CLASS

18
THE REYKJAVÍK GRAPEVINE ICELAND AIRWAVES SPECIAL
Airwaves
Rookie Cards
INTERVIEW BY YORK UNDERWOOD
Name: GKR
Band: GKR
Hometown: Reykjavík
Genre: Rap/Hip Hop
Pre-Season:
“A lot of people want to make music but
never do it. I was making rhymes and
listening to beats, but I didn’t know how
to make a song. I reached out to NEED-
HELP, an artist I really looked up to, and
I asked him, ‘Can I record a song with
you?’ I didn’t know him, he just said,
‘Okay, I usually charge, but everyone deserves
to get one song for free.’ I didn’t
release the song, but it was okay. I kept
making music and bought my own microphone.
It was last February, with my
single, 'Ballin’,' that people started to really
notice me.”
Awards & Achievements:
First Icelandic Rapper To Start His Career
In Poland—Rapping In Iceland
“I played my first gig in March at
Prikið—actually, my first gig was in December
in Poland, in front of a bunch of
students in a culture centre. I shot my
video for 'Hello' in Poland. After Prikið,
though, I started opening for people,
and the ball really started rolling. I knew
I had to keep focused. I was finishing
school, but then I needed to be on track
with my music career.
“After Prikið, I needed to know: Am I
going to be good? I practiced so much. As
a rapper, I’m very skilled. I practice and
practice. I jump while I rap until I’m exhausted.
Performing has really increased
my confidence, not just socially, but with
rapping too. My voice has really started
to develop. It’s getting stronger, and my
raps are very clean and hard-hitting. I’m
really satisfied with that.”
His Music:
“I want to connect with people. I want to
connect with people who have the same
problems I have. I know what it’s like not
to have anyone to relate to. I didn’t relate
to anyone musically until I heard Kid
Cudi when I was sixteen or seventeen. It
gave me the confidence to be who I am.
My music is who I am and people keep
liking it more and more. This makes me
feel like I’m being accepted for who I am.
Confidence is the number one thing music
has given me. It’s a friend I can trust.
When no one is there for you, music is.”
Influences:
“When I was in the 8th grade, I downloaded
this ‘classic hip hop tracks’ bundle
online. It had all these classic rappers.
I was listening to Wu Tang and Kanye
West. Then I heard Kid Cudi. He’s like
my big brother.”
Plans For The Future:
“I hope when people come to see me,
they’ll realize that nothing really matters.
I want people to escape their problems.
I want to make people feel like they
are in another world. I don’t want people
to feel aware of themselves. I want them
to just be who they are inside. If I’m on
stage, and there’s a bunch of people there
to see me, I don’t want to have to say,
‘Dance’ to get everyone dancing. I don’t
want them to need that acceptance from
me on the mic. I want them to feel that
when they come in. That’s what I want.
I want people to be whoever they want
to be.”
Romantic Entanglements:
“My first kiss was at NASA. It was a bad
kiss, but it’s a great memory.”
Name: Hrafnkell Hugi Vernharðsson
Band: Rythmatik
Hometown: Suðureyri in Súgandafjörður,
the Northern Westfjords
Genre: Rock ‘N’ Roll
Pre-Season:
“For a long time, I was the black
sheep of my family. I had no interest
in music. My brother started playing
instruments way before me, so did
my sister. Then when I was around
fourteen, I really started listening to
music, and I started thinking, ‘Playing
guitar would be pretty cool. I better
start practicing now.’ I figured, I
wouldn’t get any better by starting
later, so I started practicing. I was
too impatient to learn other people’s
songs, so I made my own.”
Awards & Achievements:
Winner of the 33rd Annual Battle Of
The Bands (Músíktilraunir)
“My brother wanted to do a project
with me, and for a long time we
would just play together on a couple
of acoustic guitars—struggling to
get a band going. Most of the people
who’d play with us would only do so
as a favour. They weren’t interested
in being in a band with us. We finally
managed to put a band together a few
months before Músíktilraunir, the
Battle of the Bands, in 2014. We practiced
a lot. We crashed and burned.
“Even though we weren’t successful,
it gave us the drive to keep going.
We felt so motivated afterwards that
we practiced nearly every day for the
next year, signed up for the competition
again… and we won.
“I was way more nervous the second
time around. We practiced so
much, and if we didn't get through
to the finals, it would be all this hard
work with the exact same outcome.”
His Music:
“I would like to say easy listening music,
but there is probably music that
is easier to listen to than ours. We’re
just an old-fashioned rock band. I
wouldn’t dare to say we’re breaking
new ground or anything like that. We
just want to make music like what we
listen to and are inspired by.”
Influences:
“Big Country, The Smiths, The Charlatans,
Britpop… anything in my
dad’s record collection.”
Plans For The Future:
“We couldn’t keep driving the six
hours back and forth from Suðureyri,
and we kept getting offers to play
more and more gigs, so we decided to
move to Reykjavík. We really wanted
to use this year, after winning,
and devote all of our energy into the
band. We’re really enjoying this opportunity,
getting to play our music
for scores of different people at all
these shows, connecting with audiences
and ourselves. Next year, we
won’t be this year’s winner: we’ll be
last year’s winner.
“I moved away from home. I'm a
kid. I used to come to Reykjavík with
my parents on a vacation trip—going
to the movies and out to eat. I never
experienced living in the city. I feel
like I’ve grown up a lot this summer.
The silver lining is that living
in Reykjavík has made me appreciate
my family and home a lot more.
I never thought I would miss it this
much.”
Romantic Entanglements:
“Some of us had girlfriends back
home, but that worked in my favour.
My girlfriend is a year older than me,
and when she finished high school
she was going to move to Reykjavík
and leave me behind. I had to finish
high school before joining her. But
this Músíktilraunir thing led to me
moving here before her. I moved here
at the beginning of summer, and she
came in the fall for school. That was
hard. I was alone in a new city, and I
really missed her.”
Rythmatik’s EP is set to be released
in mid-October.