“noise” Interview

Hi guys, welcome to the UK, I hope you are enjoying your time here and making plenty of friends through your shows. Are these your first over here? You seem to be going down very well, how have they been for you?

Hi. Thanx. we’ve really enjoyed it. It’s our first time in the UK and we love it.

There seems to be a lot of good music coming out of Iceland currently, the scene must be jumping in Reykjavik. How does it compare to England?

We were surprised how many great bands you have here and we have met some really cool people.

Which Icelandic bands do you think we should be watching out for?

Besides us - SIGN, Cliff Clavin, Dimma and Minus are great.

Brothers Einar (lead vocals & guitar) and Stefan Vilberg (bass) are founding members of the band, it must have been “interesting” for your parents while you were both learning to play! Was it always in your mind to play in a band together?

Our Dad is a musician so it came kind of naturally to us.

Who decided which instrument each of you should play?

Einar: I never meant to be a singer, but after looking for a singer for some time, I gave it a shot and it seemed to work out beautifully.
Stebbi: Kind of the same story with me….I started out as a guitarist but found more harmony with the bass.

You started out as a 3-piece band but have since added a rhythm guitar, is this just for touring or is Hilmar Birkisson a fully-fledged member now?

Hilli joined the band in 2006 before the Iceland Airwaves festival and he’s been a fully fledged member ever since.

Of course, this also begs the question, is he related to drummer Hordur?

Hoddi: He’s my younger brother.

Your second album “Wicked” appears to me to be a hybrid of many styles such as metal, grunge and punk, where do you think your main influences have come from?

Main influences are life, the Icelandic environment and a shit load of bands, the Seattle scene and classic Rock and Roll.

Wicked was originally only meant to be a demo. We recorded most of it live-only one drum take. We were so happy with the result that we decided to make an album out of it. Two of the songs, “Quiet” and “So Long” are written about two of our good friends who died.

Einar: “Quiet” is about our uncle who died from alcoholism and “So Long” is about a good friend of ours who died from a terrible disease- “Wicked” is dedicated to their memory.

The rest of the songs are not so morbid, they’re just powerful rock n’ roll.

Is your debut album “Pretty Ugly” still available?

Yeah, “Pretty Ugly” is available online at “tonlist.is” and you can also contact us through  “www.myspace.com/noise1” if you want a copy.

We’re focusing more on new material rather than re-issuing old stuff. Who knows…maybe some of the old songs will appear on a “Greatest Hits” album in the future haha :)

What now for “noise”?

We’re going in the studio, when we come home to Iceland, to record our third album, which we plan to release in the fall. Hopefully we’ll be back touring the UK very soon.

Any messages for your fans here in the UK and of course back home in Reykjavik?

Thanx to everyone who came to the shows and bought the album.

See you next time. Love noise!

Thanks again for taking the time to answer these and I hope to catch you on stage back In the UK again very soon.

—–

DH

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