Addy from Sólstafir is not only impressive live, but also in person (he's SO tall). We could almost have done 1 Addy = 2 Valentine. But to be 100% honest with you guys, this interview was really cool. Addy was extremely sweet and professional from beginning to end. It was an honor for me to be able to do this interview. Thanks for your time, Addy. It was great meeting you!
This is not your first time at the Hellfest. Are you excited? Yeah, very excited! It's just a great fucking Festival! We played in 2012 and 2014. You know, first time around, I just thought to myself: “Are they putting us on these stages, because it's huge fucking stages!” So, the thing, the last time we were here, they were saying that Emperor were playing The Nightside Eclipse show or something at the same time, on the mainstage. So, everybody was saying “Well, you got a really bad spot playing the same time with Emperor.” It was fucking packed. I couldn't believe how many people were here. Great live, great sound. So, we're being here for the third time!Isn't it really insane to see all these people around here, coming to see you on stage? Again, when we come touring and we've been going ever since we started doing Hellfest in 2012, we've done many tours in France, like doing three four five six cities outside of Paris. People always say “So you'll earn interest” and I'm like “No!”. So what works for us to reach people in France, it's to play at the Hellfest!On your Facebook page, your music is described as "Pink Floyd Metal"... Do you feel like this is the best definition of your sound? Oh, you know, just because in my heart, I think that we are a heavy metal band. But I know we're not, because it all sounds like Judas Priest or anything like that. But also, what makes us feel a bit different from Judas Priest, is that we have lots of ambient stuff. So, the ultimate ambient rock band is Pink Floyd. Don't take it literally, but it's just... People say you have to write something. Maybe I'll go on Facebook tomorrow and write post-metal, shoegaze rock metal… I don't care!Are you personally satisfied with this description? Yeah, I think it's fine! I just wished that... there is a word missing. For example, when the grunge were all playing, they were all called grunge. I mean, Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana, Alice in Chains are different bands. They still got the name “grunge.” Punk bands got punk. We are sort of in the genre of bands, like... I don't know. Shall we say Catatonia, Paradise Lost and Anathema, Mastodon… Some bands, but there is no word for it.Your last album “Berdereyminn” was released at the end of last year. How was the reception to this album regarding the press and your fans? It's funny if people say that we've changed so much. And I just say “Have you ever listened to the band before?” Because when you listen to the first album, second album, third album... Tell me they all sound the same. We've always been... You know? Changing a lot, so... What a band like this, for the new album, don't expect it to sound like the last album, why would we do that? Why would Metallica do “Kill 'Em All” four times in a row? You know, just to put any band name here. Next album will sound different, but when we did “Köld”, the “Köld” album, we only did the album that we could have done. We couldn't have done better than we did. We couldn't have done a masterpiece, we just did the album. It's like you wake up, go outside “What sort of weather is it today?”. It's not like you can change it, it's force of nature!Your album is described, in your press release, as “eclectic by conscious choice to make feelings audible and transform taste and texture into sound.” Do you think you have achieved this objective? I did not write that and you're laughing! I don't know... You lost me at this third word. Next question please! Carry on, I'm kidding! I don't know, because we've had so many weird, some cool... I mean if The Doors were feeling finger banging battery, if The Hellacopters went to our school and did Valium. Uh... though, the singer sounds like the singer from The Offspring. Just so many weird stuffs so I make no fuss about it. This is what the label writes, if they write it, I'm not gonna be control freak enough. I'm not gonna control this!From one album to another, you always change the production. Is it out of a desire to improve yourselves? I cannot do guitar on one album, and it will sound differently. Sæþór discovered a new seventies album. He's gonna write different chords. Svavar discovered the different electro band that he would get electro sounds. Of course, you only want to change but we're not, not trying it. Because you still have a drum kit, you still have two guitars, still have distortion pedals, still have a distorted bass, so it's still you know, four guys writing rock songs, but it’s how you dress them with delay pedals. It's sort of the spirit of being in the band. I want to try this, and you say “How about I try this version?” and the other guys say “Yeah let's try this version”. We all agreed “Let's have it look like this.” So... yeah.How is your collaboration with Season of Mist going? It's good. We've been with them for a long time now, since 2011 or something. You know, the French is like family-oriented thing. So, we grabbed contracts two years ago or something. If you say it's not like being married to someone. When you break up, you're gonna go to the bar, or fucking Tinder. So no, I'm gonna stay here with my wife, I still have my wife. You know... We have a house, sex is good, so it's fine!Based on your experience, do you have an opinion on the evolution of the music industry, regarding social networks etc? I don't really have an opinion about that. It is what it is, I mean, the toothpaste ain't going back into the tube, so what you gonna do... it's just we try to write our best albums, we tour, we try to do it professionally. No one is getting rid from this, we do it for the pure love of music, and if you release an album today, you have to put it on Spotify, for the die-hard fans, on vinyl... We're still making CDs. No one fucking buys them. If you ride a car today, they don't even have a CD player, so MP3s are dead, CDs are dead... So, if the future is streaming and vinyl, it's fine with me!A last word for your fans or those who don’t know you yet? Well, I don't know what the final words will be, but it's weird that I remember our first show in France. It was not a good show. But the reason... Now, we have a French label, we've done three albums on. We've done Motocultor, it was great! We've done Hellfest, it's the third time. We've done four tours around France, we've played in Paris. Sold-out shows in Paris many times now. So, this is just fucking awesome being here, and I really look forward to the show. Because the stage is so fucking big, there's so much lights going on, a lot of people... If every festival were like Hellfest, life would be lot better! Good final words!
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