Heiða @ Reykjavik Folk Festival: Café Rosenberg on 21. October 2015

Heiða covers Curver: "333"

Experimental Stuff by Heiða

Unun @ Eistnaflug

Unun comeback (sort of) at Eistnaflug 2015 Festival

They played 3 songs:

Eg se rautt

Log unga folsins

Leðurskiþið vima.

DYS feat. Elvar & Heiða @ Eistnaflug Festival 2015

Dys @ Eistnaflug 2015
Dys í svo góðu sándi að það er næstum því ekki paunk.
Posted by Atli Jarl Martin on Tuesday, 14 July 2015

Heiða in Berlin # 1: Sumarið kom í dag (The summer came today)

Heiða wrote a new song in Berlin about the summer, recorded on Iceland's first day of summer

Interview with Heiða (March 2015)

How and when did Hellvar get together ?

Hellvar was formed in Berlin by me, Heiða, and multi-instrumentalist Elvar, but we were living in Berlin for a year from 2004-2005 to study Philosophy at a local University. We had both been in various bands together and apart for years before, but we had decided to put musical career on hold to focus on the studies, and then it turned out we just couldn't keep away from it. First formation was a drum-machine, and then Heiða and Elvar taking turns playing bass and electric guitar with Heiða singing. Half of the first album was recorded in our living-room in Berlin. This explains the How and the When, and I even added a Why? Why music? Oh, because you can't not do it, even when your mind is set on other things.

Had you been involved in music before Hellvar ?

My first engagement was learning to play guitar at home from the age 13 and  onward. I came home from school and quickly did my homework so I could spend the rest of the afternoon and evening playing. I only started writing my own songs at the age of 16, when I got my own guitar from my parents. Before that it was learning Bowie-songs, Beatles-songs, Smiths, Cure, U2..... When I came across chords to any song I knew I tried playing it. Led Zeppelin also took up a big part of a year for me. Home from school, homework, and Baby I'm gonna leave you for 5 hours was a routine I stuck to religiously. Hahaha. First band I was in was also at 16, and I was in a few garage-bands from 16 to 23. One of the bands was in Marseille, France, when I lived there for a year. I also started making lyrics in English when I lived in France and was performing my troubadour-stuff there. I wanted people to understand my lyrics, but didn't know enough french at the time to compose in french. No-one understands Icelandic so that was futile. Some professional guys, heros in my opinion at the time, heard me sing and play in a gig in Reykjavík in 1994 and called me and offered me a singing-job in a band they had just formed called Unun. (means Pleasure in Icelandic). I was in Unun until 2000, played around Europe, and then I did my first solo-album and have been writing and releasing my music ever since. At the moment I am working on a solo-album of mine, probably gonna be some low-fi, electro/acoustic experimental album. Very exciting. Hellvar is working on new material too, and then I am in this electro-duet called Ruddinn, with a guy called Bertel. We have done one album together under the name and we just finished recording a new one, out late this summer. 

To someone who has never heard of you, how would you describe your music and who are your main influences ?

Hellvar is very much like mixing water with olive-oil. You can shake it all you want and it still won't blend, but if you add some colouring to the mix it will make great patterns. One is often influenced by the music one was listening to in one's teenage years, I mean, those are the roots and then life experience and newer influences and the weather and politics and whatever comes on top of that, like filters and layers. Elvar and I don't really share roots but the layers and the filters and where we stand on things are very similar. Whereas he comes from metal and punk I come from seventies and indie/alternative rock and then a bit later goth. We are not the teenagers we were once and I have even developed taste for some metal and he likes some of the mid-seventies soft shit I have been pushing on him at the house. The thing is we are both music-lovers and we have always been. We are not through with discovering stuff and try to broaden our musical horizon all the time. Hellvar incorporates our roots as well as our love of rock and we are not afraid to take unexpected detours into whatever genres of music we feel necessary in the songs. If you need me to put labels on the music I would go with alternative, goth, shoe-gaze, punk-rock.

What inspires your lyrics ?

Weather, politics, philosophy, injustice, films, books, artists, people, darkness, melancholia, depression, love, confusion, adventures, funny animal videos on the internet....How long can this interview be? I can go on for a while... restaurants, weirdness, conversations, parties, art-galleries, night-time, tea-drinking, clowns. Oh you want me to stop? Ok, I'll stop.

How is the music scene in Iceland ?

It's brimming with life. There is nothing to do in Iceland in the wintertime but watch TV or make art. The people who are TV-watchers have no time to do art. Artists have no time to watch TV. It's basically too cold and shitty out to go and do anything. I do see a lot of brave tourists who come in the wintertime and go hiking and mountain-climbing or whatever. But for them this is an adventure, and they can leave Iceland after their adventure is finished. It is different when you can't leave. I started doing music because of my general lack of enthusiasm with TV and sports and I think those are the reasons that kept me going. That, and the I can't not do music. The economical crisis has also dragged people out of their self-made cages and made them realize that life is only what you make of it, and so we are seeing and hearing a lot of people who always wanted to make music or paint or write books coming out in the open with that now. I love that. Creativity is not something you can buy. Imagination beats all other forms of entertainment I have come across. 

You DJ on Icelandic Radio, yes .....

Yes, indeed. I have a radio-show on Sunday-nights. I play Icelandic music only, underground and  upcoming artists mixed with more established ones. I love finding stuff and introducing it to radio-listeners. I have always had this enthusiasm about bands I like when I hear them for the first time. I really believe the right song can sometime save a day, or a night. I take great pleasure in making my radio-program, as it is all about introducing people to stuff that deserves more attention. 

What interests do you have outside of music ?

Travelling, people, arts, love, books, adventures, good food. I would gladly combine all of those: Travelling the world with artistic people I love, going on adventures, eating good food and coming home to make art and write books about it.

You recently did a short tour of England ; how did that go ?

 I'm happy Hellvar finally got a chance to play in England. I think we are very influenced by English artists, a few of my favourite being Cocteau Twins, The Cure, P.J.Harvey and David Bowie, and a few of Elvar's being Mike Oldfield, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, King Crimson and Paradise Lost. Hellvar has played in Germany many times, and in the U.S. and we even managed a trip to Beijing a few years back. We loved to get the reaction from the U.K. audience, as all nations respond differently to music. We were very pleasantly surprised that England took us so well. We want to come again in the autumn, and try out new material we have been stacking up.
Source : Goth

Hellvar in the UK in B & W - Photos by English Viking Bjarni

Anarchy on NURadio 23. February 2015

Anarchy on NURadio 23 Feb 2015 with special, and amazing guests - HELLVAR from Reykjavik! by Nu Radio on Mixcloud

Hellvar UK Tour - Photographs by Peter Males

On Tour with Hellvar - Heiða's Diary # 7 & # 8

# 7

Woke up this morning in London, always a pleasant feeling. We had had a strangely packed day yesterday, with a new tattoo and a train-ride and London transport and dinner on the run and a jam session evening and a ride home in the London-by-night, special Franck-mobile, so bed and rest was extremely called for. 10 o’clock I woke to do yoga, and had killer breakfast, played some brass instruments and went for a walk. Kinda hanging around in Crystal Palace, and am gonna get back to Franck’s place in a minute and start finding my way up to Fulham. Tonight we play in the Southern Belle, very excited about that. 

# 8

Train-ride from London to Bedford was a trip! Listened to an album called “Ecstasy”, a solo-album by Lou Reed that is absolutely fantastic, and goes down very well in a train. Bedford turned out to be quite the rock’n’roll town. We got a great soundcheck, great soundwoman doing it, and we ended up hearing everything on stage and having a rocking powerful sound out!!! This helped to make it an excellent show, and the regulars at Danny’s Bar were even happy. Sold a few cd’s and T-shirts, had many many nice conversations, laughed a lot. Drove home in Steve’s van listening to Dub side of the moon, a great discovery. Tonight Hellvar rocks out in Kettering´s The Old Market Inn

Photos by Franck Alba 

On Tour with Hellvar - Heiða's Diary # 6

# 6

Leicester on a Tuesday-night is not the busiest night of the week, so we didn’t really get a lot of people to our gig. We did get a leatherclad punk in, tho, who loved Hellvar so much he bought all the cd’s we had to sell, 1 of each, 5 kinds. He is also coming to Reykjavik on the 31st of July, and I’m gonna teach him Icelandic. Good gig, all in all, nice sound. Went this morning and got a tattoo!!! Then took the train to London, and am now sitting with Elvar and our friend Franck, in his flat in Chrystal Palace. Jam session tonight, gig tomorrow in Fulham, London.

On Tour with Hellvar - Heiða's Diary # 4 & # 5

# 4

Indeed a lazy Sunday, off-day. Only time I went out today was to go to a real English Sunday roast in a real English family. It was wonderful. I read a bit, listened to a bit of radio, had a bath and dozed around the flat. Tomorrow we rehearse and then on Tuesday there is a gig in Leicester. 

# 5

Monday, Monday. Not a bad Monday at all. Woke up to go out for a walk at 09.00 AM. Had made a promise to myself, after having stayed inside almost the whole Sunday, to explore more of Kettering, and to find a café I could call my hangout, and where there would be excellent coffee and good vibes to write. Found it, it is called Cortados, and has spanish tapas, good coffee, nice tea-selection and great people. Love my new hangout, actually went there twice today. In between those two times I went to rehearsal with Hellvar. We added 4 songs to the mix. Now I’m all done with this Monday, gonna go read a book. See you in Leicester tomorrow night!

On Tour with Hellvar - Heiða's Diary # 3

I should be cool in a Hellvar T-shirt

# 3

Very varied mix of things today. After I slept in a little bit I went to the train-station to buy tickets for London next week. I sat down and wrote some poems. Had a sandwich, and as I was a good girl and finished my sandwich, I had a right to some desert (MaltEaster in the shape of a bunny rabbit, v.g.). I walked up to the old catholic church, and went in to get some proper goth-atmo. Must have worked because the first thing I saw when leaving the church was a small group of modern-time goths, with very weird and nice music coming out of bad speakers attached to someone’s phone. I tried following the group a bit to see where they would go, but I thought they spotted me so then I went to the local art gallery instead. Saw an exibit on Selfies, modern and old painting ones. great one, very well curated and both informative and entertaining. Got back, changed my chords, van came to pick us up. Loaded the van up, drove to Northampton /capital of goth in England, Bauhaus are from there. Loaded in, soundchecked, ate chinese, played,...

On Tour with Hellvar - Heiða's Diary # 1 and # 2

Heiða's Diary

# 1 

From 5 am to 5 pm we were either in a plane or in a car. We arrived  at Gatwick around noon, Andri, Bogi, Elvar and Heiða, and we found our instruments in one piece, thank you very much! We waited for Alexandra, coming from Stockholm, and when everyone had pissed and smoked and drank coffee and eaten and smoked and had more coffee, we left for the first part of the roadtrip….. Costa Coffee and Marks and Spenser’s are to England what McDonalds is to U.S.A: All over the highway to Hellvar.

# 2

Woke at 9, did a radio-interview. walked around Kettering got strings and David Bowie songbook with chords. Everybody looks nice and friendly and there is a market in the center and a lot of magic in the air. Northhamtonshire is blowing me away with beauty and peace. We ate at a nice café up the road, went to a rehearsal studio, got back, I went swimming and got laughed for showering naked, had indian food for dinner, went to a very lively pub in which we play a week from now. Laughed a lot, and got back the first of course. Rest of Hellvar are out there with all of Kettering doing some crazy things, and I’m quite happy being back at the house. Super charged day. Now I need a rest.

Heiða's Christmas Cover: "Kalt á toppnum"

Heiða

Heiða Trúbador covering the song by Baggalútur & Svavar Pétursson
"Kalt á toppnum"