Psychedelia and Madness: The Klink Experience

Klink have the reputation for being one of Iceland’s most brutal live acts, a blistering force of metalcore. They quit for a while, but got back together in 2009. And now they’re looking to take the Klink experience to the next level at the Metal Hammer night at Iceland Airwaves. We sat down with Singer Guðni and Guitarist Aggi for a quick chat….
When Klink started off a decade ago you were doing rather well, but decided to slit up after a tour with Deicide in 2004. What happened?
Aggi: Well actually we decided to call it a day a couple of years earlier, as it took us a year to quit and then we did nothing for a while. But then the offer to tour with Deicide came up and we owed a lot of people money for things like rehearsal spaces, so it made sense. It was pretty easy, flying to France and travelling in a bus with them for two weeks.
And then you decided to get back together in 2009. What the motivating factor then?
Guðni: It was Eistnaflug probably. Our manager wanted to get us back together and saw some potential in us. Also people liked the band and the live show. This time we’re together to try and get an album recorded and produced.
You’ve also got a new bass player, Haukur. How is he settling within the band?
G: Well he is handsome enough to be in Klink definitely. Plus he has muscles! He’s the only one of us who actually works out, and this makes us look even better.
Klink has been known to have a reputation as ‘bruisers’ both on and off stage. Is this a fair reputation or are you guys a bit misunderstood?
A: Well it’s not something that we mark ourselves with, but I guess we do tend to be a little drunk during concerts and kids like to come up and mess around and stuff.
G: We do like to talk a lot of shit but it’s nothing serious. Some people do have this preconceived idea about who we are and what we are about that isn’t really us at all.
So how would you define Klink as a unit then?
G: Bad motherfuckers. Ha ha ha!
A: Psychedelia and madness.
A winning combination there. Now one thing Klink has been criticised for is the lack of recorded material. What are the current plans regarding this?
A: Well the problem is not so much new material. We actually have about two albums worth of new songs, and we are still writing stuff. We know that people want to hear more new material. The main overriding factor is money. As well as finding funds and someone to help us with recording, there are things like equipment. Our drum kit is probably the worst I’ve ever seen, and minor things like that tend to irritate you.
You’re playing the Metal Hammer Night at Iceland Airwaves. How are the preparations going for that?
A: What we doing now is rehearsing and putting together some new songs we’ve written so they’ll be ready in time for the festival. Man it’s going to be a crazy set!
G: And we’re also playing at the off venue gig at Dillon’s Bar earlier that day. People should come and check us out there first, as there is usually a really great mood when we play there.
So as grizzled veterans, what advice would you give to new bands playing Airwaves for the first time?
A: Don’t think too much about it. Just get in there and play your hearts out.
Klink plays tonight, Friday 01:10 at Sódóma.