Seeking out the local scene at Mannfólkið breytist í slím

Davíð Máni is a songwriter, guitarist and musician from Akureyri, and has played a pivotal role in the underground scene there through regular live performances with his own band. With riffs that time travel back to the golden years of the 90s, and a voice that may remind you of Kurt Cobain or Layne Staley, Davíð, who has never shied away from speaking about difficult subjects in his music, conveys feelings of despair, depression, addiction and more, in a way only he can.

Describe your sound? It's primarily driven by distorted electric guitars – for example I mostly use my Gibson Les Paul for the humbucker warm, thick and huge sound it creates. The guitarist in my live band used to play a Fender Jazzmaster primarily which created a very unique blend, but has now also switched to a Les Paul type guitar which makes our sound even bigger. So it’s that, combined with a heavy bass player, and thunderous drums. In studio, I’ve only recorded two albums, so you could say I’m still finding my sound, if I’ll even decide on one particular sound. I find that my first album, The Mancave Tapes, primarily draws from grunge, so like the 90s rock sound. My second album is currently being mixed and is sounding much more raw, it suits the music on there which is also heavier. Can’t wait to unveil the album and some of the songs during our set at Mannfólkið breytist í slím!

And your live show? Well, since I’ve started playing live music I myself have evolved a lot as an artist. Last year I actually took a course in singing, which I look forward to continuing next semester. So over the last year my vocal performance has improved quite a lot, if I say so myself. Generally, I’ve evolved a lot regarding stage presence as well, which is really important to me as a performer. I always put everything on the line when I perform and give my best at all times, no matter how I’m feeling. As per the band, we’ve become a really tight playing unit in our live performances, and we always receive a lot of praise and compliments after our shows, I feel. I’m not the best judge of our own live shows, so from words from my friends who’ve seen us perform, and been to our rehearsals: We’re a really solid live band!

What should we listen to? If it’s regarding our live performance, I’m actually quite a fan of how I structure our set lists. I think it’s something I’ve grown to be good at, so maybe listen to that first! If it’s my currently released music, I like to recommend my first single featuring Ari Orrason, “Pool Of Sorrow”!

What's happening in the Akureyri music scene? When I first got started with making music as a teenager, I actually never knew there was a scene here in Akureyri. It felt rather dead and blank to me. That was until I released my first ever album (with my ex-band Miomantis) and Jón Haukur first contacted me about playing Mannfólkið breytist í slím. That first year, being there and playing and seeing other bands made me realize that, wow, there actually is a really cool scene to be a part of here, and more artists than I ever thought there would be.

So in a sense it opened my eyes, and since then I’ve gotten to know a lot of the people in the Akureyri scene. Egill (Drengurinn fengurinn), bands like Sót, and Basilisk, another new and really cool band that is playing this year's Mannfólkið breytist í slím. There’s a lot more, and a lot of varieties. If you ask me, it’s a very tight-knit community. It’s like everyone knows each other at least partially, and many of us in the scene have played together in one way or another, in each other’s bands, as features or whatever. I mean, Akureyri isn’t by any means a big place,so some of the same people are in multiple bands at times!

Your memories of Mannfólkið breytist í slím? In short words, it's the best music festival I’ve ever experienced. Every single year it comes around I look forward to it. I look forward to meeting the team behind it because I know some of them. Really friendly organizers and the people behind the festival are so wholesome, so that stands out. I think one of my favorite memories is the first time I played the festival back in 2021, and also seeing it grow from there. It’s grown so much in the last few years, the growth is crazy, and I’m so proud of the organizers and grateful to get to play again! Always a fun crowd, never a dull moment. My favorite moment was in 2023 when Devine Defilement played the festival and there was a wild moshpit, without going into more details!

What should we do in town before the music starts? I highly recommend checking out the Akureyri town centre and for a good coffee/tea go to Bláa Kannan, my favorite café. Really cozy vibe, below there there’s a legendary venue, Græni Hatturinn too. Then there’s a couple of bars you could pre-game at. Götubarinn, Backpackers, LEYNI and more, if that’s something to your liking. The swimming pools are also really neat.

Best late-night snack and hangover food? Can you ever go wrong with a pizza for a late night snack? I don’t know, I don’t really do late night snacks anymore. As for hangover food, I’m also actually sober so I’m probably not the right person to ask about that, but I’d say start your day with a glass of water and something that isn’t too hard on the stomach!

Follow Davíð Máni on Instagram at @davidmanimakesmusic

Urðun is an underground Old School Death Metal band hailing from Akureyri. The name came from a label on top of a garbage bin stating "Óflokkað sorp til urðunar" which translates to "Assorted garbage for landfill". Dis- Members include: Skaðvaldur (screaming and axegrinding murderer), Putrifier (subsonic infrasound destruction), Yakuza Dethfukkk (razor blade katana assault), and Coffin Crusher (unholy dethammers).

Formed in 2013, they decided dipping their cold cadaver toes into the grimy, gore-soaked aesthetic and inspiration from classic horror films and early 90s acts like Autopsy, Necrophagia, Morbid Angel, and Death. Musically inclined towards the old school US death metal scene, they wanted to strive for something reminiscent of older Icelandic death metal like Soroicide, Cranium and Strigaskór Nr.42, to name a few.

Describe your sound? Skaðvaldur: It’s an audio nasty, a necromantic love song to Autopsy and early-days Tampa Bay death metal. It’s the type of deranged Ed Gein-ian tunes you hum and grunt while slaving away at the wee hours,digging for your ideal summer body in the dark abandoned cemetery filth. Someone by the name of Tzar Üarš Anju Hoep once described our sound to be a wretched musical hive of scum and villainy.

Coffin Crusher: The sound of a million corpses, sometimes running and ravaging, sometimes grinding and crawling. A cacophonous sound of buzzing guitars, pounding drums and ravenous roars… yup, it’s death metal.

Putrifier: Have you ever had your liver pulled out through your anus? It's kind of like that.

Yakuza Detfukkk: 私たちはとても恐ろしい (We are terrifying.)

And your live show? Skaðvaldur: Don’t expect it to be all fancy la de da, posh and polished like a freshly embalmed corpse. We’re like the decaying slop of flesh barely hanging from the bones in a rotting coffin. We are ear decay manifest. It’s gore and grime that makes you want to wiggle like a maggot. It’s also fun.

The razor-sharp guitars will slice and lacerate like rusty surgical instruments through skin during a live dissection. Bass will rattle your bones until they’re turned to dust, and drums will batter your brain beyond any shape or form. The singing is akin to the gurgling of someone drowning in a pool of their own blood caused by shards of glass in their throat. Very reminiscent of Celine Dion.

Coffin Crusher: It’s powerful music mixed with sleazy, B-movie aesthetics and sensibilities.

Putrifier: If your neck isn't sore as hell afterwards, we failed. And we never fail.

Yakuza Detfukkk: 耳の穴での気持ち悪いセックス (Disgusting sex in the ear canal)

What should we listen to? Skaðvaldur: Do it how the cool kids do it, listen from the start and work your way through. Currently not much to listen to since we have only released a demo and split EP years ago. We’re currently sitting on an unreleased Frankenstein's monster of an album recorded over the period of 8 years in bits and pieces, sort of a perverted musical time capsule if you will. I don’t want to sound like an absolute musician cliché, but it’s safe to say that the album in progress is much better and technically proficient than our older material. Be patient like the brooding undead, interminably waiting until we finally unleash our gross creation on the world.

Coffin Crusher: All the music we recorded 8 years ago and didn’t release yet, sorry.

Putrifier: Spend a day or two in an abattoir and soak in the sounds, this will get you in the right state of mind to listen to our first demo, Horror & Gore. I recommend “Mortuary” in particular (it features a brief solo appearance from the bass).

Yakuza Detfukkk: 変化の風に耳を傾けよ (Listen to the winds of change).

What's happening in the Akureyri music scene? Skaðvaldur: I haven’t been very involved in the local Akureyri music scene since I moved away from Iceland in 2017. Looking back, it seemed to be more lively 10+ years ago, but there are signs of something new festering in the underground coming from the younger generation, from what I’ve heard. Here’s hoping for a new upheaval of music, we can’t let it die out.

Coffin Crusher: I was lucky enough that when I started playing in bands around 15 years ago, there was a lively scene and concerts every month in the youth centre here in town. That was the main avenue for the local hard rock/punk/metal bands to be seen and heard, and we frequently had visitors from Reykjavík as well. The main core of this scene then slowly started to move away from Akureyri, going to universities and such, and so that venue got basically deserted, and with that the youth scene in town died out.

Now there seems to be some flowers growing on that grave, and in no small part because Mannfólkið breytist í slím provides a platform for young artists to experiment and make musical projects and have a place where people are excited to hear their music. This has also led to this “younger generation” (I’m born in the 90s, I’m not that old haha) to organise their own shows, like “Grasrót”, and concert series over the winter, like “UPPINN” or “Skollamjólk”. The opening of LEYNI by local artist Vikar Mar has also opened up a world of possibilities. It’s a new bar on the main street with a small venue in the back, with a capacity for around 100.

The bands are also more diverse than before. We’ve got grunge (Davíð Máni); indie rock (Cohortis); electric-art pop (Þorsteinn Kári); dark rock (Á geigsgötum); hardcore metal (Show Guilt); 70s rock revival (SÓLFÖR); sludge metal (Sót, Wacken Metal Battle Iceland 2026 winners); the indescribable Drengurinn fengurinn; hip-hop mainstream breakout Saint Pete and so much more that I’m forgetting.

Putrifier: I went to a Disturbing Boner concert in Húsið in 2008 and I never recovered.

Yakuza Detfukkk: アークレイリの京都みたいなところ (A place like Kyoto in Akureyri)

Your memories of Mannfólkið breytist í slím? Skaðvaldur: Much like an alcoholic who has lost touch with reality, I have no memories of it other than viewing it from a distance once it has already passed. I haven’t been able to attend but this year I will finally experience it in all its g(l)ory. I’ve only heard great things and it’s a fantastic effort to enrich the domestic/local music scene for young and upcoming bands who are starting out and need a footing.

Coffin Crusher: I’ve been there since the beginning, when it started as an open rehearsal in the hovel I still call my "rehearsal studio”, and I’ve been the technical manager and main FOH engineer for the festival for the last 5 years. So my favorite memories are tied to a lot of the backstage interactions with the artists, the whole preparation of the festival and getting to work with my friends and, oddly enough, soundchecks.

Now as for the best concerts, GRÓA and Kælan Mikla in the rehearsal space, 2020. Graveslime and the whole Saturday in 2023. Drengurinn fengurinn crowdsurfing and getting his rockstar moment, and Spacestation and ex.girls back-to-back, on the Saturday in 2024. Pitenz finding his dancing shoes last year, and Biggi Maus & MeMM for the hits, and MC MYASNOI for just devastating with its loudness and heaviness.

Putrifier: This will be my first time attending MBS, and for the people in the audience when Urðun takes the stage, it will be their last.

Yakuza Detfukkk: 強力な (Powerful)

What should we do in town before the music starts? Skaðvaldur: R5. The Cemetery is a cute place for a picnic date as well.

Coffin Crusher: Dip your toes in the UNESCO Heritage swimming pool culture and a stroll in the Botanical Garden for that “how in the world does this grow here” feeling.

Putrifier: Go to Glerártorg shopping mall with a plastic bottle of Brennivín and hang out there until they call the police. It's always been a reliable way to spend an afternoon for me.

Yakuza Detfukkk: アイスランドの寿司を食べて酔っぱらう (Getting drunk on Icelandic sushi)

Best late-night snack and hangover food? Skaðvaldur: Búkolla/Sveitapiltsins Draumur at Greifinn, so you can clog up those arteries good, once and for all. But if you have an appetite for depraved art (shameless self-promotion incoming), check out my Instagram page.

Coffin Crusher: Well, I hope you like Béarnaise sauce and fries on everything, ‘cause we got em.

Putrifier: I recommend a nice beer tasting, regardless of your state of being: Rauchbier harmonises well with the dark smoke of the crematorium incinerator, a cherry sour that mirrors cherry red blood of the recently deceased, then to top it off with a lukewarm Thule once you’ve lost all will to live.

Yakuza Detfukkk: ご飯の上に人間の刺身、デザートに死のセックス (Human sashimi over rice, and deadly sex for dessert.)

Follow Urðun on Instagram at @skadvaldur

Egill Logi Jónasson (b. 1989) is an artist, musician and vice president of the one-man art collective Dreamboy Syndicate. He is also known as Drengurinn fengurinn.

Describe your sound? I make all kinds of music so maybe it’s hard to say. Usually it’s rather raw, as I work very quickly and record and write songs at the same time. I have made many albums on my 464 Portastudio 4-track which are kind of lofi. Sometimes mono. Then other times I use the computer machine. Then it’s more slick. I really like real instruments, like hardware synths and amplifiers. Amplifier emulations make me sad even though they sound great and are very practical. They are just not sexy, also they are very polished sounding. I like to record my amps in maybe not optimal conditions and with weird mic placements.

Hardware stuff makes me happy. Not necessarily because of the sound but because it feels a bit closer to nature somehow. Even though sometimes they are basically just computers inside a box. I like them knobs and switches, also they make you work differently. You are more selective about the selection of sounds and stuff. It’s hard to recall the sounds you used if you want to change something, so you have to live with your choices.

So, sound: impractical hardware, often alt tuned guitars, honest vocals and good times.

And your live show? I haven’t played much recently as a solo act. I like to bounce up and down. The dance of babies is my inspiration. I like self-indulgent guitar noise and I love smoke machines and cheesy lights.

What should we listen to? Hmmmmm… Maybe “Ég vil vera sexually liberated (en ekki bara dónakall)”. It’s about a subject close to my heart. It’s about how hard it is to be sexy as a man. People just think I’m joking when I show some skin,and there is a thin line between being sexy and a creep. “What's wrong with being sexy?” - Nigel Tufnel

What's happening in the Akureyri music scene? It’s pretty fantastic. There is some kind of Akureyri music renaissance at the moment. A new kind of arty bar recently opened, LEYNI, which has a space in the back for smallish concerts. The staff and owners are fantastic and willing to do the visionary work required to run a small venue. So we have that as kind of an HQ for concerts. Alongside that I used to organise quite a lot of concerts in the space of my art collective, with nothing but hope in my pockets. But with this new venue it’s now really needed.

There are also other groups organizing mini underground festivals, and then MBS is the best festival in Iceland. The MBS gang also run a rehearsal space which the young (and old) cats use, which helps tremendously. We have this ~200 cap venue, Græni Hatturinn, which has been around for more than 20 years. I think it could be the only small concert venue in Iceland that is not completely bleeding money. That’sa very nice place but they, understandingly, focus on bands that sell. They sometimes have more niche stuff, but that’s not very financially viable.

Then there is our fancy culture house. They have the best equipment and biggest budget. There are mostly large bands playing there. I went to a Patti Smith concert there the other day. I’ve organized two concerts there, because they have this grant to perform there for free. It’s nice sometimes to play in big budget venues. There is a music school here which helps bring new people into the scene, and there are two kinds of high schools here which have produced a lot of bands.

Plus, I have a tiny lofi studio where I have recorded small bands and also made some zero budget KEXP sessions. I’ve documented quite a lot of concerts. You can check it out at my YT channel, Dreamboy Syndicate.

I hope that with this increased volume of music activity we can possibly become less of a hick town and more of a funky town, you dig?

Your memories of Mannfólkið breytist í slím? I have a lot of memories of MBS but I don’t know where to start, so I’m just gonna put this link to a vlog kind of thing I made some years ago when I was helping prepare the venue and performing. Svefninn langi ogskuggarnir - MBS 2022

What should we do in town before the music starts? If you are kool and nice peeps and I’m in a social mood you can come visit me in my former bathroom studio. I can show you my stuff. I have the best stuff outside of the culture house. I’m on that Behringer tip. LEYNI are one of the few places left in Iceland that still sell .5 litre beer glasses. None of that .4 bullshit. They also have alcohol-free draught beer, which is great for me since I can’t be bothered to drink real stuff no mo’. I think they are the only place in Iceland that offer that. Also they sell cigarettes. I feel like I have to write it here as they are not allowed to advertise that fact.

Best late-night snack and hangover food? I’m not a party dude anymore, so I don’t really work with late nights and hangovers. Dj Grill are cheap (Iceland cheap) and they have the second-best vegan burger in Iceland. It’s not on the menu so you have to ask them to veganise the vegetarian burger. They also have meat burgers but no one eats that except for psychopaths. If you would like more “real” food then you could go to Ketilkaffi, which have that breakfast egg thing. (Eggs are also only eaten by psychopaths). They also have vegan avocado toast, but if you buy that you won’t be able to afford an apartment. So choose wisely.

Follow Drengurinn fengurinn on Instagram at @drengurinn_fengurinn