It’s been 9 years since Icelandic rock trio The Vintage Caravan unleashed their self-titled 2009 debut album on the world and are now due to release their 4th album “Gateways” on 31st August through Nuclear Blast, before embarking on a five-week European tour which will take in most of the major cities. The band is starting to get a name for themselves as an exciting live act, with performances of high intensity & energetic sets of their powerful classic rock. The Rockpit managed to track down lead vocalist & guitarist Óskar Logi, for a phone chat, as the band prepare for the new album launch & subsequent tour, discussing everything from the diverse Icelandic music scene, dreams of Jimi Hendrix and song writing…
Sean: Hey Óskar, how are you?
Óskar: Doing very good man, how are you?
Sean: I’m great, thank you. You are officially my first interviewee from Iceland which is pretty cool… Firstly, let’s talk about the fantastic new album you have out soon – “Gateways” is The Vintage Caravan’s 4th album release. What a great sound you guys are putting out there. How pleased are you with how it’s turned out?
Óskar: Ah thanks man, that’s very nice of you. I’m so happy with how this album has come out, we’re very stoked.
Sean: The thing I love is that bands like yourselves are producing this old sound that we have loved so much over the years, but giving it their own new twist, and that is a credit to you as song writers.
Óskar: Thank you very much, that is so nice of you to say. We are lucky, the whole thing comes pretty naturally to us because we are inspired by so many different things, with bands from the 60’s & 70’s, but we also listen to a lot of funk and pop stuff too. This is my first and only band… I started it when I was around 11 years of age. Stefán (drums) & Alex (bass) have a background playing black & death metal which adds to what we all bring to the table. We like complex stuff, as a group, but also like keeping it simple too – so we combine the best of both worlds when writing. We love the warmth from the recordings of the 70’s, but we also love the punch and clarity of some newer stuff out there like Queens of the Stone Age. We just try to keep it fresh, but also with keeping a bit of a familiar tone to it. Especially with this new album, we are bringing our own twist to it, even more so than our previous ones.
Sean: And a big tour lined up to back this album up, going right through Europe. I bet you’re all looking forward to getting out on the road.
Óskar: We’ll be on a headline tour for a little over a month in October & November, which is really exciting. It’s taking us all through places like France, Poland, Spain and the UK which is great. We’ll be taking along some really cool bands too like Wucan & The Black Mirrors for mainland Europe and Naked Six for the UK shows. It’s going to be very exciting for us – the album has been getting amazing reviews, which feels really nice.
Sean: I’m not surprised – I’ve read a few and they have all been extremely positive. But it’s always nice getting to have these chats, when guys like you give these up and coming bands a mention, because then people hear their names – even if they don’t get see them at the gigs. So I’ll go have a listen to them too.
Óskar: Yeah it’s great because they all work so hard too when on these tours, so they always deserves recognition also.
Sean: Do you get much time to look around while you’re touring?
Óskar: Not really. I remember first going to Paris and I was all excited and now I’ve been four times and still not seen the Eiffel Tower [laughs]. Especially being the vocalist – Europe in these months isn’t always kind to the throat after a night of singing and walking around in the cold the next day. So I need to take care of my voice, so mistake number one – I shouldn’t have started singing and chosen to be the vocalist [laughs].
Sean: So back to your albums, I’m interested in the titles. The last three are all just one word – “Voyage”, “Arrivals” & “Gateways”… where are we going with these?
Óskar: The obvious theme is linked to the name of the band. It’s kind of like a sense of movement. We were going to take it in a different direction at one point but when we saw the artwork for the new album cover it helped us decide. Originally, we were going to call it Gateways & Reflections but we decided it was a bit of a mouthful [laughs], especially as we would have to say it a lot in promos & interviews [laughs]. But definitely with “Voyage” the aim was to take the listener on a voyage and go into that realm that we had tried to create on that album. And now the exciting thing is we really don’t know where the journey will take us with “Gateways”.
Sean: And I suppose your fans and listeners are also travelling on this journey with you guys, as you mature & progress as song writers. How does the writing side of things work for you guys? Do you get much time to write on the road or is it more studio-based?
Óskar: Well, we have already started writing the next one. We like to write in our free time really. With the amount of energy we put into our live shows and touring it’s difficult to write while out on the road… It’s very demanding. It’s technically difficult stuff to play, so we try not to but we still may have new ideas which crop up and we try during sound check or something like that. So, normally I write at home and then bring it to rehearsal and then we put it together. Same with Alex, he wrote the riff to our newest single “Set your Sights” up until halfway through, and then I pitched in with a bit. But he created the riff, chords & chorus – we just all changed the arrangement together, so that’s an example of how it works.
Sean: What was the music scene like in Iceland growing up?
Óskar: We started playing in bars when we were 13 or 14 years old and we were the only band playing this sort of music. It’s very difficult to “make it” in Iceland – you can’t be in a band and make a living doing that. The music scene in Iceland has always been very diverse, so because of this, a lot of musicians make music they want to make and not just because they are trying to earn a living. There are a lot of unique bands because of this. But our influences are a bit more evident maybe, even though our sound cannot be pinned down to just one band, so people recognize more the era of the music we make. It’s human nature to automatically categorize things, so because of this we have been called a “retro band” but we think we are more a rock n roll band.
Sean: With all due respects to Icelandic musicians, I had only ever heard of Björk before now…
Óskar: Björk and acts like that definitely helped get Iceland in the public eye musically, especially with talent scouts coming to visit. I’m really grateful to those acts too for their work and for what they did for the Icelandic music scene. I mean, Icelandic black metal is super big right now. It may be in a slight decline with its popularity but there is still some really good material out there. So it was still very hard to get music out of Iceland and get heard abroad. I remember back in 2010 when I first realised someone had been listening to us in the UK and it blew me away, or I saw our You Tube stats to see how many views we had around Europe – it was like the craziest thing. It was always my dream to start touring, so when it finally started happening it was so surreal and made me so happy.
Sean: The bands influences are obvious, with Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix & the like definitely in there but for you personally where did your passion come from musically?
Óskar: The late 60’s & 70’s in Iceland was really cool. Some amazing bands like Trúbrot – we were so lucky to cover an album of theirs called “Lifun”, with one of the original members of that band, which was so cool for us. In my opinion it is the best Icelandic album ever made. I have listened to that album more than any other. We have even made a little reference to that album on “Gateways”, on the track “Farewell” there is a Hammond Organ intro – “Lifun” was a concept album about the life of a common man – and it builds to a steady riff which refers to that piece. Another one was Brain Police, who’s singer is one of my favourite vocalists of all time – I remember the first time I met them I was around 14 years old and I was so start struck, I was like “Holy Hell, its THEM” [laughs]. So that is musically what inspired me in the beginning.
Sean: And I bet it has now gone full circle with young fans seeing you at the bar and coming up to you but this time it’s them who are star-struck [laughs]…
Óskar: It has yes, and it’s all very surreal. And I can totally connect with that as I was just the same. It’s so nice.
Sean: But also you are now someone who can inspire them too, with the music & success you and the guys are generating with The Vintage Caravan. We touched on the fact that the tour is extensively taking around Europe, so my next question – when can we get to see you guys here in Australia?
Óskar: Oh man that would be so exciting. So if there are any promoters reading this please get in touch because its somewhere we have always wanted to play – Australia is renowned for its live music and also like Iceland its fair share of diversity. And we’ve had so much attention from you guys over there and it is so humbling and so greatly appreciated – so thank you everyone.
Sean: We can certainly ask the question because it would be great to see you all playing live here. A couple of fun questions to finish off with Óskar; If you had a two hour dinner booking at a restaurant and could have 3 other guests from the music world, past or present, who would you like to join you?
Óskar: First of all Jimi Hendrix would be there… Let’s see who else… I’d like to have Geddy Lee there from Rush… and if Eric Clapton was there just to reunite him with Jimi, as they were really good pals. They would be a great three – I don’t think I could utter a word [laughs] because I’m obsessed with those artists man. Hendrix was taken away so early, such a shame. Funnily enough, I’ve dreamt that I’ve met him on two occasions, like really clear dreams where I’m speaking to him… like so realistic that when I woke up I felt I’d really met him. It was so vivid. I watched an interview with Stevie Ray Vaughan once where he had exactly the same thing… it’s so crazy.
Sean: Maybe there is more to it than just a dream…
Óskar: Maybe. There is so much we don’t know. Energy just doesn’t disappear, it can’t be destroyed as such and it’s always with us and within us, so who knows… He was such a strong personality, you could hear that when he was playing. It’s incredible what he achieved in 4 short years…
Sean: If it happens again you need to sit him down and get some musical ideas…
Óskar: Exactly, like “can I borrow some riffs please from your riff bank?” [laughs]
Sean: If I see a J. Hendrix credited on the 5th album I know what’s happened [laughs]. So what would I find you have been listening too of late?
Óskar: Oh boy, I was listening to Cream Live Vol. 2 in the car today and some Queens of the Stone Age too, great driving music.
Sean: So you can pick one song to choose to take to the grave as being credited as yours, from any song every written… what would you choose?
Óskar: It would have to be from Led Zepp IV and there are more obvious choices than this one but for me “Black Dog” would be a great one to have. Just everything from the composition to the sound of the recording – it’s an awesome track. I’d just be worried I couldn’t do it justice…
Sean: But it would be your song… [laughs]
Óskar: Ah yes, good point [laughs]
Sean: Óskar, I can’t thank you enough for our chat. It’s been incredible to hear the insight into Icelandic music and more about how you guys are making your mark out there. So exciting for you all. From all of us at The Rockpit we wish you all the success for the tour and hope that album continues to receive the praise it richly deserves… and we hope we can get to see the tour head down here to Australia eventually.
Óskar: No man, thank you. I’ve really enjoyed the interview. We hope we get to come down there to see you sooner rather than later. Thanks for everything and take care man.
