We keep getting e-mails from folks that are upset about Bedroom
Community not staging an event at this year’s Airwaves bash. We
e-mailed Valgeir Sigurðsson, Ben Frost and Nico Muhly to ask them:
What’s up with that?
So, why no BC concert at IA 2010?
Ben Frost: We have been a part of Airwaves in growing incarnations for five years now… I think for practical reasons, as well as creative ones, we all just felt it was a good year to take a breather. There is no sense in doing anything for the sake of it…. We will invade again next year, when we have reason to. No doubt.
Valgeir Sigurðsson: Yeah, exactly. We did of course want to participate this year, but everyone has gotten increasingly busy over the years and our plans get more and more ambitious. It was impossible to pull together what we wanted to present. But we promise fireworks in a year’s time. I’m really happy that we were able to bring the Whale Watching Tour to Iceland in May, because we have not been able to play here much this year.
Nico Muhly: It’s complicated! Our bedrooms are all over the world, and October is a crazy time. We tried wicked hard to make it make sense, but sometimes things happen. Plus, we’ve been doing a showcase for the last five years and this year is the first where we don’t all have piles of new material. We’ve had a collaborative year.
Will there be any other chances to fill up on the BC experience this year?
VS: We will be hosting the traditional Bedroom Community off-venue events at Kaffibarinn. A gathering of friends and family, and music. I’m going to play with Una Sveinbjarnardóttir, some of her own music as well as my own, mostly new stuff. Then we will invite some select guests to perform. I’m the only BC artist around this year, so I guess I will have to answer to all the angry and disappointed fans.
NM: We all have tons of albums coming out. I just released one a week ago! WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM ME!!!
What’s going on with you guys these days? I understand you’ve had a very busy year! What did you get up to?
VS: So much! Where to begin… We’ve recorded on and released some new albums, taken the Whale Watching Tour all over Europe and have a really exciting year coming up – the preparation work is all in full swing. There are records, tours, scores, operas, ballets….. It’s incredible how busy things have gotten for everybody since we started the label. We will introduce a new Bedroom Community artist in the early part of 2011, Puzzle Muteson. I’m so excited about that record, it’s mind blowing.
And do you have anything cool planned for 2011?
VS: Ben has Brian Eno ironing his shirts, Sam’s got Beth Orton cooking him breakfast and Nico will probably be the Queen of England by the end of 2011. And I need to keep trying to spend all the profit. That’s the hardest part.
BF: I plan on being home a lot more and actually enjoying my newly, and finally acquired permanent residency status. But on the label front, yeah, we are going to be busy. Nico’s opera drops in the summer, I will be trying to start writing again, and am personally considering locking Valgeir in the studio and taking away his passport and internet access until he writes a new record.
I may be wrong but I have the feeling the next year or so could be a more internal year for us… things have gotten pretty mad around here lately and we need to collectively and individually regroup.
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