Even in a remote place like Iceland, it seems that the the retro rock bug has started to catch on. Proof of this, is a young band called The Vintage Caravan whio have just rekleased their album ‘Voyage’ on Nuclear Blast. We managed to get drummer, Gaui, away from his drumkit for a few questions.
Your musical influences were mostly already old when you were not even born. Did you become fascinated with these artists from your parent’s record collection or did you come through them on your own?
Our parents definitely introduced us to this music. My father let me listen to Deep Purple for the first time when I was about 9 years old and I´ve been hooked since. It is a very similar story for the other guys.
Icelandic rock music is usually more know very atmospheric, introverted music like Sigur Ros, Björk or in a more metallic context Solstafir. You don’t seem to fit in well in that line. Do you feel like a bit like a lone rock in the Icelandic musical landscape?
Come to think about it there isn´t really any other retro rock band in Iceland but the music scene is so small that all kinds of rock, be it indie rock or heavy metal, get to know each other very well.
Your video from “Exapnd your Mind” is quite DIY and very goofy. Also a typical trait from your country or am I mistaken there?
Haha definitely mistaken. I think it´s safe to say that this music video is the first of it´s kind in Iceland.
Voyage was already released before, but did not reach much coverage abroad. How did it get to a rerelease on Nuclear blast?
Voyage was only released in Iceland and this is the first time that people outside of Iceland can get a hold of the album. As to how we got in touch with Nuclear Blast, we met a man called Gunnar Sauerman at a local music festival in Iceland in 2012. Gunnar is a freelance journalist and took a great interest in the band. He introduced us to a man called Walter Roadburn, he runs the Roadburn festival in The Netherlands, Walter then introduced us to Nuclear Blast and thy almost immediately offered us a contract.
The last song stands out particularly as a tribute to King Crimson. Is this something you might want to explore more on future recordings?
Yeah defninitely, we are always looking for ways to expand our music and we like to see what how far we can go, both as musicians and songwriters.
As ‘Voyage’ was written some time ago already, how far are you with any new material and how does it compare the current material?
It´s actually pretty funny, we had almost composed an entire album when Nuclear Blast nocked on our door. Of course we had to put all the new stuff on hold but you probably wont have to wait long for some new stuff. The new songs are a bit more metal but at the same time they have a bit more melody in them. We are also trying to make our lyrics deeper and more mysterious.
You’re not only going on a full scale European tour , you’re also invited to play at Roadburn. A dream come true?
A dream come true is an understatement, haha. No but seriously this is wonderful. We are so happy that we are finally going on a tour and playing on Roadburn is a tremendous honor. Hopefully we can continue touring into the summer.
