Like Matias Tellez, I interviewed Half Tiger before Airwaves and now I'm doing it again to see what they thought. Half Tiger, again, like Mr Tellez, played at Organ on that wonderful Friday night of Airwaves 2008. Half Tiger put on a great show in Reykjavik and one Grapevine journalist said it was the best performance of the festival. If you, like iceblah, are in London – you need to be at The North London Tavern (great pub!) in lovely Kilburn on the 27th November to see them do their stuff, hey you might even get another Whitney Houston cover. Half Tiger might even qualify as an Icelandic band (I don't know who decides such matters, perhaps I should?). 2 out of 4 come from Iceland, 1 comes from Norway and one comes from London – and it is the Englishman, Sy, who once again faces the iceblah interviewing machine. Last time we met was before his maiden trip to Iceland (actually that's not true, last time we met was outside in the rain in the early hours of a Saturday morning in Reykjavik but you know what I mean) he was looking forward to sea monsters and geysers instead of hot taps. What happened next…
You are the English quarter of the band and you'd never been to Iceland before – what did you make of it?
Amazing.
People seem to have such a genuine enthusiasm for music. One day we
were walking down the main street at about 11am, and there was a
mind-wrenching metal band playing in a pub, the singer was screaming
his guts out and the place was packed. That's a pretty cool scene.
Normally at that hour I'd be screaming into a pillow, not a mic.
No sea monsters?
No,
but the bit about geysers for hot taps was surprisingly close. The hot
tap water really is, er, pungent, no? Its like bathing in lovely
Icelandic eggs.
I told you to go for a hot dog. Did you?
Yes.
We queued for about 12 hours in minus 12-degree temperatures and ate
our hot dogs in about 12 seconds. But it was worth the pain.
So, how did the show itself go? A few technical problems at first?
The
show was frickin' amazing, we had a fantastic time – people were
singing along to the songs so loud we couldn't even hear our own vocals
sometimes, which is weird since this was our first gig in Iceland. One
man's technical problem is another man's feedback-inspired drone rock.
Do you always start with 'I wanna dance with somebody' ? That certainly got everyone's attention!
Our singer Gisli feels an affinity with Whitney Houston that none can argue with. He channels her.
You must be pleased with the review you got in Gapevine (Iceland's English language paper).
I met the guy who gave us that review the next day. He was very handsome, and clearly intelligent.
What else did you see at Airwaves? Can you give me a top 5 list?
We
saw our friend Thorunn play acoustic – we're working on an album with
her back here in London which is going to be amazing. We started
queuing for CSS in minus 12 degree temperatures but gave up after about
12 seconds. That's ok coz i was on the plane back to London with them –
they tried to steal my guitar in the airport. The best gig we saw was
Reykjavik! at Organ on the Friday night. Jesus, they can work a crowd.
I
think you are officially now an Icelandic band, will you keep iceblah
up to date with your plans? Are you planning any releases?
Well,
we haven't told anyone yet, but there's an EP coming out in February.
We've got so many songs that we don't know what to do with them all –
maybe the first release should be a triple album. And we're producing a
couple of other people, doing some remixing as well. It's a busy time.
Thanks Sy, see you at a London show soon I hope.
You're welcome round for tea and hotdogs at Goodbeating Studio anytime.
And there you have it – what is it about Half Tiger, Matias Tellez and the number 12? Are there no other numbers? Anyhow – nice guys and great music. Seriously, Kilburn on November 27th, let's make it a date?