tell everyone, how Darknote came into being.
Jon: Karl and David are childhood friends, but the rest of us just met through music. Vilhjalmur and I met through a mutual friend and started the band in 2004. The band went through several bass players and vocalists until we met David, who impressed the hell out of us with his voice. Just when we started writing the current material, Vilhjalmur heard of a talented guitarist who might be interested in joining the band, and so Freyr came along. Finally, Karl joined as the bass player. David: Karl and I go way back, we've been friends for about 15 years, maybe more, but we're also neighbors, its takes only 2 minutes for me to walk over to his place.
5. In some bands, there are one or two songwriters, and sometimes they also do the music score as well. Who in this band writes the songs, and makes the music. How collaborative is the process?
Jon: Someone else in the band should be answering this so it won't seem so narcissistic, but I usually come up with the riffs and ideas which usually make up for the songs. But the whole band of course takes part in the whole song writing process and many of my ideas have gone through a lot of changes in the final songs.
6. How popular are you in Iceland? Do you do a lot of gigs, or tours there? Have you ever toured outside of Iceland, to North America, Europe or Asia?
David: This band is completely new, we've put together about 8-9 songs
and never played one gig. We just started introducing our music to Icelandic
metal heads and we've gotten positive responses so far from people here, as
well as abroad...I think we're on the right track.
Jon: Well, the band has never played a gig as Darknote, but the band has had other names in the past and we played some gigs with previous members. But we have plans to start gigging in December.
7. I was reading your bio, and read where you get some of your musical influences from, The list is pretty impressive; Opeth, Dimmo Borgin, Lamb of God, Meshuggah, Maston, Arch Enemy, and Urkraff. All great heavy metal/thrash/death metal bands. However, I would like to know what genres of music did you all listen to growing up, and aside from heavy metal, for personal listening what other musicans do you like to listen to for pleasure?
David: I was Alice in chains fan no. 1 and the whole grunge craziness inspired me as a young musician, as well as early Metallica, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Zeppelin. I still listen to some of that stuff though now I'd prefer the heavy shit (oops, did I just say that?).
Jon: I was into electronic music and loved trip hop. The UK has some great trip hop and electronic artists, such as The Sneaker Pimps and Massive Attack
8. The music industry has changed a lot over the last several years. Given the choice, would you rather have come up now in the time of self production, self promotion, Places where you can put your music up for sale like Itunes and other download sites, MySpace, Utube Etc. Or Under the old system where Major Labels owned you and everything you did, and put out. They usually owned your music, merchandising rights, most of your touring profits, etc. There are positives and negatives to both, but which do you prefer?
Jon: That is a really good question. If today were the 70s and I was a really, really good guitar player, I would probably prefer the old ways, but of course the bands then had to be stellar in performance and song writing. I like the way things are done today, with every band having its own home studio and everyone doing their own production. Endless possibilities and so much creativity throughout the world. I love it.
9. In the recent past, during a live show, have there been any major mishaps on stage that would be considered embarrassing? If there have been, was it so blatant, that those at the show had no way but to notice and see it, or was it a small blunder that was easy to cover up?
Jon: Unfortunately, as we haven't played live with all the current members the answer is no, but I'm we've all had something go wrong when playing live with other bands we've been in. I can't think of any at the moment though. :(
David: Well I do get kinda dizzy sometimes when doing the long high pitch screaming. I mean I’m bound to fall of stage one day...that'll make some nasty people laugh :).
10. Where do you want to see Darknote go? When I say that, what do you envision for the band in 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years and beyond? Can you see yourselves like say The Rolling Stones, Ozzy or The Police, Being in your Late 50's or 60's and getting on stage almost every night and rocking the house? Or do you think that they look ridiculous? For some it is about the music, if the still have their voices, and can pack the stadiums, why not. On the other hand, we all know that off stage Ozzy has a hard time just walking and talking, but amazingly still have his singing voice. With The Stones, Mick looks like a bit like his face has melted, and Keith looks, well he looks exactly like a hardcore drug addict would look at that age. How do you all feel about performing HM live when you’re well into your senior citizen years?
Jon: Ha-ha. I hope we'll be done with our metal lifestyle by the time our faces start to melt. I would love to see Darknote playing gigs around Europe in 2008, and hopefully the US soon after that. I don't know, really. I mean, so far the reactions we've had have surpassed our expectations so who knows what will happen in the near future? If Darknote manages to live to the age of 10 and still going strong, my dreams will have come true.
11. Finally, Where do you find the magic for your music? I believe we have music in all genres to move people, to make them feel something. What is your goal when you write a song, in making it touch people? Do you want them walk away feeling the same passion that you did when you wrote it? I listened to several songs, and wished I had had the lyrics, because I wanted to know exactly what you where thinking and feeling when you wrote it, and recorded it.
Jon: Well, David will have to answer this one, but personally I just want to see 10,000 people jumping up and down, screaming to our music. But of course, we want our music to convey certain emotions, not just mindless bitterness. We hope we can add different flavors to our songs instead of ending up with the same feeling over and over again.
David: All the lyrics got something to do with inner conflicts, fear, sorrow, rage and so on. I usually make up short stories in my head and turn them into poems of some sort. Can be hard sometimes, translating Icelandic words and phrases straight into English never leads to good result.
Well David, Jon Dal, Freyr, Vilhjalmur, and Karl. These are all of the members of the band. Last night they sent me the name of a Led Zeppelin song, called the Immigrant Song. It was written about Iceland. I thought it would be nice to close this interview with the Lyrics to the Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin.
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow,
the hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands,
to fight the horde, singing and crying:
Valhalla, I'm coming.
On we sweep with threshing oar;
our only goal will be the western shore.
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow,
how soft your fields so green
can whisper tales of gore of how we calmed the tides of war.
We are your overlords.
On we sweep with threshing oar;
our only goal will be the western shore.
So now you'd better stop and rebuild all your ruins,
for peace and the trust can win the day despite all your losing.
Guys thanks for doing this with me. I had a blast reading the answers, and learning what it was like for a very new band trying to break in, and trying to open any door they could! CB
