Bóas Hallgrímsson of Reykjavik!

Reykjavik!, indeed from Reykjavik,
Iceland, recently released their first album: Glacial Landscapes,Religion, Oppression and Alcohol. Bóas Hallgrímsson is their singer and and tireless audience enthusiator.


How did Reykjavik! begin?

Reykjavík! Began as an acoustic guitar duet after a few philosophy classes in the University of Iceland. Haukur and I wanted to make music under the influence of The Red House Painters and other bands to our liking. Gummi came and met us one night and being a nice enough guy he was offered a spot! We did that a few times in various living rooms under the name The Tenderboys. We soon bought heavier equipment and became the Reykjavík! that we are today.
 
What do you think about Iceland becoming a vacation destination for hipsters and other annoying types?
 
I think it is the attitude! Reykjavík as a city is filled with that, not always in a bad way, but this city reeks with attitude. And some might find that to be an attraction. Everybody and his friend is doing something with confidence!  Even the ones that hardly do anything at all! I don´t care, come all! Annoying or not, that is not for me to say, just don´t be annoying towards me! The hip vibe comes, from what I have seen, mostly from people that could not care less about their own hip-ness! I agree with Bukowski when he said, “don´t try!” 

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Who are Reykjavik!'s influences?
 
 That´s hard to say. Bands that we all seem to like are various and most of them sound nothing like us. I remember talking to Haukur when we had just started about what we might end up sounding like, we came to no conclusions! But I remember imagining that we would go down a path similar to the one Sonic Youth went down, or even At The Drive-in… I don´t know. What do you think?

Y'all put on a pretty damn wild show. How important is it that someone get hurt during a gig?
 
Not at all. If someone ends up hurting it is usually out of spontaneous outbursts, we sometimes hurt our instruments but that is a stupid thing to do since we seldom have money to have them fixed! But I have broken a tooth live, even two I think and my knees are pretty messed up, so are my ribs, my head and I have one or two scars in my face from an collision with a guitar.
 
Why the exclamation point?
 
To make sure that people say the name like the mean it, you should always have an opinion on a band such as ours, be it good or bad. I do not care, just don´t hear us or see us live and go home being non caring! The exclamation point adds to the whole experience and gives it the extra oomph!
 
Dancing with Myself or White Wedding?
 
You ask like a fool! I go Dancing with Tears in my Eyes,  Ultravox style!

Summers over. How do you prepare for the dark Icelandic winter?

We brace ourselves with memories from past summers and become isolated, we also tend to make music to free ourselves from the mundane winter months. No, to tell you the truth I love Icelandic winters. The separate the boys from men! Those who don´t like it should go live in Benidorm or Ibiza. 

Downloads

01 Blame It On Gray.mp3
07 All Those Beautiful Boys.mp3