EMQ's

EMQ’s With Drungi

EMQ’s With Drungi

Hi everyone! Welcome to another EMQs interview, this time with Icelandic Heavy Doom/ Dark Folk Rock band, Drungi. Huge thanks to their Bass player, Magnus, for taking part. 

What is your name, what do you play and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?

My name is Magnus, I play bass for Drungi. In late 2018 myself and former drummer Gummi started the search for members for a new project. It took until early 2020 to finalize the line-up. We had played a few gigs but in August ’22 Sandra took over the drums. We always wanted to make music centred around our country, our nature, heritage, and language. With so many bands putting a focus on English as their lyrical language, we put our focus on connecting with Iceland as much as possible. And the idea for the band started from that point.

How did you come up with your band name?

We wanted a name that firstly, was not taken and secondly connected to the stories of Iceland. Most of the stories in Iceland are relatively gloomy, filled with death, but also connect greatly to nature. With mystical roots from Elves, trolls and ghosts, a crossover between nature and fantasy. So, with all our stories, and the message we wanted to deliver, Drungi, meaning eerie or gloomy, came to be.

What Country / Region are you from and what is the Metal / Rock scene like there?

Drungi is from Iceland, he capital city of Reykjavík. The Metal/Rock scene is a pretty interesting one, with most of the Metal scene being Hardcore Metal and Death Metal. The Rock scene here is more or less Grunge or Indie Rock, with the occasional Blues Rock band in between, it’s a fun scene with something for everyone.

What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single, Video)

Our latest release is the video to the song Myrkur. The final song on our upcoming album “Hamfarir Hugans”. The song Myrkur, meaning Dark, is generally about manic depression where a person looms in the balance between light and dark ultimately fighting their darker self and losing their sense of brightness.

Who have been your greatest influences?

So many influences, Pantera, Black Sabbath, Nightwish, Finntroll, Megadeth, Skálmöld, Gojira and many many more. The members of the band come from such a wide variety of backgrounds, so our influences vary greatly.

What first got you into music?

Honestly, I’ve always been into music but in my younger years I never had the patience to sit and learn chords on a guitar, and those bar chords just took all the fun out of playing. It wasn’t until I started stage managing and hanging around bands that my interest peaked again. Also, I am a huge fan of Marco Hietala from Nightwish and I fanboyed him to death. I sold my used Washburn guitar and got an Encore bass kit that I felt at home. Soon I got myself a Warwick and after that, I was hooked.

If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?

I would love to collaborate with Marco Hietala (former Nightwish). His style, his music and his interesting take on life are inspiring and exciting. I enjoy the work that he does with his brother in Tarot. Marco is my main inspiration for playing bass, and one of the reasons I use Warwick basses on stage.

If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?

So many festivals to choose from… but two come to mind right away. I would like to see a rebirth of the Icelandic festival Eistnaflug (Flight of the Testicles) and play there. It’s been a stepping stone for numerous different bands, and it brings the Rock and Metal community tighter together with the focus being to have fun and listen to music.

If Eistnaflug never comes back, I would like to play at a small festival in the middle of nowhere in Finland, called John Smith Rock Festival. It’s a small festival with fairly big bands performing every year. And it follows the same ideology as the previous festival of just music and fun. 

Also it doesn’t hurt that both of those festivals have access to heated swimming pools and solid breakfast buffets. 

What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?

We have not had a lot of success with gifts from fans, other than some stories of fan behaviour. Like that one time, mid-song with one person on the floor in front of us (slow Thursday gig) and she flashed the singer, causing our lead to fumble a solo, and then proceeded to lick the vocalist’s toes. Giving us the gift of never having to see him barefoot live again.

If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?

Don’t be asshats. Nobody likes asshats. We want you to be yourself, we want you to enjoy yourself and keep rocking.

If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?

Ronnie James Dio. The man, the myth, the legend. Dio did so much for the music and Metal scene and if anyone could fix the nonsense that has become “the biz” it would be him. He is an inspiration to people who play music and release music. 

What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?

I enjoy the look on people’s faces when I’m playing live. It’s a feeling only live-playing artists can understand. That “OMG I LOVE THAT SINGLE” face, the singing along, the moment you know you made an impact on the person standing in the crowd, that feeling is surreal.

Being in a band that’s “new” and is doing different things with music, the whole Elitism that many metalheads carry with them is a feeling that’s always bothered me, to the point of me hardly going to specific bands playing specific shows, because they simply judge other styles of music as inferior.

If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?

A lot of things in the music business need to change. But chief among them is how streaming platforms treat artists. Streaming platforms need to be non-profit and pay fair value for the music they are providing to the masses.

Name one of your all-time favourite albums?

Dark Side of the Moon, Skálmöld og Sinfó, Century Child. 

What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?

Vinyl and cassettes share top spot. They require work to listen to them, you have to put in the effort of turning your record, opening the cassette player to flip the tape. The other two are simply a convenience.

What’s the best gig that you have played to date?

Our last gig will always be a fond memory. A superfan came over for one day to see us play. And the energy in the room was electric. It was a small show, with few in attendance but those few made sure it will be a night to remember.

If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?

Everything I already am, a government employee and a psychology student. But if I wasn’t doing music, I would probably also be running a small Axe throwing venue where I can teach people the art of Axe throwing. 

Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?

David Gilmour, Lemmy, Dio, Rúnar (Drungi guitarist) and Marco Hietala. 

What’s next for the band?

“Hamfarir Hugans” is our next focus. The album comes out on April 5th and following that we will start looking at touring options for the band. Both locally as well as internationally. Our aim is to hit the ground running and generate some hype for the album.

What Social Media / Website links do you use to get your music out to people?

We use mostly Facebook and Instagram, and of course Youtube. Then we have Bandcamp and our own site:

www.drungi.is

https://www.facebook.com/drungiiceland

https://www.instagram.com/drungiiceland

https://www.youtube.com/@drungiiceland912

https://drungi.bandcamp.com

Time for a very British question now. As an alternative to the humble sandwich, is the correct name for a round piece of bread common in the UK either a Bap, a Barm (or Barm Cake), a Batch, a Bun, a Cob, a Muffin, a Roll or a Tea Cake?

I think, if I remember correctly, it’s called a Roll.

Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?

Thank you for this interview, it was a pleasure to participate in it.

Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.