sigur ros on npr - oh man…
October 12th, 2007 by Dave Allen
My favorite colour is blue
Anyone who has seen Radiohead’s documentary, Meeting People Is Easy, will relate to this - Sigur Ros were interviewed on NPR and unfortunately they don’t quite live up to the part where you are supposed to answer the interviewers questions. When Good Interviews Go Bad. There’s a good argument here for saying it was hardly their fault given that the questions were pretty banal. Still it’s a wonderful toe-curling moment to witness. Let’s not forget though that they are an amazing band - have a listen to the track below and check out the trailer to their new movie, Heima.
Sigur Ros Vidar Vel Til Loftarasa [MP3]
October 12th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
and to think there were questions that were not asked like, when you are holding your instruments what are you thinking…or… after a long recording sessions what is it like..or… do you drink water… or… can anyone tell me what this man does for a living (click on link) http://www.conceptsystemsinc.com/ourcompany/engineering/randy_bradford.htm …or… have you ever thought about taking your country and making it tiny and then using a multiplying ray so you have more than one and then placing all of those tiny icelands into a nice tall glass of lemonade. HUH… HELLO SIGUR ROS, HELLLO anyone one HOME! LOL!
October 14th, 2007 at 10:10 am
I found that refreshing. Better silence than lameness.
October 14th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Oh I disagree. I prefer the lameness. Awkwardness makes me itchy.
Actually, so does spelling awkwardness.
October 15th, 2007 at 9:30 am
Dave - I totally agree with the “Meeting People is Easy” reference.
Seriously…right out of the gate…”Did you start out playing ‘this kind’ of music…?” It’s hard to imagine that as being a serious question.
Followed quickly by “Did you think you’d be the kind of band that sold 2 million records?” Seriously?! Is the interviewer even remotely familiar with Sigur Ros and the kinda guys they might be? Maybe he thought he was interviewing the Arctic Monkeys or Oasis….
“Obviously, at some point you decided to get in the same room and start playing music with each other. What was the motivation….you just wanted to make music?” Uh…..yeah….basically that’s about it. I see nothing wrong with that answer. Maybe he was trying to pry out the top secret as to why they were really in the same room together…like a conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. :)
Anyway…in all fairness…there definitely was a disconnect between Luke and the band. I’m not familiar with other interviews that he’s done, so maybe not all of his questions are totally retarded. I guess Sigur Ros could have spiced it up by replying “what is ‘this kind’ of music” or “what is music to you?” I think they were tired, tense (Jón looked a bit nervous?).
I’ve been listening to Sigur Ros for quite a while and have never thought of or heard the term “Hopelandic” - Yet the interviewer insists that people start thinking about that term after they get into the band. I think it’s pretty much been well established that Jón often times sings in just nonsensical words or sounds.
Not, that I would have done any better of a job, but surely someone had to have asked the band what they might want to talk about? I think that might have helped…
October 16th, 2007 at 9:18 am
both sides sucked. the questions sucked and should have been rebutted.