Text/Photos by Andrew Parks
According to Ben Frost, the producer of their freshly-minted LP (The Blood), “ReyjkavÃk‘s the real deal. They remind me a lot of At the Drive-In.”
An At the Drive-In reference on the first day of Iceland’s Airwaves music festival, as we’re fading fast from a red eye flight that left no time for napping or a proper meal? Um, we’re so there.
Here’s the kicker, too: the comparison isn’t so much a loaded overstatement as a spot-on summary of the two bands’ live shows. While they’re far from a carbon copy of Texas’ greatest arty & angular act ever, ReykjavÃk! nearly bowled us over with their balls-to-the-wall approach to performing. Especially Bóas, a fearless singer who reminded us of the days when being a frontman meant challenging the crowd to “pay attention!” rather than a whole lot of posturing and pouting.
As you’ll see in the photos below, he spent the band’s entire set bouncing between an overzealous mosh pit, the beer-splattered stage, and several speaker towers. The rest of the guys weren’t exactly subdued, either. In fact, we almost got our camera knocked straight across the room by swooping guitars a couple times.
Stay tuned–we just asked the band if they’d like to do a bar crawl of downtown Reykjavik later this week and they sound psyched to get self-titled properly sauced. And now, for the evidence and a setlist …
