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morgunblađiđ Icelandic newspaper when i
walked through the doors of sigur rós's studio, the scent of newly cooked
vegetable soup greeted me. but jónsi and kjartan, whom i was there to interview,
were nowhere to be seen. the main entrance opens up into a large open space and
suddenly you realise you are standing at the bottom of an old swimming pool. the
pool isn't empty, the band members' instruments fill the pool, waiting for their
owners to dive in and play them.
when i look
around in the "pool", i see a big window to the left and the entrance into the
control room. there's some movement in there. i walk into the room and there
stands jónsi over a low wooden table armed with a spray bottle, spraying water
on some bonsai trees, his little friends that live there. "oh hi," he
says when he realizes he's no longer the only human being in the room. "it's
really tough keeping these guys alive." later he tells me that he has gotten a
bonsai expert to tend to the trees while the band is on tour. at the end of the
wooden table lies a handbook on how to make these delicate creatures feel the
most comfortable indoors. "can i
interest you in some vegetable soup?" asked jónsi and smiled. yes, it's clear
now i'm definitely in the house of sigur rós. jónsi led me into the kitchen
where kjartan and poetry man steindór andersen were chatting, and as soon as
kjartan had finished washing the dishes, the three of us sat down at the kitchen
table, and steindór excused himself from the room. an old record player was
playing the black sabbath record "we sold our soul to rock'n'roll" while jónsi
was laying dishes on the table. i turned on the dictaphone and attempted to
utter my questions in between eating one of the best vegetable soups i've tasted
in my life. this band is definitely multi-talented. the band's
new facilities are spectacular, like any musician's dream. we begin speaking
about technical matters and how all this new equipment is working out for them. kjartan:
"it's going slow but still going." the mix
table in question is no small piece of equipment and was very difficult to
transport. the table was bought in england and after its long journey overseas,
it didn't fit through the doors of the studio because of its size. kjartan: "we
made a hole on the roof and a giant crane lifted the table down in two pieces."
when did you come up with this idea of yours to buy your own studio? kjartan:
"it's always been our goal." did
you buy the house for the studio here in mosfellsbćr [a small town, 15-minute
drive out of central reykjavík] in order to be in your hometown? jónsi: "no,
just to get away from reykjavík, i think. we could've gone wherever. here we get
a little peace and quiet. we have had our eyes on this place for a while - have
always had a little crush on it. also there is no one here who drops by because
for others, mosellsbćr is 'out in the country'."
have you thought about leasing the studio while you're not using it? kjartan:
"because we are and often will be travelling outside of iceland in the future,
it would be silly to keep this studio empty in the meantime. the plan is to give
bands that we like a chance to use the studio while we're away. this will be
non-profit." do
you have any worries that you will lose yourselves into perfectionism, now that
you have a chance to? jónsi: "we
are kind of already considered as perfectionists. but we made this single [which
sigur rós made with steindór andersen] in 3 days, which is very unlike us. we
learned to relax and just let things happen by themselves." the single
in question will be sold in a limited supply during the band's tour in europe. kjartan: "we
usually know when to stop but it's often that one keeps going and going until in
the end you wind up in a circle of nonsense. if the feeling is cool, then it's
cool." do
you think icelandic bands think too much about that kind of thing? kjartan: "i
don't think icelandic bands can really afford to be like that. they have to
record quickly to use the expensive studio time."
what is the biggest benefit of having your own studio? jónsi: "we
have a great facility, we're at peace. we can leave our equipment connected and
come back with them laying the same way they were when we left. it also gives us
a chance to execute our future side projects."
when will you begin working on the next album? jónsi:
"we're going to try to start recording it when we get home from the tour, in the
middle of may. we have written a bunch of songs but nothing more than that." and
what will the album be like? kjartan (in
an ironic tone): "we're going to make it exactly like our last album because it
sold so well." now my
vegetable soup was finished, as well as my list of questions. i thanked the boys
for their hospitality, wished them good luck on their tour and headed outside
into the cold and started "the long journey" back to reykjavík. birgir örn steinarsson
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Sigur Rós:
Jón Ţór
Birgisson (vocals, guitar),
Georg Holm (bass),
Kjartan Sveinsson (keyboards/piano),
Orri Páll Dýrason
(drums)
popplagiđ.com
HOME PAGE UPDATE NEWS DISCOGRAPHY MAIN DISCOGRAPHY LIVE RECORDINGS SETLIST COLLECTION DVD POSTCARDS PHOTO ALBUM SHOPPING LINKS TOURDATE PRESS BOOKS JONSI AMIINA