Seabear Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Mar 10th 2010 10:45AM by Farah Ishaq
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Icelandic folk musician Sindri Mar Sigfusson has taken in six musicians to form Seabear, a band described by Clash as "Sufjan Stevens meets Arcade Fire." Their second official full-length album 'We Built A Fire' is released this month, just in time for their four appearances at this year's SXSW. Spinner caught up with Sigfusson on the tourbus, as the band finished up a tour of Germany.

Describe your sound in your own words.

Oh that's hard. I think it would be like indie pop. It depends on what songs we are playing, some of them are very rock. Our new album is much more upbeat than the other one, a bit more of a band sound. Definitely more rock than the old one. It's more preferable to work as a band when doing the rehearsals and the recording.

How did your band form?

It was my solo thing for a few years. I did an EP and few things. When I've played live I've invited friends to play with me, and they've just ended up joining me as a band. After we start playing live, writing the songs didn't take very long. We've come together really naturally.

What are your musical influences?

We all listen to very different kinds of music. Ever since I was young I have loved music a lot. When I was little I was obsessed with Michael Jackson and Prince. Big pop songs. It just kept on when I was a teenager, and I thought it was something I would like to try to do. I took some guitar lessons, learnt how to use programmes to record music myself. There's no one thing that has influenced me, just a basic love of music I guess.

How did you come up with your band name?

Back when I was living in London in 2002, I was working at the Cafe Nero pretty close to Liverpool Street Station. I got sick so I had to go to the hospital and luckily I got sick pay from Cafe Nero, some kind of sick insurance and I bought an acoustic guitar and some recording gear with that money. I started to write songs and then I needed to find a name. I had some things scribbled down in my sketchbook. Seabear was some sort of slang my English friends were using. I can't remember what it was for, it was for something silly like 'See you there' or 'If I care' or something like that. I thought it sounded nice, and it's not a real thing. There's no such thing as a Seabear.

What's your biggest vice?

I like to use mouth tobacco. The stuff you put under your lip. That's the main one.

What's in your festival survival kit?

If I was going to a festival, alcohol and lots of socks. Essential.

Who was your first celebrity crush?

When do you start having crushes? When you are like 10 or something? Probably the girl from 'The Addams Family,' Wednesday, when I was around nine or 10.

Beatles or Stones?

Only the Beatles.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

So many things. Answering this would be me breaking the touring rules, 'what happens on the road, stays on the road...' When I was playing in New York last year, with my solo thing I was playing a really quiet song and this fight broke out in front of my face. People fighting, that was pretty weird. But while I've been speaking to you, we drove past a bus on fire. There's always lots of crazy things on tour.