Grapevine & Mál og Menning Present: Michael Azerrad In Conversation

Boy, have we got a treat for our fellow music geeks at Airwaves! The one and only Michael Azerrad, author of the definitive, delightfully written rock history tome  Our Band Could Be Your Life (and founder/Editor-in-Chief of  sputnik music review site The Talkhouse) will appear in conversation about his works and illustrious career TODAY (!) at Grapevine’s favourite local bookstore, Mál og Menning  on Laugavegur. The event starts at 16:00 at the bookstore’s upper level, and to celebrate the occasion, they’ll be giving a handsome discount off OBCBYL throughout the day.

A day into Iceland Airwaves 2013 we feel confident stating: this is shaping up to be a great one! We heard of and experienced excellent performances both off venue and on; performers are in top form and you guys – the audience – appear in great spirits. This will be fun, for sure.

Over at Grapevine HQ, we’ve been hard at work ensuring you’ll can enjoy a steady stream of festival news, reviews and stories throughout the festival, whether you’re lounging in Harpa browsing on your phone or following events from, like, somewhere in Australia through your laptop. To this end, as per usual, we have assembled a super team of music writers who will be filing daily reviews of every show on the official schedule, and covering the events in every other which way (videos, podcasts, photos and so on). Our crew this year includes most of Grapevine’s regular music writers and photographers, along with a slew of great guests from abroad, including folks from such venues as The 405, The Line of Best Fit, Paste Magazine and MTV. You can also expect input  from several delegates of the SF Embassy.

Come As You Are: The Story Of Nirvana cover art

We are proud to be hosting such group of dedicated music lovers, and we are confident that their contributions will prove a valuable addition to your festival experience. As a bonus, we somehow managed to convince the aforementioned Michael Azerrad to join our team of music writers! This is great news! Michael is without doubt the most experienced and celebrated music writer we’ve had the pleasure of hosting (read his full bio below – better yet read either of his books), and his insights into the festival and its performers are sure to be of great value.

Michael Azerrad will be filing stories at www.airwaves.grapevine.is daily throughout the duration of Iceland Airwaves. To celebrate his arrival to Reykjavík, and give his readers a chance to meet the man and hear him speak, we teamed up with our friends at the bookstore Mál og Menning on Laugavegur 18. Be there at 16:00 today to witness the writer talk about his experiences covering and working with some of rock and pop music’s biggest legends, pose some questions of your own and maybe even score an autographed copy of Our Band Could Be Your Life.

Michael Azerrad bio (via The Talkhouse)

Talkhouse editor-in-chief Michael Azerrad is the author of Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 and Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana. He is a former contributing editor for Rolling Stone and wrote countless pieces for the magazine, wrote for MTV News, was the founding editor-in-chief of eMusic, and has written features for the New Yorker, Spin, Mojo, the New York Times, and many others. He has written liner notes for musicians such as Paul McCartney, Gang of Four, and Miles Davis. A musician himself, Azerrad was the drummer of the King of France, the Macaroons and the Leevees, recording albums and touring the U.S. with each. He has spoken at music conventions around the world, is a producer of the award-winning 2006 documentary Kurt Cobain About a Son, which was based on his interview tapes with the late Nirvana leader, and was the editor of See a Little Light, the acclaimed autobiography of American punk icon Bob Mould. You can follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/michaelazerrad.

Our Band Could Be Your Life book cover. See you at Mál og Menning!