|
 |
THE 1ST ANNUAL
ICELANDIC ROCK AND TATTOO FESTIVAL
by Chuck B.
Photos by Chuck B. and Thordis Claessen
From the August 2006 issue of Prick Magazine.
|
 (L-R) Dave, Ossur, Linda, Santana, and Dave put on the festival. |
|
|
|
PRICK recently made its first trip abroad to cover the 1st Annual Icelandic Tattoo
and Rock Festival held June 8-11. It was an amazing event featuring artists from
Iceland, the US and elsewhere, in an even more amazing country. With the sun
shining 24 hours a day, it was a nonstop rock and tattoo
party. Iceland has never been on my list of places
to go, but after this event, I definitely want to go back.
Santana and his brother, Bert Simmons, are
producers of the Jacksonville Tattoo Convention and
the US connection to this first time event.
The trip started out rocky. Our late-night flight
to Iceland was delayed and we had an unexpected layover
which lasted 24 hours. Fortunately, I was stuck
with Santana and Bert. We bought about four large bottles of liquor and it was off to
the hotel. One bottle into the 40-minute bus ride, Santana and I took control of the
audience trapped on the bus with us, performing a
standup routine about the day’s events. And that was just
the beginning.
|
|
We arrived in Iceland three hours before the start of the show at about 8 a.m. (4
a.m. our time). First stop was Bar 11, owned by festival organizer Ossur Hafthorsson.
Dave Greninger, the other festival organizer, was our initial contact. He fed us beers,
absinthe and a shot of some crazy cough syrup-flavored stuff.
"You guys ready for some breakfast?" he asked. "We only have 30 minutes before
your first live radio interview."
Two hours, two radio interviews, a newspaper interview, and an Icelandic TV news
interview later, we set up shop at the venue. The event was held at Gaukurinn, an art
space loft and bar in Iceland's capital of Reykjavik, which turned out to be the perfect space and atmosphere.
Bar 11 was where the after parties were held into the wee hours of the mornings.
"Word about a tattoo convention was kind of mumbling around and we had already had a lot of
success with bringing Santana out to Reykjavik," says Greninger of how this event came to be. "So Ossur
and I went around and met with all the local artists and got them interested. Everyone was very excited
about it, but no one was sure if it could be pulled off.
"We then went to the media and scored some interest with the radio stations," he continues.
|
 Sonny Bernadas and Cheryl Kline of Bayou Tattoo in
Covington, La. invade Iceland! |
 Dave, Santana, and Chuck B. at the radio station |
|
"Bert Simmons was able to entice several American artists to come with the help of Santana, who had
previously tattooed here. Once the Americans were on board, Bert posted the info on their Web site
and the e-mails started pouring in.
"We had requests from all over the world, but we still weren't sure if the local public would buy
into it. So we stayed quite selective in order to keep the event relatively small. The local artists were
extremely excited to have the Americans come and share their skills."
American tattoo artists along for the ride included J.J. Dunbar of Oddity
Ink in Jacksonville Beach, Fla.; Cheryl "The Devil" Kline and Jason Thompson
of Bayou Tattoo in Covington, La.; Thomas Asher and Swan of Jacksonville; and
Jason June of Atomic Tattoos in Florida.
|
 Dr. Spock put on the most animated
and mind bending show of the fest |
 Ossur's wife Linda |
 A Viking holding Cheryl Kline |
|
Local artists participating in the event included Sverrir from House of
Pain, Svanur and Jon Thor from Tattoo og Skart, Vincent from Tattoo 69, and
Buri from Icelandic Tattoo Shop. Denmark's Colin Dale, who dressed like a
Viking, did old-fashioned hand-poked tattoos with traditional Viking tools.
Vendors and bands were added to the bill to provide a festival-like atmosphere
for the event. Osoma offered great shirts and other items, and Fangs by
Dnash was creating fangs for those wannabe vampires in attendance.
"It was quite obvious by Saturday morning when there was a queue of
people at the door before some of the guys had even slept off a hangover that
it was going to be a great event," says Greninger.
The international flavor of the small group of 13 artists and other
attractions brought more than 1500 people
over the course of the weekend. I think it
went better than expected.
"We had over 1500 people attend the
event in a country where the entire population
barely exceeds 300,000," says Simmons.
"Other artists who were not there this year
have already contacted me asking how to be a
part of it next year. I can see no limit to how
big this event could get."
This event was the largest gathering of
tattoo artists tattooing at one time under one
roof in the history of Iceland. Before the event
was over they were already talking about how
this is going to grow next year and taking
requests of who was coming.
Since then, local artists have claimed that
tattooing has never been more popular and
that their appointment books are a lot thicker
now. The artists pushed each other, raising the
bar to new heights in the Icelandic tattoo
scene, showing everyone else that Iceland has
some of the world's best tattoo artists.
The bands that played the festival were
all killer. They included Dr. Spock (my new
favorite band of all time), Brain Police, Doctor
Mister, Mister Hanson, Weapons, Murderers,
Number Zero, Nevolution (my second
favorite new band), Days Of Our Life, Jan
Mayen, Lokbra, Hellvar, Jakobrina, Who Knew,
NilFlix, Ulpa, Singapor Sling, Dikta, and Modern
Day Majesti. Look for reviews of some of
these bands in upcoming issues. All in all it was
one of the best trips that I have been on overseas
as far as the culture and people go. We
met some great people, artists and fans alike. If
my wife could stand the cold I would live
there. Volcanos, icebergs, cliffs, a killer capital
city, vast rolling hills, hot springs and a viking
history which predates most of the world's cultures
– it is a place everyone should go at
least once.
| |
|
|
|
