 |
 |
Scam zine (uk)
13/09/2004
I Adapt recently toured the UK, I was fortunate to put them on at the cardigan Arms (as farcical and unprofitable as it was!) I had the best time watching them. There wasn’t a person in the room not smiling not only were the band fantastic but they were funny. I think everyone enjoyed the satirical approach they adopted to more macho hardcore trends…‘lets fuck this place up it up!’ and who here has heard of us before?…well fuck of coz we don’t care bout you we just want the new fans - was one of my favourites (said in jest of corse!) The show in the 1 in 12 was even better front man Birkir was able to make everyone feel a part of the performance, smiles all round. The only disappointing element to both shows was that few people turned up but hey I guess that’s hardcore for you.
How would you describe the band musically/politically
It’s kinda hard to describe cos we jo-jo between so many diffirent bands and styles and we’re always digging up some new stuff that creeps into our sound. Not everybody notices that but we feel a diffirence everytime we write. It keeps us interested. We have a hard time describing ourselves, but other people seem to have it all figured out hahaha. We’re definitely very big on hardcore and punk obviously. That influences our music but we all listen to other perverted stuff that doesn’t find it’s way into our sound cos this band is a hardcore band. If we’d want to play off on those other influences we’d start side projects or something… But remember the name Section 8 and you’ll be saved!
I Adapt has always been political. It was one of the two big motivations in getting this band together in the beginning… It was to address political, social issues, matters and feelings that were important to us (and still are) in a context with real life so it would make sense. At the time no bands were singing about anything and no band members talked between songs. We wanted that element to our local shows. When I say that we wanted those "aware lyrics" to make sense, I’m not implying that we wanted the lyrics to be "street" or to reflect how rough our lives have been (cos we are tyical Iceland kids, well off and secure) We just wanted to put the spotlight on our own actions, how we sleppwalk through life and ignore how we have been raised and conditioned to turn the other way or how we ignore our potential to change some pretty vital things for the better and also our potential to destroy as well as construct something new. Not only that but some of our lyrics can be damn personal as well as just straight forward arrogant and pissed off. Pretty much everything get’s covered if we feel it has anything to do with us, be it positive or negative. All in all, we want the end result to be positive and I Adapt to be a positive experience.
You recently finished a UK tour, how did you find it? Highlights and why?
Well. We knew this was a terrible time for us to tour, but we did it anyway cos we had a blast last summer and we figured that it might be interesting for the UK folks to get shit heads like us when only big Kerrang type of bands seemed to be touring. But you know, this time around the turn out was poorer, but it didn’t effect us in any way. We thought it was just as awesome. I mean, we played our asses off, saw bands, people clapped their hands, smiled and talked to us. What more do you need? To put it short, we’re not on a mission to be a popular rock/metal band so this tour was destined to be a success in our minds. We met old friends and made new one’s. We met Mes and we made love to him.
Our summer tour was insane. We were packed like sardines into this shitty van and there was a record heat wave going on so while in the van (wich was most of the time) we felt like we were dying. Well, Villi didn’t, but then again he used to live in Africa. This time around the weather was very living-in-a-van-friendly and the van was better originized…more space to stretch out. And just touring UK was luxurious compared to our Euro tour cos the drives were so short. We felt spoiled. I can’t pick out one highlight. Obviously meeting people like you and being able to play a gig for new people is the ultimate highlight. Our show in Boston was great. The Peterborough show was awesome cos there we got to see Friends of Ed, Drive Us Against and Patient Zero and there was dancing too! That line up just drove us crazy! Playing the 1 in 12 has been a dream… just to be there you know. The Harrogate was just a huge, packed party with everyone going insane and the big goodbye to the Boston punx after that very show. The Overton show was just surrealistic. We saw Biff Tannen (check them out) and we want to adopt them.
Being able to do this and still stay friends all this time and having fun is very rewarding and touring gives you a lot of found memories and moments to look back on after you sell out you know! We like touring.
What do you think about current hardcore/punk how important do you think it is that the music says something than just sounds good?
I think that current hardcore/punk is in a pretty good shape. It has it’s pro’s and con’s just like it ever did. It wasn’t better back in the days or anything. Hardcore is as good as you make it. I mean. If you concentrate on the negative all the time - focus on the apolitical, apathetic kids and bands that only seem to be in it for the "cool" and man-to-a-sweaty-man-body-contact, then your perspective on current hardcore will be very shitty indeed! It seemed like the "I don’t give a shit I just wanna mosh and look sharp" mentality was taking over at some point, but when I dug in deeper I found out that that wasn’t the case. Trends come and go all the time and it’s all good. We all get cought up in superficial fashion from time to time but it’s up to us to keep it from taking over. We don’t even have to worry about it cos I know there’s enough sincere people out there that are doing this for all the right reasons and that’ll make hardcore/punk as relevant and wonderfull as when we first fell in love with this shit. There are enough people out there keepin’ it real, baby! Damn! When I think about it, there’s too much good stuff going on anyway, I can’t keep up with it all. And I sure ain’t gonna waste my time keeping up with bands and label that are shit. It ain’t worth it. Everyone to his own, you know.
Needless to say, it’s very important that hardcore/punk is more than just music! I totally accept bands and artist that are more about the art/music than the message, cos that is important to keep hardcore/punk from stagnation and from becoming one dimensional and boring. I purchase that stuff and support it all the time and I Adapt plays with a lot of those kind of artists. We also must remember that although a punk artist isn’t saying much with lyrics, his/her actions might be way more punk/radical/revolutionary than anything we’re doing by doing this interview or screaming at a show. But if music becomes more important than our words/and action, this culture and community will die. It will be nothing more than entertainment and just the same as mainstream pop culture. Simple as that.
Is there any differences that you noticed between the UK hardcore/punk scene and that in Iceland?
Yeah. There’s a big diffirence. First of all, in the U.K. you can talk to strangers at shows about hc/punk cos the odds are that this person is into that kind of shit. In Iceland there are only handful of people into hc/punk and you know them well already. It was nice for a change to talk to strangers about what we love. But I’m sure that’s not what your waiting for in my answer. When we play in Iceland we mostly play with metal bands. In the UK we played with hc/punk bands. Nice. I dunno. What’s deffinitly diffirent is that in the UK you have sure places to put on DIY shows. We hardly have any here, but there’s a postitive project being worked on that will allowed us to do show’s and whatever in. There have already been great local shows there and Harum Scarum played there. Next up is Tragedy and Wolfbrigade!! The whole hc/punk culture is obviously way older in the UK. Our scene is very young, so everything is pretty unsure and exciting. It’s very rooted in metal. Wich means that d.i.y. activism and projects are pretty radical in the observers eyes and often far fetched and unrealistic to the disbeliver. The idea is even overwealming for some folks. But it’s slowely getting better and more alive. The number of hc/punk bands is growing, my distro is becoming a household name to loyal music lovers and there are even 5 zines doing the rounds! For years there was only one zine (wich I made) but these day’s it´s looking good. I love zines. I Adapt’s bassist does a great zine. I noticed in Europe that zines are dying out. Not really, but when I traveled in 98-2001 there were way more zine’s at shows. On our last Euro tour we saw so little of them. Wich sucks. It was depressing. Oh yeah… I’m drifting away from the original question. In the UK older people turn out. Wich is re-assuring cos it means that a number of people don’t grow out of punk…. AND SELL OUT motherfuckers! To Icelands’s advantage, more girls turn out to local shows here. I love it. But more girls need to get involved. Way more. No girls are thrashing on stage, no girls are editing zines and hardly any girls put on show. That’s gonna change though, I’m sure. Yeah, and one more thing. The UK scene seems to care more about politics and socio relevant issues. I hope that’s gonna change though here when they see good efforts come to fruit succefully… when more kids put their potential and power into practice.
The thing I remember most of all (other than the music of course!) was the bands stage presence, you were able to make everyone feel really comfortable, why do you do what you do, what’s the drive?
Oh you remember the music too!? How delightful!! Well thank you. It’s flattering to hear this. We don’t aim to do this, it just comes out that way. We aren’t mean angry guy’s or introvert artist on a image-trip. That’s it right there. Still, in a way, we want this to be the impression you get when going to our gig. That said, we are after all conscious about keeping it friendly and inviting to strangers… to make them feel as much part of the band and the whole live-exsperince as our selves. Basically it started at shows in Iceland. We were so sick of impersonal shows, bands that didn’t move (we always wondered "why is their own music not moving these people?), didn’t say a word, no interaction between crowd and the band. It was like going to a big sports event, you’re just a spectator. You might as well watch the show live on T.V. and stay at home! Fuck, That’s how it originated ,evolved and came naturally. We don’t think about it. It’s just something that we do. It’s us. And another thing. We aren’t trying to be some rockers that kids look up to… the band that is so misterious that it generates talk and myths. Fuck that. We wanna make it clear from the very first song that there’s no diffirence between us and the crowd. It’s a gathering of people. There are no ego’s to satisfy here.
I remember feeling really bad as we hadn’t got enough money to fully subsidise your travels is it difficult being a part of something that doesn’t always make ends meet? What other jobs do you have? Punk Nurse??
Well. We are prepared. We have no delusions about being a little hc band on tour. We do shows ourselves. We know how hard it is to make money from shows. We don’t want to make people that do our shows feel band cos we didn’t get enough bling bling. We’re not gonna cry about it, talk shit and get all high and mighty because of loosing a little money. We leave that to the rock stars. Their on a diffirent mission. They wanna get out of the hc/punk game. It’s great to get enough money. I love it. But that’s not what makes us go on tour.
Our driver on the last UK tour is a professional nurse. He’s all about nursing, punk and having good sex. I work full time at a youth club assisting kids getting things done and just to be there for them and provide alternative entertainment and recreation. Villi is a student but works in the summer as a painter and a bus driver… hating both hahaha. Elli is a student, and works lousy jobs from time to time, dunno what’s next for him. Ingi dropped out of school to work full time cos he’s gonna be a father pretty soon!
What do you think about dumpster diving?
I can only speak for my self. I love it. I do it my self some, but not enough. I’m just too lazy and priviledged sometimes. I dumpster dive kinda at work, cos the people I work with throw food away all the time and leave "old" food behind wich I can use. I save a lot of money on that. I sometimes do a night stake-out at this one bakarie. They leave so much food outside the door for a disposal pick up. I wanna learn about some stores, cos they throw tons of all kinds of food away. I think Villi might be into it. Dunno about the other bro’s. Elli is a posh consumer. His life is about candy and sodas.… hehehe.
Where do you do most of your shopping?
I guess you referring to food and stuff. I hardly ever shop clothes. If I do it’s some sales crap or 2nd hand. People I know get sick of their clothes and pass it on to me. I use the same shit year after a year. I try to be conscious about buying shoes, belts etc. no leather and hopefully no sweat shops. I don’t have a lot of money so I try to shop cheap and food that I can store for along time. Wich a lot of the time leads me to those big ass discount markets. I try to avoid them to a point but I ain’t living with my parents and nobody is donating money to my bank account so… I try to shop as much with little local stores as well as stores that sell a lot of bio-food. There’s only so much I can do. Just try to do my best and make as many homemade meals on my own as I can. It’s hard to be picky here cos in this mecca of capitalism there aren’t a lot of alternatives. Bio food at the health store is expensive and mom ain’t paying my bills so I often end up in those big shops. It’s the reality of the situation. Buying carrots, potatos and stuff at the flea market is a good call though…
I remember at the 1 in 12 you mentioned that one of your songs was abut how unjust it was that under TRIPS people in developing world have to pay for basic needs such as water? Expand…think its important that punk maintains its purpose and origins…question authority? Normality?
It must have been Villi who addressed this issue when we played with Hryðjuverk before I Adapt played. I totally agree with him. I don’t know anybody that doesn’t. Paying for running water is insane. Just one more tool to keep people dependent on the state and corporations in power. This is unjust. The water is there. But those in power won’t make it accessible to the people. Like for instance. If those governments or facist regimes in those developing countries along with those governments and persons in authority in the western world that say they care and say that the are monitoring the situation, would in fact give a damn about human rights and prosperity they would easily be able to dedicate a fraction of their time, with all their power and pull and all that money that they bathe in, to this cause by harnessing water all over the world in order to provide the millions without it, this necessity. It’s a known fact, that if this would be put in action there’s enough water in the world (example: Iceland has a humongus resoucre for fresh water) to provide the people with this fundamental necissity of life. But the powers tha be don’t care about peoples lives. That’s the truth. And this truth hurts millions every day.
It’s vital for punk to question authority and the happenings in punk as well. Apathy is one of the main cancers of society and in hc/punk as well. You can’t separate the two. Without the "real word" punk wouldn’t exist. So take care of your hc/punk community and that way we might influence the outside, little by little.
What is normal? What we are tought in school and how we are brought up by parents that were pretty much brought up in the same environment must be the norm. I dunno. A lot of people in my family and the people I worked with think um so radical and "out there" and far from being normal. I disagree with them. I think I’m way too normal and scared to break the mold even more. I’m way too afraid with the uncertainty and what’s un-known to me. Some people say they can’t imagine being as radical and "free" as me. I see where they are coming from but I know I ain’t that diffirent. I’m too normal. l feel I should upset my own normality and conditioned balance much more. I feel that I ain’t living enough as it is…
If there was one thing that you would choose to do or be in life what would it be?
I wish I could be myself but I’m too much of an coward to. I wish I could be free, but I’m not and I’m afraid I’ll never be. This I can’t do and can’t be. But I wish I will continue to try to be me cos it makes my feel alive. I’m too conserned about what others might think of me when I should not give a fuck and just do my thing. I’m gonna strive not to fall victim to depression. I choose to fight the good fight and stage dive every now and then. I want to be a good father and a good teacher. I wish that I won’t make more damage than positive and constructive things and experiences. Hopefully I’ll be strong enough to change my opinions for the better when really needed, to benefit the course of my life. Shit. I ain’t making any sense here. The Office!!
Also what is your picture of an ideal world how close are you/we to it?
We are as close to it as we are far from it. I really don’t know. How should I know? My brain is rotten with ideas fed to me while growing up, watching t.v. and going to school. Those school books are so fucked up. Anyway. I could write an essay about very obvious things that have to be changed to make this world more ideal and humane. But this is an interview, not a book. I don’t ultimately blame everything on capitalism and evil corporations cos after all, we the people have a lot of power. Power that we give to them. I also am aware of the fact that those same corporations and politicians that lobby for them, take so much from us. I just wish people would realize what kind of power they posess and have much change and "damage" we can do, knowing this and advocating it while educating and bringing up our children. Also how much influence we could have by setting an alternative example of independence, humane actions, peace and just plain common sense and cleaverness. It would knock the weapons out of the tyrants hands. The best we can do is, change our own little world- our surroundings cos we have the power to. It seems far fetshed when I consider myself not being able to actually be me and live free. But the struggle continues.
I remember that a few of the band were vegetarian/vegan why is this important to you?
I can only speak for myself. But ¾ of the band is veg. I think each of us are developing this lifestyle change. It makes perfect sense to be veg. It’s very important to me. At a very early age I was sourended with animals that I had great feelings for (cats, dogs, horses, sheeps…). At first I just ate meat like my parents cos that’s what was on the table. Later I started thinking "why are we always eating meat, mom?". Mom said we had to, it’s vital for our health. Later I learned were it came from. It came from animals that were just like "my" animals. I was young but bright enough to make that connection and for years I always wondered why my animals were lucky enough to not end up on my plate. Soon I started wondering why my animals were so special, after all they were the same. My parents said that we knew our animals personally and therefore they lived pretty good lives with us taking care of them. For obvious reasons it didn’t make any sense to me and when asking if I could eat something else and if there were people in this world that didn’t eat animals the answer was simple: "if you don’t eat meat you’ll damage your health. Yes there are vegetarians but those people are extreme and feel like shit most of the time". I bought that explenation but this feeling of how shitty it was that some animals were more important than others didn’t make any sense to me and I always wanted an alternative. When I met this guy that had been a vegetarian for over a decade and proved not to be dead, I decided to get educated on vegetarianism and gradually cut down the meat entirely. I feel way better about this change cos I always been into animal/enviromental rights. It just makes perfect sense and to me is a locical step both ethically and from a conscious consumption point of view. We just can’t go the way we’re going with this modern food craze. It will get the best of us eventually and in the meantime torture and kill billions of animals, not to mention all the food that is being prodecued soly to feed animals for factory farming. Let’s just forget about people that starve. Next up we might just factory farm people as well. Shit.
I remember siggy your driver meditating when he stayed at my house did Buddhism come first or veganism/ why important to him?
For Siggi, vegetarianism came first. Way before the influence of Buddhism. I can’t speak for him but I know him really well. He’s one of my best friends and we lived together so, meditating helps him to feel balanced and more at peace. Helps him start the day and deal with it. He’s had his share of problems in the past and this is one of many methods he uses to benefit his life and stay positive and strong. He reads a lot, and being the atheist that he is, the topic of religion and spirituality interests him. He has shitloads of books. Awesome guy. He talks about sex a lot too.
How important do you think this message is or should be with regard to punk/hardcore?
Dear Sally I’m not sure about what your talking about I this one. What "this message"?
Can you provide a recipe for the zine..your favourite or most used recipe please don’t say a bread sandwich!
Shit. Most of the food I make is just solo, made on the spot by whatever is available. But a recepie for each interview is an awesome idea and I hope some of those other punks will do better than me and provide me with some mint stuff when I read this zine. Hold on! I have one. Very me and very minimalistic and un-exiting hahaha. Tons’ of outmeal, tons of fresh raisins, some water, dash of salt, put it in a pot and make it boil. Put sweetened soy milk and cinemon (mixed with suger if desired) on it, shut up and eat. Listen to Rush while digesting.
What are your musical influences?
Too many to mention. So many diffirent influenses. Ah shit. So much. As for drumming, I’m not gonna go there. O.k. let’s stick to just punk and hardcore and leave all the rock, metal, pop stuff out while growing up, out of this. Let’s see: Dead Kennedys, The Exploited, Crass, Minor Threat, Sick Of It All, Limp Wrist, Section 8, Refused, His Hero Is Gone, Initial State, Propagandhi, Avail, Bane, Strike Anywhere, Hot Water Music, DS-13, World Burns To Death, Down In Flames, Life’s Halt, Artimus Pyle, Rudimentary Peni, Sunny Day Real Estate, Gorilla Biscuit, Falling Forward, Los Crudos, Fugazi, Converge, Lack, Kiss It Goodbye, Vitamin X… so much shit. I wanted to mention all the crucial bands but I’m not in a namedropping hot-zone today. But email me y’all if you wanna namedrop stuff.
What are your future plans?
Hopefully as few as possible. I’m trying to talk myself out of going to university to study to become a teacher. But I’m 26 so I might go next fall to check how it feels. Tour this summer. Eat food. Stay sane. I don’t like to have future plans. Be nice. Dance.
What is the best holiday you’ve ever had and why? Where would you most like to travel?
It’s always the best when I visit my echange student family in Germany. I was living with them in 96-97 in a small town called Freital, close to Dresden in the east. I love seeing them and my friends there. Those are the best holidays. I wish I could take some Icelandic friends with me. Also going to the east coast to a town I lived in since I was born and until was 17. Very small town called Reyðarfjörður. It’s a beautiful spot and very relaxed so it’s good to go there, kick back with my grandparents, my dad and his family as well as with friends from my childhood that still live there. Now I really wanna travel in Canada. I don’t know why. But I should go.
Do any of you ride bmx or have any other hobbies to release from every day life?
Hc/punk is my main hobby of course…unfortunetly. So a lot of time get’s spent on everything connected to that be it distro, zine, reading, listening, going to and playing shows, practizing, booking shows and such. I try to spend as much time as possible with my girlfriend and some friends. I also cook. I love to cook. Take walks and jog outside is good as well as a little bit of skateboarding. I also spend way too much time online. I would like to do more sports like football and basketball for example. I like to watch animals. I like having sex and a lot of it. I love watching movies and I’m all about The Office these days. Sheer genious!
What do you think are the most important things in life?
To believe, love and have faith. I’m not religious at all but those three things are important to me, or else I would die. …The Office, fuckers!!!!!!
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
|