music school

The best thing was that it introduced me to all music. ... Well, that’s not true. That was another thing I learned. "Classical music is really music from Germany over a period of two to three hundred years. You go to the classical Section at Tower Records, and it’s German music. That says a lot about the history of humans for two thousand years, because we’ve been making music all this time.

My obsession was always to work with people to create something that had never been created before. That became very obvious in my school. I had a lot of meetings with the headmaster. He would sit there and say, "What are you doing with yourself ? You’ve got this talent, and you’re just wasting it ! You’ve got no concentration !" It was like a love/hate relationship between us. I used to go to his classes, and he’d try to make me work. But I’d just sit there and cry my eyes out.

I couldn’t fit in the mold. He was Jewish ; he escaped from Germany to Iceland just before the war. But I’m Icelandic ; I’ve got a voice, and it doesn’t have to be so complicated. It’s just about me and you communicating. That’s my biggest turn-on, to meet someone who comes from a completely different place than I do. I’ll show them everything ; I’ll give them everything I’ve got. For me, that’s creating : One plus one is three.

Musician, december 1997