"Lialogue" with Kælan Mikla
Since the advent of media publication an uncountable amount of interviews have been held, and it is the opinion of the journalist that it’s long overdue to shake things up a bit and break up the conventional interviewing form. Due to the theme of the magazine, the journalist decided to take a different approach and take a "lialogue" with a girl punk band from Reykjavík called Kælan Mikla. "Lialogues" do not have the same objective as traditional interviews, wherein questions are asked, and convenient truths are often told; truth which portrays the interviewee in a positive light. Since there is rarely such honesty in interviews that they take one’s interest by storm, we will go in the complete opposite direction, and let the interviewees answer whatever they want, as long as it’s not the truth.
Hello ladies. What are your names? Pictured, from left to right: Grimmhildur Gára, Garún and Sigga, called Sibba Bubba.
Where are you from? Sigga and Grimmhildur are from the countryside, and we’re actually all countrygirls. Except Garún, she’s from abroad.
You three form the band Kælan mikla. What is each of you’s purpose within it? Sigga plays various wind instruments, Garún plays a singing bowl and Grimmhildur Gára plays the cymbals.
What do you do outside of the band? Sigga works in the Bite Car, and fiddles with motor sport, ”4x4!” Grimmhildur is a Sushi chef at the Saku bar and doesn’t have a hobby besides that. Garún works as a barista at a café but kills the time by doing aerobic exercises with Jane Fonda.
What is your favorite color? Striped. Like, pink on the inside and green on the outside.
Do you have pets? Grimmhildur Gára has a goby fish with a shrunken fin and Garún has a pet salmon who's name is Relax.
Where does your band’s name come from? It’s a character from The Lord of the Rings, the wizard with the beard. This is his name in a foreign language, not Icelandic. It’s the guy with the ring. He who must not be named.
What is Kælan Mikla currently working on? We are not going to publish an album, and we especially won’t do so working with a publisher. We’ve been actively not recording any songs lately and we’ll continue to do so. We will not play at any concerts, and then we’re going to quit. We’re going to take the first steps to change Kælan Mikla from a band into a clothing brand. We absolutely do not want to present ourselves.
The text of the band is very poetic and often inhospitable, would you characterize yourselves as goth girls? No, it’s trending now. We’re more like "healthy-gothic". We don’t actually have a say in what we play, we just follow trends like it was when we started. We were never going to be in this kind of ”screamo” band but that’s just what the trends led us towards.
You’ve also recently published Hið Myrka Man, Grimmhildur. Last year its first editions were published, what’s next? What’s next is a charity concert, and the money will be used to eradicate KONY 2012.
What made you start composing music together? Oh, you know, we just needed money. Sigga googled ”how to make money” and got the answer ”start successful band.” She then put up a small advert in Fréttablaðið and called for someone to join her in a band to ”make loads of money.” She had then formed a considerable number of connections in the business by hanging out regularly at the Danish Bar. The rest of us didn’t take long to bite when we saw what kind of money was involved.
Although little could be inquired about Kælan Mikla in this lienterview, it’s about time to take note of them. You can learn more at http://kaelanmikla.bandcamp.com/ & http://soundcloud.com/kaelan-mikla/. Their synthesizer-driven gothic punk is the best among equals in a powerful resurgence in such music in Iceland lately, which coincides with similar developments abroad the last few years. The band has woken considerable interest, both here at home and in Europe. They have twice gone on small musical tours around the mainland.
Interview: Hjalti Freyr Ragnarsson
Photos: Håkon Broder Lund
Translation: Guðmundur H. Bjarnason