sunnudagur, ágúst 12, 2007

PPPönk

Photo by Björg Sveinsdóttir http://www.bsmyndir.com/
About PPPönk
Here's a blast from the Icelandic underground past. I recently dug this CD out of my collection and realizing I had not listened to it in many years, I gave it a well deserved proper listening to, and it's a darn fun CD, so I wanted to share it with someone. Realizing I knew virtually nothing about the band I got the singer to answer a few questions, and without furter ado I present you with PPPönk (PPPunk).
The band started in 1997 with an exchange student named Benjamin Jay Kline, who studied in Flensborg High School. He had agreed to partake in the school's singing competition, with his own song. When the time came he decided to go to the movies instead and asked his "sister", Laufey, to sing it instead, to which she agreed. The school band had one Freyr Gígja on guitar and Guðni on drums, and their co-operation proved so fun that they decided to continue, and recruited Nonni on guitar and Bjössi on bass.
While waiting for the drummer on their first practice, a chap they knew named Kjartan was out walking his dog, and dropped in on a visit. He sat behind the drum-kit, counted in, and thus the band was fully formed.
The band had one popular song, called "Surferboy" which got on some charts, and was released on a compilation CD called "Drepnir". Then Freyr dropped out and Gísli Árnason took his place. The Sugarcubes' label Bad Taste got wind of them and released the CD PP. ep. also in 1997. Apart from this the band released a CD named "Hvað" (What). Their 15 minutes of fame came when they opened for Skunk Anansie in what was then Iceland's largest stadium.
The singer, Laufey, is now an actress and a model, Freyr is a reporter and Bjössi the bass player currently drums with Singapore Sling.

A second post on www.indie-mp3.co.uk
While researching for the article I found out they had themselves released a second EP entitled "Hvað", which means "What". I got hold of what appears to be the last known copy which turned out to be a CD-R with no artwork except a stamp on the CD itself, and chock-full of fun, fast and melodic songs, characterized by Laufey's frantic yelping.
This EP was recorded and released in 1999, and only 50 copies were made.
Seeing that this CD is unlikely to be re-released any time in the near future the band kindly gave me permission to post all the songs here. The first song is named "Untitled" simply because no one can remember what it was called back then.
Songs of this CD-R for free availabe on www.indie-mp3s.co.uk (mp3-format):
1. Untitled
2. Ein á báti
3. Hvað
4. Keyrðu mig
5. Palli
6. Trukkur

Engin ummæli: