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Mass Movement (UK ZINE)
09/07/2003
I Adapt Interview
1. Time for the introductions thing – who are I Adapt, and how’s about sharing a little of the bands history with us?
Villi: I Adapt at the moment are: me on bass and some occasional vocal parts, Ingi on guitar, Axel on Guitar, Birkir sings and we have a new drummer called Elli. The band really started rolling in January 2001 but the idea had been floating around for a while and I think some of the guys had done some rehearsals playing just covers before I joined. Basically Birkir and Axel got together and started this thing and started looking for people and that took a while before it turned into the band we are today. I got into this sort of by accident. I didn’t know any of them except I had met Birkir like two times or something while buying stuff from his distro. I was at this turning point in my life after having spent over a year living abroad and doing some aid work in Africa and wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do next and I sort of fell into this band and liked it so much that I stayed for good. We’ve had lot’s of drummer changes throughout our lifetime and Elli is our fifth.
Birkir: Drummers are just amazing. You just can´t get enough of them! The idea behind the band was to form a hardcore band that would play hardcore music and have something to say. We wanted to play out as much as possible and play hard in any given situation. This has become reality. We also wanted to help build a community that will differ from the mainstream consumerist way of going about things. Make something on our own together with other people, diverse people. Celebrate that difference and try to come together with goals and make them happen. That is still an ongoing process that we´d like to see happen. It´s difficult to make this work because most of the people involved just want to follow. If this is to be our own culture it has to differ from the mainstream. Fuck. You didn´t ask this question. Sorry.
2. Right, moving on to the new album – “Why Not Make Today Legendary”. Seeing as it’s a self-release, I get the impression that you guys are 100% committed to the DIY ethic. Is that the case? If so, are you going to maintain the stance and keep I Adapt as an independent, or do you want to work with different labels in the future?
Villi: Well for my part I am quite committed to the DIY ethic but I can’t speak for the whole band. We are interested in working with different labels in the future but only as long as it is with DIY labels and built on friendship and a common love for music and not for monetary gain and also only with labels that we feel comfortable about dealing with, I personally always get very suspicious about motives and commitment to ideology when labels start to tear themselves away from the more ideological punk/hardcore crowd and you start seeing ads from said labels that have really sexist messages or when their excuse for releasing some fascist band is something like “hey it’s just music”, I would not like to work with a label like that. It is our goal to remain as independent as possible and to be able to do as much as possible on our own terms. So in short the answer is yes hahaha.
Birkir: The whole DIY thing has affected me deeply. This is how we go about doing things. Seeing as me and Villi do most of the non-musical work for this band, it has been DIY and we have worked people who work this way. Just like Villi said. But we would love to work with a label that share´s our vision on these kind of things. It´s about working together. I mean, we need all the help we can get to get the music out. If people are sincere, then we´d look into working with them. For sure! Shit. I´ve said “work” like, too many times.
3. One of the first things that struck me about you guys was how easily you walked the almost invisible (or at least that’s how it often appears these days) line between the new school and old school HC sounds. So, what influences you guys musically and lyrically and what doesn’t influence you musically and lyrically?
Villi: I guess the reasons why we aren’t so easily categorized are many, like our location, I mean Iceland isn’t exactly known for hardcore or punk bands and the hardcore scene here is so young and metal-based that we are completely free to experiment and play around with whatever we like without having to worry about if it fits “our niche” or not. We are the first band to play a more “traditional” style of hardcore over here and we are intent on making a dent in the local music scene and make sure people know what hardcore sounds like because some people here seem to think that anything that is heavy and distorted is hardcore, I’ve seen Metallica labelled hardcore! Because of that we can cover a wide spectrum of the hardcore sound. Another reason is that we all have very different influences and tastes in music and obviously that is going to come through in the music that we create. As for what influences me personally, musically I am influenced by almost anything that has heart and soul, where you can just feel the enthusiasm and the passion involved. Some of my favorite bands are Satanic Surfers, Catharsis, Limp Wrist, Raised Fist, Burst, Bad Brains and I could go on and on. One band that influences all of us pretty much when it comes to writing songs and that is a Swedish band called Section 8. Lyrically I am simply influenced by whatever that stirs up my emotions, no matter if it’s positive or negative although I lean a little bit on the negative end of things. When some nationalist assholes start preaching publicly I get very pissed off and write about that and when I think about how badly I treated my younger brother when I was a teenager I write about that to try to make things a little better for both of us. I also try to write in a way that hopefully makes people think about it and maybe recognize it and deal with it within their own lives. What does absolutely not influence me is all the Tough guy macho bullshit and all the bitter “you stabbed me in the back” thing. Another thing that definitely does not influence me (lyrically at least) is the latest trend of hard youth crew bands who continuously whine about how love has treated them badly, I mean common, get over it!
Birkir: Well, Villi said it. The guy´s on fire. What can I say. Hardcore/punk much variety of interesting music it´s hard to stagnate and go for just one particular sound if you are taking it all in. The influences are too many to mention. I think everything influences me. Like, too much Atomic Kitten might make me want to write the best hardcore song of my life.
Curious about where the name I Adapt came from, and if there is any significance behind it’s choice for the band?
Birkir: It has a meaning. But it has a story too. I was working with the most boring guy in this company and we were driving around in this car dropping of some products. I was waiting for him in the car and was bored. I found this car-radio manual. I started to read it. There was this part that had the word “adapter” all over the place. Then it struck me. I knew the meaning of the word and thought it was very cleaver to add “I” in front of it, because what we do in life is adapting to all kinds of situations, environments, changes etc. be it positive or negative. I´m really smart and so is the rest of the band. We´re probably the most intelligent bunch of people you´ll ever find.
4. You guys are on the new Blackfish Comp. – the HC tribute to Thrash Metal. How did you get involved, and how did you go about choosing which song to record for the album? I mean, how on earth did you settle on just one song? How did you narrow the choices down? Jeez, I don’t know how anyone could pick just one song…
Villi: First off, a big thank you to Ian Glasper for putting us on this comp, we can’t thank you enough. But back to the question hahaha! I did a show for Stampin’ Ground here in Iceland and have kept contact with Ian since, I think he liked our band when we played with them and promised to include us on his next international comp and now he is just delivering his promise. Choosing the song was a bit difficult. Only a part of the band were seriously into thrash metal back in the day so we had to make sure everyone in the band liked what we were gonna do and secondly, it had to be a song with lyrics we like or agree with. When Ian asked us to be a part of this we had like a million ideas about what song to do but a lot of obvious songs/bands were already taken by other bands so we ended up doing a Nuclear Assault song called “new song” and is the first track of the Handle With Care album. Everyone in the band liked it and the lyrics basically sum up our views on fascism. We were originally gonna do some other song of that album but when we were listening to it together we just realized that this was a song that we could do in our own style and put our mark on it because we didn’t just want to rehash the song, when we do covers on record we want them to have our mark.
Birkir: I had my eyes set on Nuclear Assault the very beginning, but Ian told me it was taken. But he was nice enough to let us do it anyway. Nuclear Assault has always been in my mind, criminally underrated band. The first four albums they did where simply amazing and could kill any band at that time. Plus, they had something to say and they where the first thrash band that made me as a kid, want to do more stuff than just headbang and make the mark of the devil with my fingers. But we had tons of ideas about songs to cover. It was a nightmare. So many of those bands did so much awesome shit. Crazy.
5. Okay, you’ve got a 7” coming out soon as well right? Do you want to tell us a little about it?
Villi: Well at the moment it seems like it will be an MCD and not a 7” but I hope we’ll be able to release it as a 7” as well because I love the format. It will be released sometime this year by the nice people at The Lighthouse Records from Norway. We are actually in the studio at the moment putting the finishing touches to the recordings. It will be mostly new stuff but probably a couple of songs from our self released cd as well. There’s not much else to say about it yet, we don’t have a name for it and have no clue about when it will be out but we hope it will be out by summer.
Birkir: We hope that people will get in touch and get that stuff.
6. Iceland. To be honest, the only things that I know about where you guys are from are (a) Magnus Magnusson and Bjork (b) Minus and (c) There’s a penis museum somewhere in Iceland (or that could just be folklore, I’m not really sure…). Do you want to tell us something about the Icelandic scene? How, in your opinion, does if differ (if at all) from other scenes? How has it developed, or changed over time?
Villi: Yes indeed there is a penis museum and I regret to say I have never been there, I mean, a museum filled with penises off all the mammals that live on and around Iceland (except human but that will change in the next few years since this old geezer has donated his member to the museum) sounds so interesting (ahem). But as for the scene here, it is very young. Before 1998 almost nobody in the country knew about hardcore so unlike the majority of the western world we don’t have any hardcore tradition here. It basically started around 1997 with two bands called Spitsign and Bisund but ironically enough neither of them played hardcore. Their members did go on to start all the other crucial bands in our scene. The first hardcore band here was Mínus who as you probably know are now signed to Victory records. They pioneered this and a whole wave of kids who wanted to be like them. Through time the scene has evolved a bit and we have more diversity now but it is still very metal orientated. We were the first and are so far the only band to play what kids here lazily call oldschool but there is also a crusty punk band called DYS (yeah, just like the legendary Boston band) who are really good and becoming quite popular around here. There are both positive and negative aspects of the scene being the way it is. I am happy to say that we are probably one of the few scenes in the world where kids from all different walks of extreme music come together without too much trouble, a regular show usually includes at least one hardcore band and at least one straight forward metal band and you see kids with leather pants and Dimmuborgir shirts moshing it up during our live set and you see hardcore kids headbanging during some metal bands performance. The scene simply would not exist if this wasn’t possible, we are too few otherwise. Being free from all the petty holier than thou squabble that you see all the time on the pages of foreign zines is most definitely a plus, of course there are arguments and things aren’t perfect but it could be a lot worse. This of course means that all of us are more open for dialogue and our ideas on how to live life get spread to more people (it’s amazing how many people I Adapt have influenced in a positive way). The negative aspects are, well there is no tradition for anything. Most of the kids just listen to metal with the occasional hardcore band mixed up in there and for us hardcore/punk enthusiasts it can be a little frustrating. There is no network for anything like gigs and the scene is very a/political. We have had to do so many things from scratch over here. Members of this band did the first zine (there was a webzine but I’m talking about a “proper” one), there were no foreign bands playing here and we are slowly trying to build up a DIY network to be able to do all ages gigs for touring bands here and we have to learn all these things the hard way. And for me personally I’d like to see more politics involved in the scene. But all these things are slowly getting better, we are managing to slowly create a good, solid hardcore scene here. Also, it should be mentioned here that our scene would probably not exist if the all round good guy Valli hadn’t been so persistent with his webpage, www.dordingull.com which is basically the home of the entire hardcore scene here in Iceland.
Birkir: What Villi said. The kids here are cool but I wish they would get more involved. We definitely like more kids to get into hardcore/punk. I wish there were more hardcore/punk sounding bands too, because I want to go out and dance to some awesome stuff. But there are some really good bands like Snafu and more.
7. What does HC mean to you as an individual, and what first attracted you to the scene? Do you see Hardcore as a musical form, an ethic or a community? Why?
Villi: Hardcore can only be those three at once and could not thrive without the other. The community is built around the music and in most cases the music serves as a forum to spread ideas about these ethics which in turn is what makes the community thrive and prosper. As for what attracted me to the scene? Well, I grew up in a small town in the north of Iceland. When I was nine years old, me and my friends were wild rockers who listened to Kiss and Twisted Sister. Through time my musical taste evolved and I started listening to more heavy stuff like thrash metal and death metal. It wasn’t until I was 18 that I even realised what hardcore was, I had heard the phrase but always connected it to bands like Godflesh. I found out about hardcore when there was this section called “the hardcore half hour” on a local metal show on the radio that I always listened to. Eventually I found out about the ethics and that’s when I really became interested in the scene because I have always been a very political person and a lot of ideas I saw in hardcore spoke to me. So I was in this small town, didn’t know any of those hardcore kids in Reykjavík and just spent my time on the internet reading about hardcore, sXe, vegetarianism, anarchism and so on. I didn’t really get to know any of these hardcore kids here until I started playing in this band but I had been calling myself a hardcore kid for a couple of years by that time. I am continually evolving and learning and my ideas change as I learn more and instead of growing out of the so called scene like most kids, I keep getting more and more involved and interested in it.
Birkir: I second what Villi said. When I got into hardcore I got exposed to so many cool ideas and great music. It has influenced me a lot and still does as I evolve as an individual. At 25, hardcore plays a big role in my life and lot of the stuff I´ve learned from all this crap has helped me in my day to day life. Not to mention all the nice people I´ve met. It´s cheesy, but it´s my way of life.
8. Staring with the crossover movement of the mid to late eighties, the differences between Hardcore and Metal have become increasingly blurred. What, if anything, do you think now separates the two?
Villi: Fortunately that evolution happened and keeps making hardcore an innovative musical form because if it had stagnated then the scene would be very boring indeed. But still there is a lot that separates the two and that comes back to that earlier question about ethics and community, metal doesn’t have that in the same way hardcore and punk do and never will. The importance of message and ethics within hardcore and punk is what keeps us on edge. The emotional input and the anger and frustration involved in hardcore, no matter if it sounds ridiculously similar to At The Gates, will always separate the two. And you will never see a metal band do something like demanding to play only all ages shows or give passionate speeches about the importance of animal liberation. There is this passion and rebelliousness present in hardcore and you can always hear it, even if the band is very metal orientated. Besides, Hardcore is such a wide genre, there’s loads of hardcore bands who have no metal influence whatsoever and things will always be that way.
Birkir: If you get way into punk/hardcore you´ll see a big difference. That what attracted me and made me want to dig deeper. I was a total metalhead and I still love metal. But hardcore had more to offer to me. Hardcore is my thing. There so much stuff happening it just blows my mind. I get surprised by it all the time.
9. Given that the emphasis in Punk Rock / Hardcore has moved away from political debate / argument and social change in the last ten years for a variety of reasons (be it mainstream popularity, the fashion aspect that now seems to be tied into the scene, the birth and growth of the MTV generation), do you think that politics still have a role to play in the HC / Punk scene. If so, why? If not, why not?
Villi: Politics definitely still have a role in hc/punk. There are a lot of bands that are keeping politics of all sorts (animal rights, the environment, anarchism, socialism etc) an important element within hardcore/punk and are doing a good job at that. I do know what you are talking about though and I too have been concerned with all the apolitical nature of bands today and the commercialisation of punk but I think it’s just a trend that will pass and all the mall punks will either move on to the next trend or (hopefully) realise what “true” punk/hardcore is about. The die-hard political hardcore people will always remain and keep politics and ethics in place within the hardcore scene and be there to inform the new people about what this is all about. And in these times of extreme nationalism and the US policy of global imperialism, complete ecological devastation in the name of profit and so on and so on, people who care will not be shut up and they will be drawn to the expressive rage of punk/hardcore and use hardcore/punk as a medium to express their feelings and use the scene as an example of what the alternative would be to the current political and economical system. As long as oppressive forces are present in society then hardcore will be there to counter that and be the backbone of the opposition.
Birkir: I for one hope and know that politics will always play a big role in hardcore/punk. That´s one of the things that gives it a special edge and it should be there because it deals with reality. I also totally understand bands that don´t deal with politic in their music. Even if they are hardcore/punk. It should NOT be black and white. Diversity is the key here.
Villi: Although I do agree with Birkir up to a point about bands that aren’t political and I know where he’s coming from and that he shares this following point of view with me butI have to add that I believe that Punk/hardcore bands have to have some form of ethical standards whether they sing about it or not, sort of like this common understanding of the comings and goings of the scene. Unfortunately it has happened too often that some fascist, nationalist, homophobic, religious fanatics (I’m talking fanatics but not people that simply have faith in whatever deity, there’s a big difference) and others have been attracted to and allowed to prosper within the global hardcore/punk community where they have been spreading some fucked up ideas and we have to keep looking out for this and challenge it whenever we see it within our community (and everywhere else) because I for one would not like to be involved with a scene that tolerates such ideas.
10. Which five records define (a) Hardcore and (b) Thrash Metal for you? Explain your choices guys!
Villi: Fucking hell. I’ve tried to answer this question two times already but I always remember some definite hardcore/punk albums afterwards that I feel I have to add and I keep coming back to change it because I remember some amazing, ground breaking album so it’s simply impossible to answer this question. Hardcore is such a wide spectrum, what would be termed definitive? Would it be the early stuff or the most groundbreaking stuff or just my personal favorites? I simply can’t answer this question but just to give you a couple of names: Discharge, Bad Brains, Satanic Surfers, Isis, Refused, Lack, His Hero Is Gone, Minor Threat, Initial State, Section 8, Burst, Earth Crisis, Limp Wrist, Dillinger Escape Plan, Conflict, Sick Of It All, DRI, Tragedy, Totalitar, Acursed, Infect, Point Of No Return, Botch, Unholy Grave, Mínus, Fugazi, Heaven Shall Burn and on and on and on. This list would be endless.
The Following Thrash Metal albums are what I can remember as being my favorites:
1) Nuclear Assault = Handle With Care. –great songs, meaningful lyrics.
2) Sepultura = Arise. –They were always my favorite band.
3) Metallica = Ride the Lightning.
4) Sacred Reich = The American Way. –A great record.
5) Death Angel = Act 3. –Innovative and good.
And before you ask, I simply can’t stand Slayer, I think they are one of the most overrated bands ever. I know the rest of the band does not agree with me but I just can’t stand them.
Birkir: This question is just utterly insane and I refuse to answer!! Fokk, writing down list like this would tear my head apart, but I´m more than willing to talk about it face to face in the forest, while it´s dark, cold and windy. Thrash metal and hardcore… insane. You want me to burn a church or something?
11. Time to put you on the spot – if you had to choose a mascot and a slogan for I ADAPT, what would they be and why?
Villi: We already have a slogan that pretty much sums up our band: “The greatest hardcore band in the universe!” It’s printed on our t-shirts? If you don’t agree with it we’ll kick your ass hehehe. As a mascot, probably a person in a baby carrot suit. We all like baby carrots and their so posi, they’re both healthy and you can get organic baby carrots and their cute and animals like them.
Birkir: The mascot would have to be a pissed off parrot. He should scream “stagedive or die!”
12. What’s the one thing that you wish you could understand, but can’t no matter how hard you try?
Villi: There’s just so much. For one thing I can’t understand how people can answer interview questions and sound smart because I am so failing at that. Other things I can’t understand is how people can support war, death, murder and destruction without hesitation. What is wrong with those people? It’s like they are just incapable of putting themselves in other people’s shoes. I mean how can anyone support the “war on terrorism” when it is clear as day that it’s all about oil and money and power? And how can people work in animal testing labs? It is the most cruel and disgusting occupation around. I can’t understand how we humans can be so incredibly stupid that we have almost destroyed our home and most people don’t care and call us environmentalists “fucking hippies”. What is wrong with people? Oh man, this is getting me depressed.
Birkir: I wish I could understand myself. I need to. But I try not to think too hard about it. But I always end up doing it and that can be kinda depressing sometimes.
Villi: Oh yeah, sorry I started to rant there and you asked for one simple thing, well I think it kind of sums up to not understanding mankind, no matter how hard I try. I wish I could.
13. Celebrity Punk Rock Death match. Which two punk rockers (chosen from bands) would you, like to see face each other in a fight to the death for a chosen charity, and what forms of weaponry would they be allowed to use ins aid mortal combat. Ahem.?
Villi: Now were talking! I’d like to see Ray Cappo meditate his way out of a fight with Craig Ahead of Sick Of It All hehehe that would be funny. The proceeds would go to a Palestinian medical aid group. And their weapons would be a bamboo stick and an empty coke bottle (plastic). I’m betting on Craig!
Birkir: I´d kill to see Skarhead take on Limp Wrist. Limp Wrist would use those red sheets like the Spanish bullfighters and the Skarhead people would run around in circles, bumping into each other until they´d drop all the while the Limp Wrist guys would just laugh, have fun, tell jokes and talk about books and cool restaurants. Limp Wrist would win.
14. So, what’s next for I ADAPT?
Villi: Good question, if anyone knows then please e-mail me. Hehe just joking. We are at the moment trying to finish our recordings and aiming at putting out that new material. We are practicing with our new drummer and starting to write new songs. We hope to be able to play some shows abroad this year but it’s so fucking expensive to get off this damn island. Then the plan is to make Iceland vegetarian and a socio-anarchist paradise. And play a show with Artimus Pyle in March and that’s about it.
Birkir: The Artimus Pyle show is a dream come true. Can´t wait to meet those guys. We want to get tight with our new drummer, Elli. That kid´s crazy. Write songs, play out like crazy and hopefully people will get into it. Just write better songs and piss conservative people off.
Villi: Oh and we were planning on releasing a split cassette with Russia’s Unconform and I hope that is gonna happen because they are a really good band and sincere, honest people. Oh and apparently we are re-releasing our record on a Belgian label called Reality Records and releasing our new material on a 7” on the same label and then touring Europe in August. And then we are going to conquer the rest of the world.
15. Parting comments and cheap shots?
Villi: Thanks for this interview and for supporting this unknown band from out of nowhere, hardcore/punk is global and there are lot’s of quality bands in non-english speaking countries so seek them out. America dominates to many aspects of culture already, don’t let them dominate hardcore as well. If things aren’t being done the way you think they should then do it yourself, your voice and opinion is just as valid as everybody else’s, don’t just do nothing except consume. Life is more than school and work, I suggest you get busy living and experiencing all there is to experience in this world and do all you can to make your life special. When you get old all you will have left are memories and I suggest you start collecting them right away. One more thing, form opinions! Don’t believe what the media tries to tell you. Think for yourself and don’t worry if people tell you that you sound naïve or childish, that just means that you are onto something and are a threat to their status quo. Fight the good fight!
Birkir: Hell yeah! Fight the good fight! Grow up – don´t grow old. Check out hardcore from all over the world. Eat vegetarian. Try to take it easy. Upset the setup. Treat people the way you want people to treat you. Thank you so much for the interview! It means a lot to us. I hope people will get in touch. This is our website: www.iadapt.tk, email: I_Adapt_HC@yahoo.com, snailmail: Birkir Vidarsson, Hverafold 21, 112 Reykjavik, Iceland. If you want some of our stuff, drop us a line and we´ll try to hook something up.
Villi: Oh and sorry if we sound hypocritical or preachy, we can actually be fun every now and then but this interview stuff is kinda rare for us so we wanted to use this opportunity to get as much of our views, ideas and opinions as possible out into the world. Contact us if you have any questions, comments or anything. We love mail. You can contact me directly: Vilhelm Vilhelmsson, Kirkjuteigur 14 kjallari, 105 Reykjavík, Iceland. And thanks to you, Tim, for doing this interview. It means a lot to us.
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