Interviewing Icelandic Band Kaleo Was Like Meeting Hot Foreign Guys At A Bar

The Icelandic band Kaleo just released their debut album A/B off Atlantic Records, so I reached out to them to do an interview. But because I rarely interact with Icelandic people, I also wanted to know some other stuff. Like about Iceland. JJ Julius Son answered the questions for me — he’s on guitar and vocals, David Antonsson is on drums and sings, Daniel Kristjansson plays bass and Rubin Pollock is lead guitarist — and I found his answers amusing and endearing, like when you meet a hot foreign guy at a bar, and try to understand each other over drinks and loud music.

Read our interview with Kaleo below, and check out their album on iTunes here.




Did you guys growing up listening mostly to Icelandic or American music? What’s the deal with learning English in Iceland?

I listened to all kinds of music growing up but got really into old music from the 60s and 70s in my teenage years. That was around the same time I taught myself to play guitar and started writing songs. We begin learning English around 7-8 years old in school.

What’s the best Icelandic food we don’t know about?

Rotten shark.

What do you like most about American girls?

I still haven’t met them all. So far so good.

Do you guys have groupies?

I’m not sure I know what a groupie is or if they still exist to this day.

What’s the weirdest way you’ve written a song?

Sometimes a melody or a lyric pops into my head while driving. I also remember once writing a song live to add to our short setlist.

Do you believe drugs help people write better music?

I don’t do drugs. I don’t know.

What’s one rapper you’d love to collaborate with?

I’m not sure about a collaboration but I, for example, like Dr. Dre’s work

What are you looking forward to most this summer?

Going back home to Iceland and spending some down time with friends and family.

What’s the biggest misconception people have about Iceland and Icelandic music?

Everybody seems to think that Iceland is green and Greenland is ice. Greenland is certainly ice. Iceland is green but only part of the year. We have long winters where we get tons of snow. We also have large parts of the island covered by glaciers.


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