The annual competition for new bands in Iceland, Músíktilraunir, has an excellent track record of finding talent. Not least the winners from two years ago, a band called Of Monsters & Men, have had a little bit (A LOT) of international success. So it is kind of a big deal. Being the Icelandic music weirdo that I am, I trawl through and listen to all the entries every year and Retrobot very definitely stood out as a likely winner from the start. As is traditional, the winners get to play at Iceland Airwaves. In addition, more often than not, they get the added bonus of an iceblah interview. They are lucky…

RetRoBot – Electric Wizard by Iceland Airwaves

Hi Retrobot, where are you right now and what are you doing?

Right now we are in Reykjavík, getting ready for a trip to Norway.

Who is in the band?
Daði Freyr Pétursson – Computer, Synths, Percussions, Vocoder and Vocals
Gunnlaugur Bjarnason – Lead vocals and synth
Kristján Pálmi Ásmundsson – Guitar, Vocoder and Vocals
Guðmundur Einar Vilbergsson – Guitar, Synth and Vocals

…and this Airwaves we will have a good friend of ours joining us for some of the songs Hörður Már Bjarnason (from M-Band) on Vocoder and Vocals

Congratulations on winning the Músíktilraunir (new bands) competition, how does it feel to follow bands like Maus, Mínus, Mammút, Jakobínarína and those Of Monsters & Men people?
It feels great, it puts some pressure on us to get further and we like it. Now we just have to work on getting people to know us for our music, and not just for being the winners of Músíktilraunir.

There will be 5 or more other bands playing at the same time as you – so why should people choose your show?
Because this is our first gig at Iceland Airwaves and we are going to play full power and give it all we have, we will probably be playing some new songs that we have never played live before. And if you can't come, we are playing 4 off-venue shows at Prikið, Bar 11, Kaffibarinn and Dillon.

Have you seen the festival line-up? What other bands are you excited to see?
The line-up this year is amazing. A lot of great Icelandic bands will be playing this year, Agent Fresco, FM Belfast, Sólstafir, Kiriyama Family, Samaris, GusGus, HAM, M-Band, Sin Fang, Sóley and of course Sigur Rós, these are just a few of the amazing icelandic bands. But in the international bands we have Django Django and Dirty Projectors, we can't miss that!

And finally, how about a few local tips for the festival first-timers?
Go to the off-venue shows as well, those shows can be just as good, or sometimes even better.

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You have six chances to sample the significant delights of Retrobot at Iceland Airwaves 2012:

Wednesday October 31st : 8:50pm in Gamli Gaukurinn

Thursday November 1st: 9am (IN THE ACTUAL MORNING) for Rock & Bacon at Prikið and then at 8pm at Bar 11.

Friday November 2nd: at 4pm at Menntaskólinn við Hamrahlíð and at 10pm in Kaffibarinn.

And finally on Saturday 3rd November at 8:45pm in Dillon.